Check-in; saw this challenge, and decided to beat one game quickly. But it's not the game I was talking about earlier; the challenge had me put that on temporary pause. But this game I beat was a nice trip down memory lane, while the movie I watched, well, not the movie the game was based on, but...well, just read on for the rest.
But first, the list.
On 7/3/2024 at 3:27 AM, Agie said:
1. Super Mario RPG Remake
2. Kaze and the Wild Masks
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (100%)
4. Mega Man 1
5. Mega Man 2
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game
7. Twinkle Star Sprites
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (100%)
9. Sunset Riders
10. Mega Man 3
11. Mega Man 4 (sequel wars version)
12. Terminator Salvation (arcade)
13. Roll-Chan 5 (hack of Mega Man 5)
14. Kiki KaiKai
15. Roll-Chan 6 (hack of Mega Man 6)
16. Beeny
17. Roll-Chan World (hack of Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge)
18. Roll-Chan: Mini World (hack of Game Gear Mega Man)
19. Duke Nukem 1
20. Roll-Chan World 2 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man II)
21. Earthworm Jim
See Also✨ Retro Game Haunting The Starring Poter Guy 16 bit MD Game Card For Sega Mega Drive For Genesis (NTSC-J) — 🛍️ The Retail Market[EVENT] The Sonic Stadium 52 Game Challenge 2024! - New Prizes every week! Current Prize: Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal profile gift!22. 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 1
23. Duke Nukem II
24. Roll-Chan World 3 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man III)
25. The New Zealand Story
26. Sonic the Hedgehog CD
27. Roll-Chan World 4 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man IV)
28. Momodora
29. Roll-Chan World 5 (hack of Game Boy Mega Man V)
30. Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Wily Tower)
31. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From the Sewers
32. Mega Man: Powered Up
33. Mega Man 7 Restoration + Refit (100%)
34. Mega Man: The Power Battle
35. Duke Nukem 3D: Total Meltdown
36. The Simpsons Arcade (Konami)
37. Jurassic Park Arcade (Raw Thrills)
38. Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure
39. Mega Man 8
40. Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
41. Mega Man & Bass
42. Mega Man & Bass: Challenger of the Future (100%)
43. Earthworm Jim 2 (100%)
44. Mega Man: Battle & Chase
45. Liquid Kids (100%)
46. Mega Man 9 (100%)
47. Batman (Raw Thrills) (100%)
48. Halo: Fireteam Raven (100%)
49. Hi-Fi Rush
50. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants
51. Mega Man 10 (100%)
52. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sonic Jam version) (100%)
53. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (100%)
54. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
55. Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Remake) (100%)
56. Sonic Drift (100%)
57. Mega Man 11
58. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (Sonic Origins version) (100%)
Honorable Mentions:
Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade)Bomber Panel Panic
Big Challenge:
Big's Big Fishing Adventure 3Knuckles Challenge:
Sonic 3D in 2D
Alright, without further ado, away we go.
59. TMNT 2007 (PS2 version) (Only finished, not completed)
Based on the fourth TMNT movie, I remember playing this as a teenager; I loved the 2007 TMNT film at the time, so much so that I had to have this game. I got it for my birthday that same year, too. This is the copy of the game I had as a teen.
Why the PS2 version when more powerful consoles had at least slightly better looking versions? My Gamecube was busted, and at the time, I didn't have an Xbox 360 or a Wii, or a PC even decent enough. The PS2 was my main console at the time, and by the time I got the Wii and 360, the PS2 version was already under my belt.
The game was made on the Jade engine, which was the same engine Ubisoft used to make games like Beyond Good & Evil, the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy, Peter Jackson's King Kong, and even an Xbox 360 Naruto game, which incidentally is another franchise involving ninjas.
I remember my only complaint as a teen being it was way too short, since I beat it in a couple of days. As a teenager, this was a bad thing, but as an adult with less time for fun stuff than I used to have, it's actually appreciated now. But what of the game itself?
The story is based on the fourth film, with Leo being in the jungle before returning to New York and reuniting with his brothers. However, they had drifted apart; Mikey was working a miserable job as birthday party host Cowabunga Carl, Donny is...well, in the movie he was an IT guy, but in the game, he's searching for junk, and Raph was the Nightwatcher. It's up to the brothers to rediscover the meaning of family, step on the Foot, and see what Max Winters and his four generals are up to.
I will say right off the bat that I appreciated the four turtles having their voice actors from the film in this game to do the voices for their characters here, and while not all of the dialogue is special, they do have some funny lines I wish the franchise would use more. Something like Donny saying "Mikey, look on the bright side!" "Dude, the bright side is glowing toxic waste!" Though Raph has a very bad habit of saying "Heeeere's Johnny!"
However, none of the other voice actors from the film returned for the game if I'm not mistaken, instead being replaced by soundalikes. Heck, while Mako died before completing all of his lines in the film as Splinter, Greg Baldwin stepped in to complete the lines Mako couldn't in the film...but here, you don't get Mako or Greg Baldwin; he's instead voiced byTerrence Scammell. I don't think he was a bad Splinter, but still.
The levels are very linear; when you're not fighting, it feels like Crash Bandicoot, but with even less to do, with only coins to grab. You're not even busting crates or anything like that, just going from point A to point B. There's not much incentive to search around, either. Also, some stuff can only be grabbed on a second playthrough of the level; since it doesn't actually change the way you go through the level, I assume this was done solely to pad out a 100% run. I didn't feel like it when I had other games I wanted to play.
Each turtle has abilities to help them go through these levels, though they're not useful outside of specific circumstances; Leo can use his medallion to phase through certain gates, Raph uses his sais to climb on certain walls, Donny can use his bow to go through gaps, and Mikey uses his nunchucks to float in the air, which actually isn't totally new to this game, since he could glide with them in Radical Rescue and some 2003 TMNT games, though he's slower than in those games...but he doesn't fall, so that's a trade-off, I suppose.
Though it is nice wall jumping and seeing the turtles be acrobatic; I don't recall if a TMNT game had them be so acrobatic before or since, though I haven't played every TMNT game. I do like this aspect, even if it doesn't work all the time.
The combat is kinda like a beat-em-up where you have to beat all the baddies before moving on. It's very simple, though in some levels, you can call on your turtle brothers to do some tag-team moves to stun the enemies or make the fight go a bit faster. And sometimes, it drags on. I didn't find the combat bad, though, but it gets repetitive...like any beat-em-up, I suppose.
I do appreciate how in some respects, the game expands on what Leo was doing in that jungle, with whole levels being made of scenarios not in the movie. However, not all of it made sense to me, and the Jersey Devil only appears in the final cutscene, when he's otherwise absent even in the diner area, which is a shame since that was one of the funniest parts of the film for me. April and Casey also seem to be entirely missing in the game (though Casey is mentioned), while Karai is downplayed. But you do get boss fights with the four generals, which is nice, though they are easy once you figure out the patterns.
The final boss was also easier than I remembered him being; I assume this is a combination of me getting a better grasp on the team mechanics and me simply having become more experienced with games since I was a teenager in 2007. Still, he went down easy.
If you do well enough in each level, you can unlock bonus challenge levels, which...look out of place in the rest of the game; it looks more like something out of Tron. The one level I did, you had to go quick on the objective, and I imagine the others aren't much different, though I largely did it to have something to say.
Having played the PS2 version, the graphics, I thought were fine for that console. However, dithering is present, and at points, it gets so dark and muddy it's hard to see what you're doing or where the enemies are. I should also note that the turtles all have a star meter that, when full, let you kill enemies in one hit. However, that comes with its own downside, having a visual effect I'm sure was meant to look cool, but makes it harder to see where the enemies are, so that's a donwside there.
I read somewhere the Wii version had exclusive minigames not found in any other version that use the motion controls, but I never got the Wii version, so I never experienced these minigames, so I can't speak for them. But someone might get on my case for not at least mentioning them, so...there, I said something.
Still, would I recommend this game? I'm not gonna say it's a bad game; I still had fun, and the game ended before it truly overstayed its welcome with me, which is a nice plus. However, people say the PS2 version is the weakest version, and while I can say that version is fun, I would imagine the Xbox 360 version has better graphics, even if it's largely the same game from my research. Also, the game has long been unavailable, so you either have to have one of the old systems it's on, or play it...any way you can. But I had fun with it, so I'd say it's at least worth a go if you liked the movie.
Bonus Challenge Movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
After the 2007 film, I was quite hopeful we'd get a sequel, especially since the film hinted at one, but that never happened. In 2009, Peter Laird sold the franchise to Nickelodeon, and then we got the two Michael Bay-produced movies, but I did not see them in theaters, and only watched them on home video some time after the fact. They don't count as real TMNT films to me, though Out of the Shadows was a slight improvement.
To me, this was the next real theatrical TMNT film after the 2007 film. My hopes for a sequel to the 2007 film were long dashed at this point, but I was hopeful for Mutant Mayhem. My thoughts on Mutant Mayhem?
The story starts with TCRI goons going after Baxter Stockman while Baxter's making a mutant family for himself, and seemingly having died after an explosion (though looking at Baxter's history in other parts of the frachise, I have my doubts he's truly dead). Years later, we see the Turtles going out to get groceries for family, and pining to be accepted in the human world.
After many events and a chance encounter with April O'niel, the turtles see an opportunity to be accepted in stopping this film's villain Superfly. Superfly has his own band of mutants, hence the name Mutant Mayhem.
I know the film seems divisive among longtime fans, in part because it does deviate from the norm at many points. However, as a longtime fan myself? I quite liked the film. The strong point was the turtles themselves; they act more like teenagers than they did in past works, in part because they were voiced by teens here, and were allowed to improvise a lot of dialogue. I also appreciated getting to see characters like Mondo Gecko and Ray Fillet on the big screen.
Also, the moments where the turtles are sad, beliving they will never be accepted? Gets me every time no matter how many times I watch it, probably because in many other continuities, they never get to be accepted, at least not in the way they wished to be.
The character designs of the humans...well, it's not the best, but it does fit the sketchy, grungy look the film was aiming for. Not sure how I feel about Splinter learning ninjitsu from training videos; I do find it kinda funny, but it is an ineffective way to lear. I've seen some theorize he's not telling the entire story. Maybe we will find out in a sequel if that film stays in production. Either way, however, there seems to be no connection to Hamato Yoshi here...as far as we know, anyways.
Without going into too much, however, the ending does show the biggest deviation from the norm for the franchise. I actually liked that, though. Though I will say some aspects of it aren't totally new to the franchise, but what they do with it is different.
The film score is also notable to me; Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did a good job making some memorable stuff for me. For most films, the score is just kinda there for me; not bad, but I don't listen to them outside of the films themselves. This is an exception, however; I quite liked what Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did here. Their music also did a good job selling the mood at points.
I'd say the film is well worth your time. It's honestly good fun, and it offers something different to the TMNT while still respecting what came before, I think. Many others will disagree with me on that, however, but I at least encourage you to give it a try for yourself.
Also, yes, I watched the film on my standard-definition Mickey Mouse TV. As a teenager, I had seen the first four films on it, and I felt like I wanted to say I watched all the real theatrical TMNT films on it at some point or another. Plus...I just wanted to stop adulting for a bit. I will say not all the details survive on a standard-definition TV, but I was still enamored with the film even on this. It's definitely not the best way to watch the film, and even a cheap HD TV will give you better picture, so I admit, I did it for nostalgic purposes. It really speaks to how much I liked the film that I was still glued to the screen even in this form.
Edited by Agie
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