Anyone who has been in regular contact with me over the past week will be able to attest to the fact that I have been stricken with a case of Shell Shock. Friends, Relatives, Co-Workers, Strangers on the Street, that guy who works at the Comic Book store (You know the one) would all stand up and testify that I have been more obssessed with the Ninja Turtles than even Oroku “The Shredder” Saki. I have bought something like Fourteen back issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles books (FROM THE EIGHTIES!) and best of all I’ve only spent like Twenty Dollars doing it.
Today is especially exciting because it is the first week of what I am personally calling Ninja Six-Pack. The reason is that starting today and for the the next Five weeks there will be Five brand new Ninja Turtles comic books released. This makes me giddy as a school girl, because it means that I will be given an even bigger chance to feed my addiction.
It was only a matter of time before this Tumultuous Tsunami of Terrapin Love was able to smash through into Codesmas and have an effect on the code of the day. When I was reading one of my back issues yesterday and saw a two page splash advertisement for this game then I knew I could no longer deny my true feelings. Without further ado let the Onslaught of Obsession continue!
Day Twenty-Two
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
1992 / Nintendo Entertainment System
Auto-Select Mode
Code: Press “Down’ Five times on the turtle select screen to enable Auto Mode
This code is a strange one, and one that will definately require some explanation. The third arcade style game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, brought us Shell Heads the best of both worlds. Like the first it allowed you to switch turtles whenever one was defeated and like the second game it was actually playable. Not to mention the third game introduced a slew of chracters that had only ever been represented as toys or at most in one episode of the show. In my opinion the Manhatten Project truly represents the pinnacle of Ninja Turtles games.
As I had stated the game let’s you choose whether you stick with the same turtle or switch to another whenever one of them dies. Now I will allows choose Raphael, he’s the best, unfortunately in the video games he can be hit or miss as a character. Usually he deals out the most damage, but also sustains the most. Another reason why I like The Manhattan Project so much is its difficulty and even though I am a die hard Team Raph fan, I can admit that there are some parts that require a character who might dish it out hard but can at least take some serious damage. This means its nice to be able to switch your turtle, sometimes though having choice can be a scary thing, especially when your choices are so limited. If you don’t use the epitome of bad-assery that is Raphael then what are you left with: A Tool, A Nerd, and A Stoner more commonly known as Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo. Its a difficult choice, luckily that is where Auto select comes into play. When you activate Auto-Select then when your Turtle of choice goes up to that big Terrarium in the sky then instead of being stuck with the difficult choice of picking which Turtle to continue, the game does the heavy lifting for you. Its like having your Pizza and eating it too. What more sometimes auto mode will give you the same Turtle you were just playing as. The code can even be activated if you have a second player coming along for the ride, the only difference is you will need to press “Down” Ten times instead of Five.
The Tool
The Bad Ass
The Stoner
The Nerd
Now that we’ve gotten all of that business about the code of the day out of the way I would like to pontificate for a while on why I enjoy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project so much. While at first glance it is easy to put the blame on the inclusion of such characters as:
Groundchuck
Dirtbag
And who could forget
Head Spinning Bebop!
The game also includes the best plot line ever for a Ninja Turtles game. Check this the Ninja Turtles are enjoying their vacation on a beach in Florida, yet like the good little April Fanboys that they are they still tune in for her Local new report.
I’m gonna pull a Zack Morris and say TIME OUT! I can get past the Turtles being on vacation in Florida, that doesn’t bother in the least, I mean the Punk Frog episodes take place in Florida so clearly they are able to freely move across state lines as mutated Turtles. The problem I have is that they are somehow able to get Channel Six New York’s broadcast in Florida. There is no way that April would be on a national broadcast TIME IN!
Its a good thing that they did because it is this exact moment that Shedder decides he is going to enact his most heinous crime yet, he not only kidnaps April, but the entire city of Manhattan as well, by causing it to lift from the sea and float in the sky. He then challenges the Turtles to come and take them both back ( Think of how embarassing it would have been for him had the Turtles not been watching, Seriously!) The Turtles then start out on what is sure to be a long hard battle.
That's what she said?
The game then starts as most TMNT games do, it gets really good though once you get to the end of the level and hear their plan for getting back to New York.
They are going to surf, they intend to surf all the way from Florida to Manhattan, clearly this wasn’t Donatello’s plan. Luckily he gets his voice heard at about the midpoint of Scene 2 and they board an Battleship that will take them the rest of the way to Manhattan, except for the vertical part, they are going to have to figure some other way to do that, Battleships can’t fly.
From there the game is pretty much your standard Ninja Turtles game there is the Bridge Level, The Sewer Level, The Level in Space, The Technodrome level. Still screw The original Arcade game and Turtles in Time this is the game that deserves a remake. A Remake for real!
