Lost Classics: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 – The Manhattan Project (NES)

Whenever a lot of people often talk about how cool the old-school Ninja Turtles games were, they usually talk about the first arcade game and Turtles in Time. How come no one hardly ever mentions this game though? It’s just as cool as its arcade counterparts, even if its graphics aren’t as nice as they are. TMNT 3 was the third NES game based on the TMNT franchise (with the first being a horrid platforming game and the second being an NES port of the arcade game). Although it wasn’t based on any arcade game, it took it’s basic gameplay from the arcade titles while presenting all-new bosses and areas. Like the arcade games, the game did a good job of showcasing what people loved about the franchise at the time while providing fun cooperative gameplay.

The four turtles, relaxing on vacation in Florida are called back into action when they discover that the evil shredder has not only kidnapped April O’Neil (yes, again), but he has also raised the entire island of Manhattan into the sky. They make their way to Shredder’s base, going through sewers, spaceships, and city streets while battling familiar foes and destroying tons of robotic foot soldiers. The game is your standard beat-em-up, with the turtles beating up every enemy on the screen to progress, picking up items to restore health, and preforming special moves to take out the opposition. Unlike the previous NES game, the turtles have unique special attacks which to extra damage while costing a unit of life. One the game’s most memorable moments takes place in the second level, where the turtles spend the first half battling the foot clan robots atop jet-powered surfboards before taking the fight to the deck of a battle ship. Later in the game, another scenario has the turtles battling on a rooftop, complete with an electrical sign they can toss their enemies into.

Beside the TMNT license, the game didn’t do much that players haven’t already seen in other brawlers of the day. However, that didn’t make it any less fun. This game exemplified everything that was cool about the franchise back then, and it was pretty fun to play as well. It’s a pity that this has yet to show up on the Wii Virtual Console, as this game is just as enjoyable as its arcade cousins.