1989 was probably the peak or height of the NES. Although 1990-1991 boasted many big releases I would say that it was really all downhill from '89.One of the most memorable releases in 1989 for me was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Konami/Ultra. This iteration of the TMNT universe was a literal take on the animated television version of the franchise. Familiar to all the kids who followed the show, the turtles traverse much of the game by going through the sewers or driving around in their Turtle Van. Aside from only being able to see one turtle at a time the game is a brilliant adaptation of the animated series. Although the hardware had limitations you could maybe imagine the game as handling the parts of the show you didn't see: the turtles long and difficult adventures in between beginning and conclusion, as faithfully as possible.
I always felt that aside from the constantly respawning enemies and great music the game had a vacant feeling. The Turtle's days must have been filled with tedium, running from spot to spot. Hampered by the easy to dispatch foot clan at every turn. In between running through empty warehouses and sewers populated with weird eagles and frogs there is really no one to talk to. Splinter offers advice in the pause menu but aside from his text all encounters with the well known villains of the show take place in silence and there is only an average of about one villain sighting per level. Most kids probably never even got to the technodrome or shredder which lay far into the game, as far as I know and can remember Krang is missing from the game altogether.
But that brings me to the thing most memorable thing about TMNT. It was really difficult. For a franchise game Konami spent no time at all focus testing this shit with kids, if it was made now I would imagine that scrolls and ninja stars would drop with 25x the regularity and every turtle would be able to take 2-4 times more damage, as well as pizza being far more available in supply. In fact you would probably be able to pick up pizza and hold onto it until needed. Every difficult jump in the game would be gone or become non-lethal and the enemy respawn rate would be cut down by two-thirds. It would and should also have a save or password feature.
The consensus when I read other player's thoughts on the game is that level 2(The Dam) was incredibly hard, I never felt that way though. In fact for me, when the game came out I remember watching two of my friends play through level 2. This was before I had gotten a chance to try the game, but perhaps because of this early warning for the challenge or the chance for my 8 year old brain to memorize some of the routes through the level I can't ever remember dying on the Dam.
Because of this implied difficulty though I find a new challenge while I play TMNT: Pressure. Attempting to not let down my legacy with the game. I've actually never finished it and only have seen only seen past level 4 via a friend of mine who has beat the game before. But never have I had trouble getting to level 3, and even that level is largely all about memorization. The game works on your ability to memorize paths and tolerate repetition, like going through a maze but one where you sustain near automatic damage at regular intervals. If you know the ways through the levels to an exacting degree then you stand a much higher chance of finishing them than someone who simply doesn't know the path and wonders without aim. It's a clever design actually, something you would not see in a major developer game any more. But as I hooked up my NES and turned the game on at 3:00am last night I remembered the pressure from the last time I had played. As I quickly cut through the first level my anticipation for the dam and seeing if I could once again complete the challenge without problem grew. Defeating Rocksteady at the end of the stage I started to mentally prepare myself, entering the bottom of the dam and fighting my way through to the top exit, as I got closer to the exit to the top of the dam more and more garbled graphics were popping up. Finally as I walked out on the top of the dam the game froze. Saved by my old and inconsistently working NES I suppose. I tried this afternoon to get the game to play again for at least 15 minutes with no luck. I even own two copies and was trying both. Fate has given me a breather between trying to tackle stage 2 once more.
And I ended up just playing Section Z for a while instead.
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