Remember The Game? #75 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

Back in the late 80's, everything the Ninja Turtles touched turned to gold. TV, cereal, toys, movies, music, and of course, video games. The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES (covered on episode 18 of this show!) was pretty good, but the sequel is the one everyone still loves and plays today.

Originally released as an arcade game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II blew the first Ninja Turtles game away. Gone was the "puzzle solving/platforming" single game, and in it's place was a classic side scrolling, beat 'em up that we didn't know we wanted. And it was multi-player!!!! In the arcade version, you and three friends could pump your parents' quarters into a cabinet and stand side by side, pounding on foot soldiers and classic Turtles villains like Bebop, Rocksteady, and of course, Shredder. I remember going to Chuck 'E' Cheese for my birthday as a kid and literally pumping every single token I had into this game.

Then it released on the NES. Apparently, the graphics and other specs were dialled back so it could run on the NES, but none of us noticed. They also reduced the number of people that could play at once from 4 to 2, but again, we didn't care. Every kid I knew loved this game. Some of my fondest memories are going to sleepovers with my friends when we were young and taking turns playing TMNT 2. And when it wasn't your turn to play the game, you were watching one of the movies or playing with the action figures.

This game is fantastic. Sure, Turtles in Time on the SNES did everything it did better (frankly, so did the often overlooked TMNT 3 on the NES), but everyone loved this game. I can't believe it took us 75 episodes to talk about it. But it's here now, and you should be as excited as I am.

My buddy Miklos returns to the show this week, and man oh man did we have a great time talking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. Enjoy the show!

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