The game's Limited Edition model.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a pinball machine designed by John Borg (with programming by Dwight Sullivan and art by Zombie Yeti) and released by Stern Pinball in mid-2020.
Based on the '80s and '90s cartoon version of the long-running franchise, each player picks one of the four turtles, each of which comes with their own special benefits. The primary goal of the game is to complete eight Episodes and fight the turtles' Rogues Gallery (Shredder, Krang, Baxter Stockman, Slash, Bebop, and Rocksteady) with the Shredder and his army of Foot Soldiers being the ultimate goal. Along the way, the player will have the opportunity to level up their turtle's perks through Training Modes, customize the rules of Ninja Pizza Multiball through pizza toppings, and put their Button Mashing skills to the test during a Pizza Party. Those with high enough skills may even be able to start the ultimate Wizard Mode, "Cowabunga Multiball".
The machine also contains several different modes that affect multiplayer games (accessible prior to starting a game). These include "Cooperation" (where every player shares points and mode progress), "Competitive" (removing randomness for tournament settings), and "Team Play" (where different sets of players compete against each other). Other notable mechanical features include a spinning pizza disc, a Turtle Van that's able to hold balls for release during multiball, and a mechanism that allows the player to control the ball's descend down either of the two primary ramps. The latter two are exclusive to the Premium and Limited editions of the game.
This game contains examples of:
- Arrange Mode: There are several of these, all accessed by holding down the flipper buttons prior to a game.
- "Cooperation" has every player progressing through the game together, down to sharing a single point total.
- "Competitive" removes randomness for the game whenever possible, making it suitable for tournament play.
- It is also possible to combine both of the above modes.
- "Team Play" allows for various different team compositions (2 vs. 2, 2 vs. 1, or even 3 vs. 1).
- Ascended Meme: The artwork on the side of the Premium version's cabinet includes a partially obscured discarded newspaper. Its sub-headline is "COWABUNGA IT IS?", accompanied by a picture of Michelangelo staring open-mouthed
◊; both are taken verbatim from a meme going around at the time of the game's release. - Big "NO!": Shredder shouts one if "See You On The Other Side, Ray" is successfully completed and he's defeated.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Much like the original series, many of the potential pizza toppings fall squarely into this category, ranging from octopus to gummy bears to peanut butter.
- Bound and Gagged: During "Team-Up", the captured turtles are each tied to a chair.
- Button Mashing: "Pizza Party" requires mashing the action button repeatedly to eat as much pizza as possible in 6 seconds.
- Cat Up a Tree: By default, starting an April Hurry-Up depicts her reporting on a cat stuck in a tree.
- Character Level: Each of the four turtles can be leveled up (to a maximum of 4) through Training Modes or a successful Weapon Hurry-Up. Each level bestows an additional perk upon the player.
- Circling Birdies: Failing to complete "Window Shopping" shows the defeated turtles with stars over their heads.
- Combos: The "1-2-3 Foot Combo" is a mode that invariably opens with a shot to the right ramp, but then allows for two separate paths to make a full 3-way combo.
- Cooperative Multiplayer: Cooperation mode unsurprisingly functions like this – every player shares mode progress and points. It also allows for Weapon Hurry-Ups to stack across players, with each player getting both their own mode as well as those for whoever came before them.
- Disney Villain Death: Heavily downplayed if the player completes "Pizza-O-Meter" – while the Shredder gets tossed off a building, not only does he survive, but he manages to make his escape unhindered afterwards.
- Distressed Dude: "Team Up" involves rescuing three of the four turtles from the Shredder.
- Dull Surprise: The relatively low-budget CGI and voice work makes April constantly sound rather unemotional. Best shown during the introduction to "The Wrath of Krang", where she reports on Krang rampaging through the city, looking and sounding mildly annoyed at most."Isn't there anyone who can help us?"
- Easter Egg: A partially obfuscated newspaper on the side of the Premium version's cabinet◊ has a sub-heading referencing the "Cowabunga It Is" meme, credited to John Borg (the game's designer). The article's body simply consists of the lyrics to the theme song.
- Excuse Plot: Downplayed. The story is fleshed out somewhat in each "episode", and some of them have to be completed before others are available because of plot developments (such as Baxter Stockman's first episode concluding with him mutating into a fly-person hybrid, leading directly into his second).
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Since every episode concludes with the same basic cinematic, and some of them have to end a certain way in order to set up the plot for a later episode, this occasionally occurs. Prime examples include "Pizza-o-Meter" (where Shredder invariably steals part of the titular invention, the only difference being that he shrugs off a Disney Villain Death if you complete the mode), "I Want a Body" (where Krang's body is completed regardless of your success), and "The Wrath of Krang" (where the turtles' celebration after beating Krang is followed by him getting back up and enlarging his robot body, setting up "Final Battle").
- Match Sequence: The game shows the turtles grabbing every slice of a pizza, revealing the match number underneath it.
- Mirrored Confrontation Shot: The Limited Edition backglass depicts Splinter and the Shredder on opposite sides, respectively flanked by the Turtles and the rest of their Rogues Gallery.
- Mythology Gag:
- The spinning pizza disc is taken straight from the original Data East table.
- The plunger lane lists the four turtles in the same order the original series' theme song introduces them in: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo.
- Similarly, the initial descriptions of Raphael and Michelangelo refer to them as a "cool but rude bruiser" and a "party dude", respectively.
- Several animations pertaining to Weapon Hurry-Ups mirror shots from the intro's animation (such as the turtles grasping their weapons and Leonardo slashing the screen).
- Each Episode opens with a title card patterned after the original series (down to the music sting).
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Nintendo Hard: This game is slightly infamous for having a very hungry left outlane area (despite - or because of - the left side having two inlanes). Also the ramp entrances are very close to the flippers, so if you're not accurate, expect a deadly ricochet. - Score Multiplier: It is possible to double scoring for a time by spelling L-A-I-R.
- Secondary Adaptation: The game is specifically based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), an adaptation of the original Mirage comics.
- Shout-Out: Two episodes are named "See You on the Other Side, Ray" and "The Wrath of Krang".
- Skill Shot:
- Each of the four turtles has a specific lit shot that must be made after plunging to achieve a Weapon Skill Shot. Achieving it lights the Weapon Hurry-Up.
- Exclusive to the Pro edition is a more traditional skill shot: plunge the ball into the leftmost top lane for points and an increase in bonus multiplier.
- Spelling Bonus:
- L-A-I-R lights a Training Mode.
- A-P-R-I-L lights the left outlane ball save (or a hurry-up mode, if it's done again while the ball save is lit).
- Stealth Pun: The episode "Welcome to the Concrete Jungle" is the one that centers on a villain named Slash.
- Streamer-Friendly Mode: In response to Twitch cracking down on streamers using licensed music, version 1.20 added an option to replace the game's main theme (a cover of the 1987 cartoon's theme song) with an instrumental version. The README explicitly notes that "hopefully this will help streamers".
- Take That, Audience!: Looking closely during the tilt warning animation (which depicts a gadget of Donatello's malfunctioning) reveals that the error messages that pop up are for "PlayBetter.exe".
- Totally Radical: Some of the turtles' voice clips feature '80s and '90s slang.Michelangelo: Totally tubular!
- Trademark Favorite Food: The turtles' love for pizza factors heavily into the game's features. In addition to the spinning pizza disc on the playfield, the player can collect pizza toppings that affect the rules of Ninja Pizza Multiball, and eating pizza eventually starts the Button Mashing-centric "Pizza Party".
- Wizard Mode: Three of them, all of which must be activated sequentially.
- Finishing four episodes lights "Team Up". The Shredder kidnaps the other three turtles, and your chosen turtle (along with a partner specific to them) must get through various villains to rescue them. The rules change depending on the specific episodes that have been completed.
- Finishing all eight episodes lights "Final Battle", where the player must stop the Shredder from taking over the world with a cavalry from Dimension X. It comes in three phases: the first is a multiball requiring the player to get past his army of Foot Soldiers, the second has the turtles enter Dimension X to fight Bebop and Rocksteady, and the third is another multiball where they return to Earth and must drain Shredder, Krang, and Slash's health by making various shots.
- "Cowabunga Multiball" is the final wizard mode, requiring the player to start "Final Battle", max out and collect a Krang Kombo, achieve 5 April Hurry-Ups and a Weapon Hurry-Up, complete a 1-2-3 Foot Combo, and collect a Jackpoto Grande and Triple Mondo Jackpot.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: The "Krang Kombo".
