Video Game / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003)

No Turtles were harmed in the making of this game. (That part comes when you play it)

"Remember, be ready for anything."

—Leonardo

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 3D Beat 'em Up developed and published by Konami in 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube, Playstation 2, Xbox, and PC. A side-scrolling brawler, also developed by Konami, was made at the same time for the Game Boy Advance, but plays very differently from its console cousins.

The game is based on the first season of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon that began airing on the FoxBox network (later known as 4KidsTV). The story consequently is a loose adaptation of the general plot of the first season; the Turtles slowly become involved in a conflict with the criminal Foot Clan led by the Shredder; the Turtles encounter his lieutenants like Hun and Baxter Stockman and contend with various oddities and foes across New York, culminating in a siege on the Shredder's skyscraper headquarters. Most cutscenes used are directly lifted from the 2003 TV series, with some being original for the game.

• Things Change: Adapts "Things Change," "A Better Mousetrap," "Attack of the Mousers," and "Meet Casey Jones"
• Nano: Adapts "Nano"
• Trap: An original storyline not featured in the series.^note The Turtle Bot would later be adapted into the show's second season.
• Tengu: Adapts "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "The Way of Invisibility"
• Notes from the Underground: Adapts the "eponymous three-parter".
• Ordeal: A Special Stage thematically based on Leo's subplot in "The Monster Hunter".
• Justice: Adapts the "Return to New York" three-parter

The player can play as either Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, or Raphael. While the story is the same for each Turtle, each of them has one exclusive boss fight. There is a Story Mode for one or two players, and a Versus Mode where two players can fight head to head. Unlockable characters are Splinter, Casey Jones (both of which can play in the Story Mode), Turtlebot, Hun, Shredder, Oroku Saki, and Hamato Yoshi.

The Game Boy Advance version plays very differently. Each Turtle has their own storyline, corresponding to one of the arcs from the show's first season, that is split into four levels each. Included in each set of levels is one alternate-gameplay style, such as a shooter or racing level. Beating all four stories opens up the final level where you storm Shredder's tower to take out Hun and Shredder himself.

The game was followed up with two sequels, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus for the same platforms and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare for the same consoles and Nintendo DS, as well as the spinoff Fighting Game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Melee for consoles only.

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This game provides examples of:

GameCube, Playstation 2, Xbox, and PC versions

• 100% Completion: In order to fully complete the game, you need to beat Story Mode with every Turtle, then defeat Challenge Mode with every Turtle.
• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: It's a Turtles game, so natch. The first level even takes place in one.
• Adapted Out:
  • Outside of "Nano," all of the self-contained episodes not contributing to the season-long plotline are excised. This means Angel, Garbageman, the Justice Force, Kirby, Dr. Abagail Finn, Tyler (the kid Raphael helps in "Lone Raph and Cub"), and the mafia never appear.
  • The "Shredder Strikes" and "Shredder Strikes Back" episodes where Shredder attempts to turn Leonardo to his side, then attacks and defeats the Turtles, destroying April's store, and forcing them to hide out at Casey's aunt's farm for a few episodes, are completely excised. Strangely, the game implies those events did happen in some fashion, as the Turtles refer to a previous battle with the Shredder where they were easily defeated while Shredder himself, right before his boss fight, implies it's been months since the Turtles have been seen. "Ordeal" thematically draws from the farmhouse episodes as it's when the Turtles find the resolve to challenge the Shredder to a final battle.
  • The Guardians are nowhere to be seen, and Splinter never gets injured during the final battle, so the Season 1 finale is completely skipped until the next game.
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • If the player chooses Raph to play through the first stage first, then the Turtles will encounter Casey Jones during the arc adapted from the first three episodes, allowing Casey to debut an episode early as he only appeared in the fourth episode.
  • The Foot Mystics appear as bosses during the "Tengu" stage which is derived from early Season 1 episode "Darkness on the Edge of Town", whereas they were first introduced in the series in the second part of "Return to New York".
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • The game combines some of the self-contained arc episodes together and in a different order, such as the Turtles meeting Casey and saving April before moving into their new home, while in the new show they found their home before ever meeting April or Casey.
  • The "Nano" chapter also skips all the backstory of where Nano came from, having Harry just having Nano already when the level begins.
  • "Trap" takes the episodes where the Turtles meet Hun and Baxter's new project and changes it to an original storyline about the two villains using an Evil Turtlebot to commit crimes in order to lure the Turtles out.
  • The game has the Turtles decide to invade Shredder's tower as revenge for mutating the underground beasts, rather than as retaliation for hunting them down, almost killing Leo, and destroying April's store and apartment.
• Adaptation Expansion: In addition to combining the plots of multiple episodes for some of its chapters, the first game also expands upon the plots of certain episodes.
  • The episode "Nano," for example, is reimagined with the Turtles facing off with not only the titular Nano himself, but also the Purple Dragons and various Mecha-Mooks that Nano created to fight them.
  • The chapter "Tengu," based on "Darkness on the Edge of Town," expands upon the episode's museum fight by having the turtles face off with not only the Foot, but also the Foot Mystics and a Foot Mech robot.
• Adaptational Location Change: The Under City in the "Notes from the Underground" chapter was changed from a Y'lintian fortress to a made-by-the-Foot city and lab.
• Adorable Evil Minions: The Mousers may have a painful bite, but their duck-like design makes them cute.
• After Boss Recovery: In a large, long level, often there are more healing items placed after a boss.
• Airborne Mook: Foot Bees. They aren't literally bees, just foot ninjas piloting a sort of hovercraft.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Putting in certain passwords unlocks alternate outfits for the Turtles:
  • Leonardo: A dark blue Ninja outfit.
  • Michelangelo: Turtle Titan.
  • Donatello: Conspicuous Trenchcoat with hat and Groucho Marx glasses with big nose and mustache.
  • Raphael: Badass Biker outfit.
• Arrange Mode: Challenge Mode, which has you re-fight all the bosses and certain regular enemies.
• Art Shift: The cutscenes are mostly made up of recycled footage from the cartoon, but others are pre-rendered 3D cutscenes using in-game models.
• Attack Its Weak Point: To Dr. Stockman and Nano Monster 3.0.
• Batter Up!: One of the thug variants uses a baseball bat.
• Battle Aura: Oroku Saki constantly has this during his boss fight.
• Beneath the Earth: The entire premise of the stage "Notes From the Underground."
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: Nano Monster 3.0 has a weak point that's too high to reach. However, around you are scaffolding you can climb to easily do so.
• Boss Arena Recovery: Also present in some boss battles, mainly the boss-only levels.
• Boss-Only Level: Quite a few present. Most of the final Areas in each Stage are these.
• Boss Rush: Done in a spread out fashion in the last stage.
• Bottomless Magazines:
  • Any enemy with a ranged weapon, especially guns, never has to reload.
  • Entering in a specific password gives your playable Turtle unlimited shuriken.
• Canon Immigrant: Evil Turtlebot, a boss in this game, appears in the second season of the cartoon, albeit just called "Turtlebot" in supplementary materials.
• Chainsaw Good: Baxter tries to kill the Turtles by having a buzzsaw constantly move back and forth during the first part of Stage 1-3.
• Classic Cheat Code: Entering in various passwords can unlock extras (such as costumes or characters) early or power you up (such as increased strength or unlimited shuriken).
• Collection Sidequest: Makimoto Scrolls are scattered in each level and unlock concept art when collected. White ones can be collected by anyone, but colored ones can only be grabbed by the same color Turtle.
• Combination Attack: Complete the game with all four Turtles gets you this attack, which can be used three times each stage. It acts as a Smart Bomb and severly damages bosses.
• Construction Zone Calamity: Stage 3-3 takes place in one of these. There's even sections, helpfully marked off by traffic cones and a big "DANGER" sign, that have girders fall down from the sky.
• Cowardly Boss: Nano Monster 2.1 is fought mid-stage and runs away to be fought again at the end.
• Criminal Doppelgänger: Evil Turtlebot is used to commit art thefts, giving the Turtles a bad name. His boss fight has him mirror whatever Turtle you are playing as.
• Cyber Cyclops: The Mousers, although they are not humanoid.
• Cycle of Hurting: It is very easy to get juggled and stun-locked by certain enemies, emptying your health bar in seconds.
• Death from Above: Stage 3-3 has parts where big construction girders rain down from the sky. In most parts of the map, you can easily avoid them since it's limited to a small, easily avoidable, zone, but certain sections have those zones make up an entire hallway, forcing you to dodge constantly.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: Robotic enemies tend to explode on death.
• Demoted to Extra: After the beginning of Stage 2, April and Casey vanish from the plot until after Stage 5.
• Dialog During Gameplay: The other three Turtles will constantly make commentary during the Special Stages.
• Disney Villain Death: In this game, once you defeat Shredder, he hobbles towards the edge of the roof and jumps off, seemingly committing suicide. Obviously, he survives, especially if you unlock the fight with an un-armored Oroku Saki that takes place immediately afterwards.
• Ditto Fighter: Evil Turtlebot fights using the same movesets the Turtles do.
• Double Unlock:
  • Oroku Saki is only unlocked in Versus Mode by winning his boss fight, which you can only challenge after defeating Story Mode with all four Turtles.
  • Hamato Yoshi requires not only all of the above, but also to defeat Challenge Mode, which only opens up after defeating Oroku Saki.
• Down in the Dumps: Stage 2-5 and 2-6 take place in a junkyard, weirdly with lava pits.
• Dual Boss: The double giant Mousers in "Mouser Arsenal."
• Enemy-Detecting Radar: As a HUD, also displaying the number of enemies in the area. Foot Tech Ninjas do not visibly show up on the radar, but the counter stil recognizes them.
• Enemy Posturing: Subverted with Evil Turtlebot. Occasionally he will stand there and make some lightsaber-like noise, which renders him open to attack. But it wasn't a taunt, he was switching between fighting styles.
• Every Car Is a Pinto: Damaging a car enough will cause it to catch on fire and then explode, hurting anyone nearby.
• Exploding Barrels: Barrels when hit with a strong attack will be sent flying and explode when they land. You actually need to use these to do any damage to Nano Monster Ver. 3.
• Faceless Goons: The various Foot Ninjas have their faces covered.
• Facial Markings: Dragon Face, who has a dragon tattoo on his face.
• Fighting Your Friend: Happens in the stage "Ordeal," though it's just sparring.
  • If you are playing as Raph, Mikey, or Don, you fight Leonardo as a boss.
  • If you are playing as Leo, you fight Splinter.
• Giant Mook: The purple mutant and orange Nanobot.
• Glass Smack and Slide: A variation with walls occurs if a Turtle is hit sufficiently hard and flies into one, causing them to stick there for a moment before sliding down.
• Goomba Stomp: A villainous example. Foot Tech Ninjas will jump on your head when invisible.
• Head Swap: Playing the game with your system set to October 31st will replace your character's head with a jack-o-lantern.
• High-Altitude Battle: Evil Turtlebot 1.5 is fought in the level "Air," which takes place on a cargo crate carried by a helicopter.
• The Hilarity of Hats: Playing the game with your system set to December 25th will give your Turtles a Santa hat to wear.
• Holiday Mode: Playing the game on October 31st (Halloween) will change all the Turtles' heads to jack-o-lanterns, while playing on Decemebr 24th (Christmas Eve) or December 25th (Christmas) will give them Santa hats to wear.
• Humongous Mecha: The giant Mouser robot in Stage 1-3.
• Hydrant Geyser: Attacking a fire hydrant will cause it to spray high pressurized water that will hurt anyone, even you.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Collecting food items will heal you.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Donatello says that he can fly the Foot's helicopter because it's the same style he uses in his flight simulator game.
• In Case of Boss Fight, Break Glass: Dr. Stockman can initially only be harmed when you attack the cockpit, which requires an air attack. After breaking it, he can be harmed anywhere.
• Invisible Means Undodgeable: Gun attacks tend to be invisible and will almost always hit.
• Invisibility Cloak: The Foot Techs wear a technology that invokes this. Hitting them a few times will short out the cloak and render them visible.
• Involuntary Group Split: The main plot begins with a cave-in in the sewer, separating the Turtles from Splinter. They have to take a roundabout route in order to meet up again.
• Kill Enemies to Open: Wouldn't be a Turtles brawler without it. Most of the time, it will take the form of a red energy barrier with a "No Turtles" sign on it.
• Konami Code: Entering this on the title screen means that the Turtles' normal footstep sound effect is replaced with a "Boing!" sound effect.
• Limited Animation:
  • The in-engine cutscenes don't have any of the characters' mouths moving when talking. Given they also often feature the models simply standing around doing nothing, it can make those scenes feel rather boring.
  • The 2D cutscenes used for Stage 3's cutscenes have much more stilted movement and obvious Lip Lock than the recycled TV footage.
• Lone Wolf Boss: Nano Monster, who is affiliated with Harry and not at all the Shredder.
• Made of Explodium: You can throw explosive shuriken, which will do more damage than other kinds and ignite explosive barrels.
• Make My Monster Grow: Nano Monster absorbs all the surrounding junk and grows to 30 feet tall.
• Mecha-Mooks: The Mousers and Nanobots.
• Mini Mook: The Mousers are around 2 feet tall.
• Mirror Boss: Evil Turtlebot, who has a fighting style exactly like one of the turtles, and can switch between them.
• Mook Mobile: Foot Bees are small ships piloted by a Foot Ninja.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The title screen has the camera scroll down the city of New York until stopping at a manhole in the middle of the street, just like the two arcade games.
  • Health pickups take the form of plenty of different kinds of food. Full health pickups are, of course, pizza.
  • While it's not an exact duplicate, Donatello's alternate outfit includes him wearing a trenchcoat and fedora, like the original cartoon and first movie.
  • The Turtles shout both "Cowabunga!" and "Turtle Power!" at different points.
  • Michelangelo is able to hover and glide in the air by twirling his nunchucks above him, much like in Radical Rescue.
• Noisy Robots: Both the Mousers and the various Nanobots constantly make machine sounds as they walk and attack. Given how frequent they are in the early goings, they get irritating real quick. As if to make it worse, one of the stages has an invincible floor hazard that constantly makes the same noise all during the level, including the boss battle.
• Non-Standard Character Design: The reporter in the game-exclusive "Trap" storyline looks like it was plucked out of Sonic X or something, as she doesn't look anything like the other humans in the game or cartoon.
• Palette Swap: Using certain passwords will give the Turtles alternate outfits to wear.
• Pipe Pain: One of the thug variants uses a pipe.
• Power-Up: You can get crystals which temporarily give you increased attack power, increased defense, or unlimited shuriken.
• Primal Stance: Raphael's default stance has him constantly hunched over. This would continue into the next few games.
• Promoted to Playable: If taking into account the various games in the franchise that came before this, Splinter is finally made playable for the first time in this game.
• Rage Breaking Point: Seeing what the Shredder and the Foot did to Quarry and the others fired the Turtles up to take down Shredder once and for all.
• Ramming Always Works: Many larger enemies, such as Razorfist, will attack by ramming into you full speed.
• Recurring Boss:
  • Nano Monster, who is fought multiple times within his eponymous stage.
  • The Mystics Ninjas are first fought in the stage "Tengu," and then later in "Justice."
• Reverse Grip: Raphael holds one of his sais this way normally, while Leo does the same with one of his swords during his introductory pose.
• Rising Water, Rising Tension: Mystic Water Ninja will flood the room you're in, dealing large amounts of damage unless you jump on a statue or pedastal first.
• Rocket Punch: Some of the regular Nano robot enemies can fire their arms at you.
• Route Boss: Each Turtle has one:
  • Casey can only be fought in Stage 1-2 if you play as Raphael.
  • Splinter can only be fought in the Special Stage if you play as Leonardo.
  • Hun can only be fought in Stage 6-1 if you play as Michelangelo or Casey.
  • Baxter Stockman can only be fought in Stage 6-5 if you play as Donatello or Splinter.
• Secret Character: Multiple, mostly in Versus Mode. You can unlock them early by putting in passwords.
  • Casey is unlocked by beating Stage 1 with Raphael and can be played in Story Mode by beating Challenge Mode in under 15 minutes.
  • Splinter is unlocked in Versus Mode by beating Dojo Stage 3 with Leonardo and can be unlocked for Story Mode via a password.
  • Evil Turtlebot is unlocked by beating Stage 3.
  • Hun is unlocked by beating Stage 6 with Michelangelo.
  • Shredder and Oroku Saki are unlocked by beating their respective boss battles once.
  • Hamato Yoshi is unlocked by beating Challenge Mode once.
• Scorpion People: Razorfist and King Nail. Both of which were formerly human.
• Shock and Awe: You can throw electric shuriken, which will stun enemies if they hit.
• Shockwave Clap: Nano Monster 3.0 can use this as an attack.
• Shockwave Stomp: Used by too many bosses to count.
• Smart Bomb: The Gembu ultimates can be unlocked for each Turtle by completing their respective "Special Stage: Ordeal" level. You can use it up to three times per level.
• Status Infliction Attack: The Mystic Foot Ninjas can inflict these, such as the Earth Ninja covering your Turtle in sand to make them signficantly slower.
• Stealthy Mook: Foot Tech Ninjas, who start out invisible until you hit them.
• Stock Footage: Clips from the cartoon are used as cutscenes constantly.
• Stock Ninja Weaponry: Aside from the Turtles' individual weapons, they can also throw around shuriken for long-distance attacks. This would be kept in the next two games, as well as the portables, though this is the only one with three different types (Normal, Electric, and Explosive).
• Suicide Attack: Taking too long to defeat a Nanobot will result in it turning red and also exploding.
• Taking You with Me: Foot Bees and Nanobots explode upon defeat.
• Teleport Spam: Quarry. She will not only teleport all the time, but she also sets up two decoy teleport signals to try and fool you.
• Traintop Battle: Stage 3-2 has you fighting on top of a tractor trailer.
• True Final Boss: Oroku Saki, who can be fought by beating Shredder with all four turtles.
• Turns Red: Hun, upon hitting half life, literally turns red and gains a massive increase in speed.
• Underground Level: Most of Stage 5 takes place in underground tunnels and an underground city.
• Video Game Dashing: You can dash to quickly move out of the way.
• Visible Invisibility: Foot Tech Ninjas, when activating invincibility, appear as a distortion.
• Victory Fakeout: Happens after defeating Nano Monster 2.1 at the end of level "Junkyard," where he grows into Nano Monster 3.0.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Evil Turtlebot, who appears only in Stage 3, is extremely aggressive.
• Warm-Up Boss: The first game has Dragon Face, who's basically just a souped-up basic enemy. Ditto for Casey Jones.
• Written Sound Effect: Explosions, stun effects, and attack hits are all labelled with one of these.

Game Boy Advance version

• 100% Completion: Collecting all the Crystals in the game gives you passwords to unlock more courses in the Racing Minigame.
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • The first episode is mostly glossed over, with the Turtles already living in their Y'lintian home as the game begins and the story of the Mousers destroying their old lair being recapped by dialog.
  • Leonardo's story adapts the Turtles meeting April and foiling Baxter Stockman's plans.
  • Raphael's story shows him meeting Casey and the two teaming up to battle Dragonface.
  • Donatello's story focuses on rescuing Raphael and dealing with the Foot Tech Ninjas.
  • Michelangelo's story focuses on the underground Mutants and the Foot Geneticist.
  • The final Shredder story has the Turtles invade Shredder's tower, culminating in their final fight.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: One of Shredder's attacks has him transform into four tiny rainbow monster things, an ability he has never even hinted at having, much less during Season 1.
• Adapted Out:
  • For the series, it omits all of the self-contained "filler" episodes, as well as the Shredder stealing the Sword of Tengu, fishing up the Utrom skeleton, attacking April's shop, and the Turtles hiding out at Casey's family farm for a while. Similarly, Splinter doesn't get injured in this game, so the Guardians and Utroms are also gone.
  • In regards to the console version, the Evil Turtlebot and Nano storylines are completely junked.
  • Baxter Stockman is implied to have been killed before the Turtles ever reach Shredder, so his Humongous Mecha boss fight from the show was cut out.
• Arc Villain: The game splits the story up between the four Turtles, each with their own end boss.
  • Leonardo has one of Baxter Stockman's Giant Mousers
  • Raphael has the Purple Dragons and Dragonface (with Casey Jones as a Mini-Boss)
  • Donatello has the Foot Tech Ninjas
  • Mikey has the Foot Geneticist who created the Underground Monsters.
  • Shredder himself is the villain of the final chapter.
• Assist Character: Casey Jones helps Raphael out when fighting Dragonface.
• Badass in Distress: In Donatello's story, Raphael was overpowered and abducted by the Foot, requiring the others to rescue him.
• Battle Boomerang: Michelangelo can throw his nunchucks as one of these.
• Boss-Only Level: The only fights in Leonardo and Michelangelo's Act 4s are their Arc Villains.
• Character Catchphrase: Michelangelo tried to push "T-M-N-T! Whatcha get is whatcha see!" Raphael tells him to quit.
• Charge Attack: Each of the Turtles has one of these, which gives them a special attack when full.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: During the Racing Minigame extra courses, Casey is already speeding along before the race starts, giving him a massive head start.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Michelangelo's third level has him constantly jumping over lava pits no worse for wear.
• Dash Attack: Leonardo's Charge Attack has him lunge forward while slashing his swords.
• Demoted to Extra: As there is no multiplayer, Splinter and Casey are downgraded from playable characters to NPCs.
• Digitized Sprites: The intro and all of the cutscene portraits are either screenshots from the show or standard stock character art.
• Disney Villain Death: Like the console version, Splinter forces Shredder off the top of his tower, plummeting to his (supposed) death.
• Double Jump: Every Turtle can do this to get up to higher ground, but Leonardo's levels are the only ones that require it.
• Easy-Mode Mockery: You won't able to access the final stages that take place in Foot Headquarters building and the Turtles' final battle with Shredder in the game if you play Easy Mode.
• Elevator Action Sequence: Part of the Shredder level takes place in one of these. In addition to fighting waves of bad guys, you also have to dodge lasers in between floors.
• Flunky Boss: Dragonface won't show himself until you take down all of his Purple Dragon goons first.
• Graffiti Town: Raphael's Act 1 takes place in one of these.
• Humongous Mecha: The giant Mouser robot Leonardo fights in Act 4.
• In a Single Bound: Donatello can use his staff like a vaulting pole in order to cross long gaps or launch himself feet-first at an opponent.
• Invulnerable Attack: Launching a Charge Attack makes you immune to most enemy attacks.
• Kill Enemies to Open: Like most brawlers, you can't advance forward in a level without beating up all the enemies first.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Almost all the Turtles' attack animations are based off of the ones from the arcade games.
  • The first thing Mikey wants to do when he discovers there are shortcuts to the surface is go out and get the Turtles' Trademark Favorite Food, pizza.
  • The jovial victory music piece starts with the same notes as the 80's theme.
  • Once again, April faints upon seeing Splinter for the first time.
  • Rapahel's Act 1 has the "sword cutting through four turtles" graffiti from the show. Later on, he fights on top of the TCRI building, which otherwise isn't explored in the game.
• Reverse Grip:
  • When crouching or going up elevators/teleporters, Leonardo wields his swords like this.
  • Raphael also holds one of his sais like this normally, like the console games.
• Secret Final Campaign: The Shredder level doesn't open until you beat the other four Turtles' levels on Normal or Hard difficulty.
• See the Invisible: Donatello's Act 4 has you constantly going around activating three computer consoles so you can actually see the Foot Tech Ninjas and fight them. They will turn off the consoles, so you have to go around and turn them back on again.
• Sinister Subway: Michelangelo's first stage takes place in one of these.
• Shout-Out:
  • Michelangelo's unique stage is basically a sewer version of the Special Stages from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
  • Raphael's Charge Attack is basically Chun-Li's Hundred Lightning Kicks.
  • Raphael's Racing Minigame stage is essentially Excitebike with a different coat of paint.
• Smart Bomb: You have three of these in Leonardo's Act 2, his shooter stage.
• Spread Shot: Donatello's hang glider gets one of these as its Charge Attack.
• Underground Level: All of Mikey's levels take place here. First the subway, then the sewers, then an underground cave, then an underground lab.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: Each of the Turtles' stories has one level that wasn't a beat-em-up action stage.
  • Leonardo got an arcade-style shooter
  • Raphael has a motorcycle race against Casey
  • Donatello has a horizontal shoot-em-up
  • Michelangelo had a skateboard section similar to the Special Stages from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
• Wall Crawl: Raphael can use his sais to climb up walls.
• Wall Jump: Michelangelo can jump off walls to reach higher platforms.

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