Anti-Climax Boss: Super Shredder. The color flames around him show what attack he's going to use and as long you don't stand in front of him when he's about to attack, which given the amount of time before he does attack isn't that difficult; he'll never hit you. One of his three moves can't even hit you unless you try a jump attack so it does nothing but leave him wide open.
Awesome Boss: Fighting Shredder in the SNES version, by throwing Foot Soldiers towards the screen at him.
BIG APPLE, 3 AM/Turtle Swing is a swinging bop that really goes well with the New York at nighttime setting of the first stage.
While it sounds pretty good in the arcade version, the SNES version of CLIMACTIC BATTLE is an utterly tense track that makes the player feel like they might not come out on top.
SEWER SURFIN' is pure adrenaline pumping awesomeness distilled into a rocking 16-bit track.
TECHNODROME ~ LET'S KICK SHELL! Fast-paced synth rock with beeps throughout, befitting the sleek white sci-fi hallway of the SNES-exclusive level.
The Arcade's teaser mode has a snippet from "Pizza Power", from the "Coming Out of Their Shells" tour album.
Breather Level: "Neon Night Riders" in the SNES version. It's a bonus stage sandwiched between two very tough levels. (The arcade version is much tougher, however.)
Broken Base: Much like the original arcade game, which is better? Arcade or SNES? The Arcade version has four player support and better visuals, while the SNES version has more fan favorite characters, more precise controls, and extra levels added in. Most agree that Re-Shelled wasn't a good remake, though.
Demonic Spiders: The Yellow Frisbee Foot Soldiers which first appears at "Skull and Crossbones". They react far better than their common variants, throw a rather difficult-to-dodge boomerang attack that can hit twice and if you get too close they simply kick you away probably faster than you can attack. To top that, they can endure a decent amount of punishment before dying. Fighting them with Michelangelo is a rage-inducing task, though well-timed attacks can deflect them.
Even Better Sequel: To both its NES and arcade predecessors. This is widely considered to be one of the best TMNT games and one of the greatest, if not the greatest Beat 'Em Up of all time.
The ability to control throws and slams in the SNES port. While the throw is required for the exclusive Shredder boss where you throw Foot Soldiers at him, the slams and throws reduce all enemies save for Stone Warriors into One-Hit Kills and you can earn extra lives really fast.
You might be unable to control throws in the arcade version, but the specials become this. Not only do they cost zero health, but they will instakill most regular enemies as well, while Stone Warriors take just two hits.
Goddamned Boss: Super Shredder. You can't actually damage him until after he attacks (touching the fire surrounding him actually damages you), and you have a short window to do it before he teleports, during which you can't hurt him either. He has the most health of any of the bosses, so you are in for a long fight. In hard mode, the damage window is so small that you are reduced to guessing whether Shredder will fire at ground level (the green one is a retro-mutagen ball that takes away a life instead of health, the red one just hurts like hell) or above with blue ice and hope you get lucky.
Good Bad Bugs: Aside from the welcome addition of Bebop and Rocksteady as level bosses in the SNES, you can also use a glitch to make them fight and defeat each other, doing the work for you.
It's Easy, So It Sucks!: The SNES port for some people. The gameplay is slower, bosses and enemies are easier than their arcade versions and Sewer Surfin' and Neon Night Riders became bonus rounds where foes die instantly.
It's Hard, So It Sucks!: The Genesis port, Hyperstone Heist, can be this for some. While there aren't as many levels (there's five) compared to Turtles In Time, the stages are longer, enemies move faster, and attack more aggressively.
Those who are aware of the Arcade version say this about the Re-Shelled remake, which was a bit too accurate to the arcade, and didn't have many features from the somewhat more popular SNES version.
This is how some feel about Hyperstone Heist, since aside from adding a run button, there is not much else. There are some new areas, but everything else is a re-skin of stages seen in the Arcade/SNES counterparts, though the environments have more detail and faster game play compared to the SNES. Even the Baxter Stockman and Rocksteady fights, while not taken from Turtles in Time, were instead taken from the original arcade game.
"This cave is creepy."Explanation In "Alleycat Blues", a Turtle falling into a boarded-up hole (arcade)/a sewer manhole (SNES) will say this via voice clip (arcade)/speech balloon (SNES) before he climbs back out.
"MY TOES! MY TOES!"Explanation Sewer surfing onto spiked balls or getting hit by certain bosses' attacks that go along the ground.
Gamers joke that now the year 2020 has passed, there's no flying hovercrafts.Explanation Unlike in the Zeerust setting of "Neon Night Riders", where the Turtles travel on flying hoverboards.
Mis-blamed: The fans say that the Re-Shelled remake "removed" several features that made the game good, like Bebop and Rocksteady, the Technodrome, and Super Shredder... Which weren't in the original arcade game. The aforementioned elements are from the SNES version, which expanded upon the arcade game.
Most Wonderful Sound: The sound effect heard in the SNES version every time you hit the boss at the end of a level. Not only does it fit perfectly into the Boss theme itself, but it also tells the player that their hit actually connected. The buzzing sound that gets louder and louder after you defeat the boss before it explodes or vanishes also qualifies.
The extra life sound effect in both Turtles in Time (SNES) and Hyperstone Heist.
Narm Charm: Shredder, in the versions he actually says: "Turtle soup, my favorite!" would probably be ridiculously funny, if the actor didn't sound so awesome.
No Problem with Licensed Games: Both the Arcade and SNES versions of Turtles in Time are widely regarded as not just some of the best TMNT games, but also some of the best beat-em-ups. The Genesis/Mega Drive exclusive Hyperstone Heist is also a good licensed game.
Polished Port: The SNES version added an extra level, extra bosses (not to mention changing some of the original, adding mainstays Bebop and Rocksteady and Slash) and a few new resources (time-trial, two-player versus). It was so improved many complained Re-Shelled just copied the arcade.
Scrappy Mechanic: For some players, the arcade version of throwing enemies. In the SNES port that came later, you could choose a type of throw: rag dollslam or throwing the enemy at the screen. Throwing relies on Random Number God in the arcade version, which means you could not choose your type of throw. This makes you wonder why Konami thought it was a good idea at the time during the arcade release.
The music for the "Skull & Crossbones" level has parts that are very similar to Metallica's "Fade to Black".
Unfortunately, due to Ubisoft being unable to secure the rights to Mutsuhiko Izumi's stellar music, the tunes in the Re-Shelled version are essentially sound-alikes that get the job done but are nowhere near as memorable.
"Prehistoric Turtlesaurus": The SNES version replaced Cement Man, a minor monster that only briefly appeared on the show note From the episode "Curse of the Evil Eye" as a creation by Baxter Stockman using said eye, to be exact. and was also a minor threat compared to its level, with Slash. Unfortunately, he's the hardest boss on the SNES version for many reasons. He is a Lightning Bruiser that's immune to frontal attacks and he can counter with a rolling attack that deals a few bars of energy when he Turns Red. note Slash is vulnerable from behind, so it helps to sneak behind him as he attacks, or wait for him to jump past you, and then hit him from there.
Shredder's Machine in Hard Mode (SNES version). The common mooks you use to throw at him now blocks attacks, requiring you to charge at them to break their guard and throw them at Shredder's machine. It gets tricky trying to do that while other Foot Soldiers gang up on you and Shredder keeps using you as target practice. Hopefully you didn't forget to change the Auto-Dash before starting...
Many have had complaints about Krang's hovercraft in "Starbase" due to its difficulty in your hits connecting with his continuous shifting and teleporting, the bubbles coming out that temporarily stun you and the robots that fall from the hovercraft that you also have to contend with. Even a two- or four-player game doesn't make it any easier.
That One Level: Rest assured that if you're playing the arcade version and more used to the SNES release, "Sewer Surfin'" goes from a Breather Level to a real quarter-muncher. Enemies have their normal stage health in the arcade instead of being dropped in a single hit, the traps come out much more suddenly and haphazardly, and the Chunky Cheese Pizza Monsters don't swim underwater as a warning before they attack. The result is tons of cheap damage and eating hits while trying to deal with the Foot Soldiers they spam at you. Similar issues exist for Neon Night Riders, with the gunships attacking you while five foes or so are ganging up on you at the same time.
To those who thought the game was "changed" for the Re-Shelled remake; also overlaps with It's the Same, Now It Sucks!.
They did, however, completely change the soundtrack, which many fans (whether it's of the arcade or the SNES version) are bitter about.
Fans of the arcade version didn't really like "Sewer Surfin'" and "Neon Night Riders" becoming bonus stages. Especially since they're shorter, enemies die in one hit and you can easily avoid hitting anyone until the end. They do agree that the Technodrome stage is a welcome addition, as it is a challenging level, plus it makes more sense for the Technodrome to be where Shredder uses his time warp rather than after "Sewer Surfin'", which also got the Rat King as a boss.
Fans of the Arcade or SNES version do not like the fact that the Genesis Hyperstone Heist lacks the throw-the-Foot-Soldier at the screen maneuver. The reason was hardware limitations. Despite common misconception, the SNES version didn't actually utilize Mode 7 (which can only scale and rotate backgrounds, not character sprites) to achieve the effect, but instead just uses the same artwork redrawn larger across the three allowed background layers very quickly as a programming trick. However, the Genesis only allows two background layers so Konami couldn't implement the same trick without it looking totally unpolished. The Genesis can split background layers horizontally to scroll them independently, which is why it always had such good parallax scrolling, as seen in the open ocean surfing level in Hyperstone Heist. The lack of a third layer is also why they needed to put the energy bars at the top in a black bar; those are essentially a separate set of sprites on top of a separate background.
Unexpected Character: Most people probably wouldn't expect Tatsu from the first two TMNT live action movies to appear as a boss in Hyperstone Heist especially since most elements of the game were from the 1987 cartoon.note With the other exception being the final boss Super Shredder who of course is expected since it's Shredder.
/Turtle Swing is a swinging bop that really goes well with the New York at nighttime setting of the first stage.