Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Release: 02/94 Genre: Fighting
When the fighting game renaissance hit home consoles it hit big. There were fighting games before Street Fighter II but they were not very good. Capcom’s title opened the floodgates however and every system would benefit from the renewed interest in the genre. Every platform except the NES sadly. It is not that the little grey box was incapable; the numerous fighting games on the Gameboy can attest. But by the time the genre exploded the NES was on its way out. That would not stop Konami from creating a bespoke version of Tournament Fighters that is better than you would expect.
The cast is pretty small overall. All four Turtles are playable and are largely palette swaps of each other. They each possess at least one unique special move but for the most part you can tell this was done to save space. The fact they do not use their signature weapons also bears this out. Casey Jones, Hot Head, and the Shredder are sort of the boss characters as they are vastly more powerful than the green quartet. Hot Head in particular is another Archie Comics character and is based on the Dragon Warrior from said comic. It is an odd pick but I am unfamiliar with the Archie series so probably should not comment.
Even though the NES controller only has two buttons Konami have done a good job of making the controls simple and easy to pick up. Special move inputs mostly use the Mortal Kombat directional style with few quarter circles. The controls are very responsive and in my opinion better than the Sega Genesis version. Gameplay is fast and there is a turbo speed option that makes it feel even better. Most special moves for the Turtles are gap closers to keep the pressure on your opponent. The other three are power fighters that focus on heavy hits and mean throws, especially the Shredder. You will not find combos in this game which limits its appeal a bit outside of its small roster.
Therein lies the problem. What is here is good it just needs more of it. The seven characters feel more like four despite their best efforts. There are also only four battlegrounds and even though they look cool the game desperately needed more. Tournament Fighters released at a time when the average fighting game roster was around twelve characters or more. Later games in the genre on the Gameboy managed to squeeze in a larger cast so it was certainly possible here. I dig what they were going for but it does not reach its full potential.
At least in terms of features no one can say Konami did not put in some effort with this game. In terms of features it rivals many 16-bit games. The story mode sees the Shredder kidnap Master Splinter and challenge the Turtles to a final showdown. Only the four brothers are playable and fight amongst themselves and Casey Jones and Hothead to see who is worthy to face the Shredder. There is a versus mode against the CPU or another player where the entire roster is selectable. Lastly is a tournament mode for up to four players. The only thing missing is a practice mode. If the roster were bigger this would be incredible.
As one of the last NES games Konami released Tournament Fighters is the culmination of their work on the system. The fighters are larger than you would expect with pretty good animation. Hothead in particular is so large in fact that you cannot do mirror matches with him due to system limitations. The special moves are about as flashy as you can get on the NES and in some cases similar to the SNES game. The backgrounds are dripping with detail and at least one layer of parallax scrolling too. They push a little too hard as there is flickering and slowdown during heated moments. Only the music is lackluster but otherwise Konami went out with a bang on the humble NES.
In Closing
TMNT: Tournament Fighters is respectable for a NES game. Konami hit all the right notes to deliver a solid fighting game for a system with so few. But with such a small cast it does not have enough content to hold your attention long term. Check it out as part of the recent Cowabunga collection but do not seek it out on its own; while I respect what Konami accomplished here it is not worth the prices it goes for.
