Its hard to believe that Teenage Ninja Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time was released in arcade center 35 years ago. TMNT: Turtles in Time is considered to be one of the most iconic beat em up video games of all-time. TMNT: Turtles In Time came out back in ’91 back when 2D side-scrolling beat em up’s were still popular. The original arcade version of Turtles in Time was a multiplayer game that allowed up to four players simultaneously. Turtles In Time was one of the few TMNT beat em up gaming that we got during the late 80’s-early 90’s like the Manhattan Project which appeared on the NES in ’91. Before Turtles in Time we also got another Ninja Turtles beat em up arcade game from 1989. The Ninja Turtles series became popular with children and adults during the late 80’s following the start of the animated series back in ’87. The very first Ninja Turtles film was released in the Spring of 1991 and ended up being a massive box office hit. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie from 1990 drew $202 million in box office revenue with a budget of over $15 million.

The success of the original Ninja Turtles movie not only made people more interested in Konami’s TMNT games but it also let to a sequel which also premiered in theaters in 1991. The second movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of The Ooze was also a box office hit earning over $78 million. The early 90’s felt like a peak period for the Ninja Turtles franchise as a whole due to the mainstream appeal the franchise had. The gameplay for the arcade version TMNT: Turtles in Time was more entertaining than other popular beat em up’s back in the day like Streets of Rage and Final Fight. The story for Turtles In Time was basic but intriguing because it involved time travel after Krang stole the Statue of Liberty. Turtles in Time saw Shredder as the main antagonist and had ten different levels. The level designs in Turtles In Time looked impressive by early 90’s standards and showed how much gaming had evolved since the start of the 80’s. There were stages like Big Apple 3AM, Sewere Surfin,Prehistoric Turtlesaurus and Technodrome that were simply unforgettable and made Turtles In Time a memorable gaming experience.

All four turtles were playable characters in Turtles in Time including Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. Turtles In Time was a basic button masher where players fought countless henchmen and eat pizza to replenish their health bars. Similar to almost every beat em up you play each stage had a boss at the end like Metalhead, Leatherhead, Krang and Baxter Stockman. While TMNT: Turtles In Time was popular in arcade centers it also was a big deal on the SNES despite being an inferior in terms of quality and gameplay. TMNT: Turtles In Time is one of the few beat em up games from the early 90’s that has aged gracefully. TMNT: Turtles in Time also developed a cult following over the past three decades. Turtles in Time also inspired indie developer and publisher Dotemu to create TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge which is like modern spiritual successor to the ’91 classic which came out in 2022. The legacy of TMNT: Turtles In Time always live on because it was widely known for setting the bar for the beat em up games during the genre’s golden era back in the early 90’s.