Ninja Turtles: Radical Rescue | Dirtbag

The game also features five different bosses that players will have to overcome throughout the course of the adventure. Though the Ninja Turtles franchise has a vast pool of villains from which Komami could have drawn for the game, we instead see two characters created specifically for this title, and two others who are hardly well-known. Scratch, a mutant cat in striped prison garb, and Scale Tail, a serpentine bounty hunter, make their first (and, basically, last) appearances in Radical Rescue. We also have the mutant mole, Dirtbag, and a Triceraton soldier, though even these guys don’t have the same name recognition as your Rocksteadys, Bebops and Leatherheads. Even so, all of these battles are pretty nasty if you aren’t properly prepared. Every boss is bigger, faster and stronger than you, so the only way to defeat them is to learn their patterns and the tells for which attacks are coming, and when they’re open for a quick hit. Of course, these guys can be tough, but Shredder is the real icing on this cake of punishment. Suffice it to say that, if you haven’t mastered the previous four bosses, you’re going to have an incredibly difficult time coming out on top against the turtles’ arch nemesis.

Ninja Turtles: Radical Rescue | RaphaelI couldn’t help but be impressed by the game’s art style. Even for a Game Boy game, there was a nice level a detail that you don’t normally see in other games of the time. While most of the animations are just two- to three-frame motions, the sprites themselves look great. There’s a nice amount of shading on the characters and environments, and the explosion effects after defeating an enemy are suitably detailed, as well. Of course, with the color limitations of the Game Boy, you can’t really depend on the turtles’ different bandanas to tell them apart. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to tell the four apart from their weapons both on the Character Select screen and during gameplay. The backgrounds, too, have a level of detail that really helped with the immersion. From the early forest areas, to the mines, mechanical bases and dank caverns, areas have well-designed backgrounds that look nice, but also don’t distract players from their surroundings.

Ninja Turtles: Radical Rescue | DonatelloThe music, too, was nicely atmospheric. Early themes like the mines and the enemy base are suitably exciting, yet also carry a certain degree of urgency, given your mission. I also remember feeling quite threatened back in the day when I first heard the dire music of the caverns later in the game. It just goes to show that Konami did a great job of setting the mood with the musical tracks, no matter the situation. And what kind of Ninja Turtles game would it be if it didn’t include the main theme at some point?

Ninja Turtles: Radical Rescue | Cowabunga!

As is the case with many Metroidvania titles, Radical Rescue can be finished in around three or four hours if you know what you’re doing, though newcomers of the genre may take a bit longer. While I’m certainly appreciative of the great beat ‘em ups the Turtles franchise has brought us over the years, it was fun to see the games go in a slightly different direction with this title. Not only that, but Radical Rescue utilized the mechanics of its genre wonderfully, making a game that tried something new compared to its predecessors while still feeling distinctly Ninja Turtles. It would be wonderful to see this game on the 3DS Virtual Console, especially considering getting a physical copy is pretty tricky – costing about $30 from just a small handful of private sellers. However, if you have the means, you won’t regret picking up a copy.

Review Score
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Game was provided by the author

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue is available on Amazon, but not for long:

Tyler Lubben
Tyler is a lifelong gamer, getting his start on the Intellivision when he was three years old. After receiving his English degree, he discovered all those jokes about getting a job in his field were true. As Head Editor with oprainfall, Tyler is able to bridge his two passions; playing and talking about video games at any given opportunity, and being a total grammar nazi the rest of the time.