Released at the twilight of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time was a an SNES port of the excellent arcade title of the same name. Featuring the side-scrolling, beat-em-up style found in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, it combines the familiar Turtles characters (April O'Neal, Splinter, The Shredder, Rocksteady and Bebop), but with a whole new twist: time travel.
The Plot
Nothing too complex here: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are sitting in their sewer home, watching TV, when, out of nowhere, Krang (the evil brain from Dimension X) swoops out of the sky and steals the Statue of Liberty. Well, of course, we can't just have evil brains from Dimension X stealing our National Monuments, now, can we? So, our heroes on the half shell resolve to get the statue back.
Playable Characters
Leonardo: The leader of the Turtles, his weapon is the katana sword. He is a very balanced character, the second fastest and second in defense.
Raphael: The moody, sarcastic Turtle. My personal favorite. He is the master of the sai. While the fastest character in the game, he also loses energy the quickest.
Michaelangleo: The excitable, pizza loving Turtle who's obnoxious cry of "Cowabunga!", somehow won him legions of fans. Mikey uses the whirling nunchucku. He is the most durable character, but this comes at the expense of his speed.
Donatello: The intelligent, nerdy Turtle. Uses a simple wooden bo as a weapon. Basically the worst playble character, as his stats are pretty mediocre.
The Levels
Level One: Big Apple, 3 AM: Fight your way down what appears the be the lower level of the George Washington Bridge. The level boss is the evil Human Fly, Baxter Stockman.
Level Two: Alleycat Blues: An all out street fight through the streets. The boss is the robotic turtle, Metal Head.
Level Three: Sewer Surfin': Surf through the sewers of New York City, collecting bonuses and power-ups. The boss of this level is the Rat King on some sort of powered up Jet Ski.
Level Four: Technodrome Let's Kick Shell!: Battle through The Shredder's underground fortress, defeating his minions Tokka and Rahzar along the way. The boss is Shredder himself, riding in a spider-like tank, which you must destroy by throwing his Foot Soldiers into. After the battle, Shredder escapes through the Interdimensional Portal, and you follow, ending up in...
Level Five: Prehistoric Turtlesaurus: Now you're in the Jurassic period, fighting dinosaurs. The boss of this level is the evil Ninja Turtle, Slash.
Level Six: Skull and Crossbones: After the dino stage ends, you find yourself on a pirate ship. Defeat Rocksteady and Bebop to move on.
Level Seven: Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee: Here our amphibious heroes find themselves on a speeding train through the Old West. The mutated alligator, Leatherhead, is the boss.
Level Eight: Neon Night Riders: Now we move to t he distant future, as the Turtles speed through a futuristic city on hoverboards, a la Back to the Future: Part II. Only at night. Anyway, the boss of this stage is Krang.
Level Nine: Starbase: Where No Turtle Has Gone Before: A futuristic space station. Your boss is once again Krang, this time without his powerful bodysuit.
Level Ten: Technodrome-The Final Shell Shock. You're finally back in the present, and in the Technodrome. This stage is simply a fight with the mutagen altered Super Shredder, who has the power to mutate you back into baby turtles, causing an instant game over. Put the smack down on his candy ass, then sit back for the ending.
Overall
An immensely enjoyable game, one of Konami's best on the SNES. Required for both Turtle freaks and fans of the whole Double Dragon-like side scrolling fighter genre.