Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, or Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Tournament Fighters in Europe, is the title of three different fighting games based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, produced by Valve for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Genesis, and Super NES and released during a period between 1993 and 1994. Konami produced a different fighting game based on the series for each platform, featuring their unique gameplay and cast of characters.

Nintendo Entertainment System version
The NES version of Tournament Fighters was the final game Konami released for the platform in North America and PAL region in 1994. Unlike the other versions of Tournament Fighters, it was not released in Japan. Tournament Fighters was one of the few fighting games released for the NES during the fighting game boom.

The game's single-player Story mode has the player taking control of one of the four turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello), as they hold a contest amongst themselves to see who is fit to take on Shredder's challenge. After defeating the first four opponents (including a clone of the player's character), the player proceeds to fight Casey Jones and then Hothead (a character based on the Dragon Warrior from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics) before the final match with the Shredder. In addition to the Story mode, the game also has two Versus modes (one against the CPU and another against a second player), as well as a four-player tournament mode. An option mode where the player can adjust the game's difficulty, continues, and speed is also available.

The gameplay follows many of the standard fighting game conventions. Battles consist of three-round matches and the first player to win two rounds is the victor. Each character has their own repertoir of basic punch and kick techniques, as well as command-based special moves. During battle, a flying capsule with Splinter will sometime appear that will drop a fireball power-up at the middle of the stage that can be retrieved by either fighter. Whoever retrieves the fireball power-up will be able to use it by inputting the appropriate command.

The NES version allows the player to match any character against a clone of himself, with the exception of Hothead. The game doesn't allow such a match under normal circumstances, but there's a way to bypass this restriction in the game's "Vs. CPU" mode. The second Hothead will be colored differently, as with all same character matches in the game, but the game will also flicker due to the large size of both characters.

Super NES version
A tournament has been organized and many fighters have entered, Shredder being one of them. The turtles decide to participate in order to stop their nemesis as well as proving their strength in the tournament.

This game's controls uses a four-button scheme (two punches and two kicks, weak and strong). A particular feature is the possibility to use a super special attack. In order to achieve this, the player must fill a green bar under the life bar, by hitting their opponents. Once full, the player must press the two strong attack buttons simultaneously. There is also the option of enhancing the speed of the game, making the fights more intense but also harder to follow.

In addition to the main and versus modes, there is a story mode in which the turtles must rescue April O'Neil and Splinter. Only the four of them can be playable whereas the other characters (as well as a turtle clone) are the opponents. There is also a watch mode, which basically makes the computer control the characters.

There are ten characters available, and two bosses. Aside from the turtles and Shredder (who goes under the name of Cyber Shredder in this game), these characters are also available:

War - A monstrous purple creature with big claws, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics published by Archie. The game version of the character is said to be an alien.
Aska - A ninja girl seeking to open her own dojo. Aska is an original character who makes her first and only appearance in the franchise.
Wingnut - A humanoid, alien bat who appeared in several issues of the Archie Comics series, as well as in an episode of the animated series.
Chrome Dome - An android from the animated series, he was initially created by Shredder to destroy the turtles.
Armaggon - A mutant shark from the future. Also from the Archie Comics series.
The bosses are:

Rat King - A deranged man who cast away his humanity and considers himself a rat even though he has not been mutated. The character in the game is based on the cartoon version
Karai - The female leader of the Foot Clan in Japan. She only appeared in the original comics by Mirage Studios at the time of the game's release.

Genesis version
The Genesis version uses the standard three-button controller, with only two buttons for attacking (punch and kick). To perform stronger punches or kicks, the player must simply hold the directional pad towards the opponent while pressing either attack buttons. The third button is used for taunting. Some of the stages in the game feature destroyable scenery that gives the player and their opponent access to new areas in the stage.

The game has eight playable characters, which includes the four Turtles and Casey Jones, as well as April O'Neil (who differs from the cartoon version of the character featured in other versions), Ray Fillet (a character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics), and Sisyphus (a new character, named Musha Beetle in the Japanese version). The player can adjust their power and speed after selecting their character.

The main "1-Player" mode features the turtles and their allies traveling to various planets in Dimension X, fighting against clones of themselves, as they seek to rescue Splinter from Krang. After defeating the eight clones, the player travel to the final three stages to fight against a Triceraton, Krang's Android, and Karai (in that order). The game has a 2-Players mode, as well as a "Practice" mode in which the player faces the computer in a 1-round match, and a "Tournament" where the player must defeat 88 opponents with one life gauge.

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Source: Wikipedia, "Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles:_Tournament_Fighters," available under the CC-BY-SA License.