Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters

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Menu from the SNES version.

Turtle Combat!

A fighting game series based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's a series, not a Multi Platform release because even though there are three games with the same name on the NES, SNES and Sega Genesis, each one is a different game. All were released in 1993.

The SNES version would be most familiar with Street Fighter fans, as it has the most Follow the Leader elements, although it was noted to copy those elements well. The other versions had different mechanics, due to fewer buttons.

Compare Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash Up.

Tropes used in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters include:

Tropes of the games in general:

  • Reformulated Game: All three games were promoted as different versions of the same game.
  • Snub By Omission: Each game features a different Ninja Turtle as its cover character. Since no fourth version of the game was ever made, Michelangelo was left out. Curiously, Konami never thought of promoting Radical Rescue (the third Game Boy game) alongside the Tournament Fighters games despite being releasing at the same time and having Michelangelo as the default character.
  • Something Completely Different: Unlike the previous Turtles games based on the '87 cartoon, which were mostly Beat'Em Up games, these ones were competitive fighting games.

Tropes of the Genesis Version:

  • Action Girl: April O'Neil is based more on her Took a Level In Badass self from the comics than the cartoon version. She wears a sports bra and miniskirt (an outfit very similar to her "Ninja Newscaster" action figure) and hands out flying german suplexes.
  • AI Breaker: Play as Ray Fillet. Crouch. Use his strong kick. Win game (he slides forward and the AI doesn't recognize the sliding part, so it never blocks).
  • Canon Foreigner: Sisyphus the mutant beetle.
  • Dub Name Change: Sisyphus is known as Musha Beetle in Japan.
  • Evil Twin: The four Turtles each have a doppelganger who serve as mini-bosses.
  • Guide Dang It: The desperation moves. There's only a vague hint in the manual stating they even exist, and to perform them, you need to use the taunt button, which serves no purpose otherwise and if you screw up the often-complicated motion, your character is now a sitting duck.
  • Scenery Porn: The stage backgrounds are very detailed.
  • SNK Boss: Triceraton. His throw does around 60%-75% damage.

Tropes of the Super NES Version:

Tropes of the NES Version:

  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: Hothead, who is based on the Warrior Dragon in the Archie TMNT comics.
  • Kamehame Hadoken: Relegated to a powerup that can be acquired during a match from an item dropped by Splinter, although Shredder has constant access to a ground variant.
  • Mirror Match: Averted with Hothead... when the game is played normally; its justification is that the dragon spirit inhabiting the character wouldn't permit such a battle to take place. If the player uses a Game Mod to accomplish it, though, he will see that the real reason is because it causes a helluva lot of flicker in the sprites.