Lots of flying out of screen enemies that’ll bump you, bomb you, shoot at you, one hit and you fall into the water, so you have to prepare a projectile to hit them before they show up on screen. Then jumping feels floaty. After many deaths, finally reached the end!
And then stage 4 shocked me with its magnet pulls, extremely durable enemies, tons of flying enemies, and fire pits! Stage 4 makes Stage 3’s sewer level seem like a playground!
stlredbird
I just tried to find a controller to break
tarxman82
I love that as a humanoid turtles, they could not swim.
dracoolya
Shinobi vibes.
EvolWolf
The birth of modern anxiety
-All of us
Circa 1992
alpacaccino
Stop it, please! Make it stop! I can’t take it anymore
kcdc33
The extra floaty jump animation made it so much harder than it had to be!
dethb0y
I actually watch the You Can Beat Video games videos on youtube to see how the games i used to play in my childhood ended because i sure as shit never beat them.
NJ_Goodfellas
This and the Ninja Turtle SEAL Team under water bomb disposal level was without a doubt just cruel and unusual punishment. Although doable with enough practice but I am still convinced that developers back then hated kids.
One trick that made the game just slightly easier was that there were 2 groups of enemies in majority of the levels. Once you entered a building, sewer, etc and got out the enemy type would change once you went back in. I remember once enemy group was easier to deal with so I would go in and out of an area until the easier group spawned.
Solarflareqq
Yes i have this game somewhere i dont think i ever beat it either !
Shenodin
There’s actually a jump in those sewers that is fully impossible on the DOS port. I take pills for that now
zomgieee
Ah yes, Dark Souls: NES edition
adavis463
I’M A FUCKING TURLE, I CAN SWIM
KazeNilrem
I have PTSD for clips of this game. The fact that this game came out while much of us were on the younger side, thinking it would be a fun TMNT game… we were not aware of the horrors. Or the evil that is swimming and the seaweed.
mopsyd
Only stage in that game that really grinded my gears was disarming the bombs at the dam
Mostest_Importantest
For any who care: I beat this game exactly once on original hardware. And, I used the game genie from Galoob to do so.
Because even with infinite lives and other cheats enabled, it’s still beyond insanely stupidly hard to get past all that bullshit that game was laden with.
Moist-Emphasis-3385
Fuck that fuck ass game
Lil me was so frustrated
Dismal-Fig-7320
Fought my way thru those levels, all for an epic final boss battle… And then it was just a pigeon! Circa 1992, the real heartbreak.
fentown
It’s funny that the NES had quite a few games where you could walk across 1 block gaps… Super Mario Bros, Zelda 2, and turtles come to mind first.
Xerain0x009999
Not even game genie will get you past that jump.
thexar
for fuck’s sake – thanks for the ptsd.
Neat_Relationship995
You forgot to walk over those gaps. Because…. Logic right? I wonder what the developers were thinking when they came up with that one.
Finvy
Would upvote twice if I could.
Spiritual-Drive-719
that brought back a lot of memories
Tumblrrito
This looks miserable
JamesonQuay
Well, I know what I’ll be discussing with my therapist tomorrow
Tiny_Count4239
why do the turtles die in water but in one level they can swim?
Rampage_Raccoon
The whole game is a frustration.
After I watched the play through, I can’t even imagine who was skilled and dedicated enough to finish this back in the 90’s.
Terrible game, I love it.
CeeArthur
I loved the ninja turtles so much growing up and I utterly despised this game. The follow up games, the side scrolling beat-em-ups with co-op were the shit though
Bicketybamm
You can walk over the gaps. Don’t spin jump in that area.
Fuck-spez85
At least it’s not the PC that was shipped broken with this section being impossible to pass.
Aikarion
I asked an AI, Here’s what it said based on what I think happens:
Title: “Michelangelo’s Aquatic Dilemma: A Feral Mind in a Humanoid Shell”
Introduction: In the bustling sewers of New York City, where pizza boxes pile up and ninja skills are honed, there exists an enigma among the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His name? Michelangelo—the orange-masked, nunchaku-wielding, party-loving turtle. But there’s one thing Mikey can’t quite wrap his amphibious brain around: swimming.
Body: Picture this: the murky waters of the sewer tunnel stretch out before Michelangelo. His three brothers—Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael—swim with grace, their reptilian bodies gliding effortlessly. But not Mikey. Oh no. The moment his shell touches the water, chaos ensues.
The Transformation: As Michelangelo’s webbed fingers break the surface, something strange happens. His mind, usually filled with pizza toppings and catchy catchphrases, undergoes a transformation. Suddenly, he’s not the goofy, pizza-loving turtle anymore. No, he’s a feral creature—a real turtle trapped in a humanoid shell.
The Feral Mind: Mikey’s thoughts become primal. He forgets about the Foot Clan, the city’s safety, and even the latest episode of “Cowabunga Chronicles.” Instead, he’s consumed by instincts: swim, survive, avoid predators. His ninja training? Forgotten. His love for pizza? Replaced by a craving for algae.
The Confusion: Imagine being a turtle who suddenly finds himself in a human-sized body. It’s like wearing a tuxedo to a pizza party—utterly confusing. Mikey flails, his limbs betraying him. His nunchaku? Useless underwater. His ninja skills? Reduced to flippers flapping helplessly.
The Underwater Ballet: Mikey’s attempts at swimming resemble a bizarre ballet. He spins, twirls, and occasionally belly-flops. His brothers watch, torn between laughter and concern. Donatello theorizes that Mikey’s brain cells are doing the Macarena. Leonardo suggests a water aerobics class. Raphael just facepalms.
The Escape: Eventually, Mikey claws his way to the sewer ladder, gasping for air. His feral mind retreats, and he’s back to being the party dude. But the water trauma lingers. He avoids swimming pools, water balloons, and even rain puddles. Splinter, their wise rat sensei, pats Mikey’s shell sympathetically.
Conclusion: So, next time you see Michelangelo perched on a sewer pipe, remember his aquatic struggle. He’s not just a ninja turtle; he’s a feral mind trapped in a humanoid shell. And as he munches on a pepperoni slice, he wonders, “Why couldn’t I have been a land-loving turtle? Life would’ve been so much simpler.”
And there you have it—a whimsical explanation for Michelangelo’s swimming woes.
KhaosElement
Tiny little me had ***so much rage***.
SwaySensei
This game man, frustrating playing it as a 5yo.
This stage and the underwater dam stage…good times lol
notoriouszim
Yeah that brick is the devil.
Wrecklessinseattle
Damn, some of y’all are masochists. I just assumed the game was shipped broken and that no one ever got past the second level. I had a lot of gaming friends as a kid and some were even pretty good at hard games and no one ever got past the second level.
And with that I just want to say I hope the person responsible for this game stubs their pinky toe daily. So glad I rented this instead of asking for it as a gift. This game must have ruined so many kids birthday or holiday as their big gift.
SgathTriallair
Thank you for succeeding at the end. That made this a lot more bearable. I quit playing the game at this level.
38 Comments
Lots of flying out of screen enemies that’ll bump you, bomb you, shoot at you, one hit and you fall into the water, so you have to prepare a projectile to hit them before they show up on screen. Then jumping feels floaty. After many deaths, finally reached the end!
And then stage 4 shocked me with its magnet pulls, extremely durable enemies, tons of flying enemies, and fire pits! Stage 4 makes Stage 3’s sewer level seem like a playground!
I just tried to find a controller to break
I love that as a humanoid turtles, they could not swim.
Shinobi vibes.
The birth of modern anxiety
-All of us
Circa 1992
Stop it, please! Make it stop! I can’t take it anymore
The extra floaty jump animation made it so much harder than it had to be!
I actually watch the You Can Beat Video games videos on youtube to see how the games i used to play in my childhood ended because i sure as shit never beat them.
This and the Ninja Turtle SEAL Team under water bomb disposal level was without a doubt just cruel and unusual punishment. Although doable with enough practice but I am still convinced that developers back then hated kids.
One trick that made the game just slightly easier was that there were 2 groups of enemies in majority of the levels. Once you entered a building, sewer, etc and got out the enemy type would change once you went back in. I remember once enemy group was easier to deal with so I would go in and out of an area until the easier group spawned.
Yes i have this game somewhere i dont think i ever beat it either !
There’s actually a jump in those sewers that is fully impossible on the DOS port. I take pills for that now
Ah yes, Dark Souls: NES edition
I’M A FUCKING TURLE, I CAN SWIM
I have PTSD for clips of this game. The fact that this game came out while much of us were on the younger side, thinking it would be a fun TMNT game… we were not aware of the horrors. Or the evil that is swimming and the seaweed.
Only stage in that game that really grinded my gears was disarming the bombs at the dam
For any who care: I beat this game exactly once on original hardware. And, I used the game genie from Galoob to do so.
Because even with infinite lives and other cheats enabled, it’s still beyond insanely stupidly hard to get past all that bullshit that game was laden with.
Fuck that fuck ass game
Lil me was so frustrated
Fought my way thru those levels, all for an epic final boss battle… And then it was just a pigeon! Circa 1992, the real heartbreak.
It’s funny that the NES had quite a few games where you could walk across 1 block gaps… Super Mario Bros, Zelda 2, and turtles come to mind first.
Not even game genie will get you past that jump.
for fuck’s sake – thanks for the ptsd.
You forgot to walk over those gaps. Because…. Logic right? I wonder what the developers were thinking when they came up with that one.
Would upvote twice if I could.
that brought back a lot of memories
This looks miserable
Well, I know what I’ll be discussing with my therapist tomorrow
why do the turtles die in water but in one level they can swim?
The whole game is a frustration.
After I watched the play through, I can’t even imagine who was skilled and dedicated enough to finish this back in the 90’s.
Terrible game, I love it.
I loved the ninja turtles so much growing up and I utterly despised this game. The follow up games, the side scrolling beat-em-ups with co-op were the shit though
You can walk over the gaps. Don’t spin jump in that area.
At least it’s not the PC that was shipped broken with this section being impossible to pass.
I asked an AI, Here’s what it said based on what I think happens:
Title: “Michelangelo’s Aquatic Dilemma: A Feral Mind in a Humanoid Shell”
Introduction: In the bustling sewers of New York City, where pizza boxes pile up and ninja skills are honed, there exists an enigma among the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His name? Michelangelo—the orange-masked, nunchaku-wielding, party-loving turtle. But there’s one thing Mikey can’t quite wrap his amphibious brain around: swimming.
Body: Picture this: the murky waters of the sewer tunnel stretch out before Michelangelo. His three brothers—Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael—swim with grace, their reptilian bodies gliding effortlessly. But not Mikey. Oh no. The moment his shell touches the water, chaos ensues.
The Transformation: As Michelangelo’s webbed fingers break the surface, something strange happens. His mind, usually filled with pizza toppings and catchy catchphrases, undergoes a transformation. Suddenly, he’s not the goofy, pizza-loving turtle anymore. No, he’s a feral creature—a real turtle trapped in a humanoid shell.
The Feral Mind: Mikey’s thoughts become primal. He forgets about the Foot Clan, the city’s safety, and even the latest episode of “Cowabunga Chronicles.” Instead, he’s consumed by instincts: swim, survive, avoid predators. His ninja training? Forgotten. His love for pizza? Replaced by a craving for algae.
The Confusion: Imagine being a turtle who suddenly finds himself in a human-sized body. It’s like wearing a tuxedo to a pizza party—utterly confusing. Mikey flails, his limbs betraying him. His nunchaku? Useless underwater. His ninja skills? Reduced to flippers flapping helplessly.
The Underwater Ballet: Mikey’s attempts at swimming resemble a bizarre ballet. He spins, twirls, and occasionally belly-flops. His brothers watch, torn between laughter and concern. Donatello theorizes that Mikey’s brain cells are doing the Macarena. Leonardo suggests a water aerobics class. Raphael just facepalms.
The Escape: Eventually, Mikey claws his way to the sewer ladder, gasping for air. His feral mind retreats, and he’s back to being the party dude. But the water trauma lingers. He avoids swimming pools, water balloons, and even rain puddles. Splinter, their wise rat sensei, pats Mikey’s shell sympathetically.
Conclusion: So, next time you see Michelangelo perched on a sewer pipe, remember his aquatic struggle. He’s not just a ninja turtle; he’s a feral mind trapped in a humanoid shell. And as he munches on a pepperoni slice, he wonders, “Why couldn’t I have been a land-loving turtle? Life would’ve been so much simpler.”
And there you have it—a whimsical explanation for Michelangelo’s swimming woes.
Tiny little me had ***so much rage***.
This game man, frustrating playing it as a 5yo.
This stage and the underwater dam stage…good times lol
Yeah that brick is the devil.
Damn, some of y’all are masochists. I just assumed the game was shipped broken and that no one ever got past the second level. I had a lot of gaming friends as a kid and some were even pretty good at hard games and no one ever got past the second level.
And with that I just want to say I hope the person responsible for this game stubs their pinky toe daily. So glad I rented this instead of asking for it as a gift. This game must have ruined so many kids birthday or holiday as their big gift.
Thank you for succeeding at the end. That made this a lot more bearable. I quit playing the game at this level.
Fucking PTSD I did not need reminding of.