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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Project is an action-beat 'em up game, developed by Konami and based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and released for the NES in 1991.

Plot[]

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are vacationing on the beaches of Key West, Florida. As they watch April O'Neil's news report, the broadcasting is hijacked by Shredder. Shredder takes April O'Neil hostage, and uses his technology to place the island of Manhattan in a floating position. As Shredder challenges the Turtles to face him, they set off to stop him.

Gameplay[]

Like the previous game, the player chooses from one of the four Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. Donatello has slower attacks but a longer range, Michelangelo and Raphael have faster attacks but a shorter range, and Leonardo is a well-rounded Turtle with average range and speed.

The Turtles are controlled the same way as in the previous game, with the attack button making them hit in front of them using their weapon. If the player holds down on the Control Pad while pressing the attack button, the Turtle will fling the enemy over their heads. The Turtles can also perform special moves, each one unique, by pressing the jump and attack buttons. Using the special attack unfortunately depletes a unit of health from the player's health meter, though this does not apply if the player has only one unit of health left. Many objects such as traffic cones, parking meters, fire hydrants and exploding oil drums can be hit or damaged with attacks in order to help defeat nearby enemies.

Most of the enemies the Turtles face are the Foot Soldiers, all color-coded to indicate their attack patterns and weapon of choices. The bosses include returning foes Rocksteady and Bebop, Krang, and Shredder himself (who is fought in his regular form early on and later returns as Super Shredder from the second live-action movie at the end), along with new bosses Groundchuck, Dirtbag, Leatherhead, Rahzar, and Tokka.

Stages[]

# Name Setting Boss
1 Let's Go Turtles! The Start of a Long, Hard Battle is Beginning. Beach Rocksteady
2 Cowabunga Dude! Let's Ride the Wave Back to Manhattan Ocean
Ship
Groundchuck
3 Watch Your Step Along the Bridge of Danger Bridge Slash (mini-boss)
Bebop
4 New York Has Been Destroyed! Meanwhile, Manhattan is Suspended in the Sky. Streets
Subway
Dirtbag
5 Going Underground Dudes! This Dangerous Sewer Leads to the Technodrome. Sewers Blue Mother Mouser (mini-boss)
Leatherhead
6 Let's Find April! Then We'll Get That Bogart Shredder The Technodrome Rahzar
Shredder
7 Hey Turtles, Take to the Sky, We Can't Let Shredder Get Away Elevator
Rooftop
Tokka
8 Cowabunga! We Have to Hurry In Order to Stop Shredder and Save Manhattan. Krang's spaceship Red Mother Mouser (mini-boss)
Krang
Super Shredder

Development[]

Reception[]

In the Super Power Club bonus supplement in Nintendo Power V44, the game was ranked #4 in the Top 10 NES Games of 1992.

The Manhattan Project was awarded Best NES Game of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. Allgame editor Brett Alan Weiss described it as "an excellent, well-rounded game".

Japanese game magazine Famitsu gave the game a score of 27 out of 40.

Trivia[]

  • The game was featured on the cover of Nintendo Power V33.
  • The intro uses a now-controversial strobe effect, popular in Japan at the time. The effect is now strongly discouraged due to its association with photosensitive epileptic seizures.
  • The Manhattan Project in reality was the name of what would eventually become known as the atomic bomb.
  • A Triceraton can be seen on the cover artwork, but does not actually appear in this game.
  • Entering the Konami Code at the turtle-select screen with the A and B functions switched will bring up a stage select and options menu. It is the only way to change the game options.
  • This game's subtitle would later also be the title for an episode of the 2012 Ninja Turtles cartoon.

See also[]

External links[]

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