Year Released: 1991 (NES)

Number of Players: 1-2 Simultaneously

Shredder has kidnapped newswoman April O'neil, so the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles decide to go into action. Raised by a martial artist rat, these guys can kick shell... still.

Graphics: The sprites are a bit larger than TMNT II's. Otherwise, the graphics are basically the same.

Play Control: Great. Moving is a bit slow, but the turtles to not lag in action. No real beef, except that special attacks (jump + hit) are a little too easy to do, and sometimes performed by accident. This is not good, considering that special attacks deplete your health.

Sound: Nothing big to be proud of. At least there are different themes in this game.

Challenge: Pretty good. Bosses are as hard as they should be and not too hard for the stage it's in.

Game Play: Every turtle has a different weapon, but it makes no difference in damage, range, or anything. There is, however, a special attack the turtles do on jump + attack that does double damage. You can do other things, but let's just say that the environment comes into play a lot and that everything is easy to perform, fun, and challenging. Not to mention that they are in a three-quarter view environment which allows for walking up and down. Enemies come to you, and after you beat them up, you get to move on in the stage. It's comparable to a gauntlet. As boring as it sounds, this gameplay grows on one.

The Bottom Line: Pointless violence is fun!
TMNT III might be compared to Super Mario Land 2 in that it's very much like TMNT IV but not quite, similar to the fashion that Super Mario Land 2 isn't quite Super Mario World. Don't expect it to be as good as II or IV, though. However, both TMNT III and Super Mario Land 2 are worth a go.

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