Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Release: 12/11/92 Genre: Beat em up
Konami took their sweet time coming to the Genesis but when they did it was full steam ahead. Nearly all of their top IP would hit the system in a three year period and the Ninja Turtles were no exception. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Hyperstone Heist, while not completely original, is a great game. However it does not live up to its full potential as half of its content is recycled, almost as if the game were made on a budget. I will say this, it’s a sight better than the terrible Sega version of Tournament Fighters.
On live television Manhattan shrinks and disappears. This turns out to be the handiwork of the Shredder, using the Hyperstone from Dimension X. The Turtles spring into action after he taunts them on TV. Although it has a new subtitle the Hyperstone Heist is more of a remix of Turtles in Time. It features a mix of levels taken from that game as well as new stages and bosses. The result is a confused game that, while good, could have been so much better.
The immediate comparison to Turtles in Time cannot be avoided. The Hyperstone Heist is notably darker, both in its color palette and art style. Everything has a harder edge rather than the cartoony style of the arcade game. The stages from Turtles in Time do not look as good. However the new levels are excellent, making good use of the hardware with their multi-layered scrolling. There are more frames of animation overall as well. The soundtrack makes for an interesting case study. The shared tunes are more bass heavy and the sound effects are punchier, for lack of a better word. The extensive amount of digitized speech from Turtles IV is missing and what few samples are present sounds terrible though.
Mechanically the Hyperstone Heist plays similarly to Turtles in Time. The controls are solid even if they have a few quirks. Dashing has its own button; I preferred the auto run but it works all the same. All of the moves return with the exception of throwing enemies into the screen. That is a big loss; not only was it an instant KO but it also awarded more points. Slamming enemies repeatedly is also notably more difficult. This one hurts tremendously as they flood the screen with foot soldiers frequently. In spite of these oddities it is still easy to jump in and kick ass.
At first glance the Hyperstone Heist seems shorter than Turtles in Time. There are five main stages compared to that game’s ten. However most have three distinct sections each. The levels are longer with denser packs of enemies. With certain moves gone they take longer to complete as well. Altogether there are twelve levels total. I say twelve because the fourth stage is a lame boss rush. While the Hyperstone Heist isn’t as varied as some of the other games in the series it makes do with what it has. That is the power of the TMNT license.
No matter how much I like the game though it still can’t shake the feeling of disappointment. The recycling of assets would not be an issue if their integration were not so sloppy. This is a journey to save Manhattan, why are we invading a pirate ship? And why revisit the Prehistoric era? It is blatant as hell that Konami were trying to get the game out as fast as possible. What little new content is good, there just is not enough of it. This is the only game that even acknowledges Tatsu from the first TMNT movie which is cool. Now imagine if they had given the game the same attention as Rocket Knight Adventures or Contra: Hard Corps. It could have been epic.
One notable fact is the higher difficulty. The foot soldiers attack in greater numbers and in larger waves. They are also more aggressive which extends to the bosses as well. It can be exciting but by the midpoint it becomes excessive and repetitive. The game is stingy with pizza and lacks the unique scoring system of Turtles in Time meaning extra lives are rare. You will probably burn a few credits clearing this one.
In Closing
When all is said and done Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Hyperstone Heist is a solid game that could have been better. It does not reach its potential but is still worth your time. It took a while but Sega owners were graced with a quality title.
