Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game is one of those rare cases where an entire arcade hall fit straight into the living room — and did so with admirable fidelity. Konami took its immensely popular 1989 arcade brawler and in 1990 brought it to the NES so successfully that it was one of the best licensed games of the whole console generation.

The gameplay is pure beat 'em up joy: you pick Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello or Raphael and fight through the streets of New York, burning buildings and sewers against endless waves of Foot Clan soldiers, all the way to bosses like Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and, of course, Shredder. The character animations faithfully follow the cartoon series of the time, the colours are fresh and the hits have punch. The key to the fun is two-player cooperation — beating up enemies together on one screen is pure nostalgia. Konami also added two exclusive levels and bosses to the NES version that were not in the arcade. Retro gamers remember this game fondly precisely for that perfect harmony of licence, controls and co-op fun — it is a textbook example of how to make a good game based on a series.