A history of Ninja Turtles fighting games and their love the obscured and unwanted characters.

Alot of Ninja Turtles material been out lately with the Mutant Mayhem game that's based on the IDW comics and the new Out of the Shadows movie that finally stars the fan favorites from the classic cartoon.

Over the years, Ninja Turtles had video games over the years. Most of them are classic beat' em ups. There were several fighting games over the years. I have notice that these games have a weird love for obscured or unwanted characters.

In 1993, Konami released three different fighting Turtles games on three different consoles. I going to start on the best game, the SNES version.

The game has the four Turtles, Shredder, and Ratking.

Yeah, they now have the ability to throw fireballs. Oh and Ratking is a heavy-weight wrestler.

Now here's the other characters.

This is Armaggon, a time traveling shark from the Archie comics. Your average fan wouldn't know this guy unless they had the certain set of comics that he starred in. He didn't make an appearance on TV/Movies till 20 years later in the recent show.

The alien bat, Wingnut. He's usually seen with Screwloose but his sidekick isn't in the game. Wingnut was a villain of the week in one episode. In the Archie comics, he was a recurring character that causes mischief. He is somewhat little more known than Armaggon.

The robot warrior, Chrome Dome.

He only appeared in two episodes. One was a night time special.

The evil demon, War.

He only appeared in a three issue crossover between TMNT and the Mutanimals. He was one of the four horseman. It's bad enough your obscured due to being a comic-only character but being part of a spinoff raises your obscureness.

The female ninja, Aska. Unlike the others, she's an original character. Well actually, she was meant to be an existing character.

Originally, she was Mitsu. The girl that Mikey had a crush on in the 3rd movie. A very odd choice to make a playable character. She wasn't a fan favorite like Tatsu, Tokka, or Razhar from the movie series.  The game changed it and Aska was made. She is way different than this movie character.

The final boss is Karai. Unless your only familiar with the original cartoon and movies, she isn't quite obscure in today's world. She appeared both the 2003 and 2012 shows as well as the 2007 film and recent movies as the Shredder's 2nd in command or his adopted daughter.

However, back in 1993. She wasn't in the cartoon or any of the Archie comics. She was in the Mirage comics. This was a comic made for grown ups and most kids wouldn't see this comics on the usual shelves they are looking for.

She was different from her other incarnations. She was more like Shredder's equal or superior and she was old enough to have a daughter. Doesn't sound like a young woman who serves under the Shredder. The fact the video game made a big deal out of her as the final boss shows it was more based on the Mirage comics at the time.

Now on to the NES version of Tournament Fighters.

 It's not as fun as the SNES version. The characters are the four Turtles, Casey Jones, Shredder, and Hothead.

The character on the left is Hothead, also known as Dragon Warrior. He appeared in several comics as the Turtles ally. He was a fireman that got a dragon spirit that helps him transform.

If you were in charge of making a TMNT fighting game and only had seven character slots, who would you use in the final slot? A lesser known character or and more well known one? 

Now on to the Genesis version. This game is a broken mess and you can't beat single player unless you cheat.

 Characters are the four Turtles, Casey, April(who now somehow piledrives people), Man Ray, and Sisyphus.

Man Ray was one of the turtles mutant allies in the comics who later got part of a team that had it's own spinoff.

Sisyphus is an original character. He is..umm..He's the Turtles ally and that's it. Aska at lease has a story that she wants to help her dojo.

That's it on the Tournament Fighters Trilogy. On on to Mutant Melee, a 3D fighting game based on the 1st two seasons of the 2003 series..

The characters are the Turtles, April, Casey, Shredder, Hun(Shredder's muscle man), and Traximus(a gladiator Triceraton). Those are the characters that would be excepted.

There is also a generic Foot Ninja. That be like playing an generic Stormtrooper and no, TR-8R don't count.

Here's more entries. Winter Outfit April, Winter Outfit Casey, Summer Outfit April (Quit Drooling Guys), Summer Outfit Casey (Quit Drooling Girls), Oroku Saki (Shredder unmasked), Teen Hun, Foot Tech Ninja (Foot with stealth tech), and Large Foot Ninja (Basically a ninja with a bouncer-like body).

These are not alternate costumes, they're character slots.

Oh and there's Gold Armor Shredder. However there was never a time in the 1st 2 seasons Shredder had Gold Armor. Basically this game is reminding me of the recent Mario Kart games. The closest we ever got to a gold armor Shredder was a member of the Ninja Tribunal that wore similar armor but they weren't seen till season 5.

There are two more characters and they are really really obscure. One guy is Sleeg, he was a alien that gave a tour of Triceraton prison's cafeteria for a few minutes in one episode. He's very forgettable and the only reason I remember him is the odd inclusion of him in the game.

The other obscure character is Monster. He was a from a horror movie Mikey was watching at a beginning of a episode for a few seconds. Weird choice to have a character from a fictional show within TMNT that you barely saw a little more than Baxter in the 2014 movie.

Now let's talk about TMNT Smash Up. The gameplay is based on Smash Bros. The game was made to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the franchise. Like SNES Tournament Fighters, it's not based on one particular version of Ninja Turtles but a mix.

The characters are the Turtles, Splinter, Casey, April, Karai, and *sigh* generic Foot Ninja. They have their 2007 movie designs but have their 2003 series voices.

Unlike Mutant Melee, this game knows the difference between alternate costumes and selectable characters. Leo got a ninja outfit from that one episode he help Usagi in his homeworld. Don got his cyber outfit from the Back to the Sewers season. Mikey got a hip hop costume. Raph got a music punk outfit which is based on some cancelled Music Turtles toyline. Splinter got blue robes. Casey got his Back to the Sewers season appearance. April got her 2003 series appearance. Karai got a Gold Amazon Karai Bot from season 3. Foot Ninja got the Cyber Foot from Back to the Sewers season.

Shredder from the 2003 series is also in the game with his digital clone, Cyber Shredder from Back to the Sewers as an alternate costume.

Other playable characters is The Fugitoid, the Turtles' helpful peaceful cyborg friend.  Nightwatcher, Raph's alter ego from the 2007 movie who has a completely different moveset.

Now here is the characters no one really really wanted. 1st is the Utrominator. The developers say he is the game's version of Krang. Are you kidding me? Nobody wants to play a lame knockoff of Krang.

Well the Utrominator is sort of exist in TMNT. He was one of the utroms severing under the Shredder in the alternate timeline episode, Same As It Never Was. However, even he technically exists in TMNT, they made this character to be a knockoff of Krang.

Here's three others characters, Raving Rabbid, Splinter Rabbid(Dressed as the character from Splinter Cell), and Ninja Rabbid(Dressed like a Ninja Turtle). They are the mascots from gaming company's known as Ubisoft.

No Ninja Turtle fan wanted these guys.

That's all the characters, all 16 of them. Super Smash Bros Brawl had close to 40 which came out a few years before. Smash Up's gameplay got praised but what fans were greatly disappointed with the choice of characters. Nearly all the characters were from either the 2003 series or the 2007 movie with Back of the Sewers alternate costumes which was the most reason season at the time. Don't be looking for fan favorites from the old classic cartoon. The only connection to that series is a level with the Technodrome in the background, but that needs a cheat code to unlock.

The game is suppose to be a celebration of the 25 years of Ninja Turtles, yet it ignores the most popular version of them all. Even the title of the game was based on the classic cartoon's logo.

 If it wanted to be an 2003 series only game, that be find but I would be complaining why those Rabbids took over spots for Hun, Bishop, or Baxter. If the SNES game was an anniversary special, did a better job of picking characters from different parts of the TMNT franchise.

Will we see anymore TMNT fighting games in the future? Who knows but it wouldn't surprise me on the odd choice of characters.

Gaming Reviews: Final Fantasy 5 PS1 version

I have talked about the PS1 version's CGI opening and ending. If you haven't seen it, well click this link.
http://chrisnumber1.blogspot.com/2016/03/gaming-reviews-final-fantasy-5-fmv.html

(I'm going to copy and paste the opening paragraphs I said in the FF5 FMV review)

In the year 1999, Final Fantasy 5 and 6 were re-release for the PS1. FF6 was called 3 when it came to America in 1994. FF5 on the other hand, was never released. There were attempts, due to the complex job system and higher difficulty, they plan to call it Final Fantasy Extreme. The early 90s was a time where Squaresoft didn't think we could handle the complex nature of RPGs, so they made Mystic Quest, and remove some battle options in FF4(or 2 as it was originally released.)

There is a fan-translation made on the internet but not everyone uses the internet. The 1st time FF5 was finally released officially was in the Anthology compilation set for PS1.

Like the PS1 version of FF6, FF5 has terrible loading times. You have to wait 5 long seconds for the battle screen to load. All the other versions take at least a second to load the battle screen.

The other is the very bland and lifeless translation.  I recommend playing the GBA version because the people who translated the game took the the time to make the dialog joyful, humorous, and full of life.

FF5 was a lighthearted game. The GBA version acknowledges the nature of the game and doesn't take itself seriously. The PS1 version is just bland and the FMVs really take themselves seriously. After the post-apocalyptic 6, cyberpunk 7, and realistic looking 8, the audience probably didn't except a cheerful silly game and it didn't help our very 1st experience with this was this crappy port with this lifeless translation.

I admit I didn't like the game at the time when the PS1 port came out. Bartz was a generic hero type(or silent loner if you go by the FMV).

"Not interested..or whatever."-Bartz mocking Cloud from FF7
"C'mon Squall, perk up." Bartz to Squall from FF8
Seriously, does this guy sound like the silent loner type?


The main villain, Exdeath was this generic villain. I always called him a lame Goblez wannabe since he came afthler this heavily armored man.

This was long before FF villains being pretty boys was the norm.

My opinion towards them has greatly over the years with the newer translation and the fighting game spinoff,  Dissidia.

Nowdays when I think of Bartz, he's a careless goofball.

Exdeath is this hilarious villain. He started out as an evil tree that came to life. 90% of his dialogue in Dissidia him saying "The Void..Void..Void". His dialogue is hammed up to the extreme, like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. One of the official concept art has him laying back, holding a mixed drink in his hand like a pimp.

Even the taste of this drink is nothing compare to The Void!!!

His greatest nemesis is a talking turtle.  A talking turtle that he and Exdeath fight DBZ style. Seriously, how can you not like Exdeath.

Speaking about the talking turtle, Guido is one of the greatest things that came out of the GBA version. In the PS1 version, he was a generic old wise sage(that happens to be a talking turtle), in the GBA version, he's a funny smart-alec wise sage.


Guido: "Elementary, my dear Bartz; the legendary weapons used to defeat the warlock Enuo a thousand years ago!"

Bartz: "Legendary weapons?"

Guido: "Sometimes I wonder if you things like this to spite me... Yes, the twelve legendary wapons. They are weapons. They are legendary. There are even twelve of them."

Faris had a stereotypical pirate accent in the PS1 version. I swear, even during serious moments, it was hard to take Faris seriously with her way of talking. Thankfully they fixed it.

Several monsters got the worse names. Karlabos was called Karl Boss, Tonberry was called Dinglberry, and Wyvern was called Y Burn.

There are other changes to the characters, like how Galuf is more funny or how Gilgamesh who was already cool went up the awesome meter in the improved translation.

Playstation Network has FF5 but it's the PS1 version, don't get it. The game also been released on IOS phones and Steam. It has the GBA translation. The sprites been redrawn. They sometimes got complaints like how they're stuck in angry eyebrow mode.

My 1st exposure to FF5 wasn't great. I thought the job system was great but I didn't cared for the characters at the time and it was very annoying to wait a long time for the game to load up a screen. It's obvious which version of FF5 not to get.

Fun Fact, this is the game manual. Warning there will be spoilers. Skip if you don't want to be spoiled.

Back in the day, the internet was young and there wasn't much you can find on FF5. You had better luck looking up 4 and 5. Looking at the manual's cover, you can see the gang on the airship with Bartz, Lenna, Faris, and...this blond girl that sometimes flashes in Galuf's head while he's trying to deal with his amnesia. Where is Galuf.

I wonder if Galuf was going to died and this girl will take his place halfway in the game. Turns out I'm was right.

Gaming Reviews: Transformers PS2

I just beat Transformers Devastation a few days ago and it was a pretty good game. It was epic to unleash kung-fu skills on Devastator and Menasor while they throw drills and lightning at me.

In recent years, we got a flood of movie tie-in games as well the High Moon Studios games, War For Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron. However, there was one good Transformers game that gets overlooked. The game is simply called Transformers. That simple title will cause some confusion. When 1st live-action movie was having video game tie-ins, it was simply called, Transformers: The Game. With that game being on multiple platforms like the PS2, people will accidentally ask questions on the wrong game board. They should called the other game, Transformers Armada: The Game.


The game is loosely based on the 2002 incarnation of Transformers, called Armada.

Armada is not a show I would highly recommend. The 1st 12 or so episodes were simply Mini-con of the week as the very annoying human kids have more screentime than the actual Transformers. The movies at lease have the excuse that the CGI on the Transformers is expensive and have to cut down due to budget cuts. Also Sam is at lease more smarter and more helpful than most of the brats from Armada. (Can't believe I'm praising Sam) Also the English version of this show was rushed before the Japanese version even finished, meaning the dialogue won't make sense and the animation was incomplete. Good news is after 12 long years, the show finally got subtitled by fans.

The show wasn't all that bad because the later half did move away from the kids and the Mini-con of the week episodes and actually focus on the Transformers. The later half had interesting characters, plot twists, and other cool stuff. Too bad the sequel, Transformers: Energon was a slap in the face to Armada and consider the worst Transformers show ever made.

The plot of the game is loosely based on the show. It's basically the bare-bones version. Go to Earth to collect Mini-cons, fight Decepticons, return to Cybertron to stop Unicron. That's it. No storylines of Starscream, Thrust, or Sideways changing sides or learning that the Mini-cons are Unicron's spawn.

The game has some of the best PS2 graphics there are. You have a vast variety of levels to explore the lush forests of the Amazon, the frozen wilderness of Antarctica, the tropical islands in the Pacific, or exploring the inside of the Decepticon warship.

The game is a third-person shooter. Your goal to search the open levels to find Mini-cons.

The Mini-cons will grant you abilities like certain weapons and defenses for you to customized. With the best Mini-con team you made, you can hunt down the bosses of each level.

The boss fights are epic. Even the music tracks for the bosses are epic.

• You get Cyclonus fighting you at an Amazon pyramid.
  
• Fighting Megatron in a volcano as he does a 100-foot suplex on you. 
  
• Avoiding Starscream's sword slashes in the Antarctic near a research facility.
  

I was having flashbacks of this boss fight when I saw that one episode of Transformers Prime where Starscream stole the Apex Armor at a Antarctic research facility.

• Fighting a gigantic aircraft carrier known as Tidal Wave. Before the days of unloading ammo into Trypticon's weak spots, or dodging and counterattacking Devestator's punches, there was this colossus.

• Armed with mythical weapons to confront the planet destroying entity, Unicron.

One problem of the game is the small selection of characters, you got only three characters which are and Red Alert, Optimus, and Hot Shot.

It would be cool to play as Scavenger as he smashing his fist into Decepticons or Blurr aiming his guns at them. However, I can see some problems, Jetfire transforms into a space shuttle and at one point in the game, you get a glider to help you explore areas in different levels meaning that Jetfire's flying skills will defeat the purpose of having a glider.

You can also search for Data-cons which is storage devices hidden throughout the levels. Finding them would unlock content in the extras section in the main menu of the game. They contain the game's soundtrack, artwork, pictures of toys.

The extras also have development art which features some content that was cut from the game. One of them had a boss fight with Demolishor and another was fighting Tidal Wave's personal Mini-con.

The extras also have PSAs from the G1 cartoon. Cheesy way to teach kids right and wrong. Seems weird that the kids in the videos know the exact name of each Autobot. Would the kids in your town know the exact name of each officer of the law in your city/town/etc.
Since we're in the age of youtube, here's a link to the playlist if you want to see them.

Garry Chalk and David Kaye from the Armada cartoon reprises their roles as Optimus and Megatron. Everyone else is played by a different actor. The voice of Red Alert is played by Daran Norris who will one day play Knockout from Transformers Prime. Most of the voices pretty much fit the characters they are playing but one character that doesn't fit is Cyclonus. Thankfully, he only has one line in the entire game.

If I have another small problem with this game, it's the references. They come from only the 1986 animated movie and nothing else. Like Optimus and Megatron will steal lines from that movie to do their banter or when Unicron is getting destroyed, he says the same exact thing as he did in the movie before he blows up. There's three and half seasons of G1 material as well as comics to make references from beside the movie. Heck, the game is based on Armada, not G1. There are no references made from the show.

You could say this is one of the best anime games of all time. I remember long ago there was a site asking about best anime game. I posted my answer which is this video game. My answer blew everyone's mind because it is true, it's technically based on an anime(The show is from Japan after all). The game doesn't look anything anime-ish and the show's fanbase is mostly composed of G1 and Beast Wars fans, not your average anime geeks. This game wouldn't be the 1st thing that would come to anime geek's head.

Also, you could say it's better than the show since it doesn't have the annoying kids, incomplete animation, bad dubbing, etc.

Bottom line, this is a very fun 3rd person shooter with cool environments with Mini-cons you customize and have epic bosses. Sadly, the game gets overshadowed and looked down because it's not G1. I seen people who make dumb excuses that the bland-looking, repetitive gameplay, bad voice acting game known as Transformers: Tataki, is a better game. Just simply because it's G1. *rolleyes*