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TMNT Turtles in Time: Better on Arcade or SNES? (hint: It's SNES)

C

chaobreaker

Member
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This thread on home console ports that are better than the arcade game had some GAFers argue over whether TMNT Turtles in Time was better in the arcade or on the SNES. I feel that people have their tastes when it comes to good beat-em-up fun but let's be real: the SNES version is the superior game by a huge margin.

Things the SNES version had:


  1. Better gameplay and Controls. Arcade version's controls felt less tight and the hitboxes were sketcky as heck. Probably was like that to suck up more quarters out of inexperienced players.
  2. The music was overall much better on the SNES soundchip versus whatever they had on the arcade. Latter just sounded like synthy trash you hear on early CD based consoles. Just compare Big Apple on Arcade and then on SNES. At least the Arcade version has a low bitrate 30 second excerpt of Pizza Power, right?
  3. More level variety. Let's be honest: Sewer Surfin and Neon Night Riders was never all that great on the Arcade. Their SNES incarnations are a nice short break from the carnage between normal levels and SNES Sewer Surfin' ended with a Rat King fight compared to nothing on the arcade. Mode 7 shits on autoscroll any day of the week.
  4. More levels. SNES had a whole extra Technodrome level with a sick first person boss fight.
  5. Even more content. Versus Mode and Time Trials, anyone? Not many beat-em-ups even had stuff like that back in the day. Prehistoric Turtlesauras had Slash instead of Cement Man which was obviously a much better choice. SNES version also added a Bebop and Rocksteady boss battle. How were they not in the Arcade version in the first place? Finally, you had the option to give the individual Turtles unique skin colours.

Arcade version had:


  1. Better graphics. Higher res sprites and more frames of animation don''t make or break the quality of a solid beat-em-up, especially one of the caliber like SNES Turtles in Time.
  2. More voices acting. Way too many if you ask me. The voice acting is like X-MEN WELCOME TO DIE but even worse. None of the characters are voiced by their cartoon VAs either. What a disappointment.
  3. 4 player mode. Literally the only thing going for the arcade version and it had to be on the inferior playing version.
 
L

LakeEarth

Member
I agree with the OP. The SNES version just "feels" better, more responsive. The only plus the arcade has that matters is the 4-player.

kitsuneyo said:
I'll tell you which was the worst version. That crappy HD remake from Ubisoft or whoever it was.
Click to expand...

Agreed, huge disappointment. I have no idea why, if they were going to bother to remake it from the ground up, that they didn't use the SNES version as a base.

If it was a direct port, I'd understand, but it wasn't.
 
H

hushlorentz

Member
Agree with this. I bought the remaster blindly from PSN when it came out and was disappointed by how few levels it had. I was remembering the SNES version when purchasing, no the arcade version.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
The SNES version, and I played both extensively.

I do love the sweet graphics of the arcade, though. Plus 4 player madness.

I think I prefer the original arcade game overall. And the NES port was amazing for the NES.
 
R

Ryde3

Member
I played the shit out of the SNES version, and was really let down when I found out the XBLA version was based on the Arcade version (I was unaware of the differences at the time.)
 
Neff

Neff

Member
The arcade version is great, but the SNES version made so many improvements to it that it takes the prize.

The first arcade game is better than both of them though.
 
Baleoce

Baleoce

Member
I enjoy both versions of the soundtrack if I'm honest (well, all 3 if you count Hyperstone Heist on the Mega Drive). I can just close my eyes and imagine Sewer Surfin echoing through a busy 90's arcade and kids nagging their parents for an extra 20p every 2 minutes (that was me btw). Love it.
 
Z

Zach

Member
SNES version is one of my favorite games of all time. I was soooo disappointed with the new remake thing on XBLA. D:
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
kitsuneyo said:
I'll tell you which was the worst version. That crappy HD remake from Ubisoft or whoever it was.
Click to expand...
Ugh what a dissapointment that was. It didn't play like Turtles in Time. It didn't look remotely like turtles in time. It didn't sound like turtles in time (it had different and worse music!) and it was based on the inferior Arcade version to boot.

I hated that remake with a passion which I also bought blindly out of love for Turtles in Time for SNES.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Neff said:
The arcade version is great, but the SNES version made so many improvements to it that it takes the prize.

The first arcade game is better than both of them though.
Click to expand...

What do you think of the NES port?

I really enjoyed. It was amazing given the hardware, plus two extra stages too.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
entremet said:
What do you think of the NES port?

I really enjoyed. It was amazing given the hardware, plus two extra stages too.
Click to expand...
I think I like even more the NES port of the original arcade game than the arcade one. More levels, manageable difficulty where pumping quarters wasn't the way to win, excellent music, etc. can't put my finger on what exactly makes me love the NES version more.
 
L

liquidtmd

Banned
The HD Remake had the potential to be absolutely amazing.

All the features and benefits of the SNES version amplified to the Arcade game level and then more. Wide-screen support. 1080p / 60. Redrawn sprites in the true spirit of the original. The same play mechanics. 4 player co-op. Extra levels. Extra modes.

Instead....what in the fucking fuckity fuck
 
C

Cyberman65

Member
HDL, a speedrunner of the arcade version wrote a Pastebin with his opinion on the SNES version being iffy with stuff I didn't know about.

I did grow up with both versions. Wish I still had my copy.
 
P

Peltz

Member
chaobreaker said:
[*]The music was overall much better on the SNES soundchip versus whatever they had on the arcade. Latter just sounded like synthy trash you hear on early CD based consoles. Just compare Big Apple on Arcade and then on SNES. At least the Arcade version has a low bitrate 30 second excerpt of Pizza Power, right?
Click to expand...

I cannot agree with you on this one. Yikes. The music in the SNES version is horrific.
 
G

Glowsquid

Member
By far the worst thing about the arcade version is that throwing and slamming Foot Troopers is completely random (or at least, the process for doing those attacks is so sloppy and obtuse nobody has really figured out how to do them consistently). People usually focus on the extra content of the SNES version but it's also a much better-playing game.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
liquidtmd said:
The HD Remake had the potential to be absolutely amazing.

All the features and benefits of the SNES version amplified to the Arcade game level and then more. Wide-screen support. 1080p / 60. Redrawn sprites in the true spirit of the original. The same play mechanics. 4 player co-op. Extra levels. Extra modes.

Instead....what in the fucking fuckity fuck
Click to expand...
Exactly. And my ambitions were even less than yours: all I wanted, bare minimum, was port me basically the SNES version but with 4 player support added. That was literally all it would take.

They fucked it all up at such a basic level it's not even funny.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
Man Puncher said:
Free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.
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Lol! Well I live in Mexico (but bought my games in Laredo TX) so even though my game came with that coupon I couldn't take advantage of it. So no, a free Pizza Hut didn't taint (bribe?) my love for that game :)

Of course TMNT3: The Manhattan Project wipes it's ass with TMNT2: The Arcade Game, but we all knew that already.

It's crazy when you realize in 1992 we got both TMNT3 on NES and TMNT4 on SNES. That would never happen nowadays.
 
S

Scavenger

Member
chaobreaker said:
The music was overall much better on the SNES soundchip versus whatever they had on the arcade. Latter just sounded like synthy trash you hear on early CD based consoles. Just compare Big Apple on Arcade and then on SNES. At least the Arcade version has a low bitrate 30 second excerpt of Pizza Power, right?
Click to expand...
lol no. The drums and percussion on the SNES soundtrack are very weak compared to the Arcade soundtrack.
 
Baleoce

Baleoce

Member
Peltz said:
I cannot agree with you on this one. Yikes. The music in the SNES version is horrific.
Click to expand...

Garlador said:
Hyperstone Heist had the best music.
Hperstone Heist OST

I was disappointed when I played the SNES and so many of these songs were either lacking or just didn't sound as good.

Hyperstone Heist tickled my ear holes something fierce.
Click to expand...

It's interesting to me, owning both systems and having played the arcade version as well back when I was little. I feel that all three versions of the soundtrack have something different to offer about them.

SNES OST has a really nice sound palette to it that's very different to the arcade game. But it ends up suiting the soundchip really well. That's why a lot of SNES goers swear by it. It makes really good use of the chip, and whilst not being an accurate sounding port, it was never going to be with the difference in hardware. In particular I think the beats and the hits are the most memorable things from this version. Personally I don't think much of the lead samples they use at all. Especially in the case of something like Sewer Surfin.

That's where I feel Hyperstone Heist is much stronger, and closer to the arcade version, most likely because its similar sound hardware I'm guessing. The synths are alot closer. I don't think the beats or hits have quite the same punch as the SNES version though. Which is a shame because that's pretty much what I remember the arcade game for.
 
Bog

Bog

Junior Ace
Finally got to play through the arcade game in an actual arcade a couple years ago. It's not even close. SNES all the way.
 
M

Moon_frogger

Member
The music being better is a matter of opinion but the audio in the arcade is definitely technically superior and I overall prefer the arrangements in it. The bass is far, far superior for example. The original mix is timeless where as the snes port is mired in that 90's boy band style synth that annoys me. I love the percussion arrangements on the snes version though. Some great drum fills in there for sure. I would have liked the SNES version better if it had 4 player. Overall it might control tighter than the arcade but nothing beats all 4 turtles on screen duking it out with the foot clan.
 
G

Garlador

Member
I beat the arcade with my brother.

Then playing the home version... got to Shredder again, and then...
anigif_original-12220-1393000298-7.gif


Super Shredder FTW. Console versions rocked.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
Garlador said:
I beat the arcade with my brother.

Then playing the home version... got to Shredder again, and then...
anigif_original-12220-1393000298-7.gif


Super Shredder FTW. Console versions rocked.
Click to expand...
Completely forgot about that change! That's right! Super Shredder on SNES slaps regular Arcade Shredder's face.
 
J

Jashobeam

Member
More content and better gameplay wins over slightly better graphics any day.

Kinda makes you think about all these remasters we get these days, they really need to add new compelling content and gameplay improvements instead of just a boost in graphics.
 
Z

Zee-Row

Banned
I was disappointed with Turtles in Time Snes version back when it was new. I paid $60 for the game and I beat it within a day on the hardest difficulty. No replay value at all and it was $60 wasted from mowing lawns.
 
E

El Pescado

Member
I feel like we just had this thread last week. SNES version all the way. I know a bunch of people were saying the arcade version was 4 player and had better graphics in the last thread, but the gameplay improvements alone make the SNES version better. The extra stages and new bosses are just the pepperoni on the pizza.

My only complaint about the SNES version has always been no voice samples for the bosses and the midi rendition of Pizza Power.

Zee-Row said:
I was disappointed with Turtles in Time Snes version back when it was new. I paid $60 for the game and I beat it within a day on the hardest difficulty. No replay value at all and it was $60 wasted from mowing lawns.
Click to expand...

I play the SNES version once or twice a year to this day. It's super replayable. Maybe I just feel that way because I grew up in an arcade on the boardwalk...
 
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