Pro Tip of the Day

Recently I came across an article titled: 'The 15 Most Annoying Levels In Video Game History', and right at the top of the list was the second half of the Dam Level (a.k.a the second half of Level 2) from the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. This level seems to come up a lot when people start talking about tough levels in games, but it's really not even all that hard as long as you remember to stay away from anything that's glowing. I've prepared a video walkthrough to illustrate.

Observe:

No, the Dam is child's play compared to Level 4, the JFK Airport. That level is an exercise in annoyance and difficulty, and one that we'll have to tackle another day.

In the NES Teenaga Mutant Ninja Turtles game, you occasionally come across some sub-weapons. Most of them aren't really that useful, except for the Boomerang. The Boomerang is useful because if you manage to catch them after they're thrown, then you can use them again.

You can also use this property to your advantage.

First, have a Turtle with Boomerangs throw a few.

Then, before they come back, switch Turtles and have someone else catch them.

You could even transfer all of them to another Turtle with this method if you wanted to.

Today we're going to take a look at one of the strategies for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Compute!'s Guide to Nintendo Games.

You start out the game in search of April O'Neal, who has been captured by Bebop and Rocksteady. On page 160 it says:

In the sewers, run Rocksteady into the far right wall. He can't turn around, and can be attacked from behind.

This is a little confusing to me since you don't run into Rocksteady in the sewers, you run into Bebop.

I ran him up against the right wall and he was able to turn around just fine. So on to Rocksteady, who's in a building near a sewer.

I ran him into the far right wall of his room also, and he was able to turn around with little effort.

So, it looks like this one is false.

Sorry, Steven.

When you're playing the Game Boy version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you'll occasionally run across a bonus game where you have to overcome a challenge in order to regain health. One of these games is a number-guessing game where you have to correctly identify a three-digit number in ten tries.

You do get some help, though. Splinter will give you feedback to try and steer you toward the correct number.

But, the hints don't really seem to be worth a whole lot, do they? I mean, I can't exactly put in a number that's smaller than 000. Turns out that he's telling you that the number that you put in is bigger or smaller than the one he's thinking of... which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But once you know how to actually play the thing, the game becomes quite winnable.