Matt's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Tournament Fighters Retrospective 

Apparently Aska was gonna be Mitsu from the TMNT 3 movie, but it was changed at the last second because....well, the TMNT 3 movie happened.

1992’s “The Art of Fighting” had a “spirit gauge”, which would do a number of things once full such as making fireballs stronger, but you could also spend some of the sprit gauge to use a super move. So that would be the first fighting game with a super meter.

Sisyphus is a weird choice, but the fact that he's a dung beetle (which roll balls of poop) and is named after a Greek figure who was sentenced to push a boulder for eternity, is hilarious.

After seeing the Turtles in Injustice, it's clear WE NEED A NEW TMNT TOURNAMENT FIGHTERS FOR CURRENT GEN.

I love how this game mashed up the different iterations of TMNT and used some lesser-known Archie and Mirage characters. Karai was a virtual unknown to most fans in 93, and it wasn't until the 2003 series and onwards she became a regular fixture. Thanks for the great retrospective!

Art of Fighting actually introduced a special/super meter and desperation move. September 1992 was the release date.

I still have the NES version, box and all. Worth a mint because it’s rare. I stand by the fact that the game is a solid tournament fighter for what the NES was capable of.

Love your retrospectives and this is another great one. As for your question about the first Super Meter I believe the first game to use one was Art of Fighting in 92, although it did look much rougher than this.

That classic Konami Intro never gets old

I was about to say a Remix of TMNT Tournament Fighters of all 3 versions would be nice. Like all the fighters and stages from the Genesis and Snes ports with a dash of the Nes mechanic with the Orb ball thing.

The SNES version of TMNT tournament fighters is the best version of the game hands down.

I loved the attitude of this game. I guess they were going for that teenager demographic because these turls were fierce and the music gave the sense of urgency and seriousness. Seeing Shredder fighting Leonardo at 14:30 is what Im talking about. They look like they are actually fighting; Like shredder is actually trying to BEAT. HIS. A$$ haha.

Speaking of over saturation. Let's not forget the "Coming Out of Our Shell Tour". Even as a Turtle fan in the 80s, by this time, I knew this was too much. Yeesh

i really like the NES tournament fighters, it's not like a traditional fighting game at all, it's a simple fighter but very addicting

I got this for the SNES back in the day and used to break my friends' wills to live with Wingnut.

What a great episode! I had the Genesis version. My god that game was difficult for my child brain back then. Still a lot of fun and that muffled KO voice from the turtles has echoed in my brain for as long as I can remember. SHELL SHOCK... :(

Back in these days konami gave us some real bangers

I still have this game for my sega genesis. This and the hyperstone heist are legit

Aska was actually going to be Mitsu from TMNT 3. You can find this out by the prototype of the game. I believe she was changed into Aska due to TMNT 3 doing poorly.

I wish they had released a fourth version for Game Boy, simply so all four turtles could be on the cover. Edit: I swear you guys, I posted this comment before I heard Matt say the exact same thing in the video. I promise with all my promise monies.

Tmnt feels like a slam dunk for franchise to be a fighting game, with all the mutants characters. And nice with Asuka :eyes:

TMNT Tournament Fighters on SNES is the REAL version imo, the Sega Genesis & NES are just cheap knock offs for the lesser systems. The SNES version is a true gem! One of the best Ninja Turtles game AND one of the best fighting games of the 90s. on par with Street Fighter, better imo

I remember playing random emulated games on my computer and when i found all three games being a huge turtles fan i loved every single one of these games they were awesome also seeing armaggon for the first time on game just for him to be rebooted in the 2012 tmnt universe was a TREAT

"right off Casey's bat" nice. I also would have accepted 'right off the Jose Canseco bat'.

TMNT x Justice League Link: t.co/Td4SwHwEhw?amp=1 TMNTTF Twitter: twitter.com/TMNT_TF

Wow, that I'd never seen the NES port... that looks amazing for the console... looks more like a modern 'throwback' indie game than an actual game that launched on the system.

I loved the SNES version as a kid. But TMNT is seriously one of my favorite things in life - still like 30 years later.

I really enjoyed this video. I loved the Mega Drive version, but it was just a weekend rental with some friends back in the day. I'm shocked there were two other version and I never heard about them.

As someone who only played the SNES version growing up, I was wondering if I was some Mandela effect victim during the opening summary for the Genesis version. Never knew the two ports were significantly different

Honestly, I think we're overdue for a new TMNT fighting game. Beat em Ups are nice and all, but Tournament Fighters and Injustice have shown there's a lot of untapped potential in having a fighting game set in the Turtle-verse.

13:03 Art of Fighting was the very first. It's from 1992

I would love to see you do a retrospective on the Mecha Fighting games that Bandai Made "Power Ragners : Fighting Edition" and "Gundam Wing: Endless Duel"

I love the Third Strike gag. Never stop using it!

I had the SNES version as a kid. I was bummed out because i thought it would be like turtles in time instead of a fighting game. Still had some great times with this game playing with my friends and drawing the instrunction booklet art, never could beat Karai though.

I remember being a kid and seeing the SNES version being played at a Blockbuster gaming tournament. Blew my lil genesis fanboy mind, started saving that summer for an SNES.

"Did Ninja Turtles have the first Smash Ball?!?"

The NES version has the best soundtrack I have ever heard in a game, period.

The time is so ripe to bring this game back into the spot light with a modern update. Power Rangers BftG has freaking Street Fighter characters crossing over into it, the nostalgia hype is REAL.

It's obvious that the sound, entirely, was done the way it was as to simulate the sound you got from arcade cabinet speakers. As an arcade junkie kid, this clicked immediately. Cabinet speakers/sounds were often they way they were to stand out via loudness and aggressiveness to grab attention among the mass of other titles in the gallery.

One of the main changes I noticed is in the North America release is, Aska's jiggle physics were censored out meaning they had to give her a different win pose and in the Super Famicom version her shorts were way shorter meaning that also had to be "Fixed" for the North American release of the game, and the Monicure change is just Konami, being Konami.

I love SNES tf. Thanks for this. I didn’t even know of the other two versions!

I would love to see an episode like this about World Heroes from SNK. It's one of those fighting games that I fell in love with as a kid because I was obsessed with anything remotely like Street Fighter. I realize it's not as good as I remember it but I still think it's pretty decent.

The SNES Soundtrack is amazing. It’s not the best fighting game but I still love it.

Tournamnet Fighters on the SNES was legendary. I remembr playing this game before I knew how to read so I didnt know what was going on, BUT IT DIDINT MATTER. The thing I love about this game is how serious this game was. They're not smiling and fighting, they were tough. The fights were serious, as a fighting game should be. The music was beautiful. In fact Imma look up the ost right now!

As a collector of game boy fighting games I would have LOVED a game boy port of this. 🤩 Yeah I have weird tastes. 🤣

I’m not saying this is a 10/10 game, but it’s crazy how many people dismiss it as “just some cheap Street Fighter clone”. This game is awesome, way better than it’s reputation. An underrated gem for sure.

Brother, you are truly talented at what you do. Your retrospectives, flophouse files and what happened are highlights of my day when new ones drop. Thank you for this awesome content.

Thank you for giving the SNES version its due. Was absolutely one of my favorites. Raphael's spin attack into the German suplex combo was the ultimate cheese against karai

So all these games are getting rereleased on all current systems along with the tmnt arcade games with online play! Here’s hoping the online is rollback for TMNT Tournament Fighters!

13:35 I used to main Wingnut when I rented/played this. I would use him to blaze through the roster to Rat King, then deliberately lose to change characters and see a different ending. One time I was toying with Rat King and used my super move, only to land that same 100% combo and knock him out, turning my run into a waste of time.

This was one of my favorite games on the system. The cafeteria music, my god the memories

I miss the days when two ports could be entirely different games

So excited for more people to give this a watch thanks to the Cowabunga Collection, thank again Matt for everything you've done to help spread the word of Tournament Fighters!

Yeeeeaaaahhh!!! I love it when you do TMNT content!! I owe a lot of my turtle love to you!!

The character select theme from TF on SNES is my ring tone.

I was the perfect age when this came out, so it and Mortal Kombat were the two games that got the most playtime on my SNES for about a year or so. I had hundreds of TMNT figures, but was just starting to "outgrow" them (I still kept collecting them, but felt too old to play with them anymore), so this game for me was the perfect thing at just the right time.

I LOVE how your game play is with highly skilled players, i dont know if its you but i play genesis, and i saw a raph psycho crusher in to air move on the way down. my boy!

There are rumors that Aska was meant to be the village warrior character from the third live action movie.

After their appearance in IJ2, I’ve been praying for a Netherrealm reboot for a long time. There are so many good characters they could use.

Great video, the SNES version of this game is still awesome to play even today, this game, MMPR The Fighting Edition & Gundam Wing Endless Duel are 3 of the best 'underrated' fighting games on the SNES imo. :)

Now I want Max to do a boss rage and aim for Karai! XD

I didn't even notice the kids in the arcade scene of TMNT 1 were playing Double Dribble & Blades of Steel!! 🤣

Killer episode. Love your content. Thank you for for putting out such entertaining videos.

Great retrospective. Would be very interested in other retrospective videos .

I actually owned that TMNT Archie comic featuring Hothead that Matt showed. Hell, I also had the figure too. He had a retractable neck feature so he could fit in the packaging.

This was where it all began for me. I was absolutely obsessed with this game.

The music still hot to me,snes had a sony sound chip which allowed it have great sounds,this a great game,mikes special finisher is awesome

Cant believe konami will finally release this game for ps5, xbox x and nintendo switch

I grew up with the Genesis version, but I knew of, and always wanted to play the other two versions as well. I know the Genesis one is considered the worst, but it captured my imagination with it's unusually dark tone, sometimes haunting music and stage art, and the fact that a normal, human martial artist was more powerful than Krang's android body or a Triceraton warrior. That was just so cool to me! It also blows my mind that these games may have invented stage transitions and instant replays in fighters. And hey, since the Cowabunga Collection is hitting every platform this year, I'll finally get to play all of 'em :D

I remember the NES version. Their Shredder is broken to use. He has an multi punch move I like to abuse that can easily beat other characters.

You'll be surprised how tight and fluid TMNT TF in NES, lack of rosters and lack of depth make it less interesting, other than that, control, pixel, and music are awesome 😁👍

On my old Wii I remember owning TMNT smash up, the TMNT smash bros clone. Was a good game

Something tells me this video is about to get a LOT more views after the announcement of The Cowabunga Collection.

Samurai Shodown (July 7 1993) has a super meter and came out a few months prior to TNMT fighters (Sept 4 1993). I think? (I think Art of Fighting has had a super bar under it's heath bar and that's older than Sam Sho.)

I would love to see a retrospective on the WWF’s attempt to join the 90’s fighting game market via WrestleMania the Arcade game and its home console exclusive follow-up, In Your House.

Saludos desde Venezuela men aquí hay una liga pequeña que juega muy bien TMNT fighter lastima que nunca sacaron una segunda parte de la revisión de snes que fue la mejor ❤️ siempre se sube videos a RU-vid de las peleas 😂

I have this game physically, nice to see someone talk about it

Man, I can't believe I live in a timeline where all 3 versions of this game are gonna get rereleased in the same collection

I absolutely loved and still love this game on SNES! I think I regard it as a much better game than most, but oh well. Great memories of playing it with friends as a kid on Friday nights.

I still have the cart, and it's easily one of the best fighting games on the SNES. MAN I LOVE THIS GAME!

@19:56 - 🦟 Doc Stockman seems a bit too excited❣️

I just want to say that i still genuinely appreciated the TMNT inclusion in Injustice 2. it was such a perfect representation.

yeah, the NES can do the floor scrolling by detecting each horizontal line being drawn on the screen and doing some scrolling code between each horizontal line. Its how the mist in the Mad Forest level of Castlevania III works

I had the SNES game back in the day, always used Donatello with his bo spin attack beat the whole game with it. Still love it

When it comes to the super bar 'challenge' Art of Fighting by SNK. September 24 1992.

I was aware of the TMNT CE and it's great so far. Guess there's a more advanced iteration of that in the works? This video led me down a rabbit hole, I didn't know TMNT x JL existed. Glad I do now, very cool Mugen project.

"Why don't you just team up and beat the shit out of the Shredder?" To which the film exec says, "Because then we wouldn't have a movie!" Ironic, though, cause that's exactly how they beat Shedder in Issue 1, the 2003 series, and I think the 2012 series as well.

I have conflicted memories of this game. I love this game sooo much but it was the last game my dad bought for me before he unfortunately passed away. This for SNES and Streets of Rage 2 are all I wanted to play after I heard the unfortunate news.

And a hearty "Frere Jacques" to you too, Matt!

did some research turns out the super meter mechanic was introduced or first used in Samurai Shodown (July 7th 1993.) before TMNT Tournament Fighters (Sep 4 1993). Pretty close in releases, but Samsho was first.

i was such a fan of this game growing up

the mmpr zord fighting game is fire!

Really enjoy hearing clips of Rob Paulsen as Raph :)

Damn, now I wanna hear the SNES OST, it really was great! I really liked the sound mixing of that game, had a lot of "omph".

This was great work!

I would love a fighting game theater for Street Fighter ex plus alpha endings, they’re all so questionable, they make Tekken 1/2 endings look Oscar worthy

Yeah, Art of Fighting came out in 1992 and that game has super meters.

I believe Samurai Shodown had the rage meter in July of '93.

Ah yes, the SNES version consumed many a weekend when I was a kid, playing it with my sister. (She'd kick my ass when ever she played Aska... But I still had fun.)

Great video. Lot of info I didn't know.