Picture the scene: you’re wandering the arcades in the early 90s, and you wander past a few machines. As you watch the attract screen, a catchy title track blares over a colourful sequence of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles living their lives before taking to the streets of New York to deliver street justice to the villainous Foot Clan. Slapping your quarters down with your friends, you play a round of this slick new beat-em-up, probably having a blast. This was the experience for many when Turtles in Time dropped back in 1991. It’s also the basis for just about every beat-em-up you can play to this day.
The scene above is not something I ever personally experienced, mind you. My formative years were spent on early PCs playing strategy games, rather than in the arcades, and the few places I did occasionally visit lacked a Turtles in Time cabinet. I didn’t possess any of the consoles that the game was ported to. It was kind of a revelation, then, to jump into the Cowabunga Collection and witness just how impressive Turtles in Time remains to this day. There’s few games out there that we can point to as codifying many of the tenets of a game genre; fewer still are actively enjoyable to play in the modern era. It looks and sounds fantastic, plays really well, and perfectly captures the vibe of TMNT hype that was in full swing at the time of the game’s launch.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time is still a pleasure to play. It’s just as much a pleasure to talk about! Konami’s 1991 arcade classic is the topic of the Skydive podcast for August 2025. The editing team of Skybox joins me for a round table discussion where we deep dive into one of the best beat-em-ups ever made, going through it point by point and talking about what makes the second arcade outing of the half-shelled heroes so impressive. We even dig into the nuances and curiosities about its two relevant console ports as an added bonus! Here’s a brief introduction from the rest of the Skydive quartet:
Brian: In my time as a critic, I’ve reviewed TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and Streets of Rage 4 (two games I adore), as well as some of the recent Double Dragon games, but my first arcade beat-em-up experience was with X-Men. I didn’t come to TMNT until much later, when I played the first arcade game at a barcade near my house. My three friends and I played the whole game, start to finish, in a single sitting while eating greasy bar food, drinking beer, and laughing at how silly and fun it was. Coming to Turtles In Time now for Skydive feels like bringing things full circle for me, in several ways, so I’m glad we could record this one for you. Enjoy.
Lucas: As I state in the show, Turtles in Time is kind of a big deal because it’s the first video game I can remember sitting down in front of, ever. The SNES version is burned into my brain after I sought it out when I finally had a console of my own at home, and played it over and over again. But nostalgia poisoning aside, this really is an exemplary beat-’em-up, and having the opportunity to dive into it and find the words for why was a treat. Enjoy the episode, folks!
Will: Turtles in Time was foundational for me. Along with the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and 1992’s X-men, it was one of the games that munched so many of my quarters during my time in the arcades I grew up in. But it’s foundational for the beat ‘em up genre, too. You can’t play anything released after it and not see Turtles in Time’s influence. What’s fascinating about it is how different the home and arcade releases are, and how there’s no definitive version. It’s a game I go back to a lot, a lazy Sunday game my wife and I like to play on our Super Famicom (and now in The Cowabunga Collection). For this episode, I tried to come into it with fresh eyes and see if it holds up outside of the rose-tinted glasses, removed from memories of playing it with people close to me. Getting to play it with the Skybox crew was a treat, and it helped solidify how I feel about it. If you haven’t played Turtles in Time, I really encourage you to check it out before you listen to this episode. I hope you enjoy it.
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