Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
Also known as: Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Turtles in Time (EU) Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Platform: Arcade (Custom) Released internationally: January 1992[1] This game has unused graphics. This game has unused sounds. This game has regional differences.

The second TMNT arcade beat 'em up. Shredder and Krang steal the Statue of Liberty (because they're evil and had nothing better to do), but before the green terrapin team can get it back, Shredder sends them back in time! Somehow. The story's not important, just beat everything up... if you can get around the wonky hit detection and a very unfair hidden five-minute timer on every stage!

Unused Graphics

Hidden in the standard explosion graphics are three names: Moriyama, Inafuku, and Kitai, the three artists who worked on the game.

A straight-on version of the pizza box power-ups.

Part of a mailbox object that could be launched at enemies, much like the traffic cones in Stage 1. This object can be viewed in-game by changing 106482 to 34, and 106483, 106484, & 106485 to 00. This will change the first object to the mailbox. The first frame of this object -- the intact, un-launched version -- no longer exists in the ROM. Its graphics were overwritten with the exploding barrel graphics.

A paper dispenser that would appear in Stage 2. Seems like it could be launched at enemies as well. Unlike the mailbox, there doesn't appear to be any code for this object left in the game.

This flag appears next to the Neon Night-Riders sign graphics and probably should have been used there.

This... this is found near the "Winners Don't Use Drugs" graphics.

A smaller Continue text with unique graphics, and unused number graphics. Given its placement in the ROM, these were intended to go in the players' HUD after running out of lives. In the actual game, there's no Continue countdown for players who lose all of their lives while one player is still alive, but such a feature was later added to the SNES port and in the Hyperstone Heist game (with neither having text that resembles these graphics).

These appear to be debug tiles that would display collision information for a stage's tiles. Some other symbols are in here as well.

A hexadecimal font that's found at the start of the Object graphics ROM.

Unused Sounds

ID	Sound	Transcript
B6		You are history, slimeballs!

This is the only boss quote that's never used. Interestingly, this is Slash's quote in the SNES port!

Regional Differences

Title Screen

US/Asia	Europe

Yeah, it's this change again. "Ninja" changed to "Hero".

Intro

US/Asia
Europe

The same change appears in the game's intro.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Items

• The duration of the bomb pizza's spinning effect lasts less in the US version: 2.5 seconds (170 frames) compared to 4.11 seconds (250 frames) in the Asian and European versions.

• The Asian and European versions of the game have extra pizza items that are not present in the US sets. Considering how stacked this game can be against the player, they're more than welcome additions:

A bomb pizza was added in between the third and fourth waves of floating spike balls in Sewer Surfin'. This pizza is only present in European sets, and is the only one that doesn't share a placement with the Asian sets.

An energy pizza was added to the cave's entrance in Prehistoric Turtlesaurus.

An energy pizza was added next to the ship's second mast in Skull & Crossbones.

US	Europe/Asia

A bomb pizza was added to the first "U.S. Mail" car in Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee, replacing the TNT crate that was present here in the US version.

An energy pizza was added right before the battle against Krang in Starbase, in between two electricity turrets.

2P Version Credit System

US	Europe

Each 2P version of the game uses a different credit system. The US 2P version uses the same credit system as the 4P version, giving both players their own credit slot. There is no credit counter, and each coin inserted gives (by default) two extra lives.

The European 2P version uses a more accurate credit system akin to the European 2P version of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where every player shares one credit slot and starts with a dedicated number of lives. There is a credit counter that increments each time a player inserts a coin. Compared to the US version, the player won't receive any extra lives (unless they press Start after inserting a coin) in the European version.

Curiously, the Asian version's credit system is based on the European 2P one.

Game Loop

US	Europe/Asia

The loop setting can be changed to GAME OVER AFTER FINAL STAGE to make the game end after completing the final stage in both sets.

The US set is set to GAME LOOPS ENDLESSLY by default, meaning it will loop back to stage 1 after the credits roll and will continue until all players run out of extra lives and choose not to continue.

The European and Asian sets replace the "loops endlessly" setting with GAME OVER AFTER SECOND ROUND, which causes the game to end after its second loop, similar to Sunset Riders and Violent Storm.