I have many awesome childhood memories of spending tons of quarters playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game. I remember when the game was new and it was always full up with kids playing it at Chuck E Cheese and other local arcades. I loved getting my cousins and friends on the four player arcade cabinet and having enough quarters to get to the Technodrome and defeat Shredder. I think there were a few versions of this arcade game over the years because I remember the final boss being Shredder in some and Krang in others.

I preferred playing as Donatello as he had the longest reach or if he was taken, Michelangelo because he seemed to attack quickly. Not sure if there was an actual play difference to the Turtles, but it was fun to be able to choose which one you wanted to play as.

I always liked the levels with the Mousers as they were pretty small and easy to kill but occasionally if you didn't kill them fast enough they would bite on your arms and you had to wave them off. I always told myself if I ever had money I would buy the four player cabinet and put it in my house so I could play this game whenever I wanted.

Oh and it was pretty annoying that the only thing that refilled your life in the game, Pizza, was shockingly absent throughout the game. Then again, if you had a sporting chance of actually surviving the game on a quarter they wouldn't make much money on the game. Still...

Fast forward a few years and its been remade for consoles called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-shelled. I downloaded the demo on my PS3 and checked it out. Overall its a fair shake of the material but I prefer the older style graphics myself. The reboot has a 3D look to it that isn't great to my eyes. I hit up a local Portland arcade called Ground Kontrol and I prefer the old arcade cabinet they have to the reboot on the PS3. Maybe I need to keep spending quarters to play this game? I don't know. Maybe I just don't want to play this game with a modern look to it.

In any case the original cabinet game can't be beat. And we all know a reboot can't capture 15 years of pizza and pop stains on an old arcade cabinet which always translates to magic.

Happy Retro Tuesday.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles:_Turtles_in_Time_Re-Shelled