PixlBit

Little more than a clone of Turtles in Time

Some of you probably know that I’m a huge Turtles in Time fan. In fact, it’s my favorite game ever! We rented it a few times when I was growing up and it just blew me away. But I never had a Genesis, so I never tried the sister game Hyperstone Heist. Now I’ve finally played it thanks to the Cowabunga Collection. Is it any good? 

First of all, HH shares a lot in common with Turtles in Time. There are only five levels, but they’re broken up into sections, making them much longer. These sections look very familiar…yes, that’s because they’re the same level backdrops from Turtles in Time. Almost every level backdrop from Turtles in Time is reused in HH—the alleyway, the sewers, the pirate ship, the cave from the prehistoric era, the technodrome, and the futuristic space station. 

But that’s not all. The opening is also very similar. In Turtles in Time, the Statue of Liberty is captured by Shredder, but in HH, Shredder shrinks down the statue for, um, unknown reasons (this guy has an obsession with that statue). Unfortunately, the story doesn’t play out very well when compared to Turtles in Time’s solid pacing and structure. Here the turtles just go from one random place to the next (the sewers, a ghost ship, ninja dojo), which makes the levels feel disjointed. It’s apparent that Konami didn’t have a plan or structure when creating the level progression. 

As far as gameplay goes, it’s solid, although slightly more limited than Turtles in Time. The four turtles all play exactly as they do in their SNES sibling, but they can’t throw enemies at the screen, and pulling off the shoulder throw was much more difficult. You’ll notice that everything moves faster, but I think this is also to the game’s detriment. Enemies will often move so quickly that they’ll get in a few cheap shots before you can catch up. Also, when you knock them down, enemies will hit the ground like they’re full of cement. Also (I know this is nitpicky) the sounds are not nearly as satisfying when you strike opponents; knocking them down just doesn't feel the same as in Turtles in Time. 

You might remember that Turtles in Time had a lot of cool bosses, but HH in comparison got the short shrift in that department. The game only has 5 bosses, only two of which are unique to HH. These bosses are very basic as most of them only have one attack. To make matters worse, level 4—The Gauntlet—is a boss rush of the three previous bosses. With this compounding on top of the already ripped backdrops from Turtles in Time, it seems that Konami was being lazy! This is surprising since they put so much work into the SNES game. The new bosses—Rocksteady and Tetsu—are worse than any of the bosses from Turtles in Time. 

So the big question is, why didn’t Konami simply port Turtles in Time over to the Genesis? I think the answer lies in the fact that Konami wanted to make original games for the Genesis. They would later make Castlevania: Bloodlines and Contra: Hard Corpse for the Genesis, both unique games in those franchises. That’s my guess, but the truth is, by doing this, Konami simply gave Genesis owners a watered down version of Turtles in Time. The levels, the characters, the music—all ripped from Turtles in Time, and yet, the game feels like a cheap imitation. 

Final Verdict: 3 Stars—It’s Okay

You might be thinking I’ve been overly critical of this game. As a standalone beat ‘em up, it’s pretty good. It’s fast and fun. But if you’re a Turtles fan, this game is quite disappointing. As a diehard Turtles in Time fan, I found this game to be lacking in every area. Konami could have put more work into it, that’s for sure. So in the end, I think the game is just okay. As far as beat ‘em ups go on the Genesis, there are better ones, such as Streets of Rage 2.

You can read my review for Turtles in Time here