The Hyperstone Heist - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - In-depth Sega Genesis Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Hyperstone Heist

Sega Genesis, 1992

Konami

$54.95

*My video review for The Hyperstone Heist
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*Game shown as designed in a 4:3 aspect ratio
*If pics show artifacting, zoom in/out (Ctrl + Ctrl -) - CRT interlace effect

As a kid I was such a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that I somehow managed to convince my mom to shove her way into the mob of holiday shoppers in order to get their highly sought after action figures. Sorry about that, mom. Originally made into comics, a Saturday morning cartoon came out of it and was so wildly popular that it spawned three movies at the time, an original album (I've got it) to go along with the movie soundtracks, a concert tour for that album, and many years later it would be rebooted to similar success. Add onto all of that a series of video games from Konami that may very well just be the things that have held up the most.

^Who do you choose?

When looking back on the Turtles, cringe worthy would be a thought that continually pops into my head. They appealed to the worst in a kid, awkward moments and catch phrases galore. There's no way our parents got any kind of enjoyment being forced to watch this stuff. I don't garner much enjoyment from looking at these particular facets of my childhood, except when it comes to the video games. They first came onto the video game scene as an arcade game and a differently themed NES game in 1989. The arcade game would get ported to the NES as the second game in the series, and a third would also be released for the system. All of which are an absolute blast playing to this very day. Yes, even the first NES game, despite the opinion of a certain nerd who's doing a scripted comedy show.
^Shredder is at it again, this time shrinking New York City

Konami went back to the arcades in 1991, releasing Turtles in Time, later porting it to the SNES. A game which some consider to be the best game ever in the beat 'em up genre. Due to the strict Nintendo licensing of the time, Konami did not often jump into other consoles or computers. The rare port of one of their games was usually to computer systems, being handled by sub-par companies years after the initial games release, and being sold at budget prices. In 1992 Konami themselves decided to have a go at the Sega Genesis, reworking Turtles in Time as their very first game for the console. ^Some scenes are similar to Turtles in Time, some are not

Popular opinion of the Hyperstone Heist today seems to praise it as a fantastic Genesis game while equally criticizing it for ripping off Turtles in Time. I'm not quite sure how you can do both, but I'm also not quite sure how some people can call themselves reviewers. The game is not a direct port of Turtles in Time. If it had been, there would have been nothing wrong with that. It would have simply been another port of the arcade game, much like the SNES version was. But does anyone critique the SNES version for ripping off the arcade? When a game is good, a game is good, regardless of if it happens to be taking advantage of any particular system or if it adds something onto it.  But the Genesis version here alters Turtles in Time quite a bit, indeed making it a must own for any fan of the Turtles games or beat 'em ups in general.

Some levels are taken from Turtles in time, but the level itself might be extended out longer. Other levels are unique to this game, or may even be inspired by previous games. All are reworked to make sense with this games quite terrible plot line. This is not Turtles in Time, we are not going through time, and that game also featured a terrible plot line. Here New York City gets shrunken due to a magical gemstone that we have to get back. It's a beat 'em up, we're here to fight, not immerse ourselves in story.   ^Bosses and continues

The gameplay itself remains largely unaltered from the very first arcade game released years before. In the beat 'em up tradition, you control one character and must destroy a practical army of enemies that stand in your way. In the arcade, four players could join you, while the consoles limited this to two. The Turtle games remain amongst the best ever two player games of all time in my opinion. Controls are simple, you can use your weapon, you can jump and kick, and there are a couple of other spacial moves in there as well. Complicated it is not. Beat everything you see up, then go on to the bosses. They should be a bit tricky at first, but you should figure out their  patterns soon enough. The game is on the easier side of things, but it is not a pushover. Reviewers of the time would often bring up how easy it was, I assure you they were altering the games difficulty to its easiest settings. On default settings it's going to come down to the wire and you'll find the sheer numbers against you along with the bosses (as well as a boss rush) to test your reflexes quite a bit. ^The Technodrome, Krang, and Shredder

For my video review I had everything done with the default settings, and I had not played the game in a few years. I beat the game on my last life, on my last continue, on my last bar of health. Of course a game you can beat the first time playing it is hard to call anything but easy. It's easy, but I was still cursing at the game in the later levels. You see, this is a beat 'em up. Repetitive gameplay does not begin to describe how similar in tone all of these types of games are. It's not about deep gameplay that makes your mind think, it's simply all about the fun. Along the way you're hoping to get some nice eye candy in terms of the background art, face some interesting and unique  types of enemies, and figure out some challenging bosses.

Keyword is figure it out. You do not want to get a game over with this genre. I was getting quite angry and stressed at the simple thought that I might have to go through the entirety of the game again when I was just about dead at the end there. If I had died I don't believe I would have looked at the game as more difficult, I just would have been angrier and I certainly would have won without any problems on my next go. I want my beat 'em ups to be challenging enough that I'm worried about dying, but easy enough for a guy with pretty damn good reflexes and gaming ability to do it on the first go. I'm here for a break from the intricate games, I just want to have some fun. If you really want it to be harder,  change the difficulty settings to hard and lower your lives and continues, simple as that. Games with varied difficulty settings should not be criticized for being too easy. ^I'm sure he won't be back...

For the most part the levels on the Genesis are gorgeous to behold. For the levels that are taken from Turtles in Time, you might be glad that they get an extension here. I'm not exactly sure why Konami chose to alter the game for the Genesis, they certainly did not have to. I'm wondering if it was not still an issue with Nintendo and their strict by the throat licensing deals you had to make with them if you wanted your games on their systems. Perhaps they were finally allowed to make a game for the Genesis, but could have gotten sued if it had been a direct port. Or perhaps they just wanted to give the Sega owners something special. That they did. I personally find it to be the most enjoyable of all the Turtles games I've ever put time into. While I've yet to dive into Turtles in Time myself, I've certainly looked into enough to know that the Genesis got something special here, and Konami deserve praise for having done that. The game is incredibly fun when you're in that certain mindset. It's a beat 'em up, and I'd never put any beat 'em up in my personal top lists for any system (other than with two player games), but it's still incredibly fun and nobody should regret spending some time with the Hyperstone Heist.

Please check out my video review, where I show off some nice extras, reading some plot from the games manual, reading magazine reviews of the era, even showing off some advertisements for the game. And come on, you know you want to see me win the game on my last life, continue, and bar of health.

*All screenshots are real pictures taken of my CRT television connected to my Sega Genesis

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