Konami Brawlers That Didn't Make the Cut.

You know, I remember a day when I used to see the Konami logo and hear the little tune and immediately think to myself:

Oh yeah, good times are coming baby

Rocket Knights, Tiny Toons, Sunset Riders (in the arcades), Contra and a bunch of others.  It was a mark of quality.  Now though.... Let's move on shall we?

So continuing on with my Brawlers list, I will add in Konami games here.  They made a fair few and initially this was going to be a post about why the Turtles games didn't make it, but I decided to broaden the spectrum for reasons which will soon be very clear.

Now for the games list, Obviously turtles are in there:

• The Simpsons
• TMNT
• TMNT Hyperstone heist +Turtles in Time
• Vendetta
• X-Men the arcade game.
• Shredder's Revenge

Hrm, I thought there would be more for this post, but there you go.  

The Simpsons

Coming after the success of the TMNT arcade game, this surprise showed up.  Was it a surprise?  I can't say, however there is no denying that the Simpsons was/is? a massive franchise, especially when it first came out.  The game plays very closely to the TMNT arcade game.  You can choose one of the family to play as to rescue Maggie and away you go through Springfield.

Each of the family had their pros and cons.  Homer was strong, but had limited reach.  Marge had longer reach and attacked with a vacuum cleaner, Bart and Lisa both had character specific attacks as well.  i. Bart used his skateboard and Lisa had a jumprope.  There were no weapons to be used and playing essentially just mean pressing the attack button with strategic use of the jump button.

It was a 4 player simultaneous jobby as well, and in a nice touch, they included some combo abilities.  If two players hung around next to each other, after a while, they would do something to improve attack.  Homer and Marge would make a kissy wheel thing and roll around, Lisa and Bart would hold hands and run around screaming while invulnerable (I can still remember the noise they made...), Homer would pick up Bart and put him on his shoulders and they would run around like that.  I think there were ones for 3 players and a biggun for all four!  While that was inventive, it was for all intents and purposes TMNT the Arcade game with a Simpsons skin.

It was fine, I guess albeit a bit shallow.  The main draw cards were the Simpsons license and the accuracy of the graphics to the TV show.  It was incredibly impressive to feel like your were playing the cartoon at the time.

TNNT The arcade game

This was my first experience for a 4 player brawler and at the time it was a total blast.  Getting some mates together down the local arcade, the Turtles theme tune blasting out of this thing during the attract mode.  Chucking your money in:

COWABUNGA!

Strategically selecting each Turtle for there skills and hoping your pals have got you back.  The game was a great time.  You have attack and jump and can do a few moves with those two buttons.  The graphics looks just like the show, the gimmicks in the stage was very fun and the sounds and voices coming from the machine made everything great.

It really ate your cash though...

I had fond memories of this game yes and it would've been in the top, BUT.

I payed the Cowabunga collection, and now I can plainly see it's cash grabbing cheap-ness.  Or my patience just isn't there anymore to deal with the bullshit this game likes to throw at you.  Also, (and this was relevant at the time) flying bad guys in Brawlers really suck ass.  I hate them.

So I guess at the time it was fine.  When I was naïve, but now, it's limited move set and cheeseyness just means I don't have the willingness to deal with it's crap.

TMNT Hyperstone Heist + Turtles in Time

Hyperstone Heist and TIT played pretty much exactly the same.  They were the sequels to the first arcade game.  I spent most of my time with the Megadrive version.  Come to think of it, I don't think I ever saw it in the arcades...

In this game, they added a  run option, where the Turtle of choice would start a little run when required.  You could then do a few extra moves like a slide, or a shoulder barge if you so wished.  The Turtles were a bit more manoeuvrable with back flips as well if I remember correctly.  However I always felt that when you attack the enemies, your attacks just lacked any impact.    Also the levels just seemed to drag om for far too long.  I think this is not the case in the SNES version though, so maybe the MD just had a dud port.

It was however a great looking game with lots of effects, awesome sound and music and cool stuff happening so it must've satisfied many people.  Just not me so much.

Vendetta

Trawling the arcades as a kid looking for something new to experience was always a laugh. One day I found this baby in somewhere and at the time, rather enjoying the World Wide Wrestling cartoon at the time, and spying a very Hulk Hogan looking dude in this game, I had to try it.  And I enjoyed it.  It was pretty good with nicely animated characters, various moves and abilities and the opportunity to lay the pain on enemies while they lay on the ground!  The best part being the hulk-alike dude would do an elbow drop on them! Hells to the yeah!

Also, maybe I didn't realise it at the time, but there seems to be a lot of Mad Max style design going on.

Mindless violence yes please!

Might have to find this one for my Switch... Or would that ruin the memories?

X-Men (Arcade game)

Controversial chat incoming.

This game manages to grab your eye very easily.  Its big cabinet, possibly set up for 6 players!  It's attract mode with all sorts of cartoon and comic looking tricks and the demo sequence flashing around a HEAP of large sprites, explosions and onomatopoeias from the comic books has garnered it a lot of fans.

Left, Nightcrawler's teleport special, which may, or may not connect to an enemy. Right, Dazzlers special, of which you have some decent control.

However I have always felt while not a terrible game, it is   Not particularly good either, just an ok one.

Sure, you have 6 characters to choose from, which is nice and one of them is mah boi Colossus, but for all intents and purposes they are the same character.  They all play the same, none of them seems stronger than any other and the only difference is how their special ability works (which takes your life....).

Yep, it does have a great selection of enemies to fight and they look and sound fantastic, but the gameplay is extremely shallow.  Once again, this, like the Simpsons follows too closely the footprints of the Turtles.

I still like to play this one occasionally, but it doesn't have much going for it.

TMNT Shredder's Revenge

Okay, this one isn't a Konami game as such, but it is a Turtles game.

A recent game that was probably made possible by the success of Streets of Rage 4.  It turns out to be a cute little brawler that looks really promising and has a lot going on.  Lots of characters to play as, including April and Splinter, lots of personality and attention in animation, and lots of fan service.  It is full of character.

Sadly though I really found the gameplay lacking.  I'm unable to really put my finger on it, but it just seems a bit chaotic, relies on your super bar move a bit too much and while combos are possible and there a lot of move options, it just never gelled with me.  Maybe it's more fun with friends?  

Or maybe it had something to do with the over abundance of these flying assholes.

Possibly.  The game manages to have quite a few fun parts, but also a bunch that are just a  real bore.  there is no denying though, the makers knew what the fans wanted and the presentation is top notch.

Shame it's brought down by some shit sections and fighting mechanics that somehow feel a bit "off" to me. Can't explain why though.

Sections like this one.

Interestingly the success of Shredder's Revenge has led to the spawning of a billion trashy looking retro IP inspired games.  It's kinda sad.  

• GI joe, Wrath of Cobra
• Karate Kid Street Rumble
• Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind

All manage to look the same and possibly play the same and have cropped up recently.

So there we go, a bunch of Konami and Turtles game that don't make the cut.  Mainly because they seem to follow the same model.

Big thanks to Mobygames for most of the screenshots.