I took down one of my great white whales yesterday, if by white whale we mean revenge-obsessed ninja master. The game was
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES, a game I've owned since childhood. Heck my copy is the one we bought from our down-the-street local rental shop, and it still has the plastic clamshell case with the shop's sticker on the back. As a kid I almost exclusively played difficult games with cheats on, and if I didn't use cheats, I had a guide next to me the whole time. I was allergic to challenges.
When I got into my teen years I started going back to these older games and approaching them on their own terms. Up to this point I've been able to go back and beat many of these games that were too tough for me as a kid - all the Ninja Gaidens, the Castlevanias, the Mega Mans, heck, even the Zeldas and Marios.
But TMNT was one shell I couldn't crack. A number of years ago I gave it my first real attempt. Many who grew up in The Era remember the game for "that damn water level," but that's actually the
easy part. The game starts to show its teeth only afterward. Stages three, four, and five all have steep challenges, from the manic battle with Mecha Turtle in stage three to the instant-death traps of stage four to the blistering fight with the Technodrome in stage five. But all of these challenges can be overcome with patience and planning.
It's stage six where the game delivered a fatal blow. The stage has no overworld section, it's just a maze of enemies that ends with one of the most harrowing hallways in all of 8-bit history. The first time I attempted this stage, I managed to reach Shredder, but only lasted a few seconds as his instant-death gun took out my turtle immediately and I was forced into a spiraling death loop as all my other turtles died in the halls leading up to the boss battle. Then the stage chewed through my continues, and it was back to the title screen. I was so thoroughly demoralized that I gave up on completing the game for years.
This week I finally came back to give the game another fair shake, this time with
an excellent video walkthrough at my side to help me with some of the hairier moments. I managed to get through stage six with three out of four turtles intact. My hands were shaking by the time I got to Shredder, but with the right tactic he's a simple boss to defeat.
Completing this game gives me a wonderful sense of closure. I still have a few white whales (a legit clear of Blaster Master is one), but this was the big one.