Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers

About

You play as one of the four turtles in this side-scrolling brawler, switching between characters before each level. Each has distinct combat traits: Donatello's slow but far-reaching strikes, Raphael's quick close-range brawling, and Leonardo and Michelangelo's balanced movesets. Progress through levels by defeating waves of Foot Clan goons while avoiding traps like rolling boulders and bottomless pits. Captured turtles are lost until you rescue them in later stages, adding risk to every mismatched fighter choice. The levels mix traditional left-to-right brawling with open spaces where you can roam freely, plus vehicular sections on skateboards and elevators. The game ramps up challenge with adjustable difficulty settings that add tougher enemies and boss variations. You'll face classic villains like Shredder, Krang, and Super Shredder, each with unique attack patterns. While the 1991 Game Boy hardware limits visuals, the varied stage design and responsive controls keep the action engaging. Players who enjoyed the original's blend of rhythm-based combat and character switching will find more of the same here, with slightly deeper mechanics and tougher boss fights.

Storyline

Similar to Fall of the Foot Clan, the previous Game Boy game in the series, the player can switch between turtles before each stage. Each turtle has his own strengths and weaknesses. Donatello has a long range of attack, but attacks slowly, Raphael's attack is fast but has a very short range, and Leonardo and Michaelangelo are well-balanced. When a turtle is defeated, he becomes captured by the enemy. The game is over when all turtles are captured. After completing a stage, the player is given the opportunity to rescue a captured turtle. If no turtles were captured, the player enters a bonus stage instead. The game features several gameplay elements besides the typical beat-em-ups like dodging huge boulders in the underground levels, going around on skateboards or scaling air lifts, and the game also shifts from being typical 2D just walking left and right to a more open area where the turtles can walk all over the screen. The bosses of the game are the standard villains: Bebop and Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, General Traag, Granitor The Stone Warrior, Krang, Shredder and Super Shredder, though just like Fall of the Foot Clan, Krang serves as the final boss. The game has several difficulty settings which, depending on the level, make more powerful enemies appear or even give the bosses extra attacks.