Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Missions

About

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Missions sends the foursome scrambling across a pixelated New York to stop Shredder’s takeover. Play as Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, or Donatello, using each turtle’s signature moves in real-time brawls against Foot Soldiers, mutant henchmen, and classic villains like Bebop and Rocksteady. The game splits its focus between exploration and combat, hunt for clues under time pressure, then switch to fast-paced fights where timing matters. Team up two turtles for co-op missions, a fresh twist for 1991 DOS adventures. The game pulls from multiple TMNT eras without leaning too hard into any one. Shredder’s defeat feels oddly wholesome for the era, he’s handed to the police, not disintegrated. Fans of the comics might notice nods to Mirage’s original storylines, while cartoon purists will spot Splinter’s design and Baxter Stockman’s early-90s hair. Released in June 1991, it’s a straightforward action title that aged into a niche curiosity. The DOS version runs rough by today’s standards but holds up as a brisk, no-frills slice of early ’90s turtle action.

Storyline

The game is mainly based on the continuity of the original Mirage comics (the opening cutscene even uses some lines from the first issue regarding the Turtles' battle with the Purple Dragons and Splinter telling the Turtles their origin). The game also has characters and elements from the 80s cartoon (multi-colored bandannas, arm bands, and knee pads, Baxter Stockman appearing as a caucasian blond, Bebop and Rocksteady included as bosses, the Turtles' taste for pizza, and April O'Neil being a news reporter who wears a yellow jumpsuit) and the film series (one of the turtles first words is "pizza", just like in the first film; as opposed to "Splinter" like in the Mirage comics, the design of Splinter, the inclusion of Tatsu as a boss, April O'Neil resembling Paige Turco, who played her cinema counterpart in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, the Turtles' rescue of April from a group of Foot Soldiers is similar to a scene from the first movie.) Despite being based on the Mirage original comics version, the game is still kid-oriented (e.g., the Shredder is turned over to the NYPD in the ending as opposed to being killed).