Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles

Kodoichi · 22 June 2005, 13:00

Is there a difference between those two Turtles games apart from the graphics?

http://hol.abime.net/1335
http://hol.abime.net/1333

Or how come one game needs only 1 disk whereas the other one needs 3? Bad coding? More levels?

BippyM · 22 June 2005, 13:06

Different games

Hero is based on the cartoon
Ninja is based on the movies

Belgarath · 22 June 2005, 13:38

Totally wrong Bippy!

The games are based on the same NES game, but were developed by different teams, the Ninja/Hero thing is a US/European thing, for some reason the word Ninja was considered too violent to be used over here...

Kodoichi · 22 June 2005, 14:56

So why couldn't Konami ask the same team to exchange the title? How come one team gets the whole game to fit on one disk while the other needs three for this?

dreamkatcha · 23 July 2014, 10:38

It does seem like a major waste of resources to have two separate teams coding the same game. I noticed in one, up doesn't do anything on its own - you have to hold down the fire button and then push in the direction you want to jump in, the same fire button that swings your weapon. Very unnatural if you ask me.

Also when you use your weapon it often seems to poke the air either too high or too low to trouble your enemies.

Anyway, they're both pretty poor games, but I'm also curious to know the inside scoop behind the madness. Kind of reminds me of the shoddy coding that went into Dragon Ninja where the programmer forgot to implement the ability to jump. Bit of an oversight that!

Adrian Browne · 23 July 2014, 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamkatcha

It does seem like a major waste of resources to have two separate teams coding the same game. I noticed in one, up doesn't do anything on its own - you have to hold down the fire button and then push in the direction you want to jump in, the same fire button that swings your weapon. Very unnatural if you ask me.

Also when you use your weapon it often seems to poke the air either too high or too low to trouble your enemies.

Anyway, they're both pretty poor games, but I'm also curious to know the inside scoop behind the madness. Kind of reminds me of the shoddy coding that went into Dragon Ninja where the programmer forgot to implement the ability to jump. Bit of an oversight that!

Believe it or not you can jump in dragon ninja. You need to be at the absolute pixel edge of a platform and then jump. The landing has a two or three pixel margin for error. Nonsense and very frustarting but it just about works.
Back in the day the developers called to the amiga power offices in a huff due to them claiming jumping was not possible, in their review. The guy played the game in front of them to illustrate his point.

I had this game on the hit squad label, actually I still have it.

dreamkatcha · 23 July 2014, 15:24

That's where I read it - I've never actually played the Amiga version of the game myself. Interesting... was a retraction ever printed? It's easy to see how they would have assumed that jumping isn't possible if the ability is only enabled under very specific conditions.

dreamkatcha · 20 July 2015, 20:09

Almost a year later I was reading the news section of Amiga Power issue 13 when I came across the attached (half) apology.

You know somehow I always got the impression Stuart Campbell wasn't a massive fan of the book, 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'.

Codetapper · 21 July 2015, 10:26

The full review and retraction are in this trivia article on the Amiga Mag Rack.

DisposableHero · 21 July 2015, 22:26

I think there are other cases of the same game being coded twice, once in the US and once in Europe (usually the UK), for both Amiga and C64. Bionic Commando, for C64 at least?

Never played Dragon Ninja, but it doesn't sound like a control system you could work out easily - and certainly not an easy-to-use one. Stuart Campbell was a brilliant award-winning player, but his tolerance for unusual control systems was often low - his comments on Kick Off 2 and Forgotten Worlds also come to mind.

dlfrsilver · 22 July 2015, 09:03

There is a story behind this game. The retail release has the jump fault, which has been corrected in the les justiciers compilation, but also in the ninja collection compilation, offering both the revision 2 of this program. The hit squad version mentionned above by Adrian Browne is the revision 2.

Retro1234 · 22 July 2015, 09:32

I had hit squad version this game is ruined, in the arcade you can do a full side jump not justa little hop.

22 June 2005, 13:00	#1
Kodoichi Banned Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: I'm the smiling face on your TV, I exploit you still you love me Posts: 515	Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles Is there a difference between those two Turtles games apart from the graphics? http://hol.abime.net/1335 http://hol.abime.net/1333 Or how come one game needs only 1 disk whereas the other one needs 3? Bad coding? More levels?

20 July 2015, 20:09	#8
dreamkatcha I've got a new byline Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 1,219	Almost a year later I was reading the news section of Amiga Power issue 13 when I came across the attached (half) apology. You know somehow I always got the impression Stuart Campbell wasn't a massive fan of the book, 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. Attached Thumbnails

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22 June 2005, 13:06	#2
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	Different games Hero is based on the cartoon Ninja is based on the movies

22 June 2005, 13:38	#3
Belgarath HOL Team Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Manchester Posts: 2,516	Totally wrong Bippy! The games are based on the same NES game, but were developed by different teams, the Ninja/Hero thing is a US/European thing, for some reason the word Ninja was considered too violent to be used over here...

22 June 2005, 14:56	#4
Kodoichi Banned Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: I'm the smiling face on your TV, I exploit you still you love me Posts: 515	So why couldn't Konami ask the same team to exchange the title? How come one team gets the whole game to fit on one disk while the other needs three for this?

23 July 2014, 10:38	#5
dreamkatcha I've got a new byline Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 1,219	It does seem like a major waste of resources to have two separate teams coding the same game. I noticed in one, up doesn't do anything on its own - you have to hold down the fire button and then push in the direction you want to jump in, the same fire button that swings your weapon. Very unnatural if you ask me. Also when you use your weapon it often seems to poke the air either too high or too low to trouble your enemies. Anyway, they're both pretty poor games, but I'm also curious to know the inside scoop behind the madness. Kind of reminds me of the shoddy coding that went into Dragon Ninja where the programmer forgot to implement the ability to jump. Bit of an oversight that!

23 July 2014, 15:24	#7
dreamkatcha I've got a new byline Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 1,219	That's where I read it - I've never actually played the Amiga version of the game myself. Interesting... was a retraction ever printed? It's easy to see how they would have assumed that jumping isn't possible if the ability is only enabled under very specific conditions.

21 July 2015, 10:26	#9
Codetapper 2 contact me: email only! Join Date: May 2001 Location: Auckland / New Zealand Posts: 3,182	The full review and retraction are in this trivia article on the Amiga Mag Rack.

21 July 2015, 22:26	#10
DisposableHero Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: England Posts: 188	I think there are other cases of the same game being coded twice, once in the US and once in Europe (usually the UK), for both Amiga and C64. Bionic Commando, for C64 at least? Never played Dragon Ninja, but it doesn't sound like a control system you could work out easily - and certainly not an easy-to-use one. Stuart Campbell was a brilliant award-winning player, but his tolerance for unusual control systems was often low - his comments on Kick Off 2 and Forgotten Worlds also come to mind.

22 July 2015, 09:03	#11
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,438	There is a story behind this game. The retail release has the jump fault, which has been corrected in the les justiciers compilation, but also in the ninja collection compilation, offering both the revision 2 of this program. The hit squad version mentionned above by Adrian Browne is the revision 2.

22 July 2015, 09:32	#12
Retro1234 Phone Homer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: 5150 Posts: 5,782	I had hit squad version this game is ruined, in the arcade you can do a full side jump not justa little hop.

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