Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (SNES)

Play it on: SNES, Cowabunga Collection

Versus fighting games became a 16-bit console staple in the wake of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior’s global success. Most paled in comparison to the king, but a bunch were fun, and a few were actually legit decent fighting games. Konami’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters was one such standout.

The SNES version, anyway. While games with the same name hit both NES and Genesis, the three were all completely unique, and wildly varying in quality. The SNES Tournament Fighters is the one folks still enjoy today, because unlike the other two, it does a pretty darn good job of being a TMNT-flavored version of Street Fighter II, which was harder to pull off than you’d think back then.

Make no mistake, Tournament Fighters is still a kusoge-adjacent console fighter at heart, featuring goofy junk like touch-of-death combos, janky exploits, and unevenly powered characters. But the bones here are good, competent in a way that they weren’t in so many other 16-bit wannabes. It has as an interesting cast, 2-in-1s, a legit combo engine, and even arguably the first example of a “super meter” that powers ultimate moves (it beat Super Street Fighter II Turbo to the punch by two months).

The surprisingly solid action and strong Konami aesthetics put the SNES version of Tournament Fighters in elite company, rubbing elbows with later high-end 16-bit attempts like Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S and Gundam Wing: Endless Duel. Aside from official Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat ports, cartoon-licensed games like these were as good as home fighters would get until Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn started to truly bring the arcade experience home in the second half of the ‘90s.

Such is the fondness for Tournament Fighters that fans are even working on a Championship Edition hack that aims to add quality-of-life features and eventually some rebalancing. It’s a rare game that enjoys such reverent treatment nearly three decades after release. — Alexandra Hall