Welcome to the seventh episode of 23 Endings: The Early Years, the show where we put old school video game endings in proper context. Is it possible that every 16-bit Turtles game had the same exact ending? Move over, O'Neil, we have a real scandal to investigate. We get to the bottom of this mess in a brand new episode of 23 Endings: The Early Years!


As side-scrolling 2D brawlers go, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time is near perfect. I'm specifically talking about the excellent Super NES port, which not only features all of the levels from the arcade hit, but adds a bunch of new ones for good measure. But even with all the additional content, the story remains the same.

It's just another normal day in New York City when Krang steals the Statue of Liberty and Shredder hijacks the airwaves to leave the Turtles a personal message. This sends the four teenage ninjas through the crime-ridden streets, up to an unfinished high rise, back into the sewers and into the Technodrome. And what do they get for their trouble? They get sent back in time to prehistoric times, that's what.

This begins a fun time-jumping caper that will eventually take the Turtles to a pirate ship in 1530, a train in 1885, a futuristic neon city in 2020 and to a starbase in 2100. After picking up souvenirs from five different time periods, the fearsome foursome double back to 1992 to take on Shredder and save the beloved Statue of Liberty. Here's what happens after the good guys win.

After seeing how well Turtles in Time turned out, Genesis owners were understandably excited for The Hyperstone Heist. This was both a brand new Turtles adventure and one of Konami's very first Genesis exclusives, so expectations were running high. Unfortunately, this console beat 'em up recycled a lot of the story elements, level designs, bosses and, yes, even the ending.

It all starts with Shredder shrinking the Statue of Liberty and the rest of Manhattan down to model size. He then takes over the airwaves to, you guessed it, send the Mutant Turtles a personal message. This sends Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Rafael through the sewers, into the caves, past Shredder's secret hideout, into more caves and back to the Technodrome. It all leads to an action-packed showdown in front of this weird machine. And then this happens.

Yeah, they just copied one of the scenes from Turtles in Time and added different dialog. They couldn't even come up with an original conclusion. It even has the same kid jumping in the background. It's almost as if Konami figured that Genesis owners wouldn't know, since Turtles in Time was a Super NES exclusive. But trust me, Genesis owners knew.

On a more serious note, both endings remind us how boring April's job must be. Instead of following the leads and interviewing public officials, the reporter is stationed in the same spot just waiting for the Statue of Liberty to reappear. It's great when the Turtles win the day and everything goes back to normal, but that's maybe ten or fifteen minutes of live reporting. Apparently the secret to April's success is patience and a stubbornness to wait around until something happens.