History VideoGame / TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003

''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is a 3D BeatEmUp developed and published by Creator/{{Konami}} in 2003 for the Platform/NintendoGameCube, Platform/Playstation2, Platform/{{Xbox}}, and [[Platform/WindowsGames PC]]. A side-scrolling brawler, also developed by Konami, was made at the same time for the Platform/GameBoyAdvance, but plays very differently from its console cousins. The game is based on the first season of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' cartoon.

The main gameplay loosely adapts the following Season One episodes: "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E1ThingsChange Things Change]]," "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E2ABetterMousetrap A Better Mousetrap]]," "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E3AttackOfTheMousers Attack of the Mousers]]," "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E4MeetCaseyJones Meet Casey Jones]]," "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E5Nano Nano]]," "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E6DarknessOnTheEdgeOfTown Darkness on the Edge of Town]]," "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E7TheWayOfInvisibility The Way of Invisibility]]," the "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E13NotesFromTheUndergroundPart1 Notes From the Underground]]" three-parter, and the "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E21ReturnToNewYorkPart1 Return to New York]]" three-parter, with one level that is not derived from the animated series at all. Most cutscenes used were directly lifted from the 2003 TV series, with some being original for the game. The story consequently is a loose adaptation of the general plot of the first season; the Turtles slowly become involved in a conflict with the criminal Foot Clan led by the Shredder; the Turtles encounter his lieutenants like Hun and Baxter Stockman and contend with various oddities and foes across New York, culminating in a siege on the Shredder's skyscraper headquarters.

** The episodes where Shredder attempts to turn Leonardo to his side, then attacks and defeats the Turtles, destroying April's store, and forcing them to hide out at Casey's aunt's farm for a few episodes, are completely excised. Strangely, the game implies those events did happen in some fashion, as the Turtles refer to a previous battle with the Shredder where they were easily defeated while Shredder himself, right before his boss fight, implies it's been months since the Turtles have been seen.

[[caption-width-right:350:'''Leonardo:''' Remember, be ready for ''anything''.]]

''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is a 3D BeatEmUp developed and published by Creator/{{Konami}} in 2003 for the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, UsefulNotes/Playstation2, UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}, and [[UsefulNotes/WindowsGames PC]]. A side-scrolling brawler, also developed by Konami, was made at the same time for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, but plays very differently from its console cousins. The game is based on the first season of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' cartoon.

The game was followed up with two sequels, ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2BattleNexus Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus]]'' for the same platforms and ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles3MutantNightmare'' for the same consoles and UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, as well as the spinoff FightingGame ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantMelee'' for consoles only.

[[caption-width-right:350:'''Leonardo:''' Remember, be ready for ''anything'']]

The game was followed up with two sequels, ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2BattleNexus'' for the same platforms and ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles3MutantNightmare'' for the same consoles and UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, as well as the spinoff FightingGame ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantMelee'' for consoles only.

The game was followed up with two sequels, ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTwoBattleNexus'' for the same platforms and ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesThreeMutantNightmare'' for the same consoles and UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, as well as the spinoff FightingGame ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantMelee'' for consoles only.

* {{Catchphrase}}: Michelangelo tried to push "T-M-N-T! Whatcha get is whatcha see!" Raphael tells him to quit.

* OffModel: April's face looks extremely off in the game-exclusive cutscene before "Special Stage: Ordeal."

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tmnt2003.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tmnt2003.jpg]]

* SecretFinalCampaign: The Shredder level doesn't open until you beat the other four Turtles' levels.

The first game, simply titled ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', was released in 2003 and adapts most of Season 1. The main gameplay loosely adapts the following season one episodes: "Things Change", "A Better Mouse Trap", "Attack of the Mousers", "Meet Casey Jones", "Nano", "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "The Way of Invisibility", the "Notes From the Underground" three-parter, and the "Return to New York" three-parter, as well as a level that is not derived from the animated series at all. Cutscenes used were directly lifted from the 2003 TV series, with some cutscenes being original for the game. The story consequently is a loose adaptation of the general plot of the first season; the Turtles slowly become involved in a conflict with the criminal Foot Clan led by the Shredder; the Turtles encounter his lieutenants like Hun and Baxter Stockman and contend with various oddities and foes across New York, culminating in a siege on the Shredder's skyscraper headquarters.

The player can play as either Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo or Raphael. Each turtle has his own unique set of levels to complete. There is a story mode for one or two players, and there is also a versus mode where two players can fight head to head. Unlockable characters are Splinter, Casey Jones (both of which can play in the story mode), Turtlebot, Hun, Shredder, Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi.

Several games were released to tie into the 2003 ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, all of them beat-em-up's released by Creator/{{Konami}}.

The game got two sequels, the first being ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus'' in 2004, which adapted a vast majority of the show's second season. This time, up to four players can play as either the Turtles or the four unlockable characters, Splinter, Casey, Karai, and CanonForeigner Slashuur. After the game re-adapts the final episodes of Season 1, the Turtles are sent into space and become involved in a galactic war between the Triceratons and the Federation, two warmongering alien races. When they finally return home, the Turtles learn some surprising truths about the Shredder and once again contend with the everyday adventures in New York, including a gang war, a trip to the future, further confrontations with the Shredder, and even a journey beyond their own dimension. Aside from the lengthy campaign, the game also features unlockable costumes, a tournament mode that also adapts the Season 2 finale, and a mode set in April O'Neil's antique shop Second Time Around, in which the player can unlock pieces of concept art, pieces of lore from the show, and even the original [[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheArcadeGame arcade game]] ported for a new generation of fans.

In 2005, two separate games based on the show were released; ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare'' and ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Melee''. While ''Mutant Nightmare'' continued the trend of adapting a season of the show, this one adapting the third season, ''Mutant Melee'' is a fighting game that does not follow a narrative plot. These would be the final main games to be released based on the show.

''Mutant Nightmare'' consists of four arcs based on several episodes of the third season. The first, "Space Invaders", adapts the half-eponymous arc from the show consisting of the "Space Invaders" and "Worlds Collide" three-parters, in which the Turtles work together with Professor Honeycutt and Traximus to fend off the Triceraton invasion of Earth. The second, "Bishop's Gambit", has the basic premise of the episode of the same name - in which the Turtles go to rescue Splinter from black ops agent John Bishop - albeit slightly expanded to include some elements from other episodes such as "Touch and Go". The third, "Exodus", adapts the episode "New Blood" and the "Exodus" two-parter, detailing the Turtles' final confrontations with the Shredder and Karai. Though the credits roll after completion of this stage, a fourth arc called "Nightmare" adapts the Ultimate Drako SimultaneousArcs storyline in which the Turtles are flung across time and space by the resurgent Ultimate Drako.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Leonardo's gimmick in ''Battle Nexus'' is the ability to slice through certain obstacles with his swords, including things like metal fences, bamboo stalks, and the occasional ''concrete pillar''. Slashuur and Karai can do the same (although with Slashuur it's at least somewhat more believable).
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The level 'Sewers'.
* AdaptationalBadass: ''Mutant Nightmare'' sees Zanramon actually pilot a giant mech suit into battle against the Turtles and Traximus.

** ''Battle Nexus'' notably features adaptations of nearly every single episode of Season 2, making it easy to list the few episodes that ''don't'' get adapted: "Reflections", "The Return of Nano", "Junklantis", "The Golden Puck", "April's Artifact", and "Return of the Justice Force". This means that the characters of Nano, Garbageman, and the Justice Force fail to put in an appearance (in fact, the Justice Force and Garbageman never appear in ''any'' of the games).
** The Nightmare chapter in ''Mutant Nightmare'' does not adapt Leo's visit to Usagi's world; Gennosuke is also absent from ''Battle Nexus'' when Usagi ''does'' appear.
** Leatherhead was a prominent supporting character in the third season, but is almost completely absent in ''Mutant Nightmare''. He only makes one appearance in the ending cutscenes of the first chapter, due to scenes from "Worlds Collide, Part 3" being reused, resulting in him appearing out of nowhere.
** Similarly, Bishop is almost completely excised from both the Space Invaders levels and the levels adapting the events of "Exodus", only just barely appearing in a cutscene that uses footage ripped from "Exodus, Part 2". It cuts away just as the camera was about to start zooming in on him.

** The 2003 game has its chapters based on the early episodes of the show, with some of them being mashed together.
** In ''Battle Nexus'', the chapter adapting the events of "Return to the Underground" open up after the player completes the first chapter and is easier than the chapter adapting "The Search for Splinter", suggesting the game is encouraging the player to complete that chapter first. "Return to the Underground" is an episode that took place well into the second season, whereas "The Search for Splinter" is the season 1 finale.
** Chapter 1 of ''Mutant Nightmare'' adapts the events of the six-part story arc that opens Season 3, but mashes them together and goes in different directions. Bishop is adapted out while Honeycutt appears much earlier in the story.
** Chapter 2 of ''Mutant Nightmare'' is primarily based on the episode of the same name, "Bishop's Gambit", but it also incorporates Touch and Go from their eponymous episode as well.
** Chapter 3 adapts "New Blood" and the "Exodus" two-parter, the only chapter that visibly tells more than one story, whereas the other chapters tell a single story. The story cuts from "New Blood" to "Exodus".
** The "Nightmare" chapter of ''Mutant Nightmare'' is changed to take place canonically after the events of "Exodus", as Donnie explicitly identifies the future Shredder as a different entity from the one they defeated at the end of the third chapter. The Ultimate Drako arc took place before "Exodus" in the show, right up to foreshadowing several events of the season finale.

** The episode 'Nano', for example, is reimagined with the turtles facing off with not only the titular Nano himself, but also the Purple Dragons and various MechaMooks that Nano created to fight them.
** The chapter 'Tengu', based on "Darkness on the Edge of Town", expands upon the episode's museum fight by having the turtles face off with not only the Foot, but also the Foot Mystics and a Foot Mech robot.
* AdorableEvilMinions: The mousers may have a painful bite, but their duck-like design makes them cute.
* AdvertisedExtra: Stonebiter is present on the cover of ''Mutant Melee'' but is just another playable character, and even within the context of the series he's a minor character compared to the other major characters like Hun and Casey.
* AfterBossRecovery: In a large long level, often there are more healing items placed after a boss.
* AirborneMook: Foot bees. They aren't literally bees, just foot ninjas piloting a sort of hovercraft.
* ArcVillain:
** ''Mutant Nightmare'' features four different story arcs with the turtles fighting a different threat in each. Chapter 1 is based on the Triceraton invasion led by Zanramon, chapter 2 is centered around Agent Bishop, chapter 3 has the Shredder, and Ultimate Drako is the villain of the Nightmare chapter.
** The GBA version of the first game splits the story up between the four Turtles, each with their own end boss. Leonardo has one of Baxter Stockman's mecha, Raphael had the Purple Dragons and Casey Jones, Donatello had the Foot Tech Ninjas, and Mikey had the Foot Geneticist who created the Underground Monsters. Shredder himself is the villain of the final chapter.
* ArmCannon: In the first mission of ''Battle Nexus'', Donatello gets an arm-mounted laser gun that replaces his shuriken attacks with a SlowLaser that [[ReflectingLaser bounces off walls]].
* ArtificialStupidity: ''Mutant Nightmare'', unlike the previous two games, allows all four Turtles to be active at once, with the AI taking over the turtles that aren't player-controlled. Unfortunately, their behavior is... inconsistent, to say the least.
** Bot turtles often have trouble determining when is or isn't a good time to use their {{Limit Break}}s. Donnie and Raph are particularly bad about whiffing due to their limited range. Similarly, it's often a bad idea to trust them with [[TooAwesomeToUse Genbu]] as they tend to be extremely trigger-happy with it, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill even using them against ordinary mooks]].
** Bot turtles will often fail to do the inputs for continuing a team attack for absolutely no reason.
** Stunning a boss will, around half the time, lead to the bots dogpiling on the helpless boss. The other half of the time, they'll stand around and do nothing.
** Their AI gets even worse in shuriken and cannon stages, and most of the time you'll see their crosshairs wandering around aimlessly and not even attempting to attack enemies most of the time. And when they do, they'll usually just fire one or two shots at a time.
** Regardless of stage type, the AI seems chronically incapable of dodging attacks, even highly-telegraphed ones like Oroku Saki's lightning and Bishop's energy blasts. And don't be surprised if they decide the best course of action against, say, Ultimate Drako is to try and guard against his unblockable fireballs.
* AscendedExtra: The Mutant Rats. In the show, they only appeared in one scene as a gag. In ''Battle Nexus'' however, they're a boss fight fought in both the Peblak Sewers and the Battle Nexus Tournament.

* BeneathTheEarth: The entire premise of the stage 'Notes From the Underground'
* BossArenaIdiocy:
** Nano Monster 3.0 has a weak point that's too high to reach. However around you are scaffolding you can climb to easily hit that.
** Mega Shredder[[note]]The mech used by the BadFuture Shredder from "Same As It Never Was"[[/note]] in ''Mutant Nightmare'' is surrounded by an invisible shield that makes him immune to damage. You could disable the shield by hitting him enough, or you can use the conveniently-placed laser cannon to disable it instantly.

* BossOnlyLevel: Quite a few present.
* BossBonanza:
** The final stage of the main ''Battle Nexus'' campaign has a boss fight for just about every level. You have to go through the four Foot Elite, Hun, Karai, and a two-part FinalBoss with the Shredder.
** Mutant Nightmare's chapter 2 puts you through a gauntlet of 3 bosses right at the start: a turret fight against an Unknown Chopper, a hoverboard chase with the Unknown Car, and finally a traditional fight against Touch & Go.
** Chapter 3 then throws in three more boss levels at the end: Karai, the Power Core, and Exo-Shredder.
* BossRush:
** Done in a spread out fashion in the last stage.
** [[BrutalBonusLevel The eponymous tournament]] in ''Battle Nexus'', only accessible after completing the main story, is basically a long series of boss fights against previously-encountered opponents, ending with a fight against [[BonusBoss Miyamoto]] [[ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo Usagi]] and another against Drako.
** Leo's Nightmare in ''Mutant Nightmare'' has you fighting four bosses in quick succession. Three of them (Touch and Go, Ultimate Slayer, and Karai) are from earlier in the story, while the fourth boss, Felkyrie, is new.
* BottomlessPits: All over the place in ''Battle Nexus'', often around platforming sections. Falling in won't instantly kill you, though, instead sending you back to the nearest solid ground after making you take a chunk of damage (although there's a cheat code to make them kill you). The ability to pick up and throw enemies in this game means they can also be easily weaponized.
* BreakablePowerUp: The Doppelganger ability present in ''Battle Nexus'' and ''Mutant Nightmare'' gives an extra health bar and can be carried over between levels. However, once your extra health bar is depleted, the Doppelganger is gone and you'll have to get another one to use it again.
* CanonForeigner: While most characters are taken from the TV series, the games introduced a few characters of their own. One of the most significant additions is the [[SinisterScythe scythe-wielding]] NobleDemon Slashuur from ''Battle Nexus'', who is fought several times as a boss and serves as a playable SecretCharacter.
* CatAndMouseBoss: Genochimera Foot in ''Mutant Nightmare'', who flips between two patterns each time he gets stunned: an aggressive one that uses a plethora of energy attacks, and a cowardly one that tries to run away and only attacks by jumping around and [[WimpFight flailing his arms blindly]].
* CanonImmigrant: Evil Turtlebot, a boss in the first game, appeared in the second season of the 2003 cartoon, albeit [[AdaptationNameChange just called]] "Turtlebot" in supplementary materials.
* ClassicCheatCode: Present in all three games, though they really only started getting interesting in the second onward. The second and third games will randomly show you a code that you can enter in the settings menu (but only once and will urge you to write them down), but not what the code does... and cheat codes in this game range from making you invincible or replacing all healing items with pizza (which is a full heal) or sushi (in ''Mutant Nightmare'', which fully heals ''and'' fills up the super meter), to ''[[OneHitPointWonder making you die in one hit]]''.
* ClimaxBoss: An interesting example in the beginning of ''Battle Nexus''. The first levels adapt "Return to New York" and have Hun as the boss, with the Shredder only being fought in a cutscene afterwards. The Shredder himself serves as the actual FinalBoss of the game.
* CoDragons: In ''Mutant Nightmare'', Karai and Chaplin serve as this for the Shredder. Hun has a reduced role as just another bruiser for the Turtles to fight, while Stockman is largely absent.
* ColorCodedCharacters: In addition to the turtles, enemies in ''Mutant Nightmare'' are also tiered by color: grey mooks are the weakest, purple enemies are somewhat stronger, and red are EliteMooks.
* CowardlyBoss: Nano Monster 2.1 in Junkyard level is fought midstage and run away to be fought again at the end of the level.
* CyberCyclops: The mousers. Although they are not humanoid.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Robotic enemies tend to explode on death. In ''Battle Nexus'', the explosion actually does damage.
* DegradedBoss:
** Razorfist and King Nail were fought in the penultimate stage of the first game as powerful solo bosses. But in ''Battle Nexus'' they're fought in the first stage after the tutorial stages and are considerably easier.
** Inverted with Hun, as he's the first boss of ''Battle Nexus'' but you fight him again in the last stage as the 3rd last boss, this time sporting a second phase and harder attacks.
** The Amazonian Blade Bots first appear as a WolfpackBoss in chapter 3 of ''Mutant Nightmare'', but in Don's Nightmare, they show up as regular enemies.
* DualBoss:
** The double giant mousers in Mouser Arsenal.
** Razorfist fights alongside an unnamed spider mutant in ''Battle Nexus''.
** Touch and Go in ''Mutant Nightmare''. The game encourages you to take one of them down before the other: Mr. Touch can't do a whole lot without Mr. Go, and Mr. Go has limited power that he can't recharge effectively without Mr. Touch.
* EasyModeMockery: In the 2003 Game Boy Advance game, you wouldn't able to access the final stages that take place in Foot Headquarters building and the Turtles' final battle with Shredder in the game if you play Easy Mode.
* EnemyDetectingRadar: As a HUD, also displaying the number of enemies in the area. Foot Tech Ninjas do not visibly show up on the radar but the number does (although they show up fine on the HUD in the third game).

* EscortMission:
** ''Battle Nexus'' has a mission where you have to escort the Fugitoid through the streets of D'Hoonnib, [[TimedMission with a time limit attached]]. Furthermore, the Fugitoid doesn't move on his own, meaning you have to pick him up and carry him ([[TheMillstone rendering the player carrying him entirely defenseless while slowing them to a crawl]]) through an area infested with Federation soldiers out for both your blood and his, and every time you have to put him down or throw him aside to fight enemies, the Fugitoid takes damage. Have fun.
** ''Mutant Nightmare'' has two of these in the first chapter: one where the turtles have to escort April to an escape ship so she can get back to Earth from the Triceratons' base, and a second where you have to protect the Fugitoid (again), this time in a HoldTheLine mission against waves of attacking Triceratons. The second chapter has a mission to escort Splinter through the sewers past squads of Bishop's henchmen.

* ExplodingBarrels: Barrels when hit with a strong attack will be sent flying and explode when they land. Temporarily changed in the second game to explode when hit with any attack; however, this game lets you pick them up and throw them.
* FacelessGoons: The Foot ninjas have their faces covered.

* FightingYourFriend: Happens in the stage 'Ordeal'. Granted, it's just sparring.
** If you are playing as Raph, Mikey or Don, you fight Leonardo as a boss.

* GiantMook: The purple mutant and orange nanobot.
* GlassSmackAndSlide: A variation with walls occurs if a Turtle is hit sufficiently hard and flies into one, causing them to stick there for a moment before sliding down (accompanied by a cartoonish sound effect in ''Mutant Nightmare''. This can also be done to humanoid enemies in ''Battle Nexus'', either with attack knockback or by picking them up and throwing them at a wall.
* GoombaStomp: A villainous example. Foot tech ninjas will jump on your head when invisible.
* HighAltitudeBattle:
** Evil Turtlebot 1.5, who is fought in the level 'Air', which takes place on a cargo crate carried by a helicopter.
** The second battle against Slashuur in ''Battle Nexus'' takes place on a glowing platform suspended in midair. Incidentally, this level is also titled 'Air'.
* HumongousMecha: The giant mouser robot in the first game, and Zanramon's Trigolem in the third.

* InCaseOfBossFightBreakGlass: Dr. Stockman can initially only be harmed when you attack the cockpit which requires an air attack. After breaking it, he can be harmed anywhere.
* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Ultimate Turtle scrolls in ''Mutant Nightmare'', which don't appear at all in the collection until you fill their unlock conditions: [[spoiler:beating all the Nightmare chapters, then Ultimate Drako, then beating the Nightmare chapters a ''second time''.]] They're every bit worth the effort needed to get them, giving the respective Turtle a flashy SuperMode that hugely powers them up to the point where most attacks deal ScratchDamage to their massive health pool and allows them to kill most bosses in seconds, while also replacing their shuriken with a powerful KamehameHadouken. They even avoid the usual "nothing to use them on" problem most ultimate items have (despite the entire story mode being more than done by the time you unlock them) by being very useful for progressing through the [[BrutalBonusLevel Free Battle levels,]] with the Nightmare chapter's Free Battles having mooks so tough that you basically need the Ultimate scrolls to progress past the first few areas.

* InvisibilityCloak: The foot techs wear a technology that invokes this. Hitting them a few times will short out the cloak and render them visible.
* InvoluntaryGroupSplit: There was a cavein in the sewer, separating the turtles from Splinter. This drives the plot of 'Things Change' where they have to take a route to reunite with Splinter.
* KameHameHadouken: The Super Shell Pulse team attack in ''Mutant Nightmare'' has each turtle charging up an energy blast in his hand, unleashing them all at once on a single target once the attack has completed or is interrupted. When equipped with an Ultimate Turtle scroll, the turtles' shuriken attacks instead fire the same energy blasts.
* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: The Nightmare episodes in ''Mutant Nightmare'' are mostly based on the Ultimate Drako mini-arc in Season 3 (Raph's Nightmare adapts "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S3E20AcrossTheUniverse Across the Universe]]", Mike's Nightmare is loosely based on [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S3E19RealityCheck "Reality Check"]] in the sense that you fight The Sliver, and Don's Nightmare uses the setting of "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S3E21SameAsItNeverWas Same as it Never Was]]"). Leo's Nightmare, on the other hand, is completely original to the game (putting them into a world where they fight illusions of their past enemies) instead of putting them in the setting of ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'' as per the [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S3E22TheRealWorldPart1 continuation of the arc]], made especially puzzling by Miyamoto Usagi actually appearing in ''Battle Nexus''.
* LegacyBossBattle:
** Hun is fought at least once per game, with similar attacks each time.
** The FinalBoss fight against Shredder in ''Battle Nexus'' is recycled for the Oroku Saki fight in ''Mutant Nightmare'', with only one real change in his attacks. Similarly, Karai's fight in ''Mutant Nightmare'' is heavily based on her fight from ''Battle Nexus''.
** Razorfist and King Nail, after being fought in the first game, both return as mini-bosses in ''Battle Nexus''.
* LimitBreak: In ''Mutant Nightmare'', each Turtle gets an Ougi Meter that can be used for various super moves when filled.
** Raphael dives at the enemy while WreathedInFlames.
** Michaelangelo unleashes [[TornadoMove a tornado]] that hits things in front of him.
** Leonardo launches a crescent-shaped SwordBeam.
** Donatello [[SpinAttack swings his staff around himself]] to hit surrounding enemies.
** Additionally, the purchasable upgrade Genbu gives them access to an even stronger attack [[ItOnlyWorksOnce but can only be used once before having to be bought again]].
** Boss fights have a variant of this in ''Mutant Nightmare''. Dealing damage to the boss fills up a gauge underneath their health, and if that gauge fills fully, the boss will be briefly stunned. Note that, for some bosses, the gauge drains quickly, meaning that you have to put out a lot of damage in a short time to stun them; Karai is a particularly notable case of this, and when combined with her tendency to [[GetBackHereBoss spend most of her time dashing away from you]], she becomes very tough to pin down.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: In a bonus clip in ''Mutant Nightmare'', depicting the cast as AnimatedActors, Raphael asks Bishop for acting tips, with Bishop being all-too happy to help, recommending Raph experiment with his expressions. When Bishop realizes that they're still being recorded, he's mildly embarrassed and concerned what his fans will think.
* MechaMooks: The mousers and nanobots.

* MirrorBoss:
** Evil Turtlebot who has a fighting style exactly like one of the turtles, and can switch between them.
** In addition to using melee attack combos similar to the ones players have access to, the Foot Mech Splinter [[AllYourPowersCombined can also use all four turtles' super moves and has EyeBeams to emulate Donatello's laser gun]].
* MookMobile: Foot bees are piloted by a foot ninja.
* NoFairCheating: While the game otherwise doesn't prevent you from using cheat codes, ''Battle Nexus'' disables their effects in the tournament modes.
* NostalgiaLevel: In "The Cavern" level of ''Battle Nexus'', while taking an elevator to a lower level, you can see the pathway from levels in the "Notes from the Underground" chapter from the first game off in the distance.
* PercussiveShutdown: Donatello's unique gimmick in ''Battle Nexus'' is the ability to access consoles to shut them down. Splinter, who occupies the same character slot as Donatello, can also do this by hitting the console with his walking stick.

* PromotedToPlayable: Splinter, Karai, and Casey Jones become playable characters in the second game, although they must first be unlocked.
* RecurringBoss:
** Nano Monster who is fought multiple times within stage 'Nano'.
** The Mystics Ninjas are first fought in the stage 'Tengu' and then later in 'Justice'.
** Slashuur and Hun are fought twice each in ''Battle Nexus'', and both can optionally be fought a third time in Tournament Mode.
** Touch and Go are fought twice in chapter 2 of ''Mutant Nightmare'', and once more as part of a BossRush.
* RingOutBoss: The Feudal Shredder in ''Battle Nexus'' is fought atop a cliff. Smacking him off it defeats him instantly, although you can also beat him up the old-fashioned way.
* SchmuckBait: The randomly-given passwords in ''Battle Nexus'' and ''Mutant Nightmare''. The game periodically shows you a cheat code you can enter, but it does not show what that password does, and not all of them are positive. Sure, the game could give you an invincibility cheat code or unlimited shuriken, or it could take away healing items entirely or make you die in one hit to everything.

* SharedLifeMeter: ''Battle Nexus'' has this for the player. You can cycle between turtles at will, but no matter who takes damage, it all comes out of that single health bar. If you're playing multiplayer, everyone shares that health bar. On the enemies' side, the Ninja Rats also have this mechanic.

* ShockwaveStomp: Used by too many bosses to count. Mostly from ''Mutant Nightmare'', where virtually every boss has one.
* StealthyMook: Foot tech ninjas, who start out invisible until you hit them. Heavily downplayed in the third game, where they spend most of their time visible and are always indicated on the minimap.
* SuicideAttack: Taking too long to defeat a nanobot will result in it turning red and also exploding. Mousers can also do this from the second game onward.
* TacticalSuicideBoss: Felkyrie in ''Mutant Nightmare''. It's usually immune to attack entirely, except for a brief moment after some of its attacks. Its teleportation move at least has an opening so short that you basically have to be standing in the spot Felkyrie teleports to before the move even finishes to exploit it, but its highly-telegraphed dive attack gives you a good few seconds to wail on the thing before it recovers. At low health, Felkyrie will shield itself with its wings if attacked after the dive... but then becomes vulnerable when letting its guard down.
* TakingYouWithMe: Foot bees and nanobots explode upon defeat.
* TeleportSpam: Quarry.
** The Ultimate Ninja teleports at every opportunity after being hit. [[GetBackHereBoss You'll be seeing him doing it a lot]].
** Ultimate Drako also does this after he TurnsRed, followed up by his charge attack.
* TimeLimitBoss: A few show up in ''Mutant Nightmare''.
** While the Unknown Chopper in chapter 2 doesn't exactly have a hard timer, it will periodically use an unblockable machine gun attack that hits all four turtles. The fight thus comes down to defeating the chopper before it kills everyone.
** Team Koyoshada in Raph's Nightmare appears in the last minute of each stage and has to be defeated before the timer runs out and he crosses the finish line.
** Sliver in Mikey's Nightmare has a time limit of 2 minutes and 30 seconds for no adequately explained reason, and must be defeated before time runs out.
* TrueFinalBoss:
** In the original game: Oroku Saki, who can be fought by beating Shredder with all 4 turtles.
** The third game's is Ultimate Drako, who can only be fought by beating the story, then all four Turtles' Nightmare episodes.
* TurnsRed:
** Hun upon hitting half life literally turns red, and gains a massive increase in speed.
** Most of the bosses in the latter two games will become more powerful at low health, usually indicated by some sort of BattleAura. This can give them new attacks, improve their existing attacks, make them ImmuneToFlinching, or any combination of the above. Ultimate Drako in particular does this ''twice'', unlocking new attacks each time and powering up his existing ones when he does it the second time.
* UncertainDoom: Two cases of this show up in ''Mutant Nightmare''.
** While Zanramon was dethroned and captured in the TV series, this is not shown in the game, and it is left uncertain whether he escapes the exploding Trigolem after being defeated.
** The [[EyeLightsOut cutscene]] after Ultimate Slayer is defeated, paired with the fact that the Rat King is a no-show, makes it ambiguous whether he survives the battle with the Turtles (and whether he manages to escape Bishop's base after it's set to self-destruct).
* UnexpectedGameplayChange:
** The first GBA game gave each of the Turtles' stories one level that wasn't a beat-em-up action stage. Leonardo got an arcade-style shooter, Raphael had a motorcycle race against Casey, Donatello had a horizontal shoot-em-up, and Michelangelo had a skateboard section similar to the Special Stages from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''.
** ''Battle Nexus'' has stages where the turtles ride hoverboards to collect coins instead of the usual beat-em-up gameplay. Two stages have them piloting spaceships instead.
** ''Mutant Nightmare'' goes all out with the alternative gameplay modes, introducing several alternative stage types scattered throughout the game, ranging from fighting on hoverboards to hang glider obstacle courses to RailShooter stages with laser cannons or shuriken.
* VideoGameDashing: You can dash to quickly move out of the way. Leo's dash in ''Battle Nexus'' [[DashAttack actually deals damage]] since he puts his sword in front of him while dashing. {{Nerf}}ed in ''Mutant Nightmare'' to require a specific upgrade instead of being available from the start and to only be usable while blocking.
* VisibleInvisibility: The foot tech ninjas when activating invincibility appear as a distortion.
* VictoryFakeout: Happens after defeating Nano Monster 2.1 at the end of level 'Junkyard', where he grows into Nano Monster 3.0.
* WakeUpCallBoss:
** Evil Turtlebot, who appears only in the 3rd stage, and is EXTREMELY aggressive.
** If you haven't figured out the combat system in ''Battle Nexus'' by the time you fight Slashuur, he'll make sure you know it well by the time you finally beat him. Otherwise, have fun getting torn apart by his powerful, life-draining attacks.
* WallJump: The turtles can do this in ''Battle Nexus'', and doing so is required for navigating certain platforming sections.
* TheWarSequence: The ''Battle Nexus'' level adapting "City at War" depicts dozens of enemies from the three factions - the Foot, the Purple Dragons, and the Mafia - at war with each other in the streets, and the player must defeat a set amount of enemies from each faction to clear the stage.
* WarmUpBoss:
** The first game has Dragon Face, who's basically just a souped-up basic enemy. Ditto for Casey Jones.
** The second game's is Hun, who fights you with mostly basic melee attacks and a GroundPunch that drops chunks of the ceiling, none of which are particularly threatening, and he has no other gimmicks other than becoming ImmuneToFlinching if you hit him enough in succession. [[IAmNotLeftHanded When you fight him the second time late in the campaign, he stops holding back.]]
** The third game has Commander Mozar, whose gun and melee attacks are all slow and highly telegraphed. Additionally, his stun gauge goes up quickly and barely drains at all, meaning you'll have plenty of opportunities to stun him for easy hits.
* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: ''Mutant Nightmare'' has all four turtles active at the same time, with any turtle not controlled by a player taken over by the AI instead. However, if all human players are taken out, the level immediately ends even if AI-controlled turtles are still alive.
* WolfpackBoss:
** The Ninja Rats in ''Battle Nexus''. You fight all 4 of them simultaneously, but they have a SharedLifeMeter; once it runs out, all four of them fall over.
** The three Amazonian Blade Bots in ''Mutant Nightmare''.
* WrittenSoundEffect: Explosions, stun effects, and attack hits are all labelled with one of these. These were toned down in ''Battle Nexus'' and removed completely in ''Mutant Nightmare''.

* AdaptationDistillation: The 2003 game has its chapters based on the early episodes of the show, with some of them being mashed together.

* ClimaxBoss: Shredder.
* CoDragons: Hun and Dr. Stockman.

** Razorfist and King Nail were fought in the 2nd last stage of the first game. But in ''Battle Nexus'' they're fought in the 1st stage after the tutorial stages.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: In a bonus clip in ''Mutant Nightmare'', depicting the cast as AnimatedActors, Raphael asks Bishop for acting tips, with Bishop being all-too happy to help, recommending Raph experiment with his expressions.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: The Nightmare episodes in ''Mutant Nightmare'' are mostly based on the Ultimate Drako mini-arc in Season 3 (Raph's Nightmare adapts "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S3E20AcrossTheUniverse Across the Universe]]", Mike's Nightmare is loosely based on [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S3E19RealityCheck Reality Check]] in the sense that you fight The Sliver, and Don's Nightmare uses the setting of "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S3E21SameAsItNeverWas Same as it Never Was]]"). Leo's Nighmare, on the other hand, is completely original to the game (putting them into a world where they fight illusions of their past enemies) instead of putting them in the setting of ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'' as per the [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S3E22TheRealWorldPart1 continuation of the arc]], made especially puzzling by Miyamoto Usagi actually appearing in ''Battle Nexus''.

** Koyoshada in Raph's Nightmare appears in the last minute of each stage and has to be defeated before the timer runs out and he crosses the finish line.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The first GBA game gave each of the Turtles' stories one level that wasn't a beat-em-up action stage. Leonardo got an arcade-style shooter, Raphael had a motorcycle race against Casey, Donatello had a horizontal shoot-em-up, and Michelangelo had a skateboard section similar to the Special Stages from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''.

** Boss fights have a variant of this in ''Mutant Nightmare''. Dealing damage to the boss fills up a gauge underneath their health, and if that gauge fills fully, the boss will be briefly stunned. Note that, for some bosses, the gauge drains quickly, meaning that you have to put out a lot of damage in a short time to stun them.

* MirrorBoss: Evil Turtlebot who has a fighting style exactly like one of the turtles, and can switch between them.

* StealthyMook: Foot tech ninjas, who start out invisible until you hit them. Heavily downplayed in the third game, where they spend most of their time visible.

** While the Unknown Chopper in chapter 2 doesn't exactly have a timer, it will periodically use an unblockable machine gun attack that hits all four turtles. The fight thus comes down to defeating the chopper before it kills everyone.

** Mega Shredder in ''Mutant Nightmare'' is surrounded by an invisible shield that makes him immune to damage. You could disable the shield by hitting him enough, or you can use the conveniently-placed laser cannon to disable it instantly.

* DegradedBoss: Razorfist and King Nail were fought in the 2nd last stage of the first game. But in ''Battle Nexus'' they're fought in the 1st stage after the tutorial stages. Inverted with Hun, as he's the first boss of ''Battle Nexus'' but you fight him again in the last stage as the 3rd last boss, this time sporting a second phase and harder attacks.

* DegradedBoss: Razorfist and King Nail were fought in the 2nd last stage of the first game. But in ''Battle Nexus'' they're fought in the 1st stage after the tutorial stages. Subverted with Hun, as he's the first boss of ''Battle Nexus'' but you fight him again in the last stage as the 3rd last boss.
* DifficultySpike: The 3rd stage Planet Zero in ''Battle Nexus'' is much more difficult than the earlier stages with tougher enemies and tricky platforming.

** ''Battle Nexus'' has a mission where you have to escort the Fugitoid through the streets of D'Hoonnib, [[TimedMission with a time limit attached]]. Furthermore, the Fugitoid doesn't move on his own, meaning you have to pick him up and carry him through an area infested with Federation soldiers ([[TheMillstone rendering the player carrying him entirely defenseless while slowing them to a crawl]]) out for both your blood and his, and every time you have to put him down or throw him aside to fight enemies, the Fugitoid takes damage. Have fun.

* RingOutBoss: The Feudal Shredder in ''Battle Nexus'' is fought atop a cliff. Smacking him off it defeats him instantly.

The player can play as either Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo or Raphael. Each turtle has his own unique set of levels to complete. There is a story mode for one or two players, and there is also a versus mode where two players can fight head to head. Unlockable characters are Spinter, Casey Jones (both of which can play in the story mode), Turtlebot, Hun, Shredder, Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi.

* ArcVillain: ''Mutant Nightmare'' features four different story arcs with the turtles fighting a different threat in each. Chapter 1 is based on the Triceraton invasion led by Zanramon, chapter 2 is centered around Agent Bishop, chapter 3 has the Shredder, and Ultimate Drako is the villain of the Nightmare chapter.