 SEGA DRUNK! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Hyperstone Heist, the first Ninja Turtles game for any Sega console, naturally always gets compared to its Super Nintendo contemporary, Turtles in Time. When in fact the game is more like if you took Turtles in Time, Ninja Turtles the arcade game, and I mean the actual arcade game, not the NES port, and Turtles 3, the Manhattan Project, and stuff them all into a blender. The result is Hyperstone Heist, which has the look and feel of Turtles in Time but adds elements of level design from both Turtles arcade beat-em-ups that came before it, as well as the story and structure in a roundabout way of Turtles 3, the Manhattan Project. And yeah, there's some original elements here too, sort of, like the C button being dash, otherwise it's as you'd expect. Some technical limitations with the Genesis means that there are a few things left out though, like you can't hurl foot soldiers at the camera. Also the hit detection here is a bit flaky, the mover you whip enemies around is still here, but it's harder to pull off for some reason. That's really not that big of a deal though, there's still two-player co-op, there's still as many as four enemies on screen at the same time, and the game still has that great chaotic beat-em-up energy to it that the Turtles franchise did so well back then. Also the stages here are very long, for better or for worse. There's only about five of them, but they take a long time to complete, so you still get your money's worth. Hyperstone Heist looks great too, the color palette is noticeably different, but the sprites all look good. All the usual characters are here, except for Bebop for some reason. And also in a weird twist, Tatsu, one of Shredder's henchmen from the Ninja Turtles movies, is also here. I don't remember him ever being in the cartoon, so that's interesting. Really, this is a fantastic looking Genesis game, all the levels and backgrounds look great, and all stand out as unique. The classic animations are all here, plus this is an example of a game that just takes one split second glance, and you immediately know it's a Ninja Turtles game. The sound? Well, it does the best it can, the music is fine, but the sound design behind the beat-em-up mechanics just falls flat. I could really use some more oomph, or some more of that trademark Genesis crunch sound behind it, like in Streets of Rage. Now there's a game where it sounds like you're kicking some mass. Also the voice samples here? Oof. So yeah, Turtles Hyperstone Heist is kind of weird to talk about today, because it was pretty much cobbled together for the purpose of satisfying Sega Genesis owners that were missing out on all the great Ninja Turtles beat-em-ups. So it's like, yeah, it's served its purpose well, and now? Well, I have to admit, if you've played Turtles the Arcade game and Turtles in Time, and you haven't played Hyperstone Heist, you're not exactly missing out on a whole lot. In fact, I'd recommend Turtles in Time over Hyperstone Heist like 10 times out of 10. But if you simply want more Ninja Turtles beat-em-up goodness, then you can't go wrong. Just about everything you're looking for is here.