tournament has been organized and many fighters have entered, Shredder being one of them. The Turtles decide to participate in order to stop their nemesis as well as proving their strength in the tournament.
This game's controls use a four-button scheme (two punches and two kicks, weak and strong). A particular feature is the possibility to use a super special attack. In order to achieve this, the player must fill a green bar under the life bar, by hitting their opponents. Once full, the player must press the two strong attack buttons simultaneously. There is also the option of enhancing the speed of the game, making the fights more intense but also more difficult to follow.
In addition to the main and versus modes, there is a story mode in which the Turtles must rescue April O'Neil and Splinter from Karai's clutches. The Turtles must travel across the US in their Turtle Blimp, defeating other fighters and collecting information. Only the four of them can be playable whereas the other characters are the opponents, including clone versions of the Turtles. There is no Mutagen Meter in story mode. There is also a watch mode, which features computer-controlled characters.
There are ten characters available, plus two bosses. Aside from the Turtles and Shredder (who goes under the name of Cyber Shredder in this game), these characters are also available:
War – A monstrous purple creature with big claws, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics published by Archie. The game version of the character is said to be an alien in the game's Tournament mode as well as a mutant by the Turtles in the game's story mode.
Aska – A ninja girl seeking to open her own dojo. Aska is an original character (created by Takemasa Miyoshi) who makes her first and only appearance in the franchise. She is inspired by Mitsu from the film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and was originally intended to be Mitsu, but her character was renamed after the film's poor reception.[4]
Wingnut – A humanoid, alien bat who appeared in several issues of the Archie Comics series, as well as in an episode of the animated series.
Chrome Dome – An android from the animated series, he was initially created by Shredder to destroy the Turtles.
Armaggon – A mutant shark from the future. Also from the Archie Comics series.
The bosses are:
Rat King – A deranged man who cast away his humanity and considers himself a rat, even though he has not been mutated.
Karai – The leader of the Foot Clan in Japan. She had only appeared in the original comics by Mirage Studios at the time of the game's release.