Fall of the Foot Clan is one of those instances where you 'had to be there' in order to fully grasp its appeal. It's brief and simplistic enough to resemble an upgraded Tiger handheld game, yet still manages to present like one of the hotter titles of 1990. Released during the peak of the TMNT phenomenon, it was one of the first games based on the license and easily stood out amongst the Game Boy's paltry 37-title library. And while far from amazing, Konami's first portable Turtles title is astonishingly...not bad. A rarity for 8-bit licensed software.
In this straightforward action-platformer, the turtles trek across streets and highways along the New York City skyline, creepy sewers, piranha-infested rivers and the chaotic Technodrome. Combat depth and stage interaction is minimal, yet sprinkled with touches of TMNT style. While crouching, the turtles are able to toss unlimited shurikens. For airborne enemies, they can take to the air with a stylish somersault and jump kick. Besides light object interaction such as grabbing pizza power-ups or whacking poles and cargo at enemies, each level has random hazards to dodge, including truckloads of rampaging Foot Soldiers. The option to start the game from any stage helps curb frustration. An alternative ending rewards completion under more stringent conditions.
The game's greatest fault is how the enemies, always slightly faster than your hero of choice, are constantly pursuing from behind, slowing down momentum to not just a turtle, but a snail's pace. The core gameplay loop seems to emphasize managing enemy assaults from all directions over particularly enjoyable platforming and combat.
What puts the shine on the shell is the authenticity of the sprite work, excellent utilization of the Game Boy's limited hardware, and vintage early 90s Konami music. Faithfully drawn bosses and well illustrated cut scenes recreate the cartoon's feel. Impressive use of parallax bring the backgrounds to life. In the obligatory sewer stage, the waste flows across multiple layers. The turtle sprites are huge and expressive, however, their iconically varied weapons are bizarrely constrained to identical attack ranges. Leonardo's katana is particularly ridiculous, appearing to bend backwards like a fishing lure when swung. Perhaps this was done to simplify coding and deliver the game as fast as a pizza. Most well known for composing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Michiru Yamane's exciting stage themes sound perfectly suitable for the Gradius series, which she also produced music for.
With such a fun presentation and highly competent soundtrack easily overshadowing the shallow, slightly irritating gameplay, TMNT fans can't help but leave satisfied. A great game this is not. But, it successfully fulfilled the ravenous demand for 30 minutes of passable, portable TMNT action when not watching the show or playing the legendary arcade games. If nothing else, Fall of the Foot Clan's authentic and approachable mediocrity certainly beats the aggravation of the bizarre, excessively difficult original NES game. The collective rage experienced from that could send Shredder and Krang fleeing in terror even before the turtles arrive.
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