The game which really reinforces the axiom of "the only hit point that matters is the last one".
A few notes
- Unlike the previous TMNT game, you get varying amounts of points depending on the enemy you defeat and how you land the last hit - for standard foot soldiers a special move only gets you 200, but a normal, standing hit will get you 600. The most efficient way to clear enemies is with the Down+B move, which is a one-hit kill against most enemies and gets you 400 (and any enemies you kill with the thrown enemy will give the full 600). Extra lives come at 50,000 points, 100,000, and every 100,000 after that up to 500,000. Farm those points when you can!
- Each character also has a unique special move; Leo's is especially devastating against bosses if you can land all three hits with it (and has quite good vertical reach, so you can stay relatively safe if you position yourself right before using it). Raph's sends you clear across the screen, Don's hits twice and can hit floating enemies and Mike's is probably the worst overall - it only hits once and doesn't propel him nearly as far as Raph's. Each time you use the special it will cost you 1 bar of health, but when you're already on your last bar, you can spam it as many times as you want.
- The special move itself is a bit tricky to activate; the manual says to press A+B at the same time, but I find it works much better if you press A slightly before you press B. The same applies to the previous game's special.
