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Face each of the clone creatures in a variety of locations. Survive the round with the most energy.

The turtles are relaxing in their hideout in New York, eating pizza and gettin' down. The thought that their mentor, Splinter might be in danger from the evil Krang never crosses their minds.

Meanwhile, in a distant sewer, the boss is in danger from the evil Krang. So much for intuition. The horrifying fact is relayed to the amhibious crime fighters as they are sitting down to watch Neighbours. Disturbed, they listed as Krang demands they come to fight for Spliner in Dimension X - a horrible paradox in space somewhere between Anne and Nick's studio and Cheadle Hulme. There Krang has created clone turtles who fight with the same powers as the brave band. Only the help of the Turtles' four pals, including April, will help them now.

Raphael carries finger knives, and proves to be the most versatile turtle fighter. He steams across the screen as a turtle torpedo, knocking opponents for six. From the air, his windmill attack is a mass of spinning knives. He even has a fast long-range attack - a sharp knife fireball.

Donatello uses a quarter-staff, useful as both a short-range throwing weapon and a middle-range jabber. A quick flick to the side launches Donatello's staff wave, a powerful but slow-moving missile attack. Close up, Don uses the staff as a pivot to hurl opponents over his back. His last move is a backflip, where his staff prevents any airborne attack.

Leonardo carries two lethal blades, which work in unison. His most devastating move is much like Ryu's Dragon Punch from SF2, using the blades in a slashing spin. Leonardo has a good long range attack: by striking the ground with his blades he sends a lightning tremor along the ground. Finally, Leo turns into a tornado, whipping his opponents into a frenzy.

The other four fighters are a melange of fighting styles, and maybe not as initially attractive as the green-backed warriors. Apart from Casey Jones, they all fight unarmed.

1. Casey Jones
   A sinister mad axe-man type, replete with hockey mask. Casey's a dab hand with the hockey stick, and also has an incredibly sneaky attack, using his taunt button. By pulling down his places a time bomb!
2. Ray Fillet
   Ray is a curious aqua-person, a mutant manta-ray type, and indeed he has a ray attack, which moves very slowly but packs a major punch. He also has a torpedo attack, but again one which is slow.
3. April O'Neill
   April is unlikely to get abducted this time, as she has some incredible attacks. Both her shoulder rushes are blindingly fast. Her handslap is also a useful barrier weapon.
4. Sisyphus
   This overgrown cockroach isn't a pleasure to control. He concentrates his attacks on his head mounted horn, either flying across the screen or shaking it vigorously. He also has the [some text missing]

In tournament mode, the planets are played through in sequence, but practice and two-player games give you the option of picking some of the weird backgrounds on offer. These range from guesome worm heads, to Ice Station Zero and the Jungle Planet.

The Turtles may fight valiantly against crime, but Konami face a bigger battle flogging four toy characters that are as dated as Melvyn Hayes and Una Stubbs in Summer Holiday.

The game behind the licence is quite good, but with qualifications. The turtle graphics and animation are good, but the weird backdrops don't always work. Some of the moves are superb, and the game's really fast, but the main play problem is the response.

The delay between command and action makes combos hard, and that's compounded by the ridiculous early difficulty level.

Look - let's just forget that this gang of turtles and their pals are out of fashion and imagine we're seeing them for the first time, okay. In this frame of mind the characters presented in tournament fighter make for a cool Street Fighter II clone and are far more exciting than any digitised images of no-good actors.

There are some clever moves that, with accomplished animation, look spectacular. The fighter sprites are large and each player's combat-arena projects a unique atmosphere. What is important is how Tournament Fighters compares to its competitors.

Presentation 76%
P. A two-player option, a choice of round backdrops and some difficulty levels.
N. It's suspiciously hard to detect the difference in the skill levels.

Graphics 84%
P. Nice sprite animation, and some visually impressive attack moves. Most of the backgrounds are neatly drawn.
N. The game has a gloomy, fuzzy appearance.

Playability 81%
P. Very fast, and with an intriguing array of moves for each player. Good for two players.
N. The characters don't respond immediately, which is a big problem.

Lastability 75%
P. The game is very challenging, though this is an ambivalent feature.
N. There are only eight characters to control.

Overall 79%
Does not even begin to scale the SF2 pinnacle, butoffers some fast fighting action, and a new game direction for the terrible terrapins. Although some gameplay flaws exist.