Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus

Im falling!!! - Michelangelo

***Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus*** is a video game of the beat 'em up genre, that was released by Konami, for Microsoft Windows PCs, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in 2004. The game is the sequel to the previous year's TMNT game, and is loosely based on the 2003 TV series' second season.

## Plot

The story consists of an overarching storyline that puts the four heroic turtles--Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael--on a quest to rescue their master, Splinter.

## Bad Qualities

Note: This page will not talk about the GBA port, as it is good enough.

1. While the first game was repetitive but still had decent fighting, this game has not only a repetitive fighting system but also a very bad one with some awful delay and hit detection (see BQ #3).
	* It also doesn't help that the enemies are even more dump than the first game for the most part, which would make the game boring and not as fun or interesting as the first one.
	* In fact, the fighting style has almost entirely changed from the first game, which was changed to a much worse fighting system than the first one, which had not only better fighting as mentioned above but a much better game than this one.
	* The combats is alao very unresponsive, especially when playing as Leonardo and Donnatelo, as they have a terrible combat compared to the first game, meaning that they are barely useful in combat, you should better be playing as Raphaël or Michelangelo.
2. The controls are even worse than the first game and also one of the reasons why this game is so frustrating, complete with other horrible problems throughout the game; in fact, they're so bad that they are barely made for a platformer.
	* The controls are also the main reason why the platforming is also extremely bad compared to the 3D Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games such as TMNT, which was the game based on the movie of the same name. To see why the platforming is so bad, see (BQ #4).
	* The jumps are also much stiffer than the first game, as here you can barely control your character, similar to most of the Castlevania games, but the problem is that it's make the platforming a huge nightmare to deal with, this is especially true in levels like Episode 11-3 (which is possibly the worst level of the entire game), see BQ#4 to see more details about the bad platforming.
	* The controls also are very unresponsive, as you can sometime press the jump button but you will not even jump, or at least pressing the button too late, this also make some platforming phases noticeably harder than it's already is.
	* The jumps also have a delay of almost one complete second, which not only make this much worst but it's can be extremely annoying if you have to deal with some annoying ennemies, especially the most annoying and irritating ones, thankfully it's was fixed in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare.
		+ This is also annoying when you have to access to a platform and an ennemy trying to kill you and make this annoying, most notably in episode 11-1.
3. The hit detection is terrible with some horrible hit boxes too; it can sometimes don't hit any enemies you want and instead miss them. What's worse is that it's much better in the first game and was perfectly programmed, but here it's like Konami almost forgot to make quality games like in the 90s and 2000s, which is also one of the reasons why they are in their downfall today.
	* The horrible hit detection is also one of the reasons why It's so bad because you will think you will land on the platform you want to go on, but you will hardly succeed on that because of the hit detection or the awful drawn distance.
	* This is also one of the main reason why the combat of this game is for the most parts awful (with the exception of Michelangelo which had a better combat than the other turtles along with Raphaël).
	* This is also a huge problem with Donnatelo, as his attacks are the easiest to miss on an enemy, and he have the worst collision detection out of all the four turtles, in fact, it's for the most parts the best to not use him for the combat. Despite that, his attacks are still not weak and he is still useful for some parts of the game.
	* The wall jumps also suffer to this problem, as it is very hard to do it for some of the areas, and as said before, the controls are unresponsive, so making a wall jump is a chore.
4. The platforming is extremely bad in this game. Not only are the controls not designed with the platforming of this game, but it's also suffering from one of the worst draw distances in any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any PS2 games. It's also got some mobile platforms sometimes, and it's even worse than the normal platforms.
	* It's also got some traps in some levels, such as episode 1-2, which are not only filled with awful platforming but also some of the worst puzzles in the entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game franchise. In one place, there's not only a puzzle but also some awful traps with platforms that will be destroyed when you land on them, and it's made for some very frustrating moments in the game.
	* To make things worse, this game could have been better if the platforming phases were not present and if it's been a simple beat-em-up like the first game, or if the controls and the platforming would been better and more balenced.
	* This is also notable in the extremely abysmal level that is Episode 11-3, as there are some of the worst mobile platforms out of any levels of this game, see the nickpointers of BQ#9 to see more details about this huge problem.
	* In fact, sometime there are some platforms that are almost impossible to jump on it, as your jump is shorter than these and you need to time them perfectly in order to jump in.
	* Sometime, even the camera ruin the platforming, with it being so bad that you will likely not see the platforms, and you will end up falling to the worst way possible, it's so bad that even Doraemon: Nobita to Mittsu no Seireiseki on Nintendo 64 have a better camera for the platforming section.
5. The map system where you can select a level is very confusing and hard to navigate when you have beat all the levels, which adds another bad factor to the game.
6. There are some problems in the other levels that isn't a platformer stage, they are so bad that it's even worst than the main levels.
	* The surf levels are basically the surf phases from the Klonoa games but much worst and almost unplayable, as it contain some horrible controls to deal with, as they are slippery and to make matter worse, in these stages, you bounce off the walls, did they know that this was a bad idea in the first place ?
	* The shooter levels are even worst and much more unplayable than the surf levels, as here the controls are even worst and shooting is terrible in these stages, not only that but the shoots have a awful collision detection.
	* Also the only thing that these stages does is padding the game lenght and give you bonus that are just a complete waste of time.
	* If you want more details about some of them, see the nickpointers of BQ#9.
7. Abrupt difficulty spikes that are almost, if not, even worse than the first game, where in the previous game, the difficulty was mostly because of the fact that you couldn't save after completing a stage, but here it's mostly because of terrible game design and awful level design, which is one of the worst in any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games.
	* To make everything worst, it is just artificial difficulty much like games like Mega Man X6 or Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels but basically in 3D instead, the platforming is also one of the reason why it is too hard, the first game was hard but it's because it was a real challenge, here, it's hard just because of the problems of the game.
	* This is also, without a doubt, one of the worst way to make artificial difficulty in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, especially since the ennemies are barely trying to kill you for the most parts but does because of their extremely annoying AL.
	* This is also presents in a huge amount of boss fights, as some of them are so horrible and annoying that you will likely have to restart a level an awful lot, much like some games such as the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game from 2003, or Mega Man X6.
	* Thankfully, the difficulty will be a real one for the GBA port instead of a artificial difficulty like these console versions.
8. The drawn distance is awful, especially compared to other amazing and decent games at the time of it's generation such as Super Mario Sunchine, Doraemon: Minna de Asobou, Pac-Man World 2, GTA: San Andreas, Asterix & Obelix XXL, and even the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for PS2, GameCube, and Xbox, most of which came before this game and have much better drawn distance. Even some Nintendo 64 games, such as Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, have better drawn distance.
	* This is also one of the reason of why the difficulty is both a fake one and a artificial one, it's even one of the reason why the platforming is that bad, it's even one of the reasons of why this game is ruined.
	* As said before, the platforming is bad due to also this reason, the draw distance is so abysmal that in some levels, you will have a huge trouble to make it to some platforms, even worse, this also somewhat ruin most of the levels.
9. The camera is terrible and is not improved from the first game, which already had a horrible camera; it's almost as bad as Doraemon: Nobita to Mittsu no Seireiseki on Nintendo 64, which was released in 1997, and this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game was released in 2004, in which there are no excuses for a camera this bad in 2004.
	* It's also added to the frustrating experience of the game with the already mentioned horrible platforming phases and terrible combat system.
	* To make matters worse, you can't control it, and it's also a cheap and unfair death.
	* In fact, it's so bad that sometimes the camera will make your character **not even showing on the screen**, which not only makes the camera bad, but it's also so bad that it's a lot worse than the first game, and it's say a lot due to how bad it's already been in the first game.
10. Most, if not all, of the levels have terrible to atrocious level design, such as, but not limited to:
	* Episode 1-1: This level has a lot of platforming phases and puzzles, and it's not only a bad idea on paper but also an amazingly awful stage with a lot of annoying enemies to deal with, which are mostly the bats. There are some huge rocks that roll sometimes, and you can easily get hit by them.
	* Episode 1-3: This level is where the game starts to be really hard to enjoy; it's filled with some jumps that are borderline impossible to do, and you fall to a pit almost every time. It's phase of hoverboard is not the only one, and there are much worse stages with this phase of gameplay.
	* Episode 2-2: This level requires you to fight multiple enemies at once, and they are incredibly annoying to fight and have an unfair difficulty spike.
	* Episode 2-3: This level is a survival stage where you must not die before the timer is finished, but there's a lot of enemies that can make you fail this level very easily, and this level is just for after being teleported to the space.
	* Episode 4-2: This level is even worse than Episode 3, with an even worse hoverboard stage and some horrible jumps to do, and if you fall, you have a chance to fall four times in a row! It's so bad that it's nearly as bad as the other levels of the game.
	* Episode 4-1: This level is one of the most, if not the most annoying, to complete in the entire game, as you have to protect the Fugitoid, but the problem is that there are a lot of enemies that can kill him, and to make matters worse, you sometimes have to throw him, but he takes damage, which is not only annoying but also makes the level worse than it already is.
	* Episode 4-4: This level has some incredibly annoying jumps to do, as you have to make some perfect jumps to not fail. It's really terrible and a tiresome stage that is here just to pad the game.
	* Episode 4-7: This level is as bad as episodes 1-3 and 4-2. You are in a car that, by the way, looks like it's been stolen from a F-Zero game or at least a rip-off. This level has a lot of enemies, and you can shoot, but the problem is that they are poorly placed, and you will often get hit by them. You can also fly, but it's annoying to control again.
	* Episode 5-6: This level is a horrible level that feel like it's belong in the even worse Mega Man X7, as here there's a lot of badly placed platforms that feel like it's was made to make the game unbeatable, with some traps that are also badly placed, there's even some unnecessary parts of the stages such as getting to a ledge that is hard to go, and it is just for a soda, which this section is pretty much pointless.
	* Episode 6-3: This is one the worst stage of the entire game with some horrible platforming section with annoying ennemis AL that make Mega Man X6 look almost easier by comparision, they always trow you a projectile and you will fall in a pit almost all the times, it's so bad that it's almost unbeatable.
	* Episode 6-8: This level is also very terrible since you need to throw 30 projectiles to The Shredder but grabbing something in this game is really bad and due to the mentionned terrible collision detection, you will probably have a hard time to beat this level.
	* Episode 11-3: This stage is absolutely atrocious with some of the worst jumps in any of the stages. First off, it had some mobile platforms that are almost impossible to get on it and you need to jump back to get to the next section, it so bad that it's almost unbeatable and due to the terrible controls, its extremely easy to mess up but it not even the end on how horrible this stage is. The worst of it is the part where you litteraly need to jump to a huge pit where it is impossible to do without Michelangelo, as you need to use his air attack and time your jump perfectly to do it, not only that but there are an ennemy that trying to kill you, making this even worst. It's also have horrible ennemies placements to the point of making this level one of the worst levels of the game, if it's not the worst level of the game.
	* Episode 11-4: This level is as bad as the 11-3 level, as here there are some ennemies that you have to kill to access to the boss fight, but they are so annoying that you will likely lose a lot of health and you will have a hard time for the boss fight and you will have to restart the level an awful lot due to how bad this is, it's also doesn't help that the platforming sections in this level is terrible.
11. While it's nice that you can play the original Arcade game, this port replaces the entire great soundtrack of the Arcade original with some awful musics that plays half of the game, which doesn't even fit the game at all. What's worse is that the game was also developed by Konami, and they still got the license when they worked on the game. Fortunately,  Mutant Nightmare, which was the last of the trilogy, fixed this problem.
	* To make everything worse, they removed all the voice acting from that game, with the exception of the iconic Cowabunga when you insert a coin.
	* You also have to do 80% of the game to unlock it, which makes everything worse.
	* To make everything worst, there's only 2 musics for the entire port, one for the main levels and one for the boss fight, and they don't fit most of the levels and boss fights.
12. In some levels, the turtles constantly repeat their lines, which get annoying real fast. This is especially true in the hoverboard stages when they collect coins.
13. The map is also badly designed, as when you hit the world 7, you can go to the world 9 and literraly skip the entire world 7 and 8.
14. Terrible boss fights; they are hard at best and unfair at worst; some of them are very frustrating and are here to try to make a game like Turtles in Time but in 3D, which is quite lame, most notably Ultimate Ninja, Karai, and the Shredder are extremely annoying to deal with, this include some exemples but not limited to
	* Hun is very annoying to fight in episode 11-5, as he has 2 robots friends that can shoot you at any moments and he also very annoying to fight when he get mad (when he also turn red), this is made much worst considering the very bad combats of the game.
	* Shredder from Feudal Japan is absolutely annoying, unbalanced, frustrating and overral, a terrible boss, all of that in once, while he not as bad as his episode 11-7 counterpart, he is still very annoying and he can throw projectiles that are almost impossible to dodge for most of the time, he can also beat you up to death and sometime, it's until you are death.
	* Shredder from épisode 11-7 is even worst than his Feudal Japan counterpart, as he extremely fast and can beat you to death, even more than his Japan Feudal counterpart, you better play as Raphaël and pray for your best luck to beat him, not to mention that he also have projectiles that are even more impossible to dodge than his Feudal Japan counterpart.
15. All turtles inexplicably share a single health bar. This means that if a friend in coop mode is making tons of mistakes, all of you suffer for it. This is especially painful in platforming missions, where you can end up losing massive amounts of health by the time you all make it across.
	* This also make the game even more difficult than it's already is, and due to the fact that there are no checkpoints in any levels, it's make the game a nightmare to beat.
	* It's also one of the few reasons why this game is even harder with 4 players at once since if someone have poor skill at this game (or in video game in general) make a lot of levels even worse than they already are, and it's can also possibly ruin a friendship beetwen friends.
16. There are no checkpoints in all of the levels, meaning that you will need to restart an entire stage if you die, making this game even harder than it supposed to be, as said before.
17. To unlock the arcade game, you need to finish 80% of the real game, which is not only a bad thing but also a very frustrating experience, and you need to do great rank in a level that is just here to padding the game length and also to make you angry at the game. To quote AVGN, what were they thinking ?
18. Unlike the first game, the cutscenes are not dubbed in most regions, such as a French dub, despite the second season being dubbed in French or another country. This problem would also be seen in it's sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare.
19. Some of the idle animation can be very weird, such as the one of Michelangelo standing still,, and he look like that he's drunk which is a bit innapropriate, even for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles standards. This was also the case for the first game.
20. Despite being dumb, the ennemis AL are extremely annoying, especially the bats.
21. Cheap ennemis placements that make the platforming even worst sometime, they are sometime so badly placed that you will sometime have trouble to get pass a platform because some ***throw projectile right to the next platform.***
	* This is especially noticeable in the episode 6-3, where there are a lot of awful ennemies placements that make this level a huge nightmare to get though.
	* Even worst, this can sometime make the game more difficult than needed.
22. The cutscenes are directly taken from the second season, which is downright lazy; they also look a bit more blurry than the TV show. The problem with it in game form is that 90% of the plot has vanished, and it's spliced into bits and pieces that make very little sense. Problems are resolved that never began ECT. The game is confusing from the beginning, and it kept that way the entire time.
	* The plot is told using cut scenes from the show's second season, actually. Basically, Splinter has been kidnapped; you need to save him; upon saving him, he vanishes, and you get sent to another planet. It goes on and on from there.
23. Grabbing a projectile is a nightmare in this game compared to the first game, as in Episode 4-1, grabbing the Fugitoid can be a nightmare and sometime your turtle that you use will not even grabbing him decently and will make you fall, not only that but if the Fugitoid is fead, then you need to restart the entire level.
24. The wall jumps are a chore to do, as you have to press the direction to a wall and press the jump button to wall jump, which doesn't sound bad but due to the poor controls, it's Incredibly tedious to do and it's will make you annoyed sometime.

## Good Qualities

1. The graphics are awesome and look even better than the last game, with an even better cel shading effect than the first game. The graphics will never look bad, which is the best part of the game.
	* This is especially true in the futuristic level, as there are a lot of great graphical effects and great visuals, especially for 2004, and they are so good that the graphics don't look old by today's standards.
	* The characters model are also very detailled and impressive for 2004 standards, and they are so good that it's look more advanced than most games released at the times, and look like an Xbox 360 game (in a good way).
	* The backgrounds are also very detailled for 2004 standards and look good to this very days, especially for the futurist environnements.
	* The game also look good for it's time, in which this game look like it's came from 2006 or even 2007, and it's had somewhat the same art style from XII (2003).
2. If you overlook the flaws of the game, it can actually be an enjoyable game to play. If only there weren't that many flaws, it'd have been an awesome game, and it could maybe be even better than the first game. Heck, some peoples might like or even love this game.
3. The soundtrack is surprisingly good and catchy; episode 4-1 and the map theme is one of the best examples, as it's almost making you want to dance; the entire first and second worlds are great musics too.
4. The voice acting is solid, as the voice actors of the 2003 series reprise their roles.
5. The GBA version is much better than the console and PC versions and is actually decent as it's a simple but fun puzzle platformer with unique levels.
6. Some funny quotes, such as I'm falling! from Michelangelo, or, I swear i saw this in a movie once, and Oh Mikey! I will always remember this! Also from Michelangelo, there's also other examples, but these are the best examples.
7. The game truly had potential, but unfortunately, this game was poorly executed and was probably rushed due to the terrible platforming, if the platforming was better than this would been probably the best of the trilogy on console.
8. The game is still very faithful to the 2003 series, with the graphics being accurate to the show, though not as much as the first game.
9. It's sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare is an improvement over this game.
10. Despite it's flaws, the game can be fun sometime, and the difficulty is nowhere near as bad as games like Mega Man X6 and 7 or other Konami games.
11. Some of the cutscenes were made exclusively for this game, such as when the turtles were teleported to a snow world, which make the cutscenes not entirely lazy, these exclusive cutscenes are also very well made, so much that it's feel like it's came directly from the series.
12. You can play with 4 people at the same time in the multiplayer mode which is a big upgrade from the first game multiplayer, it's also make the game more fun to play.
13. The dark tone of the game actually work, unlike most crappy games that trying to be cool, dark and edgy. This is mostly because that game have an awesome concept but was poorly executed.
14. You can unlock the Arcade game if you find something in the Episode 9-1, or if you make 80% of the game, which mean that there's still some replay values in this game.
15. The game isn't really that bad, it's just weaker than the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games based on the 2003 series, and it is proven by GQ#2.
16. The box art is absolutely awesome and stylish, even for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game based on the 2003 series, and it's remain the best out of the trilogy.

## Reception

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus receives mostly negative reviews from critics who criticize the bland gameplay, poor controls, and dumb enemies. The game holds a score of 50/100 for the PC version, 49/100 for the GameCube version, 48/100 for the Xbox version, and 47/100 for the PS2 version on Metacritic. On the other hand, the GBA version receives mixed to positive reviews with a score of 65/100 on Metacritic. The fans are divided in their opinions of the game; some say it's a good game, others say that it's a really bad game (this is especially true in the console version).

The game receives a 6/10 from IGN, who criticized the gameplay as bland, the enemies dumb, and the controls were poor, but praised the graphics. GameSpy gives the game a 1.5/5, and Cube gives it a 4.4/10. The game got a 7/20 on Jeuxvideo.com, where they criticized the gameplay, the sound effects, and the controls.

The game was also criticized for it's abrupt difficulty spike in which it was also considered why this game is negatively received.

## Reference

https://www.metacritic.com/game/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-2-battle-nexus/https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Teenage\_Mutant\_Ninja\_Turtles\_2:\_Battle\_Nexus

## Trivia

* After completing a task that can unlock characters like Karai, Casey Jones, Splinter and Slashuur, you have to wait 5-45 days after before those characters become available. If you change your video game's time setting, you can speed up the process so don't have to wait a month and a half to play the character that takes the longest wait to unlock.
* If you look real carefully in the D'Hoonib level, after you blow up an aircraft, there's a poster behind advertising FOX Box' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) animated TV series on Saturday mornings.