Friday, May 30, 1992. Night.
At the neon-lit sanctuary of the Bakudan Arcade, four familiar silhouettes pushed through the door, their laughter echoing off the machines and glass. Sakaki, Kumogi, Rikki, and Sawada had already made a plan to come here after they back from work to spend their Friday night where they always felt most alivebeneath the hum of CRT monitors and the rhythmic pulse of retro soundtracks. Their target tonight? The May crown jewel of the ZEPS lineup: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
This wasn't just another game. It was the kind that turned friends into warriors, snacks into fuel, and hours into minutes. A full 4-player co-op beat-'em-up designed not to divide them, but to unite them. Unlike R.C. Pro-Am, where someone always got salty over a shell or a spin-out, TMNT was about camaraderie, chaos, and crushing bosses together. When 4 of them discover this game is able to play with 4 people they decide to play this last, because they want to play it together at bakudan arcade.
Sakaki marched straight to the ZEPS , already paying Toki the owner of Bakudan arcade and his boss to rent the ZEPSt. "I'm Leonardo. That's final. No debate."
"Oi, that's not how democracy works, Sakaki! ,want me to Whoop your ass?" Sawada objected.
"Yeah, what gives?" Kumogi said. "You don't just call dibs like it's recess."
"Rock-paper-scissors!" Rikki proposed. "Decide it with honor!"
And so it began. Four fists raised in the air. One chant. One decisive moment. Janken.
Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot!
Sakaki stood victorious, arms crossed smugly. "Told you. Born janken master. Even beat Alex Kidd without trying."
The groans that followed were half-annoyed, and full pissed off
With roles locked in: Sakaki = Leonardo (Twin Swords)
Sawada = Raphael (Twin Sai)
Kumogi = Donatello (Bo Staff)
Rikki = Michelangelo (Nunchaku)
The screen came to life. The intro cutscene rolled: four tiny turtles transformed by radioactive ooze, raised by a mutated rat named Master Splinter, trained in the shadows of New York to become heroes. Their enemy? Shredder. And he had unleashed a mutant army that threatened the city's very soul.
The men were fired up before stage one even loaded.
They smashed buttons in sync. The turtles leapt onto screen with signature flair, and within seconds, the alleyways were full of Foot Clan ninjas, robot grunts, and exploding crates.
The scoring system was genius. Every enemy downed gave points. Every point could be spent on unlocking new skills, gear, or power-ups. Each turtle had their own skill tree, unique to their fighting style and personality, also each player had their own scores which were a really nice touch.
The Skills examples are like this , Leonardo's "Leadership" boosted party stats across the board—a true buff commander. Raphael's "Flexing" gave him a damage spike Raphael can also "Taunt" to argo the enemies to him . Donatello had a gadget-summoning drone. Michelangelo's "Pizza Time" summoned a flying slice that healed all allies within range, he also can input "Here Can of Soda!" to one player to increase that player's stats . Most of the skills can be imputed with right command after unlocked for Example Leonardo "Leadership" skills input are Left Down Right X , and so on.
"Leonardo on point, let's GO!" Sakaki shouted, comboing enemies left and right.
"Your 'on point' stats are in the gutter, bro, i`m with the most points! I should be a leader right?" Kumogi jabbed, smirking.
"Maybe if your drone didn't KS me every two seconds! And Leonardo is the Leader lore wise you asshat!" Sakaki.
"That's on you, not the drone."
Their banter continued through the first wave of chaos until the screen darkened, and the first boss descended: a grotesque mutant mosquito, wings beating erratically, spitting green acid.
"Of course he flies," Sawada groaned.
"Let's cook him," Rikki said. "Kumogi, drone!"
Drone deployed. Zapping.
"Pulling aggro!" Sawada shouted. He taunted Raphael—"Come to Papa!" flashed on screen, and the boss locked onto him.
"Buff time!" Sakaki activated Leadership. "Fight! And let's go, my brothers!" the game shouted.
"Here's a drink boost!" Rikki lobbed a soda at Donatello.
The battle was fierce, frantic, and full of jokes, but in the end, the mosquito exploded in a spray of satisfying pixels. A medal dropped onto the ground.
"That's for unlocking characters, right?" Sawada asked, eyes wide.
"Definitely," Rikki nodded. "Remember the Z-card hint? 'Unlock me, and I'll help you.' That's Zabo-man."
"There are four unlockables in total," Kumogi added. "Let's get them all." Sawada then said " I wonder what the other 3 are? , we found it soon enough!
Their fingers never left the controls. From there, they tore through levels with growing confidence and synergy.
The second stage boss is The robotic mutant turtle fell beneath their combined strength.
The third stage Boss is The yellow alien creature—gone in a flash.
The fourth stage boss is The mud mutant who put up a fight but melted under Michelangelo's pizza bombs the newest skills Michaelangelo got!.
The fifth boss is The evil twin sea turtle brothers fought dirty but went down hard.
The sixth stage is The crocodile mutant in the sewers. The party struggles with this but with proper teamwork , they are able to beat this crocodile!
The Seventh stages are in City And then came the hoverboarding Boss battle—midair combat atop flying skateboards, dodging lasers and bombs from an airborne Robot boss. The men hollered, high-fived, and adapted like seasoned pros.
Now, all that remained was the final stage: Starbase.
The screen shimmered with neon lights and darkened corridors. Synth music pulsed. Enemies were faster, smarter. The environment itself attacked—turrets, flame jets, pressure plates. The four friends leaned closer to the screen, eyes narrowed, hands sweating.
"Formation mode!" Sakaki said, shifting tactics.
"Raphael's pulling aggro again," Sawada confirmed.
"Kumogi, drone loop ready," Kumogi nodded.
"Michelangelo's got your backs!" Rikki chimed in.
They were locked in. Not just as players, but as a unit. Every move was choreographed chaos. They called out health pickups, warned about enemy spawns, and covered each other's flanks. It wasn't just gaming—it was synergy , though sometimes they still trash talk and blame each other!
Somewhere between all the trash talk and pixelated explosions, they'd become a real team.
The screen began to flicker. Warning sirens blared. "Final boss incoming," Sakaki said. They cracked their knuckles, exchanged glances, and nodded.Tonight, the Bakudan Boys weren't just gamers. They were heroes. At least in their minds!
They didn't even realize how much time had passed. More thanTwo hours in, and they weren't stopping anytime soon.
Toki, the owner, peeked in, grinning from behind the counter. "Another round of midnight money. Gotta love it."
He watched as they ordered another set of cigars and snacks. Corporate salarymen by day—Bakudan Boys by night. Then he frowned "That Brat Sakaki he is still my employee , but well he is bringing his friends along!, so it's not bad."
And with that, the saga continued.The Bakudan Boys continue their playthrough of TNMT!
To be continued
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