I had offhandedly thought about attempting a no-death run of this game for a long time, but it wasn't until Joe Stanski offered his bounty that I started giving it serious consideration. Money wasn't the trigger so much as knowing there's at least one person who knows and would appreciate the work that I would have to put into the game to accomplish such a task - a task difficult enough that someone would pay a relatively large amount of money to see it completed. That, along with reading a few posts in an old TMNT III forum thread expressing the impossibility of anyone ever beating the game without dying, was all the motivation I needed.

It turns out you need a lot more than just motivation. You need lots of luck too, which I didn't have. In this run, you'll see that I die three times. Why'd I submit it? Because I got a very fast time, a lot faster than any of the 1-death runs I've completed. With a game this random, you pretty much take what you can get. Anyway, on to the run!

First though, see what I did at the Turtle selection screen? See how I match the music? There's no point to this other than sounding cool, yet embarrassingly enough, I reset the game dozens of times when the notes wouldn't match up, or when I'd stop on someone other than Raphael. Imagine how many times I reset during actual gameplay.

Scene 1 - Bridge

I think the beginning quote is quite fitting. From here on out, the numbers in brackets are my score, which should make it easy to follow along.

[0-3600] One of the most random parts of this level. You might be wondering why I refrained from using Raph's special move here. I learned you could get better times if you don't rely so much on the drill. First, it takes slightly longer for a drilled enemy to die than a tossed one. Second, if you drill, you need to wait until the enemy is an inch or so away from the side of the screen until doing so, since you'd stop short otherwise. That's why I jump kick to get close, then toss to kill. Plus, I didn't want to waste any health. Of course, when my health is just one bar, I abuse the drill like crazy, slightly faster time be damned.

[9200-11000] For me, this is the hardest and definitely most random part of this level. I used the drill here because if I jump kick into a shuriken, it'll knock me back; the drill will plow right through. The 2nd through 4th red Foot Soldiers were lined up perfectly for a multi-kill drilling, but unfortunately, I stopped short. Despite being grabbed twice, this section isn't that bad.

[11000-12200] Now that's the proper way to use the drill. Line 'em up, then knock 'em down!

[12000-13400] If I were to run this game again, I would use a drill here to kill at least two of the orange Foot Soldiers simultaneously. Same thing with the second set that pops up a few seconds later.

[15600-17200] Tossing a bad guy over your shoulder is supposed to be a one-hit kill, unless you do what I did here. I tried to fling the first orange Foot Soldier then quickly do the same to the second before the first one hit him. What happened instead is that the two collided causing me to toss nothing but air. But, since these two events happened simultaneously, the game got confused and thought my down+B action hit the second guy. Therefore, that's why the second guy died without me touching him. But, unbelievably, this isn't ideal. Why? Because the game will think your next throw attempt is just a normal hit (B instead of down+B). That's why I couldn't throw the third guy. I tried my best to not make this sound confusing, but I fear I might've failed. It's probably better to just watch.

[19600-20400] That 3rd guy was an ass.

Rocksteady: Being the 1st boss doesn't mean he's a pushover. Usually, he hugs the sides of the screen a lot, making my drills useless and risky. I don't know why, but here he decided to stay away from the sides, helping me get one of my fastest times against him.

Anything lower than 112, and I would've reset. My best is 114, which I've only done a handful of times and depends largely on the random factors going in my favor. I think there's an 8 second difference between the two.

Scene 2 - Ocean/Battleship

[55200-55800] These guys tend to run away when I approach, so I just drill them.

[55800-56200] Here, catch!

[67600-68200] Look at him fly!

Helicopters: I hate these things.

[90800-93200] I should've drilled here. I didn't expect to miss with the throw attack, especially not three times.

Groundchuck: High noon showdown. Look at how arrogant Raph is at the end when he spins his sais. Still looks cool though.

154 is my best, 152 is typical. If I had beat those helicopters faster, 154 would've been likely.

Scene 3 - Bridge

[127700-128700] A jump kick is the safest way to kill these rock guys, but it takes three hits each. A drill takes just one. I hate how I wasted a drill against the 4th guy I tried to kill. I also hate how none of the guys lined up.

Bebop drive-by: How can he maneuver around those gigantic potholes with a truck that big?

[128700-130100] These three pink and two purple Foot Soldiers usually don't cooperate like this.

[132300-133300] I had hoped to kill two of them with that drill. Oh well.

Slash: Extremely random, and thus, a pain in the ass. I had a battle once where he didn't move diagonally at all. I beat him very fast then. This time, like almost every time, he screws me over.

[143300] Here's a neat trick. I wonder how cool the game would look without that black bar on the bottom.

[149900-150500] Christ! If I knew he'd be so deft at avoiding my kicks, I would have just wasted a bar of health drilling him.

Bebop: How the heck did he drive his truck over the hole where those guys were rolling on cannonballs? Anyway, I don't know of a better strategy against him. This battle went ok, despite me wasting time avoiding being trapped on the right-hand side.

153 is good, 156 is my best. I think I pulled that off only once or twice. Those were the times Slash wasn't such a spaz.

Scene 4 - N.Y./Platform

[185800-187200] This level is long and has no pizza, so I don't like wasting health by using my special move too much, even when the Foot Soldiers are lined up this neat. I still was plenty fast here though.

[187200-188800] I'm very happy with my fight against these pink Foot Soldiers.

[189600] I'm not happy with falling down this sewer.

[198500-199700] I sure wasted some time here, didn't I?

[204300-204900] I wish I had been faster with a drill at the start. I would've killed two guys and not gotten blasted in the face.

[205900-210100] I'm proud of this. It looks easier than it really is.

[214900-215300] The sai can reach far.

[215300-216500] I thought I had enough health at this point to warrant some drills.

[218100] %&#*!!!! Twice!

Dirtbag: Yes, there have been times when he'd run me over because of my hot-dogging. Not this time. I don't know how I did it, but I was able to keep him mostly in the middle, resulting in a very fast fight.

131 is excellent. 129 is my average, and 133 is my best (very rare).

Scene 5 - Sewer

[274600-278200] Often I'd have to chase these Foot Soldiers up and down the platform. Fortunately in this run, they didn't move around too much, or they'd come to me.

[279400-284800] The flying drones take priority here. Once they start moving around, they're a pain to hit. So, I don't give them the chance.

[288000-288400] Like I said before, I tried my best to avoid this. This is the second time it's happened in this level.

[290600-291000] Here's the third.

Blue Mother Mouser: Why did I use jump kicks so much at the beginning? Well, see what happened when I slipped and accidentally let loose with a drill? He ran away and spat some fire at me. Kicking keeps him in place; otherwise you'd waste time chasing him around. After a few kicks, he'll start throwing the small mousers. That's the best time to use the drill.

[321400] I was waiting for the red Foot Soldiers to appear and forgot about the purple set that comes out of the doorway.

Leatherhead: I used to think Leatherhead was one of the hardest bosses in video game history. When I first started attempting a no-death run, this was the first "how the hell am I supposed to get past him?" part. The strategy you see here works I would say 8/10 times, and took many failed attempts to get right. (Of course, the times it doesn't work is when the game cheats). First you need to position Leatherhead as far up as you can. Then, you start drilling, making sure that your shadow is totally below him. You'll notice that I gradually move down as I'm drilling to stay below him. As long as you're fast, it's pretty safe. You'll notice that I've use this approach on other bosses too. If you start drilling when Leatherhead is too low, you most likely will get trapped on the bottom and die.

136 is my best.

Scene 6 - Technodrome

I love the music here.

[375200] I didn't mean to hit the eggs like that.

[376000] This is what I meant to do with that first set of eggs: making them all hatch simultaneously so they'd die with one drill.

[376800-378000] Look at how quick I knock these guys off their hoverboards!

[378000-378600] I really wish these Fugitoids would have lined up. What a waste of time and health. Oh well, that's randomness for you.

[383800] I really, really hate flying things.

[391200-396200] I used to think this assembly line was so cool. Actually, I still do. It bugs me how that last guy on the right doesn't attack though.

[396200] You might have noticed that I've done this at the other Fugitoid sets. That is, trying to throw the first one that appears from the right over my shoulder to the left where the other one is, setting me up for a multi-kill drilling. I don't think it's worked once in this level. It's not like I lost much time though.

Rahzar: One of the easiest bosses in the game, but also one of the most random. Many, many times he'd hug the left side of the screen and spit ice. There's not much you can do when that happens except wait and dodge. I was very lucky that he didn't do that in this run. Nothing bad happened with this fight, nothing bad at all. What's that? Who died? I don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing at all wrong with this fight. Ok? (sob).

Shredder: Not much to say here. I used the same strategy as with Leatherhead. All you can do is hope he doesn't move down the screen faster than you. Some times you can't help it and you get hit. If you have one bar of health when this happens, you'll obviously die. In this run, I had plenty of health to spare, so when he hit me, it wasn't a big deal. I should've had one bar of health when this fight started, but I didn't. It's funny; I seemed to gain health during the Rahzar fight. Peculiar.

Btw, watch April's head when I'm fighting Shredder.

128 is very, very, very good and just one less than my best. I seldom get anything over 126. It's not my skill that prevents a higher score so much as all the randomness, particularly with Rahzar.

Scene 7 - Elevator/Roof

The music here rocks too.

[499400-503000] Not one mouser got away. Impeccable timing if I do say so myself!

[503000-508400] I performed quite nicely against these blue Foot Soldiers.

[510000] Every time I'd play this level, even as a kid, I'd stay in one spot when the weights started raining down and move only if I'm about to be hit. I think out of the hundred or so times I've tried this, there were only two when I didn't have to move, this obviously not being one of them. No, there's no point in telling you this.

[510000-515000] One of the only non-random parts of the game. That's why I did so well here.

[515600-516400] That first guy was a jerk.

[517000-518200] Drilling would've saved time, but I wanted the extra health instead.

[521400] Oops, I forgot about these guys.

[522200] Here's where I stopped caring about health and decided to live on the edge.

[522800-523400] That third guy was a jerk.

[523400-524200] I hate fighting these white Foot Soldiers; they give me the most trouble with all their grabbing. They don't do it in this run but believe me, I died plenty of times here because of that.

[527800-532000] Out of the seven sets of Foot Soldiers that hopped out of this helicopter, only two stayed in a straight line. There's nothing you can do about that.

Tokka: Not hard at all, but I still took more risks this time around than usual, especially this late in the game. Remember, I'm still trying to minimize deaths. Luckily, my haphazard playing paid off.

136 is my best, and this is the first time I got it.

Scene 8 - Spaceship

[595800-596600] Ugly, I know.

[601600-603200] Watch the cool killing of that 3rd purple Foot Soldier.

[609600-610000] Most Foot Soldiers become impervious to jump kicks pretty early in the game. I knew better than to kick this guy. I don't know what I was thinking.

[610600-616600] I think I did well against these helicopters, considering, like I said before, that flying enemies suck, and it's hard to judge where/when to attack them.

[620000-620800] Another excellent drilling!

[620800-621800] Almost had one more.

[625000] Staredown. There was no point moving toward him since he'd just move away. A drill would've been faster, but I thought I needed the health at this point.

Pink Mother Mouser: I hit the lasers on purpose so he'd move away from them. Then I employed the same strategy as the other big mouser.

[651400-651600] 3rd times a charm.

[653000-663400] Imo, this is the most dangerous part of the level.

[664600] A drill would've been perfect here.

[668200-669600] This is what I tried to do in the Technodrome: tossing Fugitoids to set up a cool multi-kill drilling.

[670800] See what I mean about flying guys?

[672200] Yes, I know; I'm awesome.

Krang: This is undoubtedly the best part of my run. Of every game I've ran, or will run, this is, and will likely always be, my favorite moment. You really need to try doing a no-hit Krang kill yourself to appreciate how remarkable this is. I'm still amazed I pulled it off, even after the countless practice attempts.

Super Shredder: Despite what you may think, he's not that tough. I shouldn't have died at all against him, even with just one bar of health; I've beaten him plenty of times without getting hit. So yeah, I'm disappointed.

This game has one of my favorite NES endings, so stick around for it. The music's great, and I love how it shows the Turtles getting their asses handed to them by most of the bosses, especially by Leatherhead and Tokka.

That's it. Thank you for your watching.

For fear of leaving anybody out, I'd just like to thank the entire SDA staff and community with their help in getting this run posted.