Roger Ebert and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[guyjin]

http://gammasquad.uproxx.com/2011/01/roger-ebert-went-ninja-turtle-crazy

Kotaku dug up a clip from Siskel and Ebert's 1989 Holiday Gift Guide, where Ebert confesses his obsession with the badly rendered ninja turtles, saying:

    I got one of these sets (The Nintendo Entertainment System) at home, and I started playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with it. And after a while, after a week of this, I'd find that every time I had a spare moment and every time I came home, I was in front of the set playing with these mutant turtles. It got to the point where it was making me quite unhappy, because I was so obsessed with it, and I finally unplugged the machine and said, "That's it for Nintendo."

He gets a NES and the first game he falls for is TMNT?

Poor guy. No wonder he thinks vidyagames aren't art.

[Crabmaster2000]

TMNT is a sweet game! He should totally give it another go.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Heh, I never would've guessed that Ebert had ever really played any videogames.  I can't say I'm surprised that he was frustrated by TMNT though; that fucker is cheap.

[Joe Redifer]

He did say in the video that it was destroying his mental health or something like that.  I think he just wants to hate videogames.  He blamed TMNT for screwing with his psyche when it is he who has the addictive personality.  It's not the game's fault.

[OldRover]

It was a classic case of one media form blaming all the world's problems on another media form. Yawn yawn yawn.

[guyjin]

I also find it laughable that they make comments about kids playing the NES for an hour or two a day.

Say guys who review movies for a living XD

[1980-20..]

Skip to 2 min 30! that man would sell smack to kids if it made him richer

[Gogan]

F@ck him

[Joe Redifer]

That Nintendo guy was pretty funny.

But kids playing games for an hour or two a day?  OH MY GOD THIS WORLD IS GOING TO HELL!  These days people play for much longer than that and nobody cares.

[TheClash603]

Tecmo Bowl is too confusing for them...  their opinions are invalid.

[rodek]

TMNT is a Super hard game... Frustrating to hell.(don't know One person who has legit finshed it.. got to the dome.. that's it)

But the real question is .. did he actually play the game?

He should have played mario bro's which probably came with the system.

[Tatsujin]

lol.. he should have got TMNT 2 instead.

[blueraven]

I finished TMNT for both the 286 and the NES.

I've never liked what he's had to say about movies. Now I think he's an idiot.

[Arkhan Asylum]

The only part of TMNT I sucked balls at was the stupid goddamn seaweed of death.  The rest of the game was pretty frigging easy.  Donatello + Bludgeon everything = success.

[blueraven]

Yes, Donatello was the key player that just took motherf&*^kers out.

The seaweed IS the most annoying thing, nobody is actually good at it, it is supposed to piss you off. This is probably why Ebert, who was in his late 40's at the time, and having a mid-life crisis, got depressed.

The only part of TMNT I sucked balls at was the stupid goddamn seaweed of death.  The rest of the game was pretty frigging easy.  Donatello + Bludgeon everything = success.

[Arkhan Asylum]

yeah then he went and bought a convertible, some cocaine, hookers, and drove around blasting Skid Row, trying to be cool

[rag-time4]

Yes, Donatello was the key player that just took motherf&*^kers out.

The seaweed IS the most annoying thing, nobody is actually good at it, it is supposed to piss you off. This is probably why Ebert, who was in his late 40's at the time, and having a mid-life crisis, got depressed.

The only part of TMNT I sucked balls at was the stupid goddamn seaweed of death.  The rest of the game was pretty frigging easy.  Donatello + Bludgeon everything = success.

I got good at the seaweed bitd. I got good enough to where I could consistently get through it without getting hit.

[blueraven]

I got good at the seaweed bitd. I got good enough to where I could consistently get through it without getting hit.

you are the exception.

[pocketgamer]

Man this video is sooo old school. I did remember playing TMNT and I was obsessed because I wanted to flip the game. By far one of the most terrible nes games I have ever played, Superman was the other one.

BTW: I did manage to beat TMNT 1,2 and 3. Superman I never touched again.

[Lum]

Oh boy. I forget where it was I have trouble. It wasn't so much a specific place, as the general difficulty. Somewhere in level 3 or 4. I didn't get too far really.

[esteban]

It was fun to see Siskel and Ebert playing Tecmo Bowl.

[Joe Redifer]

Roger looks like a middle-aged woman in that picture.

[esteban]

Roger looks like a middle-aged woman in that picture.

Indeed he does. It's all about the glasses and the soft, plump flesh.

[blueraven]

I always Liked Gene Siskel more.