It is a side scrolling game where you play as all 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and pause the game to select a different turtle. Donatello has the longest ranged, slowest and most powerful. Rapheal has the quickest, shortest and least damaging. Michaelangelo and Leonardo are somewhere in between. This game is more difficult than fun. Difficult as opposed to challenging. Most everything can kill you quickly. There are top down areas (which seem almost pointless) where you wander from sewer to sewer where the real side scrolling action is. Foot soldiers and various other enemies that don't quite make sense for a turtles game.This is a game that requires some prescision and the turtles control pretty poorly. There is quite a bounce back when you get hit. Jumps are tough to control. Not a good game at all. It is just a missed oppertunity for what could have been a great debut for the turtles on the NES.The next two turtle games for the NES were much better.