I just had a childhood memory confirmed and clarified.
I used to own the DOS version of the original TMNT game, which the NES game is basically a port of. However, the DOS version was almost impossible for me to play both due to the lack of a joystick (keyboard is just too awkward to use) and the fact that my old IBM clone ran it much too slowly. I got frustrated with the game and started mashing on the keyboard. To my surprise, I did something that made me both invincible and able to walk through some walls. (Recent research has revealed that there are two different codes that cause that - one for invincibility to enemies and one to walk through walls. My mashing somehow activated both of them.)
When I got to Level 2, the dam level, I discovered you could swim through the walls here with the code activated. I went through a wall and saw names written on the screen in huge block letters. I thought one of them was MIKE, but couldn't remember for sure what the other one was. Problem is that I no longer have that IBM clone nor the game disc, and the NES version doesn't have those codes (I somehow doubt the names would be in the NES version anyway, as I think that one was made in Japan whereas the DOS version must've been ported by Americans.) Therefore, I was never able to confirm this memory nor find out what the second name was.
Anyway, years later I finally figure out how to use DOSBox and I get a ROM of the game. I get the codes to work, cheat my way to Level 2, and sure enough...
There they are!! Just go straight up through the wall from the first screen of the underwater level.
And this screen is actually just below them, though I don't remember seeing that years ago. Incidentally, this looks different from mine. They're from the EGA version. I must've had the CGA version. I'll try to get screenshots of the same thing from the CGA version.
I used to own the DOS version of the original TMNT game, which the NES game is basically a port of. However, the DOS version was almost impossible for me to play both due to the lack of a joystick (keyboard is just too awkward to use) and the fact that my old IBM clone ran it much too slowly. I got frustrated with the game and started mashing on the keyboard. To my surprise, I did something that made me both invincible and able to walk through some walls. (Recent research has revealed that there are two different codes that cause that - one for invincibility to enemies and one to walk through walls. My mashing somehow activated both of them.)
When I got to Level 2, the dam level, I discovered you could swim through the walls here with the code activated. I went through a wall and saw names written on the screen in huge block letters. I thought one of them was MIKE, but couldn't remember for sure what the other one was. Problem is that I no longer have that IBM clone nor the game disc, and the NES version doesn't have those codes (I somehow doubt the names would be in the NES version anyway, as I think that one was made in Japan whereas the DOS version must've been ported by Americans.) Therefore, I was never able to confirm this memory nor find out what the second name was.
Anyway, years later I finally figure out how to use DOSBox and I get a ROM of the game. I get the codes to work, cheat my way to Level 2, and sure enough...
There they are!! Just go straight up through the wall from the first screen of the underwater level.
And this screen is actually just below them, though I don't remember seeing that years ago. Incidentally, this looks different from mine. They're from the EGA version. I must've had the CGA version. I'll try to get screenshots of the same thing from the CGA version.
