LONG before Aqua Teen Hunger Force was charged with saving the world, another laboriously named group of pubescent cartoon freaks plied the unenviable trade: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

And before there was a tortuous Nintendo Entertainment System game based on this first wave of pepperoni-loving tortoises, there was Konami’s 1989 arcade smash, which now joins Xbox Live Arcade’s reissue lineup as “TMNT 1989.”

The four-player fight-scroller, featuring Konami’s “2.5 dimension” perspective, was one of the flashiest looking games of its time.

Play as Raph, Leo, Don or Mike (in single or co-op modes) and do whatever-a-nunchaku-does your way through gobs of foot soldiers and mousers. Your mission? Rescue your rodent sensei, Splinter, and buxom TV reporter April O’Neil from the grips of Shredder and company.