After a fairly successful and long-awaited return to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, Konami is following up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, based on the second season of the cartoon. The first game had its fair share of problems, but it looks as though the sequel has been turned around and improved in every conceivable area.

The oldest of the old-school Ninja Turtles comic book fans will recognize some of the characters re-introduced, like Professor Honeycutt and the Triceratons. In fact, most of the story of the cartoon follows the original comic book (which means things are gonna get pretty weird). The same actors from the cartoon voice each character, and if it's anything like the previous game, there'll be plenty of in-between scenes progressing the story, and quite possibly footage right from the show.

The story picks up with Master Splinter missing after the big showdown with Shredder in his fortress. The turtles, looking for their master, stumble upon the TCRI building. TCRI are the same letters from the canister of ooze that originally mutated them; they go to investigate, and then things start going wrong.

Easily the largest drawback to the last Ninja Turtles game was the lack of four-player support. Now, TMNT2 features full four-player cooperative play, relying heavily on teamwork, so much so that the entire team shares a single lifebar! Each turtle has a special ability to assist the team, too: Raphael can lift heavy objects, Leonardo can slice through things, Donatello can operate machines and computers, and Mikey can helicopter distances too far for a jump. If there are less than four players, turtles can be switched on the fly. This is a welcome change from the first game, as the player had to stick with one turtle the whole time, with the same repetitive attacks and jibber-jabber. At E3, though, a Konami rep implied there'd be less repetition all around, too.

There are a lot of gameplay changes beyond adding four-player support. The game has more focus on exploration and teamwork, instead of fighting every single second of the game. Wall-jumps, moving platforms, and similar staples of gaming exploration have been added. Also, throwing moves have been included, which might make the combat a little more thinking-oriented.

Chances are when one of your goofball friends loses the team's whole lifebar, you'll want to take it out on them. Instead of kicking them in the head (because you saw it in a cartoon, of course), it might be a better idea to go to the Battle Nexus mode. A four-player battle mode will no doubt be an awesome addition to the game.

Another big draw, possibly the biggest for the old-school fans, is the inclusion of the original TMNT arcade games with, of course, four-player support. The original game is quite a nostalgia trip, filled with over-the-top Final Fight-style four-player mayhem. Highlights include fighting Bebop and Rocksteady at the same time, the highway battle with foot soldiers crowded into convertibles, and the orgy of mayhem at the Technodrome grand finale. Turtles in Time, the second arcade game, features the Turtles traveling through time with a similar four-player action-fest. It was ported to the SNES with a lot of changes, so if you've never played the arcade version, you're in for some pretty big surprises.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 ships out on October 19th. I'd recommend inviting three friends over for a pizza-and-turtles party!