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Turtles
乌龟
Turtles is a beat-em-up arcade game released in 1981, developed by Konami and licensed to Stern Electronics for Western distribution. The player controls a turtle character tasked with rescuing baby turtles that have been captured and taken into an enemy base. Navigating a top-down maze-like environment, the player must avoid and defeat enemies while collecting the kidnapped turtles scattered across each stage. The game uses a joystick for movement and a button to kick or attack enemies. Stages increase in difficulty as enemy speed and aggression ramp up. The goal is to rescue all baby turtles in each level before advancing. Turtles was one of Konami's early arcade efforts and shares gameplay DNA with maze-based action titles popular during that era.
- Developer
- Konami (Stern Electronics license)
- Released
- 1981
- Platform
- Arcade
- Genre
- Action
- Rating
- 4.4 / 5 (4.6K)
- Last updated
Turtles Controls — Arcade Keyboard Keys
Default keyboard bindings for Turtles on our in-browser Arcade emulator. Plug in a USB or Bluetooth gamepad to auto-detect mappings, or rebind any key from the emulator settings menu.
| Keyboard | Console button | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| ↑ | Joystick Up | Move up |
| ↓ | Joystick Down | Move down |
| ← | Joystick Left | Move left |
| → | Joystick Right | Move right |
| X | Button 1 | Primary action (jump / confirm) |
| Z | Button 2 | Secondary action (attack / cancel) |
| S | Button 3 | Tertiary action |
| A | Button 4 | Quaternary action |
| Q | Button 5 | Fifth button |
| W | Button 6 | Sixth button |
| 5 | Insert Coin | Insert coin |
| 1 | 1P Start | Start / Pause |
Coin and Start are convention "Insert Coin: 5" and "1P Start: 1". Some arcade boards expect specific button mappings — check the in-game prompts on coin-up.
Rebind any key from the EmulatorJS in-game settings menu (gear icon → Controls). A connected gamepad auto-maps to the same buttons.
Turtles Longplay & Gameplay Videos
Watch a full playthrough of Turtles on Arcade before you dive in — recommended for getting a feel for the game's pacing, story beats, and difficulty curve.
Watch longplay on YouTube
"Turtles" Arcade longplay 1981
External references
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Turtles released?
Turtles was released in 1981 for the Arcade.
Who developed Turtles?
Turtles was developed by Konami (Stern Electronics license), available to play in your browser on RetroGameSpace.
What type of game is Turtles?
Turtles is a Action game for the Arcade, playable instantly in your browser — no downloads, no installs.
How can I play Turtles for free?
Open this page and click "Play Now" — Turtles runs free in your browser via WebAssembly emulation. No account, no payment, no installer.
Do I need to download anything to play Turtles in the browser?
No. Turtles streams from a public archive into a browser-side Arcade emulator. Nothing is installed on your computer.
Can I save my progress in Turtles?
Yes. Save states are stored in your browser (IndexedDB) per game, and you can also use any in-game save the original Arcade cartridge supported.
Does Turtles work on mobile devices?
Yes — the Arcade emulator runs on iOS Safari and Android Chrome. Touch controls overlay the game; landscape mode is recommended.
Is it legal to play Turtles this way?
RetroGameSpace is a transient caching reverse-proxy and does not host first-party copies of Turtles. Game files are fetched on demand from publicly-accessible archives. You are responsible for compliance with your local laws and the bring-your-own-ROM principle.
