I saved up birthday, Christmas and allowance money to buy TMNT for the NES back in '89 shortly after it came out. It was like $60, which was a lot of money for a 10 yr old.
So its still one of my favorites. I know everyone hated that game for the dam level. But because I had saved up for it and played it so much, I can still beat the dam without losing a single turtle. Still never beat the Technodome though.