It has already been brought up that the Street Sharks were very similar to the Ninja Turtles. Both shows featured four mutated brothers teaming up to fight crime. The question arises, which team was cooler. On one side you have man-sharks that can bite their way through a horde of criminals, while on the other side there are turtles who have learned the way of ninjutsu from a rat. Both seem pretty solidly stacked, so we will divide this competition into a series of categories. Whichever team that wins the most categories will be named the victor. Let’s get this party started.
Origins
Street Sharks: The Street Sharks came into being when an evil scientist experiments on 4 brothers with a genetic manipulator device. The scientist wanted to turn everyone into mindless mutants so he could take over and avoid crowds at movie theaters. This immediately gave the Street Sharks a villain and a purpose. They sent the rest of the series preventing the scientist from turning everyone into mutants while trying to revert to their human form as well
Ninja Turtles: These 4 brothers started out as turtles rather than humans, but gained some human like qualities after they were soaked in a chemical known as ooze. This made the turtles grow and learn English as they were raised by a rat similarly transformed by the ooze. The rat taught them the way of the ninja, and the turtles began their career of crime-fighting while at the same time trying to solve the mystery of the ooze.
Winner: Ninja Turtles. Their origins presents not only bad guys but a mystery to solve, making the show’s beginning just a bit more interesting.
Fighting Prowess
Street Sharks: The Street Sharks didn’t have any formal training when it came to brawls, but they were part Shark. Sharks just never seem to have a problem destroying things. The fact that the Street Sharks could bite through steel and headbutt enemies made them formidable opponents indeed.
Ninja Turtles: Look at that first part. Ninja. These turtles have been trained in the arts of stealth and combat. They can sneak up on enemies and they have different battle strategies. Each of the 4 brothers also specializes in a different weapon, giving the turtles flexibility when it comes to how to take a villain out.
Winner: Ninja Turtles. Sorry, but there is just no beating a ninja in this category. The Street Sharks can kick some ass, but they only have one ungraceful way to do it. The Ninja Turtles practice for that kind of thing.
Radical Factor
Street Sharks: It is widely known that Street Sharks was an attempt at creating a “cool” product for kids, and back then sayings like “radical” were cool. Thus the Street Sharks enjoyed junk food and had catch phrases like “jawsome”! To our eight year old selves, things like that were totally radical. Some other things the Street Sharks had going for them were cool gadgets like jet packs, the fact one of them was a drummer, and, oh yeah, they were freaking sharks. That’s pretty radical.
Ninja Turtles: They are ninjas. They like pizza and skateboarding. There are still Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies being made. All of this adds up to the Ninja Turtles being pretty awesome. The catchphrase “cowabunga” also didn’t have a pun in it, which makes it better. If they had been Ninja Cows that catchphrase would have been terrible.
Winner: Ninja Turtles. The two teams of brothers stack up pretty closely on the radical scale. The deciding factor was one of the Street Sharks, Streex, was known for his rollerblading ways. That’s not very radical, dude.
Winner: Ninja Turtles
In the end, an imitation can never stand up to the original. With that said, Street Sharks was still an awesome show. They don’t hold a candle to the Ninja Turtles though.
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