Pop'n TwinBee (Game Boy)
Pop'n TwinBee, originally release in Japan as TwinBee Da!! (ツインビーだ!!?, lit. "It's TwinBee!!"), is a vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up game released by Konami for the Game Boy in 1990 in Japan and in Europe in 1994. It is the fourth game in the TwinBee series, following TwinBee 3 for the Family Computer and the only installment for the Game Boy.
Despite the European title, the Japanese version actually predates the release of the Super NES version of Pop'n TwinBee by three years. A colorized version of game is featured in Konami GB Collection Vol. 2 in Japan and Konami GB Collection Vol. 3 in Europe. A full remake is featured in TwinBee Portable for PlayStation Portable.
Plot
- Translated from the game's manual.
The Twin Bees, who were living peacefully in Donburi Island, receive a challenge from an unknown individual calling himself Dr. Nikki. "How dare you destroy my creation King Spice, as well as Gattlantis and Poco Poco! This time I'll be your opponent. I'll be waiting for you at Puka Puka Island."
Dr Nikki was none other than Dr. Cinnamon's childhood rival. Whereas Cinnamon decided to use his intellect for the greater good, Nikki became a mad scientist. After reading the challenge, TwinBee and WinBee decide to head to Puca Puca Island without Dr. Cinnamon's knowledge, leaving GwinBee in charge of protecting the scientist. Can the TwinBees truly defeat Dr. Nikki?
Characters
- Twin Bee
- Player 1's ship. A blue aircraft with a circular canopy.
- Win Bee
- Player 2's ship. A red aircraft with two windows shaped like compound eyes.
- Dr. Nikki
- The game's villain. Dr. Cinnamon's rival since childhood. He is the creator of Great King Spice, the antagonist from the original TwinBee. Wears an eyepatch and has swept back hair.
Game System
Controls
The player uses the directional pad to maneuver their ship, one button to fire its anti-air gun, and the other to launch ground bombs. In addition to destroying enemies, the player can uncover power-up bells by shooting at clouds, as well as ground power-ups by destroying certain ground enemies. Shooting a bell several times will change its color. If the player's aircraft loses both of its arms, it will be unable to throw bombs. When that happens, an ambulance will appear that can repair the player's arms.
Bell power-ups
- Grey
- Gives the player extra points. The more grey bells the player picks without missing one, the greater the points they get (500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and eventually 10,000 points).
- Black
- Increases the ship's speed by one level. Can be upgraded up to three times.
- White
- Upgrades the ship's gun into a double shot, increase its firepower.
- Patterned
- Creates two transparent duplicates of the ship that will duplicate the player's actions, increasing their firepower. In the PSP version, the power-up is colored green and creates four duplicates instead of just two and they can also mimic player's bomb drops.[1]
- Striped
- Creates a barrier around the player that absorbs most enemy attacks. Colored red in the PSP version.
Ground power-ups
- Star
- Destroys all airborne enemies
- Fruits
- Gives extra points.
- Milk Bottle
- Gives an extra life.
- Candy
- Turns the player's gun into a three-way shot (cannot be used simultaneously with the twin gun). When picked up twice in a row, it becomes a Miracle Ball.
Stages
The game is composed of six stages. The player can begin at any of the first four stages by selecting the stage they want to start at in the Set Up menu. However, the player must still complete Stage 4 in order to access the final two stages.
- Stage 1
- Boss: Taiyoh No. 13 (also known as Chair Pikkari)
- Stage 2
- Boss: Harifoori
- Stage 3
- Boss: Kameron
- Stage 4
- Boss: The Giant Queen Bee and her four worker bees.
- Stage 5
- Boss: Previous bosses from the original TwinBee.
- Final Stage
- Boss: Super Delicious Ultra Cyber Poppo
Miscellaneous
- The instruction manual of the game places the events of the plot shortly after the events of TwinBee 3, since Gattlantis and Poko Poko are both mentioned. However, the manual of TwinBee Yahoo Deluxe Pack retcons the placement of the game by setting it after the original TwinBee, but years before Moero TwinBee (Stinger).
- The main theme and the boss rush theme are both arranged version of the theme music from the original TwinBee. The power-up theme used in Stage 1 is the same as a power-up theme from the original TwinBee, whereas the power-up from Stage 4 was originally the power-up used in the final stage of Moero TwinBee.
PSP version
The TwinBee Portable compilation for the PSP features an enhanced version of TwinBee Da!! known as the "Powered Up Arranged Edition" that features all new full color graphics, new background music, and various new locations. The remake was developed by M2 and features music composed by Manabu Namiki, who produced an arrangement of the Game Boy version's soundtrack by emulating the sound style of the Bubble System hardware that the original arcade version of TwinBee ran on.
The PSP remake also features the following differences from the Game Boy original:
- It is 1-Player only.
- The Stage Select mode was removed. Moreover, the background music played during the Set-Up mode was removed.
- The power-up bells are colored in the following order: yellow, blue, white, green, and red.
- From Stage 2 and onward, the main theme does not play at the start of each stage, but rather the power-up theme from that specific stage.
- The power-up theme in Stage 3 used in the Game Boy version was cut. Instead, the power-up theme that plays is the one that was used for Stage 5 in the Game Boy version.
- The end of Stage 4 is linked to the floating continent area from Stage 5, thus the boss rush segment of Stage 5 occurs immediately. The bee boss of Stage 4, along with the greater half of Stage 5, are also omitted. As a result, the PSP version is one stage shorter than the Game Boy original.
References
External links
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| Pachislot |
TwinBee JG Pachisuro
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List of TwinBee media
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