One reason that many gamers resent Japanese video game companies is that said companies often won’t bother, for whatever reason, to bring over a certain game to the United States. I’ll grant, in some cases, this is probably a good idea. I really would rather not deal with the questions that would inevitably arise if a dating simulation came out here. Especially if it was one of the explicit dating sims. However, in many cases, this means that the United States misses out on some excellent games. Any fan of Final Fantasy can lament about how long it took for the fifth game to come out, and the third still hasn’t hit these shores.
So it comes again that I have found it necessary to import another excellent game. The name TwinBee means very little on these shores; some people recognize the name from playing a remix of the original theme song in Dance Dance Revolution Extreme in the arcade, and that’s about it. Others might notice the character design and realize that one of the TwinBee games (the second, and easily the weakest) was released in this country as Stinger. But beyond that, it holds no grip in American gaming culture. In Japan, though, the games are quite popular to the point that the original has come out now as a part of the Game Boy Advance "Famicom Mini" series (the Japanese equivalent of the NES Classics series).
Now, for those unfamiliar, TwinBee was Konami’s first attempt at creating a silly version of the classic shoot-‘em-up. You take control of a spaceship called the TwinBee (joined by a partner called in the WinBee in two-player mode; more on that shortly) as you go to save the planet. What are you saving the planet from? Food. Seriously, you are attacked by giant flying food, like hard-boiled eggs, sugar cubes (or maybe tofu cubes – shoot to kill, friends), and the like. Well, at least when you aren’t attacked by flying utensils. Not to mention being shot at by rocks and gloves lying on the ground in this top-down oddity.
The story, of course, is simplistic, as is the gameplay. You control your ship, which has two main forms of attack – a bullet to take care of aerial objects, and a punch that takes out objects on the ground. It’s incredibly easy to just jump in and start blasting. Moreover, the power-up system is a bit novel and fun. Every so often, you’ll see clouds that give off yellow bells when attacked. These give points, but blasting them will turn them colors, with each color giving a different power-up. Thus, you not only have to grab the power-up you want in the midst of a fight, but you also have to be careful that you don’t accidentally hit it and keep it from becoming a different color of bell. You also occasionally see candy left behind from ground foes, and a shining "repair kit" should one hit you and remove your ability to punch bomb ground enemies.
The thrill of the game is partly in that the controls haven’t at all changed since 1986, and they’re still incredibly sharp. Even before you get a speed increase through a blue bell, the ship handles at a decent clip; highly unusual in a game where speed-ups are available. It’s tricky, but well within reason, to be able to dodge a whole field of projectiles and enemies right from the get-go, all while blasting your foes. A huge reason this game works whereas many shooters don’t is because this game feels like you can get through it even without the sake of power-ups, though they do make your job easier. Seldom will you ever get this feeling from a shooter.
Konami did some of their best work for this re-release when it came time to design the multi-player aspect. TwinBee was simply a two-player simultaneous game before, and they made it as comfortable as possible to play that way again. For the people who would import this without any friendly help, you can play this through the classic one-cartridge method, using the GBA link cable. However, should you and another friend both own the game, you can both play using the wireless link that comes with Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen. In each case, the game progresses quite smoothly on both screens, and both players can go crazy in the classic 8-bit play. In addition, the wireless link works flawlessly, working with up to 10 feet of distance without a single issue in play. Two-player mode is also a great way to plow through the game as two new abilities open up: TwinBee and WinBee can link arms to do a single, powerful shot, and can line up to fire a sweeping four-way shot. The game just becomes much more playable in two-player mode.
Graphically, the game keeps it quite simple, true to its roots. Unlike many other re-releases, though Konami touched up TwinBee to run much smoother on the improved hardware. The game doesn’t have any flicker issues (unlike, say, the NES Mega Man games on Mega Man Anniversary Collection), and everything animates smoothly. Part of the reason, of course, is that Konami didn’t animate many of the sprites, having them remain static as they moved across the screen. They are clean and move well, and you can always tell exactly what has left the kitchen to attack you. The only drawback is that it can be difficult at first to tell what, precisely, is attacking from the ground. However, once you spend a minute or two with the game, it becomes pretty obvious.
The music is, even in the best (read: Game Boy Player) conditions, a bit tinny and simplistic. TwinBee’s music was meant to be simple and catchy, but it doesn’t necessarily age well, particularly on the Game Boy Advance’s lousy speaker. Certainly, anyone who has put time in the arcades playing Dance Dance Revolution will know the music (including the unmistakable intro), but you’ll find that the song had to undergo a lot of work to become the utterly danceable Final Offset mix. Bemani fans will probably want to listen to the game for the origin of the arrows, but everyone else will probably wish to forego the volume.
The real joy in the game, though, is that it gives many American gamers the thrill of being old school while giving a new experience. First off, the cartridge itself is maroon and cream, the colors of the Famicom. So you get credit for being old school (the old Famicom colors) and hardcore (knowing that they are the Famicom colors) just for owning it. But the game play harkens back to the early days of gaming, in which all you needed was solid gameplay and an interesting concept. Everything about it just feels like you’re back in the den, playing NES. But unless you imported from Japan, you probably have never touched the game and it’s a breath of fresh air compared to everything else you’ve played recently.
TwinBee overall is a classic shooter that never got a solid chance to find its audience in North America. It’s just so simple to step into, and everything feels so smooth that you’ll wonder why nobody ever bothered to bring it over. As the Japanese market proved, the solid gameplay alone was enough to carry the game to become a classic. While it certainly wasn’t quite the humorous opus Konami had in mind when it was first created (that didn’t come until Parodius, another game denied the Americas, came out), it was perhaps one of the strongest titles to grace the Famicom, and a shooter worth picking up. Now that the region-free Game Boy Advance has the game (and it can be found at the import-friendly price of about $30), it’s time that American audiences took some initiative and pick this game up. Easily the best shoot-‘em-up the Game Boy Advance has yet seen, this classic proves that the companies that release the games don’t always know what would work in the United States
