Twin Bee!!!!!!!!!

MotoRoaderMike · 04/06/2007, 02:22 PM

I've had a SLIGHT fixation with "Twinbee" lately, and I have no clue WHY. I recently purchased the japanese only "Twinbee Deluxe Pack" for Sega Saturn. Luckily I have the Action Replay cart to play it on an american system. This disc contains arcade ports so I probably don't need japanese reading skill to play it. The only Twinbee game that was released in the US was the second one, "Moero Twinbee!" or something like that, which was released here as "Stinger". We purchased it back in 1998 while on vacation in NC. When I first played it, I just thought it was okay, but lately, I've had a sudden fixation on it, and just several minutes ago, I downloaded the original Twinbee arcade game for MAME. Several weeks back I also got a ROM of the PC Engine Twinbee game, but I only played it once so far. The "Twinbee Deluxe Pack" will be only the SECOND Twinbee game to enter my game collection, and the first Twinbee game to enter my collection in 9 years. It's also my first Konami title for the Saturn, and it's not even a US release! No biggie, I got an Action Replay like I said. I look forward to playing both the games on it. Maybe one of these days, Konami could release a Twinbee collection in The States, and give it some sort of tagline like "The greatest japanese export franchise you've never heard of!" or something like that. AND, I just found out that the Famicom port of the first Twinbee game was ported to the GBA in Japan as part of the mini Famicom line. > : ( Wish I'd known that! I can't find any place selling it! There's also currently a Twinbee game for PSP, but I don't know if it's a new game or a compilation of older Twinbee titles, and I don't know if the PSP has a territory lockout. Anyway...........

Isn't Twinbee cute? He's in the middle.

GUTS · 04/06/2007, 03:18 PM

The Saturn Twinbee is pretty good. I remember Stinger on NES, my friend had it back in like 89 or something, and it was fucking awful. I use to give him shit about playing Stinger while I was playing R-Type on Master System, good times.

Keranu · 04/06/2007, 04:21 PM

I like Twinbee, it's got really nice levels, bosses, and action. Unfortunately I still have a hard time adapting to that bell system. While it's an interesting way of powering up, I think it's too tedious. Parodius did a fantastic job with the bell system though by making the bells be used for special attacks rather than your main power ups.

ParanoiaDragon · 04/06/2007, 09:47 PM

PSP's don't have territory lockout for games, so, buy away, I'm going to eventually do the same!

Tatsujin · 04/07/2007, 12:31 AM

my favs are:

Pop'n twinbee SFC
Detana! twinbee Arcade/PSX/SS
Twinbee Yahoo Arcade/PSX/SS

the pce port of detana is decent as well, but can't come just close to the arcade pendant.

ParanoiaDragon · 04/07/2007, 01:05 AM

Oh, I might add that the DS has a Konami collection, which includes one of the Twinbee games, known over here as Bell's & Whistles.

Also, that pack for PSP, I believe has all the arcade Twin Bee games on it, I could be wrong, I know the Parodius pack has ALL of the Parodius games!

Ninja Spirit · 04/07/2007, 01:32 AM

Ah yes, Twinbee's a great series. I too have the Deluxe Pack for Saturn. I have to agree with Keranu about the bell system. But on the other hand, I hate it too. As shitty speed as Twinbee has at default, if you got Twinbee options, it's hard enough to get a speed up because of the multiple hits.

gundarN · 04/07/2007, 03:49 AM

The Konami GX is a great bit of hardware, I have:

Sexy Parodius
Salamander 2
Twinbee Yahoo

Salamander 2 isn't the best game ever; but it does look nice.

Seldane · 04/07/2007, 06:20 AM

Twin Bee rules. My favorite shooters. The best game in the series is Detana!! Twin Bee for X68000. It is perfect.

The PSP compilation has all the arcade games. Pretty nice.

esteban · 04/07/2007, 09:15 AM

Quote from: GUTS on 04/06/2007, 03:18 PMThe Saturn Twinbee is pretty good. I remember Stinger on NES, my friend had it back in like 89 or something, and it was fucking awful. I use to give him shit about playing Stinger while I was playing R-Type on Master System, good times.

Stinger wasn't that bad, but it was tough. You, my friend, didn't have the balls to accept the challenge of Stinger!

I thought the boss designs were the highlight of Stinger: huge cute, funny bosses... the Bonk / Zonk games always reminded of Stinger in this regard (there are other games, as well, but I'm sticking to the TG-16 universe).

Plus, Stinger pioneered (?) (OK, shoot-em-up historians should correct me if I'm wrong) the alternating vertical - horizontal stage progression. At the very least, it set a precedent (?) internally, at Konami, and paved the way for Lifeforce (NES).

But who cares? This was the first cute-em-up I ever played and it had some charm (I always liked how your partner could grab you soul / ghost when you die), plus it was a challenging game.

GUTS, you know that I like to react harshly to some of your comments

. But seriously, your ass was handed to you by flying coat hangers and a slice of pizza! How emmasculating is that? Even mastering R-Type SMS can't make up for it!

/drama

GUTS · 04/08/2007, 01:29 AM

Hah I think R-Type was the harder game, I remember my friend beating Stinger all the time. But actually I'm getting Stinger and Sqoon mixed up, now that I think about it Sqoon was the ultra shitty game he liked, Stinger wasn't too bad. I always get the two mixed up for some reason.

Tatsujin · 04/08/2007, 06:15 AM

r-type is always the harder game. it is as hard as it gets.

btw. just re-bought today the detana/yahoo twinbee collection

esteban · 04/08/2007, 12:11 PM

Quote from: GUTS on 04/08/2007, 01:29 AMHah I think R-Type was the harder game, I remember my friend beating Stinger all the time. But actually I'm getting Stinger and Sqoon mixed up, now that I think about it Sqoon was the ultra shitty game he liked, Stinger wasn't too bad. I always get the two mixed up for some reason.

Hahahaha. I'm just teasing you. R-Type SMS was heaven back in the day

. Of course I liked Stinger as well, but R-Type was a gem.

MotoRoaderMike · 06/07/2007, 07:48 PM

Well I managed to snag up alot of Twinbee games since I made this thread:

Twinbee (Famicom)
Twinbee 3 (Famicom)
Twinbee da!! (Game Boy)
Detana!! Twinbee (PC Engine, dunno how I'm gonna play it though)
Pop'n Twinbee (Super Famicom)
Twinbee Rainbow Bell Adventure (Super Famicom)
Twinbee Taisen Puzzle Dama (PlayStation One)
Detana Twinbee Yahho Deluxe Pack (Saturn)
Famicom Mini - Twinbee (GBA)
Twinbee Portable (PSP)

Twinbee Portable was the first imported PSP game I ever got (my second being the Salamander Portable), and Twinbee da!! was the first import old school Game Boy title I ever got. I wuv Twinbee's voice in Taisen Puzzle Dama. It's so cute! I wish I had a WAV file of his and Winbee's voices from that game. And Pastel-chan (Winbee's pilot) and Mint (Gwinbee's pilot) are also adorable. XD

Seldane · 06/07/2007, 07:57 PM

NICE

I've been wanting to get all the Twin Bee games sometime as well. But I won't. Ever.

Ninja Spirit · 06/23/2007, 12:42 PM

I just got Twinbee Deluxe pack (Saturn) and Stinger for NES. I did come close to getting Pop N' Twinbee SFC but was outsniped.

One thing that annoys me about the Twinbee games is that Twinbee options make things tougher sometimes in respect to the colored bell system.

CosMind · 05/13/2009, 01:56 PM

Quote from: Ninja Spirit on 06/23/2007, 12:42 PMOne thing that annoys me about the Twinbee games is that Twinbee options make things tougher sometimes in respect to the colored bell system.

to me, that's one of the play mechanics that makes the games unique and quite interesting. it introduces a level of balance to the power up system that isn't present in many (if any) other shooters. i find it quite engaging to have to actually focus on and opportunistically manage the bells in order to accomplish whatever my particular goal with them is at any time. it's an awesome multitasking system. especially gratifying if you're playing for score and not just to get through the game.

(talk about resurrecting a crusty old thread

)

Dark Fact · 05/13/2009, 10:38 PM

Holy crap! I was watching a gameplay video of the original Twin Bee game for the Famicom just yesterday!

Twin Bee is a very underrated shooter and a hell of a lot of fun. I mean, who wouldn't like the opportunity to play a game where your main enemies are kitchen ingredients?

BTW, was there ever a Twin Bee 2?

Lord Thag · 05/13/2009, 11:46 PM

I also discovered this series via Konami's Stinger on the NES. I was initially put off by it, thinking the theme was dumb, but then discovered that the game was very good, and the powerup system fun, if rather odd.

I picked up a used famicom cart of twinbee at a lter time, but that's about the extent of my experience. I want to get the PCE one. They're fun, if strange, little shooters. I remember beating Stinger a few times back in the day. Good game.

CosMind · 05/13/2009, 11:52 PM

the boss design is also fantastic. especially the ones that act almost as self contained "scenes" that play out as you progress through their life.

Digi.k · 05/14/2009, 12:56 PM

you should hunt the parodius games as they feature twin bee in them

also I think there was a twin bee RPG for the psx that remained in japan...

Nazi NecroPhile · 05/14/2009, 01:46 PM

Quote from: Dark Fact on 05/13/2009, 10:38 PMBTW, was there ever a Twin Bee 2?

The Stinger mentioned by Lord Thag is part two of the series; part three is Twin Bee 3: Poko Poko Daimaou.

rag-time4 · 06/04/2009, 03:35 AM

I've got the two FDS Twinbee games:

there's "Twinbee" released only via the disk writer:

As well as Moero TwinBee Cinnamon Hakushi o Sukue!

Ninja Spirit · 06/05/2009, 08:58 PM

Just ebay'd PCE Detana Twinbee.

Quote from: CosMind on 05/13/2009, 01:56 PM
Quote from: Ninja Spirit on 06/23/2007, 12:42 PMOne thing that annoys me about the Twinbee games is that Twinbee options make things tougher sometimes in respect to the colored bell system.
to me, that's one of the play mechanics that makes the games unique and quite interesting. it introduces a level of balance to the power up system that isn't present in many (if any) other shooters. i find it quite engaging to have to actually focus on and opportunistically manage the bells in order to accomplish whatever my particular goal with them is at any time. it's an awesome multitasking system. especially gratifying if you're playing for score and not just to get through the game.

Yeah true, what annoys me about it is when just when you see that color that you want, maybe 7-9 times out of 10 your option pods ruin it for you by changing the bell's color, then you have scramble to get that color back

blueraven · 06/06/2009, 05:13 AM

I used to have Stinger for the Nintendo; I bought it at a garage sale with Xerxes and stayed up all night playing them both.

It's a really underrated shooter; I don't think the American audiences got into it.

guyjin · 06/06/2009, 11:36 AM

Quote from: blueraven on 06/06/2009, 05:13 AMI bought it at a garage sale with Xerxes

I think you mean Xexyz.

blueraven · 06/06/2009, 03:13 PM

Quote from: guyjin on 06/06/2009, 11:36 AM
Quote from: blueraven on 06/06/2009, 05:13 AMI bought it at a garage sale with Xerxes
I think you mean Xexyz.

I did! Thanks Guyjin. Leave it to me to get an NES game mixed up with the historical figure/bad guy in 300.

guyjin · 06/07/2009, 01:59 AM

Quote from: blueraven on 06/06/2009, 03:13 PMI did! Thanks Guyjin. Leave it to me to get an NES game mixed up with the historical figure/bad guy in 300.

It's a cool name though. I might name one of my sons that.

Dark Fact · 07/01/2009, 02:40 PM

If I named my son Xexyz, people would call him Xexyz Smexyz.

Ninja Spirit · 07/02/2009, 09:58 PM

In Detana! Twinbee, there is something about that stage 2 boss that really pisses me off, particularly the spinning bars phase. Let alone that one time I pulled it off out of 100% luck, I could never get past this phase without dying...

Between the speed of the scrolling screen and how fast the poles rotate, alot of odds are stacked against you, as they swing at uneven angles

You only have so limited time to develop that judgment for that moment to pass through.

Dark Fact · 07/03/2009, 09:45 AM

Are those bars supposed to represent propellers or something? And what part of the boss are you supposed to hit? The crew members?

esteban · 07/03/2009, 10:20 AM

Quote from: Ninja Spirit on 07/02/2009, 09:58 PMBetween the speed of the scrolling screen and how fast the poles rotate, alot of odds are stacked against you, as they swing at uneven angles ...

You only have so limited time to develop that judgment for that moment to pass through.

I hear ya. But you've played Gradius 2, right? Konami loved creating wicked tough segments where you were only a few pixels from crashing into obstacles as you dodge as if you were in Kunio no Nekketsu Toukyuu Densetsu.

If you can whoop me in Samurai Ghost (I still have trouble with parts of that game), then Detana! shouldn't be too much trouble.

Ninja Spirit · 07/03/2009, 12:07 PM

Quote from: Dark Fact on 07/03/2009, 09:45 AMAre those bars supposed to represent propellers or something? And what part of the boss are you supposed to hit? The crew members?

Boss 2 has a few individual phases where weak points change, destroy enemies here, a few turrets there and the "core"

this one I mentioned was the 3rd, there's nothing to hit but you have to navigate through the propellers on both sides of the ship.

12/06/2023: Localization News - Tengai Makyou/Far East of Eden: Ziria!!!

Twin Bee!!!!!!!!!