Date Released: 21 November 1986
Date Played: 24 April 2022
I have played Stinger several times in my life, but have never played the original Famicom Disk System version of the game, Moero Twinbee. Needless to say, I was disappointed after pulling out my Twin Famicom, inserting the disk, replacing the disk belt, adjusting the spring, holding down the load trigger mechanism, and having to sit 3 feet away from the system itself to constantly manipulate the magnetic arm to make the game load, only to discover that the game is exactly the same as the NES version except for the fact that you can play with up to 3 people. Of course, no one is going to play a 35 year old game with me and my daughter just rolls her eyes when I ask. So, it was hours of time wasted trying to get the Famicom Disk System to work... which is par for the course if you've ever used one before.
I popped the American copy into the NES and decided to play it instead so I could use a turbo controller and save my thumb from the constant tapping of the fire button. It was a wise decision and booted up on the first try. Regardless of all of this prep-work, I was going into this entire event knowing that I wasn't going to have a good time. See, Stinger is the 2nd game in the Twinbee franchise; and if you've read any of my other Twinbee reviews, you will be very familiar with how much I dislike these games. Stinger is no different. Even though it is an early and simple entry in the series, it shares many of the same frustrating mechanics that the other games have.
This time around you're trying to save Dr. Cinnamon from his kidnappers and you have to shoot your way through 6 stages. The gimmick in this one is that the game alternates between a horizontal shmup on odd numbered stages and a vertical shmup on the even numbered stages. Your orientation doesn't do much to change up the game mechanics or the general feel of the game and whether you are flying toward the top of the screen or to the right of it, you'll notice that it feels pretty much the same. There are still tons of zany enemies like coat hangers, shoes, fruit, TV sets, etc. to shoot before they shoot and/or crash into you. You can really sense that the developer, Konami, is leaning in the the comedy side of the cute 'em up genre and are working pretty hard to cut out their own little niche. Luckily, for the most part, they nail it. The game is colorful and charming to look at. As far as the aesthetic of the Twinbee games, I think they're all really great. Who doesn't love a cute little space ship with boxing gloves? At the end of each stage, you'll face off against a whimsical boss that's just as random as the enemies in the stages. You'll have to dodge seeds flying out of a giant slice of watermelon, or avoid the bubbles coming out of a maniacal faucet. I really can't get enough of the clever ideas Konami comes up with for these games. Even the music is fun and really works to elevate the light-heartedness of the game.
It's just too bad that the gameplay is so wretched.
I hate that I'm having to air my grievances over the mechanics of this game once again... but here we go. The powerup system in this game works just like all the others. You shoot clouds and golden bells pop out and quickly cascade towards the bottom of the screen. If you collect them before they fall off the bottom of the screen, you get a point bonus. Or, you can shoot them to juggle them in the air. As you continue to shoot them, they change to different colors that all align with a different powerup. Blue is for a speed increase, white is a double shot, pink is for a laser beam, etc.. It seems like a good idea in theory, but in practice, it's one of the most frustrating game mechanics I've ever seen.
Sometimes you have to shoot the same bell DOZENS of times to get it to rotate to the powerup you need. It takes forever and is really tedious to manage this while also dealing with the insane amounts of enemies and bullets on the screen. If you miss a shot, the bell falls of the screen and all your work is wasted. If you accidentally shoot the bell while it's the color you need, it will cycle OFF of that color and all of your hard work is wasted. Also, the bells block your shots. That means if there are a ton of enemies on the screen, and you're currently juggling 3 or 4 bells, they will block a significant number of your shots at the enemies. This often leads to one of them smacking you right in the face and taking one of your precious lives. Even when you are really, and I mean REALLY trying to focus on getting a powerup you need, I bet 80% of the time, something goes wrong and you miss it. A bullet gets in the way and you have to dodge which causes your to miss the bell. Or, you'll tap the fire button one too many times shooting at the enemies and the stray shot will hit the bell and make it rotate off of the correct powerup. Usually, you'll be juggling multiple bells and you'll have one of them right where you want it and as it's coming down, it overlaps with the other bell you're trying to manage and you accidentally hit the first one and ruin it. It's so extremely irritating, and I hate it so much.
On top of that. You also have to deal with bombing ground units in both the horizontal and vertical stages. On the horizontal stages, it's not so bad and the ground shot button is tied to your straight ahead shot button. So, just tap away and dodge, and you'll be fine. But, on the vertical stages, you have a reticule a set distance in front of your ship. You have to position it directly over a ground unit and press the B button this time to hit the ground. Trying to position yourself correctly, avoid the swathes of enemies and their bullets, and manage juggling all of the bells makes the game an incredible tense chore that I just don't enjoy at all. I don't like this mechanic either and even in games like Xevious (where it originated) and the much heralded Layer Section (Galactic) attack, I never really enjoy doing it. If those games can't make me like it, Twinbee definitely isn't going to have a chance at converting me over to its side. Not when it's making me want to pull out my hair over the bell juggling.
However, I will say this, if you DO manage to get fairly powered up and can start ignoring the bells, the game gets infinitely better and is actually pretty fun. On the occasions where I was able to do this on the first or second stage, I was able to plow through the game without much trouble. But, getting up to that point is so difficult that it's not really worth it. Obviously, the game suffers from terrible Gradius syndrome and if you take a hit and die, you loose all of your powerups and become too weak to make any decent progress. Meaning that you pretty much have to clear the game without getting hit or it's too difficult to recover and will blow through your remaining lives in no time unless you get super lucky.
I can't say I would recommend ANY of the Twinbee games to anyone. I'm pretty active in the shmup community, and there is a general disdain for these games from a lot of people who are really into shooters. If you're really into shmups or even old school arcade games, the Twinbee games just don't play the way you would expect. They take away all the fun of shooting enemies and dodging bullets and instead make you focus on the task of juggling a bunch of bells and multitasking. It's more of a positioning game than anything. I am fully aware that some people really like this mechanic, but it's just not for me.
I only have one game in the entire Twinbee series to play... and I can't wait for it to be over and done with.
Final Status: Played
Final Score: 4/10 (a little bad)
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