Stinger (Nes) / Moero Twinnbee (FDS) Review

 

Stinger (NES) / Moero Twinbee (FDS) Review

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)

Detana!! TwinBee (PSP) Review

Detana!! TwinBee (PSP) Review

Release Date: 21 February 1991 (Arcade)

Date Played: 5 December 2021

Introduction:

This was the second arcade game released in the TwinBee franchise which was extremely popular in Japan.  The game received several ports that were also only released in Japan and we're looking at the Playstation Portable Version here. It was released on a compilation of most of the TwinBee games and is considered an arcade perfect port. Even though there was TwinBee fever in Japan for well over a decade, the games never really made it to the United States (other than the rebranded, "Stinger" on the NES).  Even today, you have to import these games to have the opportunity to play them.  This is, of course, what I did to to get the PSP compilation.  

The TwinBee franchise has a lot of story and lore associated with it.  It centers around the main characters having to fight Queen Melody and Archduke Nonsense for a magical harp... or something.  I'm not sure, and it doesn't really matter.  Just be aware that all of the characters in this franchise are quite beloved in their native Japan and have spawned a whole assortment of collectables, plushies, cartoons, comic books, food, action figures, radio dramas, and everything else you could imagine.  This game has plenty of cut scenes between the levels to fill you in on the story. Unfortunately, I don't speak Japanese and can't get a good grasp of what is going on. I know that the TwinBee games are considered to be an anime in shmup form series, but that interests me far less than the series fanatics.

Presentation:

The game is gorgeous with bright colors, interesting enemy and boss designs, and a light hearted feel. You can see that it draws its inspirations heavily from Studo Ghibli's move Castle in the Sky. It is definitely a cute 'em up and has playful characters and enemies that look like they're taken directly from Hayao Miyazaki's mind. I think this was a really good idea and helps this game stand out from others in the franchise that all seem to be based off of toys and candy.  The music is outstanding and has that cartoony and whimsical feel that suits it quite well and is a standard feature in the series.  Being the 5th overall game in the series but only the 2nd arcade game, the graphics have been given a huge bump from the previous 3 console only releases and it really shows. While not as technically or graphically impressive as some of the TwinBee games that came after it, Detana!! TwinBee can certainly hold its own in the aesthetic department.

Gameplay:

Unfortunately, this leads us to the real downfall of the TwinBee series. My favorite quote to offer up when asked about these games is, "Everything is great about TwinBee except for the gameplay." Of all the games I've ever played, there are none that I so desperately want to enjoy as much as the TwinBee games... but just utterly despise playing. Detana!! is pretty much the same as all of the other TwinBee games and is just a vertically scrolling shmup.  You play through 7 colorful levels that have mid-bosses and final bosses.  Some of these final bosses have really cool designs that are primarily aquatically themed with jelly fish, crabs, and ships. You're given a charge shot this time around and learning to find time to charge it and knowing when to let loose is one of the main gameplay mechanics. Everything else about the gameplay is just standard TwinBee stuff.  Meaning... it's bad.  I know, I know, up until now I've been giving the game a pretty glowing review.  So, if you thought you were going to hear me herald the greatness of these games... you thought wrong.   The TwinBee series seems like something I would absolutely love, but it's marred by such an incredibly terrible game design feature/flaw that it squarely places itself into the top echelon of most frustrating video game experiences I've ever encountered.  Like the other games in the series, it feels like it has gone out of its way to select elements from other games that intentionally frustrate me... and I feel personally attacked and offended.   Allow me to explain in detail further.

The real issue with the TwinBee games (including this one) is the powerup system.  Scattered all throughout the levels are clouds that, when shot, toss out a bell that falls towards the bottom of the screen.  What you're supposed to do is shoot the bell to juggle it and keep it from falling off the bottom of the screen.  After several shots, the bell will change colors and act as a powerup if you collect it.  These powerups include spreadshots, speed increases, shields, options, and more.  The issues with this system aren't minor and they basically control and ruin the entire experience.  Firstly, you don't know what color/powerup the bell is going to change into.  So, if you need a specific powerup, you might have to shoot the bell 20 or 30 times to get it to cycle to the one you need.  Secondly, if you get the bell to cycle to the color you want, and then you accidentally shoot it again, say goodbye to that powerup because just a single shot will turn the powerup back into a regular bell and you'll have to do it all again. Thirdly, you usually have a handful of bells on the screen that you're juggling simultaneously.  Trying to get one to stay the color you want without without accidentally hitting it again is so difficult to maintain with all of the other bells bouncing around. Fourthly, the bells block your shots when you hit them.  This game has an insane amount of enemies zipping all over the screen.  Most of them try to kamikaze directly into you and when they come into view, you can't even shoot them because there are 5 or 6 bells directly between you and them that block your bullets. These enemies also have very erratic patterns that were designed to basically troll you.  Lastly, you spend so much of your time and attention dealing with these stupid bells that you don't even get to focus on playing the rest of the game.  Ninety percent of your deaths will just come out of nowhere from an enemy you didn't even notice because all of your attention is elsewhere.  The game has terrible Gradius syndrome, meaning that if you die and lose your powerups, the game is too difficult to continue.  So, you essentially have to finish the game without ever dying to have a chance.  Because this game is so unforgivingly difficult, you die all the time.  This leads you to have to focus on getting more powerups to have a chance, which leads to spending more time juggling bells, and less time allocated to learning the levels and enemy patterns.  In addition to this, most of the TwinBee games have a Xevious mechanic where you have to bomb ground units with your crosshair while simultaneously dealing with the stuff in the air.  I'm not a fan of this mechanic usually, but it's extra bad in this series.  Because most of your movement is focused on staying below these bells to either keep shooting them or to catch them, it's difficult to take out the ground units at all.  Luckily, this game allows you to bomb the ground and shoot in the air with the same button.  Even with this little upgrade, it doesn't help the situation in any meaningful way.

In regards to the shot, as mentioned before, this game is focused on charge attacks.  They are essential to success in this game and the four different options give some variety and strategy on different ways to tackle the levels and bosses.  Unfortunately, even this carries with it some serious negatives.  Because you charge your shot by holding down your fire button, there's no autoshot in this game.  You'll wear out your hand from constantly tapping the fire button.  It's exhausting and makes the game more of a chore to play.  The charge shots themselves pass through everything on the screen... including the bells.  So, that sorts out the bells blocking your shot problem to some minor degree.  But, what it introduces is the extremely troublesome issue of your charge shot hitting bells multiple times as it passes through them and causes them to cycle past the upgrades you need.  After you die, you can't even use the charge shot when you need to because it will prevent you from grabbing any upgrades.  Considering the enemy encounters are centered around the charge shot, this can be very problematic. There are so many times where I'm repeatedly shooting a bell and trying to get it to cycle to a powerup that I desperately need, and some stupid enemy will fly in at lightning speed and fire off a barrage of fast bullets right into my path that causes me to have to dodge and miss my chance to grab the bell powerup. You spend all of this time working on shooting these bells and a majority of the time it's all for nothing because you can't grab the bell when you need to, you don't have a chance to shoot it enough times to cycle to what you need, or you accidentally shoot it when it IS on the powerup you need because of an enemy getting in your way.

Conclusion:

I don't think the TwinBee games are good.  In fact, I think they're downright bad, unfun, unfair, and miserable to play... but they have an endearing charm to them that raises my opinion of them slightly. This entry in the series is one of the worst offenders and, despite its fantastic presentation, is grating to experience.   The other games in the series are annoying, but just mediocre when all is said and done.  This one's aesthetic can't even raise it to mediocre status nor save it from being slightly despised in my eyes.  I can't help but think that Japan was more in love with the cutesy characters from the series than they were the actual gameplay.  I don't know why anyone would subject themselves to actually learning this game well enough to 1 credit clear it on even the normal difficulty.  There wasn't more than just a few seconds of enjoyment that I experienced during my time with this game.  If you've ever played a Konami shooter like Gradius, you'll be very familiar with the fact that they LOVE to recycle content over an over. In that series, you'll have the same volcano levels, Moai heads, solar flares, and speed levels. It makes the games hard to distinguish from each other. Since TwinBee is also developed by Konami, it's the same case here. All of these games recycle content and are almost indistinguishable from each other. Since Konami decided to recycle some content for this game, I decided to do the same. I was reading through one of my older reviews about a TwinBee game, and realized that it was basically just the same review for this game. So, I copied and pasted over a lot of my feelings for that game to this game... and it seemed to fit perfectly. If you've played one TwinBee game, you've played them all.

Final Status: Beaten

Final Score 4/10 (Bad)

 

TwinBee Yahho!: Fushigi no Kuni de Oabare!! (PSP) Review

TwinBee Yahho!: Fushigi no Kuni de Oabare!! (PSP) Review

Release Date: 4/19/1995, 1/25/2007 (PSP)

Date Played: 7/20/2021

This was the final arcade game released in the TwinBee franchise which was extremely popular in Japan.  The game received 3 ports that were also only released in Japan.  These were for the Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn, and the Sony PSP (in the form of a compilation).  Even though there was TwinBee fever in Japan for well over a decade, the games never really made it to the United States (other than the rebranded, "Stinger" on the NES).  Even today, you have to import these games to have the opportunity to play them.  This is, of course, what I did to to get the PSP compilation.  

The TwinBee franchise has a lot of story and lore associated with it.  It centers around the main characters having to fight Queen Melody and Archduke Nonsense for a magical harp... or something.  I'm not sure, and it doesn't really matter.  Just be aware that all of the characters in this franchise are quite beloved in their native Japan and have spawned a whole assortment of collectables, plushies, cartoons, comic books, food, action figures, radio dramas, and everything else you could imagine.  This game in the franchise has fully voice acted cutscenes that are taken from the radio drama that was surprisingly popular.  As they are fully voiced and scripted in Japanese, I can't really read them and have no idea what they are trying to say.  They do look nice though and seem to add to the experience of the game.  

The game itself looks amazing and is the best looking game in the series by far.  It is definitely a cute 'em up and has playful characters and enemies that look like they're either toys or made of candy.  Obviously, everything is quite colorful and the game even features a lot of impressive scrolling and scaling effects.  Sometimes, a miniature cut scene will take place in a small window on the screen during gameplay.  This was surely a technical marvel at the time and looks great even now.  The music is outstanding and has that cartoony and whimsical feel that suits it quite well.  The game is nothing short of a true delight to see on the screen.  This is especially true when viewing it on a CRT television.

As for the gameplay, it is pretty much the same as all of the other TwinBee games and is just a vertically scrolling shmup.  You play through 6 colorful levels that have mid-bosses and final bosses.  Some of these final bosses have really cool designs (like the giant doll) while others seem pretty basic.  The twist with this game is that this time around, you can select your playstyle before starting the game.  You have 4 different charged shots to choose from and they include a standard fireball, boxing glove, option multiplier, and an explosion.  After this, you select a difficulty and jump right into the action.  Everything else about the gameplay is just standard TwinBee stuff.  Meaning... it's bad.  I know, I know, up until now I've been giving the game a pretty glowing review.  So, if you thought you were going to hear me herald the greatness of these games... you thought wrong.   The TwinBee series seems like something I would absolutely love, but it's marred by such an incredibly terrible game design feature/flaw that it squarely places itself into the top echelon of most frustrating video game experiences I've ever encountered.  This specific game seems to have gone out of its way to select elements from other games that intentionally frustrate me... and I feel personally attacked and offended.   Allow me to explain in detail further.

The real issue with the TwinBee games (including this one) is the powerup system.  Scattered all throughout the levels are clouds that, when shot, toss out a bell that falls towards the bottom of the screen.  What you're supposed to do is shoot the bell to juggle it and keep it from falling off the bottom of the screen.  After several shots, the bell will change colors and act as a powerup if you collect it.  These powerups include spreadshots, speed increases, shields, options, and more.  The issues with this system aren't minor and they basically control and ruin the entire experience.  Firstly, you don't know what color/powerup the bell is going to change into.  So, if you need a specific powerup, you might have to shoot the bell 20 or 30 times to get it to cycle to the one you need.  Secondly, if you get the bell to cycle to the color you want, and then you accidentally shoot it again, say goodbye to that powerup because just a single shot will turn the powerup back into a regular bell and you'll have to do it all again. Thirdly, you usually have a handful of bells on the screen that you're juggling simultaneously.  Trying to get one to stay the color you want without without accidentally hitting it again is so difficult to maintain with all of the other bells bouncing around. Fourthly, the bells block your shots when you hit them.  This game has an insane amount of enemies zipping all over the screen.  Most of them try to kamikaze directly into you and when they come into view, you can't even shoot them because there are 5 or 6 bells directly between you and them that block your bullets.  Lastly, you spend so much of your time and attention dealing with these stupid bells that you don't even get to focus on playing the rest of the game.  Ninety percent of your deaths will just come out of nowhere from an enemy you didn't even notice because all of your attention is elsewhere.  The game has terrible Gradius syndrome, meaning that if you die and lose your powerups, the game is too difficult to continue.  So, you essentially have to finish the game without ever dying to have a chance.  Because this game is so unforgivingly difficult, you die all the time.  This leads you to have to focus on getting more powerups to have a chance, which leads to spending more time juggling bells, and less time allocated to learning the levels and enemy patterns.  In addition to this, most of the TwinBee games have a Xevious mechanic where you have to bomb ground units with your crosshair while simultaneously dealing with the stuff in the air.  I'm not a fan of this mechanic usually, but it's extra bad in this series.  Because most of your movement is focused on staying below these bells to either keep shooting them or to catch them, it's difficult to take out the ground units at all.  Luckily, this game allows you to bomb the ground and shoot in the air with the same button.  Even with this little upgrade, it doesn't help the situation in any meaningful way.

In regards to the shot, as mentioned before, this game is focused on charge attacks.  They are essential to success in this game and the four different options give some variety and strategy on different ways to tackle the levels and bosses.  Unfortunately, even this carries with it some serious negatives.  Because you charge your shot by holding down your fire button, there's no autoshot in this game.  You'll wear out your hand from constantly tapping the fire button.  It's exhausting and makes the game more of a chore to play.  The charge shots themselves pass through everything on the screen... including the bells.  So, that sorts out the bells blocking your shot problem... so tome degree.  But, what it introduces is the extremely troublesome issue of your charge shot hitting bells multiple times as it passes through them and causes them to cycle past the upgrades you need.  After you die, you can't even use the charge shot when you need to because it will prevent you from grabbing any upgrades.  Considering the enemy encounters are centered around the charge shot, this can be very problematic.

Also, this game has added horizontal scrolling into the mix.  This was lifted directly from the Raiden series.  While you're scrolling vertically, a portion of the screen to the left and right stays off camera and as you approach the edges, the screen shifts over to reveal a wider play area.  The issue with this is that there are often enemies right off screen and as soon as you scroll over, they appear and pop you in the back with a bullet and ruin your run.  It's something you can get sort of used to in Raiden because only 30% of the playfield is off screen.  In this game, the visible playfield is only about 30% of the total width.  That means you can scroll left and right for distances that are about the same size as the middle of the playfield.  This just increases the chance of funning into an enemy offscreen and having it snipe you out of the air.  I've always hated this mechanic, and having it be 3 times larger than usual just adds another big red mark on the things this game does wrong.  

Lastly (and this isn't a game ruining issue, but it's just such a huge slap in the face after dealing with all of the other terrible decisions of this game that I had to mention it), when you encounter a boss/mid-boss or a cloud full of bells, the game displays in giant letters the word, "SHOOT!" with a freaking arrow pointing to the thing you're supposed to shoot. To make matters worse, it never goes away and stays there for the whole fight.  Seriously?!?  Not only is it annoying and insulting to the player, but it takes up a good portion of the real estate of the screen causing more visual clutter to look at and obscuring incoming shots.  Why would anyone think this is a good idea?  

I don't think the TwinBee games are good.  In fact, I think they're downright bad, unfun, unfair, and miserable to play... but they have an endearing charm to them that raises my opinion of them slightly. This entry in the series is one of the worst offenders and, despite its fantastic presentation, is grating to experience.   The other games in the series are annoying, but just mediocre when all is said and done.  This one's aesthetic can't even raise it to mediocre status nor save it from being slightly despised in my eyes.  I can't help but think that Japan was more in love with the cutesy characters from the series than they were the actual gameplay.  I don't know why anyone would subject themselves to actually learning this game well enough to 1 credit clear it on even the normal difficulty.  There wasn't more than just a few seconds of enjoyment that I experienced during my time with this game.  

Final Status: Beaten

Final Score 4/10 (Bad)