What genre of video games has the most loyal following?
The most dedicated fans?
Out of all of the games that are out there, one type has more fans who love their games
more than anyone else.
Sorry RPG fans, I'm talking about shooters!
Oh God no!
Not that!!
Get that garbage out of here!
I'm talking REAL shooters!
You know, a tiny spaceship going the distance against a million enemies and giant bosses!
The kind of battle that could never be won in real life, but somewhere out there deep
in a far off corner of another galaxy, on a tiny bedroom TV somewhere at 2 a.m., it
can!
And does!
And in that genre of the hundreds of great games that have come and gone, one series
in particular has had a large, loving fan base, and this video is just for them!!
Stay Here!
This is the Twinbee Story!
The origins of Twinbee begin in the shadows of the Japanese takeover of the gaming industry.
Original creations that were designed in Japan such as Galaga, and Xevious were massive international
hits in their day.
They owe that success to the original innovative game that set shooting games and Japanese
games in motion, Space Invaders.
Following the massive success of Space invaders in 1978, each game that came afterwards, paid
homage to the basic formula: shoot the bad guys while you try to survive.
Each new game inspired by Space Invaders would add their own individual unique attributes.
Games that followed those did the same as well, which allowed the genre to expand and
evolve into all kinds of different creations which were both unique but distinctly familiar
at once.
By 1984 there were scores of shooting games for the arcade and at home.
In any other genre, you might say there were too many games, a glut, if you will.
But shooter fans couldn't get enough of them, and today, shoot em ups or shmups as
they are also known, still remain a favorite for those of us who came of age in the 1980s
Konami had released a few shooters in those days, namely Time Pilot and Scramble.
In 1984 Konami set out to create a shooting game that would outdo the current big hit,
Xevious.
Elements from Scramble were incorporated to allow for a game to be created more quickly
and for a while was called "Scramble 2" This game would turn into the first of an
amazing, long running, best selling series called Gradius.
Gradius was designed to be a superior game to Xevious, but they had few things in common.
While Gradius was in development Konami was working on a separate game, concurrently,
that had a similar feel to Xevious, but would look quite different.
It would be a game that scrolled vertically and allowed the player to shoot enemies that
were airborne, or bomb them on the ground, almost identical to Xevious.
However the dark, serious and mature nature of Xevious, Gradius and every other shooter
heretofore released was thrown out for a style that was bright and colorful.
That game would become Twinbee, and with that a new sub-genre called the "Cute-em up"
would be born.
It was an interesting strategy for Konami to release 2 games of the same genre at the
same time that would be so different from each other.
However if one failed and the other succeeded it would still provide the company with a
success.
However both games became hits in their own right and would expand into full, proper series,
which would occasionally cross over and be forever tied together.
But what is the appeal of Twinbee over Gradius?
What keeps this strange little game series so popular and if it is indeed so beloved,
why isn't it more well known?
Let's take a look at the full Twinbee series and lots more……
After this quick time out
KONOBANGUMI WA GORAN NO SUPONSA NO TEIKYO DE OKURISHIMASU!
With Gradius, Konami was planning to create the ultimate Shoot-em-up, for the time, but
also developed Twinbee alongside it.
The development of both games affected each other and set some pretty solid ground rules
in place for how the games should work.
Gradius would be a horizontally scrolling game, While Twinbee would a vertically scrolling
game.
Gradius would be set in space, Twinbee would be set on Earth.
Gradius would be dark and mysterious.
Twinbee would be cute and friendly.
Gradius would be one player.
Twinbee offers 2 player simultaneous play.
Both games utilize a weapon power-up system, but how you select those power-ups is different.
With Gradius letting you choose to equip or charge it up, while in Twinbee, you have to
shoot it a certain number times to change its effects.
These rules helped keep Gradius and Twinbee distinct in both visual and gameplay styles.
The Twinbee storyline, and characters in the game would follow the idea of keeping things
cute and fun.
Many elements of the story line would develop over time, but the original game takes on
Donburi Island, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
In the year 2081, The Evil King Spice, invades and conquers the island, taking 5 sacred items
from the people of Donburi Island as well.
Dr. Cinnamon intends to liberate the people of Donburi Island and built two flying robots
that resemble bumblebees called Twinbee and Winbee.
Over the course of the game, Twinbee and Winbee rediscover these sacred items and rid King
Spice from Donburi Island.
Twinbee first appeared as an arcade game in Japan in March 1985, later coming home to
the Family Computer and MSX in Japan in 1986.
As an interesting side note, both the arcade and home versions were released before Gradius
on their respective machines.
The MSX version was also released in Europe sometime in 1986.
This was followed by versions on the Sharp X68000 and Family Computer Disk System in
1988
There was no version released on the NES in Europe or America, while Gradius was released
there and was well received.
The Konami Code also helped to make Gradius an NES staple back then and a classic now.
Reasons for the game being Left Behind point to the stark difference between Twinbee and
Gradius, Western Fans possibly not connecting with the game, Twinbee was slightly a older
game and the fact that Konami was constrained to releasing only 5 NES games per year.
Remember that in the NES Era, Konami also had Castlevania, Contra, and Double Dribble
out around this time.
But those of us in the West were fully unaware of the impact the Twinbee was having in Japan,
where it was a hit right from the start.
Twinbee was so popular that SEGA jumped on its popularity and released a Cute-em-up of
their own, Fantasy Zone, in 1986.
These two games laid the foundation of the Cute-em-up subgenera which in later years
led to great games like Cotton, Harmful Park, Air Zonk and Gradius itself got a Cute-em-up
makeover with the spin off series, Parodius.
After the first games of Twinbee and Gradius were established hits, Konami got to work
on a follow up for each.
The sequel to Twinbee would see release in November 1986, along side the sequel to Gradius,
Salamander, known in the U.S. as Life Force.
And yes I know that there's also a proper Gradius II and Life Force isn't actually
Gradius II but we are already all over the map and I'll be saving all that for another
video, someday later.
The sequel to Twinbee, released for the Family Computer Disk System was titled "Moero Twinbee:
Cinnamon Hakase wo Sukue" In English Burn Twinbee: Save Dr. Cinnamon.
Introduced in the game is a third ship called Gwinbee.
The story takes places 100 years after the first game when Dr. Cinnamon is kidnapped
by Gattlantis, grandson of King Spice.
This game would come to the US as Stinger in 1987.
Despite the first Twinbee being available in Europe, though on the MSX, no version of
Stinger was released there.
The plot is slightly different in Stinger too, as Dr. Cinnamon is abducted by aliens
who want to use a special sugar invented by Dr. Cinnamon to turn the Earth into a Cotton
Candy Ball and eat it.
If you remember back just a bit when I discussed the ground rules for both the Gradius and
Twinbee series, for the sequels, Moero Twinbee and Salamander, those rules were bent slightly.
As both games featured a mix of horizontal and vertical stages, and Salamander allowed
for multi player action.
However after this for all successive games, the style for both reverted back to their
original format.
Also, its worth mentioning that in the Japanese version allows 3 people to play simultaneously,
using the 2 hardwired Family Computer controllers and plugging a third controller into the front
expansion port.
This feature was removed from Stinger, as were cut scenes that filled in the game's
plot.
Moero Twinbee was also reissued on a Family Computer cartridge in 1993 with an easier
difficulty mode added.
There would be one more Twinbee game released for the Family Computer in Japan.
Twinbee 3: Poko Poko Daimao.
The game returns to the original Twinbee formula, still allows for simultaneous 2 players, but
not 3, and is slightly easier with a user selectable difficulty and the implementation
of the Soul Revival system which lets the player catch the ghost of a lost life to regain
all previous power ups.
The reason for the lack of a 3rd player though is tied in to the plot of the game, as the
demon king Poko Poko kidnaps Gwinbee and its up to Twinbee and Winbee to save him.
Twinbee 3 was released in Japan in September, 1989 and has never been released outside of
Japan in any form.
Following this, Twinbee would appear on the GameBoy with Twinbee Da!
In English, literally, It's Twinbee!
Twinbee and Winbee are up to the challenge again, this time from the evil Dr. Nikki.
Who is revealed as Dr. Cinnamon's longtime rival and the brains behind the main antagonists
of the first three Twinbee games.
Twinbee Da!!
Saw release in Japan in October 1990 and would be released in Europe in 1994, but adopted
the name Pop N Twinbee, instead.
However before that game went to Europe, there was a second, separate, Pop N Twinbee game
released in Europe and in Japan for the Super Famicom and Super NES!!
Pop N Twinbee came out in 1993, but to keep things in Japanese chronological order, that
will have to wait because the next game would be the second arcade release, Detana!
Twinbee, in English, Here comes Twinbee!
Released in 1991, Twinbee and Winbee pick up an SOS signal from the Princess Melora
of Mel and travel there to save her.
The game would receive a port for the Sharp X68000 and PC Engine in 1992.
The game would also come to Europe but was called Bells and Whistles, which is a clever
name, despite that multiple Twinbee games had already been released there.
Then comes Pop N Twinbee, the 16 bit version, which looks and feels closest to the arcade
Detana!!
Twinbee, but is an original game.
In Pop N Twinbee, a once good scientist, Dr. Mardock, turns mad after getting a nasty bump
on the head and plans to conquer Earth with an army of acorns!
As I said before, this game came out in Japan and Europe in 1993, with no American release.
The last traditional Twinbee outing came as an arcade game in 1995
TwinBee Yahho!: Fushigi no Kuni de Ōabare!!
In English: Uproar in Wonderland.
In this game Twinbee and WInbee travel to the far off Wonderland to rescue the imprisoned
Princess Melody.
The game featured voiced animated cutscenes and was later released for the Sony Playstation
and Sega Saturn alongside Detana Twinbee as a 2 in 1 compilation.
Since then, Twinbee the Shoot em up has gone mostly dark, however, the series lived on.
When we come back all the Twinbee games of other genres!
KONOBANGUMI WA GORAN NO SUPONSA NO TEIKYO DE OKURISHIMASU!
Twinbee is loved in Japan and has a few devoted fans in the west, however frustrating it might
be, and Konami has paid back those fans with heaps of Twinbee Spinoffs and cameos, at least
in Japan!!
In 1994, not long after the release of PopN Twinbee, Konami turned Twinbee into a side
scrolling action game with (PopN Twinbee) Rainbow Bell Adventures.
Rather than flying, Twinbee, Winbee and Gwinbee must run, jump and punch their way across
Donburi Island.
This game was released in 1994 for the Super Famicom in Japan and Super NES in Europe,
with America being left out yet again.
Much like previous Twinbee games, there are differences between regions.
With The Japanese version having multiple exits and stage paths, while the European
version is linear.
The Japanese version also includes character voices and a battery backup.
Twinbee Taisen Puzzle Dama was released for the Sony Playstation in 1994.
It was one of many games in Konami's Taisen Puzzle Dama series.
In this version, the game takes on the world and characters of Twinbee.
Twinbee RPG was released for the Sony Playstation in 1998.
The game is set in the Twinbee world on Donburi Island and uses characters from multiple games
to tell the story.
In Twinbee RPG Light, the pilot of Twinbee has gone missing and its up to you, the player,
to find him.
The game is a standard turn based RPG but has unique experience and monetary systems.
Every enemy has a fixed number of experience points and then that number is increased or
decreased depending on the character's level at that time.
Each character levels up after every 5000 points.
Money is dropped by enemies, but not much, and instead often drop fruits which are exchanged
for money at certain shops in the game.
This is another game that was left behind in Japan.
But it wasn't for the fear of not being well received abroad.
Twinbee RPG was not a success in Japan, and was actually a financial loss for Konami.
Meaning that to localize the game elsewhere would cost even more money and could never
break even.
Twinbee Paradise in Donburishima was an interactive CD-ROM that was released in 1998 for Windows
95 compatible computers.
It isn't a game, but more of an interactive encyclopedia.
Players can visit different places on Donburi Island to research different databases about
Twinbee games and characters.
There are also quiz games and a few interactive movies.
A second disc included, called Twinbee Doki Doki Wonderland, offers Twinbee themed desktop
wall papers, screen savers and icons.
Twinbee JG Pachislo was a slot machine game that was distributed to Pachinko and Slot
Machine parlors in Japan and has been available since 2007.
You can't win money, as gambling is illegal in Japan.
But the medal coins you would win, could be traded for prizes or maybe if theres a T.U.C.
nearby, they'll buy them back from you.
In 2013, the Twinbee series finally returned to its roots with Line GOGO!!
Twinbee!
Playable through the Line iPhone app in Japan.
It's nice to see the game finally get a somewhat modern version.
But if you're looking to play Twinbee on more modern gaming hardware, the best bet
is Twinbee Portable for the Sony PSP which features all the original shoot-em-up Twinbee
games and gives Twinbee Da!! a full color makeover.
Oh, did I say ALL the games, well I was wrong, there is no Moero Twinbee AKA Stinger.
It wouldn't be a proper Twinbee without leaving something out for no reason!
Now those are all the side games that are set in the Twinbee universe.
But there are dozens of games where Twinbee makes a cameo and let's start with the biggest,
best and most well known: Parodius!
The game series that turns Gradius into a Cute-Em-Up!
There were several Parodius games released in arcades and at home between 1988 and 1996
and Twinbee is one of the playable characters alongside Vic Viper from Gradius as well characters
from Goemon, Antarctic Adventure and a slew of other Konami heroes.
Parodius had its own spinoff series Otomedius, and Twinbee characters appear in that series
as well!
Konami Wai Wai World is a platform game released for the Family Computer in 1988 that is similar
to Parodius in that the game features almost every Konami character in one crazy crossover.
Twinbee along with Vic Viper are playable in the game's shooter stages.
Players also visit Dr. Cinnamon's laboratory where you can heal up and be brought back
to life.
Dr. Cinnamon also created Konami Man and Konami Lady who are in this game.
As an aside you can also find Konami Man hiding in a few Castlevania games.
Also found in Wai Wai World are Goemon, Simon Belmont, Pentarou, King Kong and Mikey from
the Goonies game.
In 1991 Konami released Wai Wai World 2 and in the game the main playable character is
a robot named Rickle, built by Dr. Cinnamon and brings back many of the cast from the
first game.
There wasn't a Wai Wai World 3 but Konami did jump on the Mario Kart Klone Bandwagon
with Konami Krazy Racers for the Gameboy Advance, released worldwide in 2001.
Pastel is a playable character as well as more recent Konami Characters.
For American gamers it would be the first Twinbee related release since Stinger.
In Tokimeki Memorial, for the PC Engine, there is a Twinbee mini game you can play.
New Love Plus for the Nintendo DS has one as well.
Battle Tryst was an arcade fighter released in 1998, Pastel is an unlock-able character.
Another fighting game, Dream Mix TV World Fighters for the Gamecube and Playstion 2,
has Twinbee as a playable character as well.
This game was a crossover between Konami and Hudson Soft, but since then, Konami has bought
Hudson, Which made it easy to include Light and Pastel in later Bomberman games.
Airforce Delta for the Dreamcast also has a mode that lets you fly as Twinbee.
It's pretty cool to see Twinbee appear in something so realistic and all of these appearances
are pretty remarkable considering the proper series ended in 1995.
Now those are the mainstream games where characters from Twinbee are playable, either through
the whole game or in part.
There are still countless MORE games where Twinbee Characters make non playable cameos.
Such as a power up in The Goonies for Family Computer, Gradius for MSX, and a few Castlevania
games.
If you know where to look, Twinbee is all around.
In Ganbare Goemon 3 you can meet Pastel in one of the shops.
I think its funny that somehow a pilot from the future is just hanging out in an ancient
Japanese village for no real reason.
And in the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn versions of Snatcher, Light Pastel and other
Konami characters are seen at the Outer Heaven.
Its these little winks and nods to the fans that has helped Twinbee endure for such a
long time.
You can also change the backgrounds to TwinBee and other konami themed games by entering
the konami command at the title screen.
It still doesn't end there because in some of Konami's music and rhythm games, like
Dance Dance Revolution, Pop n Music and Beatmania, stage music from various Twinbee games can
be heard.
But how could this fandom grow out of such simplistic 8-bit games?
Well, it had a lot of help from other media to grow the fanbase and mold the Twinbee Universe.
When we come back, the books, TV shows and albums of Twinbee!
KONOBANGUMI WA GORAN NO SUPONSA NO TEIKYO DE OKURISHIMASU!
There's some difficulty in having to explain the Twinbee series and timeline of events
as well as all the varied releases, while keeping things in chronological order.
Up until now, this video has only focused on the games, but while all of these games
were being made for arcades, and home machines in 8, 16 and 32-bit eras, a side industry
was creating all sorts Twinbee media to compliment the games.
There were manga series, and animated TV shows, all set in the Twinbee Universe.
In the earliest days, when games were not so advanced, they helped fill in the backstory
and introduced characters, names and places not mentioned in game.
As games became more advanced, stories, character designs and voices from these media were used
in game.
Since the games and these stories were released side by side, they tie everything together
and for die-hard fans, one cant really exist without the other.
For over 10 years there were Twinbee manga in print in Japan.
Beginning in 1985, Twinbee appeared in Famicom Rocky, Famicom Ryu and Nekketsu!
Famicom Shounendan.
These covered the first two Twinbee games and ran in various issues until 1987.
Twinbee 3 and Twinbee Da!! also had their own mangas around the time of their releases.
In 1993 Comic Gamest began to print Twinbee Manga issues that ran throughout the 1990s.
These stories covered the events of later games and created additional background elements
to go along with the game's story.
In the 1990s, a few anime videos about Twinbee were produced.
Winbee's 1/8 Panic was produced as promotional item for the release of Rainbow Bell Adventure.
In the story, Pastel ate magic cookies and shrunk to a tiny size.
To return to normal she needs a power up bell, easily found in the clouds.
However a mysterious force was stealing all of the clouds over Donburi Island and the
Twinbee team needs to figure out why.
This VHS cassette was sold as a promotional item alongside Rainbow Bell Adventures.
In 1999 a new Original Video Animation series was produced with three more episodes.
A collection of all Twinbee anime was released on a 2 Disc DVD set in 2007.
But none of this can compete with the Twinbee Radio Drama! yeah, there was a Twinbee show
on the RADIO!
It was actually quite popular and ran for 3 years, and had nearly 100 episodes!!!!!
Twinbee paradise ran from 1993 to 1997.
The radio program is actually the most important product from the Twinbee Universe besides
the games.
These programs canonized many of the character names, including Light and Pastel and expanded
many plot points that couldn't be done in the game.
The voice actors from this program also lent their voices to the later games and the anime.
The Twinbee RPG game was made specifically for fans of the radio program more than for
fans of the game and was envisioned as a way to interact in the world that was created
through the radio program.
Twinbee Paradise was later released on CD, here is a quick listen.
The Twinbee soundtracks also saw separate releases in different compilations over the
years.
They are pretty rare and expensive nowadays!
The Twinbee Paradise Radio Drama had its own soundtrack which featured the episodes open
and end themes.
The album was titled Twinbee Vocal Paradise featuring Mariko Kouda and went all the way
to NUMBER 20 on the Japanese Oricon music chart in 1996!!!!!!!
After going over the games, spinoffs, cameos and other productions, at great length, I
might add, you'd think there be nothing left to say.
But there is just one more thing.
There is a Twinbee aircraft that exists in REAL LIFE!!!!!!
This Twin Bee was designed by Mr. Joseph Gigante in the 1960s as an upgrade to the existing
Seabee amphibious aircraft.
These type of planes were meant for use over island chains and atolls for quick take offs
and landings in water.
The design of the Twin Bee by Mr. Gigante somewhat matches that of the Twinbee in the
game, with a wide nose and large windows.
While these real life Twin Bee planes never saw widespread use but the coincidence is
too uncanny and just so crazy that it just has to be more than a coincidence.
Mr. Gigante passed away in 2012 at age 96 but his planes are still in use today.
While he isn't Dr. Cinnamon, here is a little bit of hope that there may be a Twinbee still
flying in the air over the Pacific Ocean in the year 2081…
Thank you for watching.
If you liked this video give a thumbs up and tell me why.
Then subscribe and hit the bell, no pun intended to be updated on the latest videos, then take
a look at one of these videos from the GTV archives.
We'll see you there!!
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