Japan Gaming Guide

Let’s step back in time to the Super Famicom era now. In this Pop’n TwinBee review, we’re looking at the classic SNES shoot em up. The game is about to get a new audience when it comes to the Switch, free for online subscribers.

Pop’n TwinBee is a vertical shooter released for the Nintendo Super Famicom way back in 1993. It was the sixth entry in the long running TwinBee series, published by Konami. The most recent entry came out for mobile a few years ago, so check it out when you’re on the train next.

Graphics and Sound

It’s much cuter than most shooters, with a fluffy, cartoony aesthetic. You are attacked by all kinds of cuddly things. It’s almost a shame to blow them up. You don’t have much choice though, as if you let the enemy count build up, you’ll soon be overwhelmed by their firepower.

Some of these cute looking games are brutally tough, but unusually for a Japanese shooter, Pop’n TwinBee is as gentle as it looks, making it perfect for those that usually avoid this style of game.

Pop’n TwinBee’s  friendlier approach also extends to the sound. A cheerful tune plays throughout, though it’s fair to say the music isn’t the game’s strongest point. There are a few hurried speech samples for power ups though, letting you know what goodies you’ve picked up.

Gameplay

You have a couple of basic weapons at your disposal, which can be swapped with power ups. You can also launch bombs at ground based enemies, which occasionally drop health. There are shields, drones and smart bomb pick-ups too.

The power up system is unusual. Baddies drop bells, which you need to shoot a few times to turn them into something more interesting than the points bonus they start as. Once you do, it can be tricky to pick them up without shooting them again. Juggling and managing these is a key part of the game, as is knowing when to use each type of weapon. You also have to be careful not to power up your speed too much, or you’ll be slowed down again.

The game works best in two player mode with Twinbee and Winbee, the two player controlled aircraft fighting together against the various colorful enemies. It still works well as a single player game, though.

Pop’n TwinBee is not an especially challenging game, but does have a tough final boss. In fact we breezed through the entire game on our first go, only to be thwarted at the last hurdle several times, so the challenge isn’t exactly balanced. There are variable difficulty settings though, so you can tune the challenge up or down according to your preference.

Overall it is a nice diversion and a good introduction to the shooter genre for those that mostly find them too hard, or prefer games that don’t take themselves too seriously.

Where to find it

Pop’n TwinBee comes to the Switch on February 19th. Until now, it hasn’t been re-released on Nintendo systems, but did see the light of day on the Playstation Portable. Side scrolling spin off Rainbow Bell Adventures was released on Virtual Console though, and the NES original, Twinbee is also available there and on the Switch.

Much as we love the bullet hell shooters of the world, we don’t want every game we play to beat us in the face with its difficulty and Pop’n TwinBee is a nice easy way to spend a couple of hours blasting up the screen.

Its gentle challenge and sense of fun are welcome alternatives in a genre that has become a little too niche. It remains an interesting example of the 90s shooter and a good example of what Japanese developers could do with a 16-bit system. If you want a retro shooter that won’t take an age to master, this is a great pick.

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