TwinBee (series) explained

TwinBee
Developer:Konami
Arika (3DS Classic)
Publisher:Konami
Nintendo (3DS eShop)
Platforms:Arcade, NES, MSX, SNES, Game Boy, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PlayStation Portable, PC Engine, Sharp X68000, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, mobile phones, i-Revo, iPhone OS, Android, Wii, 3DS and Wii U's Virtual Console, PC (EGG Project), PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Genre:Scrolling shooter
First Release Version:TwinBee
First Release Date:March 5, 1985
Latest Release Version:Line GoGo! TwinBee
Latest Release Date:May 20, 2013

is a video game series composed primarily of cartoon-themed vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up games produced by Konami that were released primarily in Japan. The series originated as a coin-operated video game simply titled TwinBee in 1985, which was followed by several home versions and sequels. The character designs of almost every game in the series since Detana!! TwinBee in 1991 were provided by Japanese animator Shuzilow HA (Jujiro Hamakawa), who also planned and supervised most of the subsequent installments in the TwinBee series.[1] The series also inspired a radio drama adaptation that lasted three seasons in Japan, as well as an anime adaptation.

History

The series centers around a blue bee-shaped anthropomorphic spacecraft named TwinBee, who is usually accompanied by a pink "female" counterpart known as WinBee. In most games, the first player controls TwinBee while WinBee is controlled by the second player. A third ship also exists named GwinBee, a green counterpart to TwinBee and WinBee who in most games serves as a power-up, but in some instances also appear as a third playable spacecraft. In contrast to the serious sci-fi theme of Konami's Gradius series, the TwinBee series is set in a cartoon-like world featuring several kinds of anthropomorphic creatures in addition to regular human characters. The player controls their spacecraft in most games shooting or punching at airborne enemies while throwing bombs at enemies on the ground, similarly to Namco's Xevious. The main power-ups in the TwinBee are yellow bells that the player can uncover by shooting at the floating clouds. The player must shoot these bells to keep them afloat and after shooting them a number of times, they will change colour, allowing the player to add new abilities to their spacecraft.

Despite being one of Konami's most prominent series in Japan during most of the 1990s, only a select few titles were localized for the foreign market, particularly the second console game Moero! TwinBee (which was released in America under the changed title Stinger); the two SNES installments, Pop'n TwinBee and , in Europe and TwinBee Da!! for Game Boy, which was released in Europe as a standalone title with the name Pop'n TwinBee and later in compilations. The second arcade game, Detana!! TwinBee, also had a limited international release under the name of Bells & Whistles. The original arcade game was featured in the Nintendo DS compilation under the name RainbowBell (the European compilation, however, uses the original TwinBee name).

List of games

In 2022, during the Konami Action & Shooting Contest hosted by the Shueisha Game Creator's Camp and Tokyo Game Show, Ken Niimura won the rights from Konami to develop the game through the competition, and a game titled TwinBee Loop!: The Mystery of the Planet of Light and Darkness!! is in development.[13]

Cancelled games

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Shuzilow HA Design Works. ja. 2011-03-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20110116062339/http://www.aya.or.jp/~shuzilow/HA/DATA/WORK_S.html. 2011-01-16. live.
  2. Web site: Twinbee Taisen Pazuru Dama . 17 April 2022.
  3. Coming Attractions. GamePro. 87. IDG. December 1995. 203.
  4. Web site: コナミの"お得なサイト コナミ"に『プーヤン』が登場！. 2012-08-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192903/http://www.famitsu.com/game/mobile/1135723_1115.html . 2013-10-29 . live.
  5. Web site: コナミ、iアプリ対応の通信型対戦ゲーム配信サイトオープン . 2013-12-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131230233819/http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/13860.html . 2013-12-30 . live.
  6. Web site: . 2014-03-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131016131333/http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/18820.html . 2013-10-16 . live.
  7. http://www.p-world.co.jp/machine/database/4886 TwinBee JG
  8. Web site: KONAMI Content Arrives on the LINE Game Platform Shooting Game "LINE GoGo! TwinBee" Released May 20 . 2014-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140814074324/http://www.konami-digital-entertainment.co.jp/en/news/release/2013/0520/ . 2014-08-14 . live.
  9. Web site: 【LINE GAME】「LINE GAME」にKONAMIの「ツインビー」シリーズが登場 シューティングゲーム『LINE GoGo! TwinBee』サービス開始 . 20 May 2013 . 2014-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140814060750/http://linecorp.com/press/2013/0520556 . 2014-08-14 . live.
  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20140331111443/https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/id592953062 LINE GoGo! TwinBee (iTunes)
  11. https://web.archive.org/web/20140331040254/https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.naver.SJLGTWIN LINE GoGo! TwinBee (Google Play)
  12. https://web.archive.org/web/20131231194309/http://www.konami.jp/products/line_twinbee/index.html LINE GoGo! TwinBee ライン ゴーゴー！ツインビー
  13. Web site: Ahmed. Mansoor. Konami To Award 30 Million Yen Funding And Remake Rights For Classic IP's. eXputer. September 28, 2022. 2024-04-12.
  14. http://www.netlaputa.ne.jp/~dummy/gamest/game/h_t.html#TE List of contents of Gamest magazine sorted by game title. See row 出たな!! ツインビー
  15. Web site: List of products related to Detana!! TwinBee . 2012-04-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120506001442/http://jap-sai.com/Games/Detana_TwinBee/Detana_TwinBee.htm#GamestComics011 . 2012-05-06 . live.
  16. http://www.unseen64.net/2011/09/01/twinbee-miracle-psx-cancelled/ TwinBee Miracle [PSX - Cancelled]] in Unseen 64

    Related media

    Radio drama

    A radio drama version of the series was produced following the release of Pop'n TwinBee for the Super Famicom titled, which began airing on the radio station NCB on October 10, 1993. The series lasted three seasons, with the third and final series concluding on March 30, 1997, comprising a total of 96 episodes, which were later released in drama CD collections.

    TwinBee Paradise features the same cast of characters previously introduced in Detana!! TwinBee and Pop'n TwinBee. TwinBee Paradise further developed the fictional universe of the TwinBee and many story elements introduced in the series, including the names of TwinBee's and WinBee's pilots, Light and Pastel (who were originally nameless characters in the games), who were canonized in later video games such as TwinBee Yahho! and TwinBee RPG.

    Anime

    Two short anime films and an OVA mini-series based on the TwinBee were produced:

    1. The first was, a short film released in 1994 released as a promotional tie-in to the Super Famicom game Rainbow Bell Adventure. It is sometimes shortened to Winbee's Panic.
    2. The second anime short,, was released in 1998 alongside the first short in a promotional tie-in to the subsequent OVA series. It is also alternatively titled Tulip Beach Stories.

    The OVA series is titled TwinBee Paradise and is based on the radio drama of the same name. The OVA comprises three episodes, which were released individually on VHS and Laserdisc in 1999:

    1. "Venus' Smile" ("")
    2. "Midsummer Mirage" (（）"")
    3. "Evil Revival" ("")

    Manga

    • Four 1993 Comic Gamest supplements (volumes 85, 89, 93, and 97) contained manga of Detana! TwinBee drawn and written by Mine Yoshizaki.[14] Between 1994 and 1996, an official manga, also by Yoshizaki, was published in three volumes in the collection Gamest Comics (numbers 011, 039 and 076).[15]
    • In 2004, a manga was released titled Paradisiac Days and DECADE -TwinBee PARADISE TRIBUTE-.
    • In 2005, a manga was released titled Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis .
    • In 2006, a manga was released titled The first day of summer and DON'T SQUEEZE!.

    Other manga

    • TwinBee and Moero! TwinBee, were both featured in the manga titled Famicom Rocky, published by Comic Coro Coro from 1985 to 1987.
    • TwinBee, was featured in the manga Famicom Ryu (1985-1987) and Nekketsu! Famicom Shounendan (1986-1987), published by Comic Coro Coro.
    • In issue #4, episode 46, TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō was adapted for the manga which was published from 1988 to 1990.
    • Moero! TwinBee: Cinnamon Hakushi wo Sukue!, the second game in the series, was adapted for the manga titled Famitsu Comix: The Shape of Happiness, published in the Famitsu Comics collection from March 1989 and drawn by Tamakichi Sakura.
    • TwinBee is one of the video games featured in the manga titled Rock'n Game Boy, by Shigeto Ikehara and Published by Comic BomBom from October 1989 to December 1991.

    Appearances in other games

    • The Goonies (Famicom version) allows to collect TwinBee as an item for 5,000 points.
    • Gradius: The MSX version has a secret Twinbee cameo.
    • Tokimeki Memorial features a shoot-'em-up mini game starring TwinBee.
    • Tokimeki Memorial 2: A young man crossplays as Princess Melora.
    • Battle Tryst: Pastel is an unlockable playable character in this fighting game.
    • Konami Wai Wai World: TwinBee is one of two playable ships (Vic Viper being the other one) in the second to last stage, which is a generic vertical shooting stage.
    • : TwinBee is a playable character in certain levels, but the levels in which he is playable are not just vertical shooting stages, but on-rails shooting stages in the vein of Space Harrier, as well.
    • Hexion has sound clips from Detana!! Twinbee.
    • Parodius series: In most of the series, TwinBee and WinBee made an appearance as playable characters, while Shooting Star (the enemy red ship in TwinBee Yahho!) is playable in Sexy Parodius. Also, while Parodius is more of a parody of Gradius, it features the bell powerup system in addition to the Gradius's bar system as well. Both systems works in parallel and give different powerups. Also, the bell system's powerups are temporary, while the bar system not.
    • : Pastel makes an appearance as an NPC in a house at the village which is visited at night.
    • Snatcher: In the PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions, Light and Pastel appear as clients at the Outer Heaven nightclub among other Konami characters.
    • Konami Krazy Racers: Pastel is a playable character in this kart-racing game with Konami characters. Since Pastel is available from the beginning this game represents her first time as a primary-tier character. It is the second game released in United States with a TwinBee character. Also, different colored bells in this game have different powerups.
    • Airforce Delta has Twinbee as a secret usable aircraft.
    • DreamMix TV World Fighters: TwinBee is a playable character in this fighting game.
    • Castlevania series: TwinBee makes an appearance as a secret item in , Order of Ecclesia and Harmony of Despair.
    • Otomedius: Twinbee characters appear in both Otomedius and Otomedius Excellent.
    • Quiz Magic Academy 5: Getting the correct answer shows a bunch of bells and Twinbees flying.
    • Bishi Bashi: One of the games in the series has Light and Pastel as playable characters.
    • New LovePlus+ features a shoot-'em-up mini game starring TwinBee and WinBee.
    • Kingdom Dragonion: TwinBee was a player character in this game.
    • VS! Bomberman: TwinBee Characters, Light and Pastel was Costumes by Bomberman.
    • Various entries in rhythm game franchises including Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania IIDX, Pop'n Music, BeatStream, and Mirai da Gakki features remixes of songs from the games in Twinbee series.
    • Konami Characore World
    • Tokimeki Idol
    • Pixel Puzzle Collection
    • Bombergirl: Pastel appears as playable character.
    • Super Bomberman R: One of the Dastardly Bombers eventually morphs into a Gwinbee boss.
    • Contra Returns: TwinBee and WinBee appear as a Pet Spotlight.
    • Power Pros: Pastel appears in the baseball 2014's mobile game Jikkyou Pawafuru Puroyakyu.

    External links

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "TwinBee (series)".

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