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1993 · SNES · Super Famicom
| Region | Date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Europe and Australia | 1993 | Palcom Software |
| Japan | 26 Mar 1993 | Konami |
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Dr. Mardock was a kind scientist until a knock on the head turned him mad. Now he wants the world, with an army of Acorn Men. His granddaughter Madoka sends a distress call, and TwinBee and WinBee, two round little fighter ships, answer it over Donburi Island.
It is a vertical shooter in seven stages, each with a boss. You fire up at things in the air and drop bombs on things on the ground, and up close your ship throws a punch. Shoot the floating bells and they change colour; each colour gives a different upgrade. Small copies of your ship, a limited stock, sweep the screen when things get bad. You choose how your companion ships behave before you start, and instead of spare lives you have a health bar.
Konami released it on the Super Famicom in 1993, as the sixth TwinBee game and a follow-up to the arcade Detana!! TwinBee. It reached PAL Super Nintendos the same year through Konami's Palcom Software, the first TwinBee game localised for Europe. North America never had it until February 2020, when it was added to Nintendo Classics on Switch, 27 years late.
In Japan it sold about 146,000 copies, and Super Famicom Magazine readers placed it 38th among the system's games. The soundtrack, by Kazuhiko Uehara and others, borrows from Japanese idol pop.
It looks like a picture book and it plays like a proper shooter. The bell system still asks you to juggle: keep shooting a bell for the colour you want, but don't lose it off the screen. The health bar is forgiving, and the punches and the screen-clearing stock give you ways out that most shooters of its age don't.
Two players is where it shines. One player can hand some health to the other, or pick up their partner's ship and throw it at an enemy. In 'couple' mode the enemies aim mostly at player one, so a confident player can lead and a newer one can learn without being flattened. It is one of the kindest designs of its era.
Most games treat a mixed pair, one good player and one new one, as a problem to put up with. Pop'n TwinBee designs for it. Couple mode sends the danger at player one, so the stronger hand takes the heat, and the health gift lets either one carry the other through a hard patch.
Ryan, Rigby and Przybylski found that games satisfy our needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness, and that this is what makes people enjoy them and want to come back. Here the expert gets to be competent and the beginner gets to be close. Both of them want another go, for different reasons, and the game counts both as winning.
You have been training these without noticing. Here is how to do it on purpose, and where it pays off away from the couch. All the skills games teach →
In the game. Couple mode makes enemies aim mostly at player one, and you can hand health to your partner. It's built for a confident player to carry a newer one.
Do it on purpose. Play with someone who's never touched a shooter. Your only goal is that they finish stage one smiling, not your score.
Off the couch. Teaching a mate to surf or bringing a new starter up to speed is the same deal. Being patient and generous with someone learning is a seriously attractive quality.
In the game. Keep shooting a bell for the colour you want, but don't lose it off the screen. Every bell is a little bet on greed versus safety.
Do it on purpose. Pick one colour you want each run and go for it. Note how often chasing it cost you health.
Off the couch. Knowing when to hold out for a better offer and when to grab what's in front of you. Rent, jobs, the last slice of pizza.
In the game. You fire up at the air and drop bombs on the ground at the same time, with a punch for anything that gets close. Two targets, one thumb.
Do it on purpose. Spend a stage trying to bomb every ground target without dropping your air fire. Count what you missed.
Off the couch. Doing two things at once with your hands, like cooking with three pans going, reads as competence. People notice.
Verdict · 8/10
Bright, generous and better built than its cartoon look suggests. Play it with someone who has never played a shooter, and switch couple mode on.
