The Twinbee series of shooters hasn't seen a lot of action outside of Japan, so it should come as no surprise that this PC Engine version of Detana!! Twinbee was never released outside of Japan and marks yet another import release for Hudson on the Wii Virtual Console. Detana!! Twinbee first appeared in Japanese arcades before finding its way to the rather shooter-friendly PC Engine console, where it's become a widely favored home console port of the arcade version over the years. So how does this pastel-infused cute 'em up hold up all these years later and is it still worth your precious Wii Points?
In Detana!! Twinbee, you have your basic cannon fire when you begin the game, but you can gradually upgrade your firepower as you collect the various-colored bells that will come floating out of the many clouds you'll encounter throughout the game. You can continue to shoot the bells until they change to the desired color before you grab them. This will allow you to choose exactly what firepower upgrades you collect. Tapping the fire button shoots off a steady flow of cannon fire, but you can also hold down the fire button to charge up your shot. This more powerful shot can be quite useful against the tougher enemies, not to mention the enormous bosses you'll encounter at the end of each level.
As if the cannon fire wasn't enough, Twinbee also has a bomb at his disposal that can be dropped on enemies on the ground below. You only need be within range of an enemy on the ground in order to drop a bomb on it. If you're close enough, Twinbee will automatically target the enemy, which can make things quite a bit easier when the action begins to intensify. These enemies on the ground are a great source of fruit, not to mention various power-ups and 1ups.
The control in Twinbee is smooth and responsive. You won't have any trouble navigating your way through the barrage of enemies and their fire. Your various firepower is always easy to make use of, even in a pinch, and the intuitive bombing allows you to focus more of your energy on the enemies in the air that are constantly swirling around you. The difficulty is also well done and features a very gradual climb that allows you to get your feet wet without being overwhelmed early on. Having said that, you'd better be ready for quite a challenge, as the game is much tougher than the cute and cuddly veneer it exudes. If you feel a bit overwhelmed, you can even bring in a second player to play the two-player cooperative mode to help you out.
The visuals in Detana!! Twinbee are about as cute as you could ask for. Even the pastel colors offer up a soft touch that makes the game even more endearing. This PC Engine port of the arcade game is fairly close and you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference most of the time. The bosses in the game are absolutely enormous, and some span the majority of the screen in size. They're also quite creative in design and show a lot of detail. There's plenty of variety in the various levels that keeps the backdrops from ever getting repetitive or tiresome and the game even mixes up the enemies quite often to add even more variety to the mix.
If you thought the visuals were sugary sweet, wait until you get a load of the musical score. The upbeat musical tracks are absolutely sticky sweet and fit the cute visuals to a tee. The sound effects are pretty much the same and feature all the happy-go-lucky charm found in the game's soundtrack. It's easily one of the better Twinbee soundtracks and shows that the developers obviously put as much time into the audio of the game as they did the visuals and it really paid off in the end.
Conclusion
If you can appreciate a shooter that doesn't' take itself too seriously and is just downright fun to play, you'll love Detana!! Twinbee. The game features all the vertical shooting action you could want and somehow bundles it all up into one cute and cuddly shooter package. It's great to see Hudson bringing more of their great import titles to the US and European Virtual Console services and Detana!! Twinbee is one title shooter fans should not miss.
Comments 31
I'm considering getting this one.
I also am considering this game.
8/10 sounds fair to me. This one's actually my favorite of the series.
Instant download. Great review as always Corbie!
I loved RainbowBell on the Konami Classics Series for the DS, but always wanted to play on a big screen, and as this came out six years after RainbowBell originally came out, it should be a lot more advanced as well.
EDIT: Just had my first run through the first few levels, and I must say, awesome game! It is easily on par with Star Parodier, and with the addition of two player co-op, it may even be an upgrade (though 2 and 5 minute modes in Star Parodier own ). Actually, this might be the most solid standalone cute-em-up I've played.. Parodius and Star Parodier were both pinnacles of the genre, but only because they cannibalized some of their best aspects from their parent games. The upgrade system in the TwinBee series is one of the most unique in any top/side-scrolling shooter -- I could juggle those infernal bells all day!
A must buy for any shoot-em-up fans out there, deserves a 9/10!
Okay, I'm sold. I'm definitely getting this. Thanks for the great review.
Bring it on! This'll probably be Hanabi here in Europe.
is it konami or hudson the developer?
Konami developed the Twinbee series. And this is my second favorite Twinbee with Twinbee Yahho being my absolute favorite.
And I almost gave it a 9/10, but I still think Star Parodier is a better game and I couldn't give them both a 9/10.
I'll definitely pick this one up as soon as I can!
I put this on my wish list... and I´ll be waiting Twin Bee for NES.
I get the not-so-strange feeling that I'll enjoy Twinbee much more than Star Parodier.
This does sound great. I will consider a download when this arrives in europe.
The review says Opa as the character, you're sure that ain't Fantasy Zone?
Great review anyway.
Good catch. I was writing up a Fantasy Zone Gear review for another page and I guess I still had Opa on my mind.
Wait, one of the comments says this has co-op, but the review doesn't mention this at all. What's the dealio? Is this for real, and how is it? Co-op is a huge selling point. Playing shooters alone just doesn't appeal to me much.
Also, how does this one's difficulty rate compared to other VC shooters? I may be forgetting one or two, but I have Gate of Thunder, R-Type, Life Force, and (on WW) Gradius Rebirth.
There is a 2-player co-op mode. I've never understood how anyone could play co-op in a shooter. Makes it too easy. But to each his own.
And as was mentioned in the review, the game has a very gradual difficulty curve. It's certainly not as difficult as an R-Type, but the game does get fairly challenging in the later levels.
I like my games "too easy."
Aegis Wing, 1942 Joint Strike, Soldner X, and to a lesser extent Ikaruga were all more fun with a friend for me. Some games aren't even made easier by having a partner because you share lives, and sections where all you can do is dodge mean that you'll be losing double the lives with no advantage to having the second player.
I'll definitely pick this one up. Thanks.
@ Corbie: Yeah, Star Parodier has slightly more solid controls and better transitions between levels, I'd have to admit, but there the novelties in TwinBee which should be commended.
@ Adam: Actually the co-op mode is quite robust! There are three special attacks which can be performed when only when playing co-op mode (check the operations manual).
Also something that should be noted is the hidden VMODE unlocked through a variation of the Konami code (also available in the operations manual), which puts the game into a vertical mode with black borders on either side, but less pixilation. This makes the game look similar to other arcade style top-scrolling shooters like Ikaruga.
Very nice. I already purchased it, but I keep getting some error when I try to download anything, sadly, so I can't play it now.
Hi... I just wanted to hi-jack this topic to say the atleast the PAL store got out of the blue 4 classic NES titles added to the store: Gaplus, Mappy, Starforce and The Tower Of Druaga... How about that, wasn't that nice of them?
"If you thought the visuals were sugary sweet, wait until you get a load of the musical score. The upbeat musical tracks are absolutely sticky sweet and fit the cute visuals to a tee."
The Soundtrack is from Michiru Yamane, she made most of the popularest Dracula/Castlevania Soundtracks too.
Oh dang, did you say Michiru Yamane? I've got to get this game!
ADAM, nice pic.
THAT GAME LOOKS DOPE
boy n his blob
Thanks! I'm a huge fan of the original Blob. Hopefully this is a sign that the original will come out on VC, too. I'm somewhat skeptical of the new one since it is level-based, which is a disappointment, but it looks too pretty to be bad.
Finally got Twinbee to download and this is definitely a very fun game!
Looks fun.
@Adam: Your avatar rules! I'm looking forward to the new A Boy and His Blob too!
@Adam. Love that avatar. The Wii version of Blob looks amazing. I'm definitely looking forward to it's release.
I'm thinking of DLing this one, but I hear it's on a Konami Arcade collection for the DS, which I plan on getting at some point.
EDIT: Turns out I was wrong. It was the original Twinbee that was on the collection. I guess that means I'll be downloading this from the shop after all!
Looks like a good game but its not my can of DP.
The game is very good !
Great graphics. The TurboGrafx-16 really had awesome shooters!
Is this the same version of 3d Classics: Twinbee?? or a secuel.
@DarkEdi: This one came out a few years after Twinbee. It's a different game.
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