The original Japanese version of Twin Cobra, a 1987 Shooting Game developed by TOAPLAN. Kyukyoku Tiger has a swathe of differences to it's overseas counterpart, most notably reverting the player to a previous checkpoint on death rather than respawning them, and being one-player only. There are also more minor changes in factors such as the amount of shots the player can have on screen at once. The game was a success for Toaplan in arcades, reportedly reaching 10 Million worldwide players, and a number of console ports were made in the 90s. A sequel, Kyukyoku Tiger II/Twin Cobra II, followed in 1995, though this was developed by Takumi Corporation following TOAPLAN's bankruptcy in 1994.
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"I said it was my favorite game. I didn't say it was good."
I had a brief brush with this game's Mega Drive port as a kid in the 90s, and got to revisit it proper as part of the Kyuukyoku Tiger Heli compo on PS4.
The game is pretty much textbook Toaplan. Your helico stats off with a basic gun that only fires straight ahead and can be upgraded by collecting power-up icons, and its weapon can be changed with color icons. Red Gun for balance of coverage and single-target damage, Green Storm for concentrated damage at the expenses of coverage, Blue Eye for good spread but requiring risky point-blank maneuvers to damage singular targets, and the YellowPiss Cross for...when you really need to get enemies to the side of or behind you at the expense of reasonable DPS.
The combat with enemies has a very dogfight-y feel that I feel like is not replicated well by modern bullet hell shmups. Enemy choppers routinely flank you in patterns that vary from stage to stage, while tanks can snipe unwary players. You have to be able to analyze enemy attack rhythms and movements, as well as to utilize the "bullet sealing" mechanic - getting close to enemies to prevent them from shooting you. Strafing all day every day without rhyme or reason is a good way to stare at the player heli explosion animation for the 50000000th time.
Dying will set you back to the basic level 1 Red Gun and recovering can be quite the effort. If you are playing the "1P" Japanese version of the game, the checkpoint system will make sure you can't progress until you learn from your mistakes.
The one major complaint I have is the length. It is about 40 minutes long and half of that is because stages 6-10 are basically just stages 1-5 with harder enemies and the background tiles shifted some ways to the left. I cleared up to stage 7 and honestly that feels "1-ALL" enough for me. Clearing all 10 stages would feel like a 2-loop game.
Definitely not a game for everyone. The snipe-based enemy attacks and difficulty in getting back up after a hit can be a turnoff for many players who are inexperienced with the genre. But if you can stick with this game, I find it to be a solid title that presents a tough challenge, but a fair one unlike that of, say, Toaplan's later Fire Shark.
I had a brief brush with this game's Mega Drive port as a kid in the 90s, and got to revisit it proper as part of the Kyuukyoku Tiger Heli compo on PS4.
The game is pretty much textbook Toaplan. Your helico stats off with a basic gun that only fires straight ahead and can be upgraded by collecting power-up icons, and its weapon can be changed with color icons. Red Gun for balance of coverage and single-target damage, Green Storm for concentrated damage at the expenses of coverage, Blue Eye for good spread but requiring risky point-blank maneuvers to damage singular targets, and the Yellow
The combat with enemies has a very dogfight-y feel that I feel like is not replicated well by modern bullet hell shmups. Enemy choppers routinely flank you in patterns that vary from stage to stage, while tanks can snipe unwary players. You have to be able to analyze enemy attack rhythms and movements, as well as to utilize the "bullet sealing" mechanic - getting close to enemies to prevent them from shooting you. Strafing all day every day without rhyme or reason is a good way to stare at the player heli explosion animation for the 50000000th time.
Dying will set you back to the basic level 1 Red Gun and recovering can be quite the effort. If you are playing the "1P" Japanese version of the game, the checkpoint system will make sure you can't progress until you learn from your mistakes.
The one major complaint I have is the length. It is about 40 minutes long and half of that is because stages 6-10 are basically just stages 1-5 with harder enemies and the background tiles shifted some ways to the left. I cleared up to stage 7 and honestly that feels "1-ALL" enough for me. Clearing all 10 stages would feel like a 2-loop game.
Definitely not a game for everyone. The snipe-based enemy attacks and difficulty in getting back up after a hit can be a turnoff for many players who are inexperienced with the genre. But if you can stick with this game, I find it to be a solid title that presents a tough challenge, but a fair one unlike that of, say, Toaplan's later Fire Shark.