A sequel to the original TwinBee released for the Game Boy portable consoles. Pop'n TwinBee puts you behind the controls of two experimental TwinBee fighters as you attempt to rescue Dr. Cinnamon from evil alien forces. In order to do that you must journey through 6 different planets filled with cute and surreal creatures bent on your destruction. The game uses the classic gameplay mechanics for the genre, with you controlling your craft as the background scrolls vertically towards the end of the stage and trying to survive and destroy all enemies with your laser shots. Twinbee features a selectable power-up system in which you must shoot the bell power-ups to select which type of upgrade you want depending on the color they take (or in this case, the shade of grey). Despite the European title, the Japanese version actually predates the release of the Super Famicom version of Pop'n TwinBee by three years.
Also in series
Reviews View More
Angel_Arle Twinbee reviews
Part 1: TwinBee for Arcade
Bonus: Twinbee for Famicom
Part 2: Moero TwinBee: Cinnamon Hakase o Sukue! for FDS
Part 3: TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō for Famicom
Well now we are at the final classic Twinbee game. Twinbee Da!! for the Game Boy. This is the only game in the series that landed on a handheld. At this point in the franchise it feels like Twinbee was finally hitting the good spot for me and now we’re on a handheld known for downgraded entries. Even Konami was guilty of this with their game Dracula Densetsu. Is Twinbee Da!! any good? Well the answer may surprise you.
The plot is once again only in the Manual where we find the Twinbees relaxing until a new threat named Dr. Nikki challenges them after seeing his past failures be defeated by them. Yes we find out all the main threats from the past three games were made by him which okay that doesn’t even make sense. We also learn that Dr. Nikki was Dr. Cinnamon's childhood rival! Their destination was the Puka Puka Island and Gwinbee is just on guard duty for Cinnamon once again leaving him out of the game. Now despite what I said this game later got retconned to take place in between Twinbee 1 and Moero so I guess he only made King Spice? It’s confusing.
This game really doesn’t do much to change up the formula besides being on a handheld so stages are what you’d expect and this goes for bells. Though due to the monochrome screen, bells had to be changed. The black bells give speed for up to 3 levels this time, white bells still give double shot, the patterned bells give the shadow ships, and striped ones give the barrier. The shadow ships can also be improved by now being 2 ½ length as they will basically form a line if you stand still. You’ll have to pause the game and do the Konami code but be warned it can only be used once per game. The laser has been removed in this title meaning the shadow ships are probably the way to go for this one. The first game where I preferred it over the barrier. Twinbee angels are still a thing when you die though due to the screen size, it’s easy to have it go off screen but it does work like Twinbee 3 where it comes out after every death. The ambulance is also here but it only shows up once per life. It should be noted the arms being destroyed are like the Arcade and 3 where it takes two hits to lose both. You can also find items once more from bombing enemies like fruit for points, stars to kill any enemy on screen, milk for a 1-up, and candy to give you the 3 way spread which is the best weapon to have. There was also an icon for a Dr. Cinnamon head but it doesn’t take you to a bonus stage and the wiki doesn’t mention it so maybe it’s just points? If you also collect the candy again, you get a baseball item that bounces on screen. Finally I can use that item I could never get in the Arcade game.
Here’s the usual where I say it has co-op in it. You’ll need to use the link cable for this one. It seems you can share a shadow ship in this one? If that was in other games I wasn’t aware. There’s also a special shot that’s to be expected. The wiki didn’t even list anything for co-op so thank god someone did a playthrough on Youtube.
Stages in the game are quite enjoyable and start out as a nice homage to the first game. This game is for some reason listed as a sequel on this site but that is not true. Only some things come back from the first game. One cool thing they brought back was the option to change the level order though you can’t change stage 5 due to the bosses they have in that stage. There’s some cool ideas here like the water that pushes you. There’s even these islands that can kill you via touch damage in stage 5 which I think is a first for the franchise but honestly I kind of didn’t like that part of the level. When it comes to difficulty, I’d say it’s easier than the first two but not easier than 3. Another odd thing I found was in stage 3 where the clouds are replaced with bubbles, they still pretty much act the same but quite interesting to see a different graphic for just one stage. They even come from the rocks used in the area. While the game isn’t anything innovative for stage design, it’s pretty enjoyable for the Game Boy and the screen size being smaller doesn’t really affect the action. Though I did find myself dying more from just running into the enemy so maybe it does affect the action hehe. While lives can’t be changed this time, it’s easy to obtain them from getting bells and beating bosses. Keep in mind that even though lives won’t display above 9, you can get more than that.
Bosses in this game are like an inbetween of Moero and 3 in terms of challenge. You definitely will still have to try and they do have some creativity even if it’s nowhere the same extreme as 3. That said, they can be pretty easy if you have the shadow ships and the spread. They’re actually quite the challenge at times without shadow ships. You’ll be fighting stuff like a giant turtle named Kameron and a Queen Bee that’s huge. When you get to the end of stage 5, you’ll be facing off against all of the bosses from Twinbee 1 and while they still aren’t too hard, they were given a lot more health so that’s nice at least. This does make me wonder if that’s why the game was retconned to be after the first. Stage 6 is not even a stage as you’ll just be fighting the final boss. I do gotta give them credit for making a menacing impression as you’ll get text telling you that you won’t be able to survive his wrath and tells you to try to stand a chance against the new great foe named Cyber Poppo. Even the music is very intense. Sadly he’s pretty bad as a final boss as he has one attack and can die in about 30 seconds. The only way he’ll kill you is if he gets too close and uses his attack at that distance. Once you beat him, you fly away as his place gets blown up and then credits. There’s not even a second loop in this game, how odd.
For a Game Boy game, it looks nice but the lack of color does hurt the game since Twinbee has always had nice colors. The locations and sprite art are all very good and are even better than what the first two games were doing. While 3 does have better graphics that’s probably because it has more unique looking levels of the series so far. Still for the time, this was pretty impressive and I’d argue it was one of the better looking games you could find for the handheld in 1990. The music is also pretty damn good, I always love GB audio when done right. The boss theme for stages 1-4 is really excellent and each stage has a different power up theme which is great. Give it a listen if you have the chance, it’s great stuff. At least listen to the credits named Recollections
Twinbee Da!! is a decent game for the Game Boy. I’d argue it’s probably good for what it was meant to be but I don’t know if I’d recommend it nowadays if you were looking for shmups. I wish it had color, I’d probably like it a little more. With that being said though, I do appreciate it a lot more than I used to. I thought it was a nothing special Game Boy game but with my journey through the series, I found a lot more appreciation for something like this. Twinbee 3 is still the better game but I’d play this over the first two games. Give this one a try if you’re curious because for what’s here, it’s a neat little game that’ll take you less than 30 minutes to beat. Next time on Twinbee, we will be heading into a new era. This is when the series changes a bit and we’ll be seeing the most popular game in the series, Detana!! Twinbee for Arcade.
BONUS SECTION!
You might be wondering what’s up with the title? Well that’s because many years later, Konami would release this game in the PAL region as Pop’n Twinbee. That’s the same cover and name as the Super Famicom game. I really don’t know why Konami did this besides maybe hoping to fool people because it’s most certainly not a port of that game. I don’t even know why Backloggd uses that name and cover anyway considering it’s just deceiving to people who don’t know the series much. I wonder if anyone back then felt scammed?
In 1997, TOSE would put this game in a collection on the GB called Konami GB Collection Vol. 2. It’s nothing different outside of removing the 2 player mode (though maybe they just removed the option when in SGB mode). The game is now depicted in a blue color scheme but it’s still basically monochrome. There’s also a really cool border for the game which is nice. The menu for selecting the games even has a Tokimeki Memorial girl on it. Though I’m sorry I don’t know her name.
In 2000, there would be a Europe only GBC version of the collection though it’s now the 3rd collection. The cover art now depicts a different piece of art from the series though it’s still very inaccurate to the game sadly. Though this is the best version of the game because it now has full on color. Now it’s not anything outstanding, it uses a lot of blues and greens but this really does make the graphics look better to me. I will probably play this version for now on and I’d argue you should try it too if you can get the chance. I still hate that it uses the name of the Super Famicom game though. It should also be noted it lacks the borders due to not having SGB support.
Also don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about something, I’ll be saving the other things related to this game until the very end of this review series. You probably already know what it is.
Part 1: TwinBee for Arcade
Bonus: Twinbee for Famicom
Part 2: Moero TwinBee: Cinnamon Hakase o Sukue! for FDS
Part 3: TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō for Famicom
Well now we are at the final classic Twinbee game. Twinbee Da!! for the Game Boy. This is the only game in the series that landed on a handheld. At this point in the franchise it feels like Twinbee was finally hitting the good spot for me and now we’re on a handheld known for downgraded entries. Even Konami was guilty of this with their game Dracula Densetsu. Is Twinbee Da!! any good? Well the answer may surprise you.
The plot is once again only in the Manual where we find the Twinbees relaxing until a new threat named Dr. Nikki challenges them after seeing his past failures be defeated by them. Yes we find out all the main threats from the past three games were made by him which okay that doesn’t even make sense. We also learn that Dr. Nikki was Dr. Cinnamon's childhood rival! Their destination was the Puka Puka Island and Gwinbee is just on guard duty for Cinnamon once again leaving him out of the game. Now despite what I said this game later got retconned to take place in between Twinbee 1 and Moero so I guess he only made King Spice? It’s confusing.
This game really doesn’t do much to change up the formula besides being on a handheld so stages are what you’d expect and this goes for bells. Though due to the monochrome screen, bells had to be changed. The black bells give speed for up to 3 levels this time, white bells still give double shot, the patterned bells give the shadow ships, and striped ones give the barrier. The shadow ships can also be improved by now being 2 ½ length as they will basically form a line if you stand still. You’ll have to pause the game and do the Konami code but be warned it can only be used once per game. The laser has been removed in this title meaning the shadow ships are probably the way to go for this one. The first game where I preferred it over the barrier. Twinbee angels are still a thing when you die though due to the screen size, it’s easy to have it go off screen but it does work like Twinbee 3 where it comes out after every death. The ambulance is also here but it only shows up once per life. It should be noted the arms being destroyed are like the Arcade and 3 where it takes two hits to lose both. You can also find items once more from bombing enemies like fruit for points, stars to kill any enemy on screen, milk for a 1-up, and candy to give you the 3 way spread which is the best weapon to have. There was also an icon for a Dr. Cinnamon head but it doesn’t take you to a bonus stage and the wiki doesn’t mention it so maybe it’s just points? If you also collect the candy again, you get a baseball item that bounces on screen. Finally I can use that item I could never get in the Arcade game.
Here’s the usual where I say it has co-op in it. You’ll need to use the link cable for this one. It seems you can share a shadow ship in this one? If that was in other games I wasn’t aware. There’s also a special shot that’s to be expected. The wiki didn’t even list anything for co-op so thank god someone did a playthrough on Youtube.
Stages in the game are quite enjoyable and start out as a nice homage to the first game. This game is for some reason listed as a sequel on this site but that is not true. Only some things come back from the first game. One cool thing they brought back was the option to change the level order though you can’t change stage 5 due to the bosses they have in that stage. There’s some cool ideas here like the water that pushes you. There’s even these islands that can kill you via touch damage in stage 5 which I think is a first for the franchise but honestly I kind of didn’t like that part of the level. When it comes to difficulty, I’d say it’s easier than the first two but not easier than 3. Another odd thing I found was in stage 3 where the clouds are replaced with bubbles, they still pretty much act the same but quite interesting to see a different graphic for just one stage. They even come from the rocks used in the area. While the game isn’t anything innovative for stage design, it’s pretty enjoyable for the Game Boy and the screen size being smaller doesn’t really affect the action. Though I did find myself dying more from just running into the enemy so maybe it does affect the action hehe. While lives can’t be changed this time, it’s easy to obtain them from getting bells and beating bosses. Keep in mind that even though lives won’t display above 9, you can get more than that.
Bosses in this game are like an inbetween of Moero and 3 in terms of challenge. You definitely will still have to try and they do have some creativity even if it’s nowhere the same extreme as 3. That said, they can be pretty easy if you have the shadow ships and the spread. They’re actually quite the challenge at times without shadow ships. You’ll be fighting stuff like a giant turtle named Kameron and a Queen Bee that’s huge. When you get to the end of stage 5, you’ll be facing off against all of the bosses from Twinbee 1 and while they still aren’t too hard, they were given a lot more health so that’s nice at least. This does make me wonder if that’s why the game was retconned to be after the first. Stage 6 is not even a stage as you’ll just be fighting the final boss. I do gotta give them credit for making a menacing impression as you’ll get text telling you that you won’t be able to survive his wrath and tells you to try to stand a chance against the new great foe named Cyber Poppo. Even the music is very intense. Sadly he’s pretty bad as a final boss as he has one attack and can die in about 30 seconds. The only way he’ll kill you is if he gets too close and uses his attack at that distance. Once you beat him, you fly away as his place gets blown up and then credits. There’s not even a second loop in this game, how odd.
For a Game Boy game, it looks nice but the lack of color does hurt the game since Twinbee has always had nice colors. The locations and sprite art are all very good and are even better than what the first two games were doing. While 3 does have better graphics that’s probably because it has more unique looking levels of the series so far. Still for the time, this was pretty impressive and I’d argue it was one of the better looking games you could find for the handheld in 1990. The music is also pretty damn good, I always love GB audio when done right. The boss theme for stages 1-4 is really excellent and each stage has a different power up theme which is great. Give it a listen if you have the chance, it’s great stuff. At least listen to the credits named Recollections
Twinbee Da!! is a decent game for the Game Boy. I’d argue it’s probably good for what it was meant to be but I don’t know if I’d recommend it nowadays if you were looking for shmups. I wish it had color, I’d probably like it a little more. With that being said though, I do appreciate it a lot more than I used to. I thought it was a nothing special Game Boy game but with my journey through the series, I found a lot more appreciation for something like this. Twinbee 3 is still the better game but I’d play this over the first two games. Give this one a try if you’re curious because for what’s here, it’s a neat little game that’ll take you less than 30 minutes to beat. Next time on Twinbee, we will be heading into a new era. This is when the series changes a bit and we’ll be seeing the most popular game in the series, Detana!! Twinbee for Arcade.
BONUS SECTION!
You might be wondering what’s up with the title? Well that’s because many years later, Konami would release this game in the PAL region as Pop’n Twinbee. That’s the same cover and name as the Super Famicom game. I really don’t know why Konami did this besides maybe hoping to fool people because it’s most certainly not a port of that game. I don’t even know why Backloggd uses that name and cover anyway considering it’s just deceiving to people who don’t know the series much. I wonder if anyone back then felt scammed?
In 1997, TOSE would put this game in a collection on the GB called Konami GB Collection Vol. 2. It’s nothing different outside of removing the 2 player mode (though maybe they just removed the option when in SGB mode). The game is now depicted in a blue color scheme but it’s still basically monochrome. There’s also a really cool border for the game which is nice. The menu for selecting the games even has a Tokimeki Memorial girl on it. Though I’m sorry I don’t know her name.
In 2000, there would be a Europe only GBC version of the collection though it’s now the 3rd collection. The cover art now depicts a different piece of art from the series though it’s still very inaccurate to the game sadly. Though this is the best version of the game because it now has full on color. Now it’s not anything outstanding, it uses a lot of blues and greens but this really does make the graphics look better to me. I will probably play this version for now on and I’d argue you should try it too if you can get the chance. I still hate that it uses the name of the Super Famicom game though. It should also be noted it lacks the borders due to not having SGB support.
Also don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about something, I’ll be saving the other things related to this game until the very end of this review series. You probably already know what it is.
It do indeed be more twinbee. Due to this games short length and easy difficulty I played it twice; once on the original game boy and once with the color version in Konami GB classics 3 (konami sure liked to give all their original game boy library the DX treatment but only in compilation titles released exclusively in europe, huh.) Either way, the game is really easy. Probably even easier than Twinbee 3, and that was a cakewalk. I guess it's good to tone down the difficulty since the first game was so brutal, but it do make 1CCs a bit trivial at that point. The lack of color in the GB version really isnt too big an issue due to the fact that the foreground elements are darker and more defined than the lighter background, and the bells have patterns this time around as well as shades to distinguish power ups. The color version doesn't really add much but does make things a bit more interesting to look at, I guess. I guess this would probably go good with twinbee 3 at being good beginner shmups but also idk there should probably be a bit more spice put in here nawsay?
Twinbee Da!! is perfectly functional but I don't think the Game Boy is the best fit for Twinbee. The bell mechanic suffers due to the lack of colour, and the general pace of the game is much slower due to overall hardware limitations. Overall just kinda boring, but at least it's short.
Acessível (a.k.a.: consegui zerar sem cheats lol) e usa bem suas limitações de hardware, especialmente visuais.