What's Pop'n? Twinbee is Pop'n!!!! It's amazing what a bunch of flair and accessibility can do to the appeal of Shoot'em Ups to those unfamiliar with the genre. You can even consider this more like baby's first shmup, which in a lot of ways is an honor. While I certainly didn't consider myself a fan of JRPGs at the time, Paper Mario was a gate way the same way Pop'n Twinbee feels to me and Shmups. The fact they have all these nice little eye catchers at the end of their stages mixed together with the super bizarre enemies and brightly colored stages makes Pop'n Twinbee an experience that never really leaves my mind compared to the likes of other, darker colored Shmups out there.
Oh, and the gameplay for Pop'n Twinbee is absolutely wonderful. While most shmups have it to where you get hit and have to return to your base power again, Pop'n uses a life bar to help mitigate some of the damage while still giving the player a chance to come back to 100% powered form. While this seems like little in terms of difficulty adjustment, for people like me that don't do well with the consistent stress and inability to recover it helps a small mistake feel like a small mistake instead of costing you the whole run. On top of that, there is usually a bunch of new enemies per level coming at you, and it lends the player to be on guard over seeing the same enemies over again. Add to this, both bosses and mini-bosses giving proper tells on when to dodge, and giving a wide enough screen to work with really helps Pop'n feel like you're in proper control of the screen the whole time over the overwhelming feeling that other shmups give you.
If you're a veteran to the genre, I don't think Pop'n Twinbee will impress you the same way it did me. In a lot of ways, Pop'n is made for people like me to help engage with the genre without being thrown into the deep end. While a lot of shmups pride themselves on difficulty, Pop'n Twinbee feels more like a breezy wind that can cause you some trouble, but overall nothing to worry about. If you have an hour to kill, and always been interested in Shmups, Pop'n Twinbee is a wonderful game to start with!
Oh, and the gameplay for Pop'n Twinbee is absolutely wonderful. While most shmups have it to where you get hit and have to return to your base power again, Pop'n uses a life bar to help mitigate some of the damage while still giving the player a chance to come back to 100% powered form. While this seems like little in terms of difficulty adjustment, for people like me that don't do well with the consistent stress and inability to recover it helps a small mistake feel like a small mistake instead of costing you the whole run. On top of that, there is usually a bunch of new enemies per level coming at you, and it lends the player to be on guard over seeing the same enemies over again. Add to this, both bosses and mini-bosses giving proper tells on when to dodge, and giving a wide enough screen to work with really helps Pop'n feel like you're in proper control of the screen the whole time over the overwhelming feeling that other shmups give you.
If you're a veteran to the genre, I don't think Pop'n Twinbee will impress you the same way it did me. In a lot of ways, Pop'n is made for people like me to help engage with the genre without being thrown into the deep end. While a lot of shmups pride themselves on difficulty, Pop'n Twinbee feels more like a breezy wind that can cause you some trouble, but overall nothing to worry about. If you have an hour to kill, and always been interested in Shmups, Pop'n Twinbee is a wonderful game to start with!