About two months ago, I found a little SNES cartridge at my local game store, nobody else seemed to have noticed. It was Pop'n Twinbee, a game of which I did not know that there would actually exist a version in the west. After I bought it, I looked it up on wikipedia and found out that it was the very first Pop'n Twinbee release in Europe (I also think it was only released in Japan and Europe, but I am not entirely sure about it). Sweet! Another interesting fact: the game was published by Palcom, a subsidiary of Konami. I saw that logo somewhere before... on my NES copy of Parodius!



Anyway, since I am pretty new to shmups, or in this case, cute 'em ups, I played this game for hours after I got it. The very first thing I noticed was the fact, that the graphics still hold up to today. This is mainly due to the fact that the Anime-Style of the game fits very well into the capacities of the SNES. The game as a clean, sharp look, and the animations together with all the small details make this game a must-see.



Same goes for the soundtrack, the background music totally fits the setting of the game. Reminded me sometimes of Parodius, which is a good thing. The gameplay is you standard shmup fare, except for the fact that you can also attack enemies on the ground. There is a two player mode, which really gives this game even more replay value. You have multiple difficulty settings to choose from, which is a welcome addition, especially for those new to the genre. The presence of an energy bar also helps a lot.



I really enjoy playing this game and it helped me a lot to get more into the specific genre. It has a friendly newcomer attitude, but can also be very challenging. The art-style, the humor and gameplay really make this game worth your time and money.