Detana!! TwinBee (Bells & Whistles) - Arcade Zone #4 - Retro Review
We start again some of the best classics that became known more in the console Nes, but in this case we dedicate a small space to his version Arcade which in Japan they gave the name of Detana!! TwinBee (it means TwinBee!), Although with this name is not very well known since for the rest of the world it was announced as "Bells & Whistles" being this the fifth game of the saga but the second in Arcade improving of very impressive way to his predecessor. In my case I could experiment with him in his version of Playstation that came in a compilation called "Detana TwinBee Yahho! Deluxe Pack ", contained several games of the saga, a day away from my city in an Arcade room I got the surprise to find that fabulous game in his original cabinet, spent almost all my money trying to pass it, really the experience was Excellent, the difficulty in Arcade is very high.
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This was the disc by which I met the game
Bells & Whistles is a vertical scroll shooter created by the great Konami in the early 90's, the pixel art used in this game is really fabulous, all enemies from beginning to end contain excellent animations, Twinbee (our main character) has a few simple but good animations, I consider them necessary for the type of game, to be eliminated by the enemy clearly it is seen as it explodes and goes towards the earth (the whole game is developed in the skies).
Something that I love about this game is the variety with respect to the backgrounds of their levels, none of them is repeated and each one unfolds in a part of the planet Meru which is the one that we must save of the great invasion of the sinister alien Iva, returning to the theme of the levels have very striking colors, their backgrounds have very good animations which distract us too much (because of seeing their beautiful backgrounds killed me several times).
The objective of the game is very simple, we must save the planet Meru eliminating everything that is to our step, for that we count on our air attack and a ground attack. The terrestrial serves us to eliminate all those enemies that from the surface shoot us, it is enough with a shot to be eliminated, they also leave us fruit that simply help us to raise our score in the game, the air attack will be our most powerful weapon in the game, allowing us to eliminate a number of threats on the screen and here is where I will explain a bit how complicated this topic can be inside the game.
There are bells (hence the name of the game outside of Japan) that allow us to upgrade our firing and defense of Twinbee, they are hidden in the clouds that we will find in certain parts of the levels, it is here when we we will see with one of the biggest difficulties, so that these bells give us the upgrade we have to shoot them until they change color for example when they are placed in red it gives us a shield that protects us from enemy or blank shots that gives us a double shot, this is something really complicated because they will shoot and harass a large number of enemies which we must dodge while we shoot the blessed bells waiting for them to change color, (just write it I get tired XD), if we can not get a good power will be practically impossible to pass the levels with success, additionally we have a shot of load that to execute it simply we left pressed and l the trigger button and we will see how a bar is filling when reaching the maximum release that button and we will see how a great high power shot comes out, this is excellent against strong enemies and of course against the bosses.
Like every Konami classic we will find a boss at the end of each stage, each one having a very good difficulty curve, one of the ones that cost me the third level, you had to shoot the sides to make it roll a mechanism until your weak point appears but as you know you do multiple shots while you try to do this, I also consider that each of them have a good design that is well received by the player.
I do not know how the composers do but their melodies are too good, totally varied in each of their levels and perfectly match the environment of the game, it was simply a sublime and epic work by Konami, their sounds were designed with excellent quality , deserving of a game of the genre shooter in no time of the game you get bored of listening to the bells, enemies exploiting, the classic ambulance that comes to replace your mechanical arms, just perfect.
Bells & Whistles is one of the best shooters I have ever played in the long video player history, it has all the necessary elements to leave you in front of the arcade or console for a long time, apart from its extreme difficulty makes it a challenge to finish it, and personally I love every game that has that typical feature. I must thank @megusta that through a comment reminded me of this excellent game which I left a little forgotten among so many memories, really thanks for bringing to mind this excellent game that in its moment I am full of fun (and sometimes despair XD).
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See You!!!
GaboX
I completely agree with your evaluation of the music. Konami consistently put together outstanding music in the video games of the 16-bit and PS1 eras, and the remixes that the Kukeiha Club (the band, not to be confused with the "Konami Kukeiha Club" sound team) did were sometimes just as epic as the original songs. Most of the "best of the best" songs came out of that Twinbee franchise.
Twinbee really brings back some
twingood memories, as I spent many hours in college either playing those games (including Detana Twinbee) or just listening to the music.The music that Konami uses for their games is really beautiful, most of their games have a musical essence that really is fabulous and this game is one of those pieces that are worth detailing them to the maximum
I cried when i saw your PS :(
It is one of the best consoles of all time !!