TwinBee (ROM version) - MAME machine

Konami Bubble System cart. published 39 years ago:

Twin Bee © 1985 Konami.

Twin Bee is an overhead scrolling game starring a pair of bee-shaped robots, Twinbee (the blue one) and his female counterpart Winbee (the pink one), Twin Bee is part of what are called 'cute 'em ups', a slang for shoot-em-up games that feature cute characters, animals and other funny looking creatures, among other whimsical themes and brightly colored landscapes. It's a fun game to play with at least 6 stages that repeat themselves with increased difficulty as you go along.

Power-ups and extra points can be found in special bells hidden in some enemies that, when shot a certain number of times, will change color and then, when touched by the player, will provide a powerup, such as extra speed.

TECHNICAL
Konami's Bubble System
Game ID: GX412

Main CPU: Motorola 68000 (@ 9.216 Mhz), Zilog Z80 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)
Sound Chips: (2x) General Instrument AY8910 (@ 1.789772 Mhz), K005289 (@ 1.789772 Mhz), Sanyo VLM5030 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 2

TRIVIA
Twin Bee was released in March 1985.

This is the first title using Konami's Bubble System Board.

Twin Bee had an overseas (U.S.) title, Stinger, depicted on the cover of its arcade operator's manual. However, the U.S. version was never actually released. The "Stinger" title would later used for the NES version of Moero TwinBee.

Alfa Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Konami Game Music Vol.1 - 28XA-85) on June 25, 1986.

TIPS AND TRICKS

• Formation Bonus: If you take out all enemies in a formation, you get bonus points.
• Yellow bell bonus: If you keep on picking up yellow bells, you earn increasing bonus points. The bonus will increase up to 10,000 points. But if you miss picking up even 1 bell in the process, the bonus drops to 500 points.
• If you keep on shooting a bell: The bell will break and turn into a bee! Be careful.
• Change the color of a bell as you wish: The color of a bell changes after every 5 shots

5 -- white
10 -- blue
15 -- green
20 -- red

• The Multiple and Barrier cannot be used together: When you have your Multiple, the Barrier (red bell) will not be available. When you have your barrier, the multiple (green bell) will not be available.
• If you take out enemies on the ground: Fruit items will appear. Pick them up to get bonus points. Strange items will appear every once in a while.
• Call an ambulance: When you get one of your hands destroyed, get your other hand destroyed (if you can afford it) to call an ambulance.

SERIES

• Twin Bee [Model GX412] (1985, Arcade)
• Moero TwinBee - Cinnamon Hakase o Sukue! [Model KDS-TIN] (1986, Famicom Disk System)
• Twin Bee 3 - Poko Poko Dai Maou [Model KON-RC841] (1989, Famicom)
• TwinBee da!! [Model DMG-TDJ] (1990, Game Boy)
• Detana!! Twin Bee (1991, Arcade)
• Pop'n TwinBee [Model SHVC-PT] (1993, Super Famicom)
• Twin Bee Yahhoo! Fushigi no Kuni de Dai Abare!! (1995, Arcade)

STAFF
Music by: Shigeru Fukutake, Yoshinori Sasaki

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

[JP] Nintendo Famicom (jan.4, 1986) "Twin Bee [Model RC807]"
[JP] Nintendo Famicom Disk (mar.11, 1988) "TwinBee [Model KDS-TWN]"
[JP] Sony PS4 [PSN] (dec.25, 2015) "Arcade Archives - TwinBee [Model CUSA-03607]"
[US] Sony PlayStation 4 [PSN] (feb.26, 2016) "Arcade Archives - Twinbee [Model CUSA-03718]"
[EU] [AU] Sony PlayStation 4 [PSN] (may.10, 2016) "Arcade Archives - TwinBee [Model CUSA-03939]"

• HANDHELDS:

[JP] Sony PSP (jan.25, 2007) "Twin Bee Portable [Model ULJM-05221]"
[JP] Nintendo DS (mar.15, 2007) "Konami Arcade Collection [Model NTR-A5KJ-JPN]"
[US] Nintendo DS (mar.27, 2007) "Konami Classic Series - Arcade Hits [Model NTR-ACXE-USA]": as 'RainbowBell'
[EU] Nintendo DS (oct.26, 2007) "Konami Arcade Classics [Model NTR-ACXP-EUR]"
[AU] Nintendo DS (oct.29, 2007) "Konami Arcade Classics"
[JP] Nintendo 3DS [eShop] (2011) "3D Classics"

• COMPUTERS:

[JP] MSX (may.25, 1986) "Twin Bee [Model RC740]"
[JP] Sharp X68000 (feb.1988)

CONTRIBUTE
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