TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō

TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up video game produced by Konami originally released for the Family Computer in 1989. It was the third game in the TwinBee series released for the Famicom, following the home version of the original TwinBee and the Famicom-exclusive Moero TwinBee. Unlike Moero, which was released in North America as Stinger, TwinBee 3 was a Japan-only release. It was re-released on April 14, 2006 as part of the i-Revo downloadable game service.

TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō
Cover art
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Composer(s)	Atsushi Fujio, Hidehiro Funauchi, Katsuhiko Suzuki
Platform(s)	Famicom, Mobile phone
Release	Famicom JP: September 29, 1989 I-revo JP: April 14, 2006
Genre(s)	Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)	1 or 2-player cooperative

TwinBee 3 ditches the side-scrolling stages from Stinger and only features top-scrolling ones similar to the original. Moreover, the game lacks the 3-Player mode from Moero, allowing only up to two players. The game is considerably easier than its predecessors due to an option mode that allows players to adjust the difficulty and number of ships, as well as the inclusion of the new "soul reviving system", which allows players to recover their power-ups after losing a ship.

The game uses digitized PCM voice samples, particularly when the conga music in one stage chants "Poko Poko", and in the beginning of each stage, in which a voice proclaims the name of the stage.

Characters

TwinBee

The default Player 1 aircraft, colored blue, Twinbee can fire up to two shots rapidly and has a barrier durability of ten shots.

WinBee

The default Player 2 aircraft, colored red, Winbee can fire up to four shots rapidly and has a barrier durability of fifteen shots.

GwinBee

A green-colored aircraft and the baby brother of TwinBee and WinBee. He was kidnapped by Poko Poko during an errand.

In the instruction manual of Detana TwinBee Yahho! Deluxe Pack, the pilots of the three ships are identified as Dr. Cinnamon's great grandchildren: Squash, Whip, and Mellow. They were originally nameless in the actual game.

Game system

Controls

The player maneuvers the ship with the D-Pad. One button is used to shoot the gun at airborne enemies, while the other drops bombs at ground enemies. If both arms of the player's ships are destroyed, then the player will be incapable of dropping bombs. When that happens, an ambulance will appear that can repair both arms. The player can uncover bell power-ups by shooting the floating clouds. Shooting a bell several times will change their colors.

Bell power-ups

Yellow Bell

Gives the player bonus points. The more yellow bells are picked up without missing one, the greater the points will be (500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and eventually 10,000 points).

Blue Bell

Increases the ship's speed by one level. The speed can be increased up to seven times.

White Bell

Turns the player's gun into a double shot.

Red Bell

Causes the player's gun to shoot an enemy piercing laser beam.

Flashing Red/Blue Bell

Creates image copies of the player's ship that will imitate their actions, increasing their firepower.

Flashing Blue/White Bell

Creates a barrier that will protect the player's ship from enemy fire. It gradually becomes small as it takes damage until eventually disappears. When two players are both equipped with a barrier and they unite their ships, the barrier takes the shape of an umbrella.

Ground items

Question mark

Destroys all on-screen enemies.

Fruits

Gives bonus points.

Dollar sign

Gives bonus points.

Milk bottle

Gives an extra ship.

Candy

Turns the player's gun into a three-way shot.

Fire match

Causes a fire bell to appear in the sky. When the player picks it up, they will be invincible for a moment until they reach the boss.

Dr. Cinnamon

Takes the player to a bonus stage after completing the current stage.

Combination attacks

Wide Shot

When TwinBee and WinBee travel next to each other side by side, they shoot four star-shaped beams, three towards themselves and one behind them.

Super Barrier

When TwinBee and WinBee are lined up one towards the other vertically, it will cause a star-shaped beam to appear that travels around the two ships in a circular pattern, destroying any enemy who comes near.

Soul recovery system

When the player loses a life, a ghost version of their ship will be floating around at the spot where it was destroyed. When the player respawns and picks up the ghost, they will recover all the power-ups their ship had in its previous life.

Stages

In the options menu, the player can choose the order in which the first four stages are played. Moreover, the difficulty can be changed between "comfortable" or "hell".

1. Air Island - a floating island created by Poko Poko. The enemies are musical instruments. The boss is the Crystal Traveler.
2. Wanana Bani - a tropical forest stage where the enemies are banana-shaped crocodiles. The bosses are the Ghost Ukulele Band.
3. Castle Land - a medieval stage where the enemies are witches and dragons. The bosses are tooth cavities that are inhabiting a giant dragon's mouth.
4. Dungeon - a coal mine stage with rail carts. Enemies includes various animals such as elephants and octopuses. The boss is Unadon, a giant eel.
5. Final Stage - a checkerboard stages where large cannons and windows are placed on the ground. The enemies are items related to magicians such as top hats, playing cards, and sticks. The boss is the Evil King Poko Poko.

Other media

• In issue #4, episode 46, TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō is adapted for the manga titled Warera Hobby's: Famicom Seminar (われらホビーズファミコンゼミナール, Ware-ra Hobīzu Famikon Zemināru) which was published from 1988 to 1990.

External links

• Instruction manual transcript (in Japanese)