Have you ever had someone look at you in shock and say “I can’t believe you never played ___!”? That’s what this column is about. I’m an old fart gamer experiencing some of the classic retro games for the first time – and rather than having something profound or meaningful to say about it, I’m just going to share my initial thoughts upon playing a game most others have already deemed a classic. Hope you enjoy my newcomer insight – and ignorance – to games I should have played by now!
This week, I’m covering Pop’n Twinbee, the cute ‘em up for the SNES.
Going into this first timer’s play, Pop’n Twinbee had a lot to live up to considering the shoot ‘em up games one might play before it: Spacewar!, Space Invaders, Galaxian – or, for younger generations, Neopets’ Pterattack.
But this whole notion of “cute ‘em up”s is completely new to me. What is cute ‘em up? Well, here’s the first boss of this game for example:
Oh my god. This is the most adorable thing that has ever tried to kill me.
The first stage as a whole is probably the fruitiest shoot ‘em up game I’ve ever experienced. And no, I don’t mean the urban-dictionary sense; I mean in the literal there-are-pineapples-roaming-the-street-like-it’s-no-big-deal sense. There are also cherries and grapes and a few other cute food items. I had to mention the pineapples first because, unlike the other things in the air that could be ambiguously attributed to the evil forces bent on your destruction, the pineapples are down on the ground, doing nothing but strolling about through their day. And yet, you can bomb them into oblivion.
Graphics-wise, it takes me back to games like Donkey Kong Country where they do a really good job of making a three dimensional experience out of two dimensional graphics. I compare it to DKC because of their strong use of just a background image contrasting the main action, with the two screens passing at different rates to accentuate the different geometrical planes. Granted, DKC does it a little better as they would come out a little later into the SNES’ lifespan.
One of the coolest features I experienced on my initial experience is what the game calls “couple mode.” Let’s say that you want to play with a friend that never plays video games, and you’re worried the other person wouldn’t have fun if they kept dying all the time, and having to sit out while you finish up. In couple mode, enemies will predominantly target player one, allowing the less experienced player to learn the controls and experience the game without being bombarded. I’m not sure how I feel about the implications of the name “couple mode” though; is this a patronizing stab at the stereotypical early-90s girl gamer, or is it merely a cruel joke about how there is inevitably one person who takes the brunt of the burden in a relationship?
Nonetheless, I have friends that would enjoy this feature as a way to get in on the action – they’d enjoy getting to play a game with me at a low intensity, and they would almost certainly enjoy watching me get shot all the time while they cruise around the sky unnoticed. Or, for my more experienced gamer friends, I could just be a total jerk and turn on couple mode without them noticing and set unsuspecting victims as player one.
The music is enjoyable as well. It’s often a very bubble-gum pop version of aerial adventure jingles that the wider shoot ‘em up genre is very good at producing, although it’s occasionally hard to enjoy them when you hear baby-like cries of terror when you shoot at the fruit.
Some gamers purge emotions by shooting things and vicariously empowering themselves. Some gamers purge emotions by flooding their system with adorable things. This game is ideal for gamers who for some reason want to do both of those things at the same time.