TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō

TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō (ツインビー３ポコポコ大魔王 TsuinBī Surī: Poko Poko Daimaō^?, lit. "TwinBee 3: The Great Demon King Poko Poko") 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 iRevo downloadable game service.

Plot[]

Dr. Cinnamon was living peacefully with his three great-grandchildren in Donburi Island. One day, he asked the youngest to go on an errand by piloting the GwinBee aircraft. However, he never came back...

The doctor was starting to get worried, when suddenly a loud voice resounded throughout the laboratory and said: "GwinBee is in my custody. My name is the Demon King Poko Poko". Quickly, he ordered his remaining two great-grandchildren to board the TwinBee and WinBee fighting airships and bring him back. And so, both courageous pilots set off on a journey to rescue GwinBee.

Overview[]

TwinBee 3 ditches the side-scrolling stages from Moero TwinBee and only features top-scrolling ones similar to the original. Moreover, the game lacks the 3-Player mode from Moero TwinBee, 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. Can fire up to two shots rapidly and has a barrier durability of ten shots.
WinBee: The default Player 2 aircraft, colored red. 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 booklet 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.

Gameplay[]

Controls[]

The player maneuvers the ship with the directional 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 ship are destroyed, then they'll 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 its colors.

Bell Power-Ups[]

- 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).
- Increases the ship's speed by one level (for up to 7 speed levels).
- Upgrades the player's gun into a double shot.
- Causes the player's gun to shoot an enemy-piercing laser beam.
● - Gives the player's ship a mirror image for added firepower.
● - Surrounds the player's ship with a barrier for extra protection from enemy fire. It gradually becomes small as it takes damage until it 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[]

Stage	Name	Boss	Description
1	Air Island	Crystal Jizō	A floating island created by Poko Poko. The enemies are musical instruments.
2	Wanana Bani	Ukulele Band	A tropical forest stage where the enemies are banana-shaped crocodiles.
3	Castle Land	Castle Dragon	A medieval stage where the enemies are witches and dragons.
4	Dungeon	Unadon	A coal mine stage with rail carts. Enemies includes various animals such as elephants and octopuses.
5	Final Stage	Demon King Poko Poko	A checkerboard stage 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.

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^?) on 1988 to 1990.

Related products[]

TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō (Tokuma Shoten) - A guidebook for this game.
Warera Hobby's Famicom Seminar - A short manga series featuring TwinBee 3.
Konami Famicom Music Memorial Best Vol. 2 - A collection of medleys and arrangements from three Konami games, including TwinBee 3.
Konami Music Masterpiece Collection - A collection of soundtracks from various Konami games, including TwinBee 3.