Konami’s cutesy shmup TwinBee returns on Nintendo Switch

Kawaii Kaos

This week’s retro release from Hamster lets players fly the adorable skies of 1985, with a port of Konami’s cuddly shoot-’em-up TwinBee, now available to download on Nintendo Switch.

Back in 1985, the shmup scene was really starting to come into its own, but while many titles in the genre hard a dark and industrial look to their intergalactic warfare, Konami helped to define a whole new sub-genre with TwinBee, which chose super colourful stages and cute designs for their heroes and villains, all backed with cheerful, upbeat tunes.

One or two players battle through waves of enemies across a selection of vertically-scrolling stages. Armed – quite literally – with a variety of weapons, further upgrades can be gained by gathering bells that are hidden within the background. TwinBee would go on to have a run of equally fun sequels, with arguably its best-remembered global entry for being 1993 SNES release Pop’n TwinBee. In Japan, the franchise would also spawn an anime and manga series as well as, of all things, a radio play!

You can check out TwinBee in action in this video from YouTuber Perikles STG

TwinBee is available to download now on Nintendo Switch, priced around $8. It should also be noted that it is available as part of the Konami Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection.