Twinkle Tale is a 1992 Sega Mega Drive shoot-'em-up developed by Studio Ducks and published by Wonder Amusement Studio exclusively in Japan.
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It turns out Marisa Kirisame has her own Pocky & Rocky. Yay! Unfortunately it's not quite as pretty of a game and it costs 8342894 dollars for a physical. Tough shit if you're a collector, I suppose. It's worth grabbing a ROM either way.
Pocky & Rocky for Sega Kids and/or Vampire Survivors for aging hipster gamers.
[guy who’s only ever played Dark Souls, playing Twinkle Tale]: “I’m getting major Dark Souls vibes from this game.”
[guy who’s only ever played Dark Souls, playing Twinkle Tale]: “I’m getting major Dark Souls vibes from this game.”
Cleared on July 9th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 25/160)
This game never released outside of Japan and physical copies were even known to be extremely rare these days. Fortunately, a translation patch exist for this game and luckily I don't have to go through elaborate means of getting it to work. Though with a game this rare and elusive, you'd probably wonder if this game is even worth it? Well, I can say that while no game is worth forking over $300 unless you happen to be Youtuber who collects physical copies of video games, I can very well assure that the gem shines as bright as it is hidden.
Twinkle Tale acts as a top down shooter, but instead of being an auto-scroller, you're on the ground which gives you a lot more control to avoid attacks although it's still not that easy since it still goes off the classic "3 hits and you're out" although as you progress in the game, you can get up to 7 health which makes things manageable and you're going to need it since the game gets gradually harder.
As for your weapons. You have three basic weapons which you can upgrade up to Level 3 for maximum effect. The Shooting Star fires stars that spread out going farther distance the higher the level. The Diamond Arrow which fires arrows in a straight line, but deals the highest damage out of the weapons. Finally, the Silver Comet which fires a homing comet that damages enemies nearby although it has the lowest damage of the weapons. And luckily, the power that you lose from taking damage isn't as severe and power-ups are usually given out generously throughout the levels. You also get "Magic Bombs" which come in two variants. A giant comet that homes in on enemies and a Dragonflame which damages the whole screen. They're pretty similar and the differences are minimal.
I just really love the game's wizardry aesthetic, shooting enemies with powerful magic. It's traditional fantasy with forests, castles, and mountains; but it still adds a mystical charm that I think works for the game, and the music is amazing. It gives an adventurous and sometimes triumphant feel to it.
The game's difficulty is definitely hard, but it should be manageable enough. You do have control although some of the enemy placements can get rather rough although the good news is that healing potions aren't too sparse, so even if you get hit, you can get some of your health back with no worries. The bosses aren't too bad either... with one exception.
With how much fun I had with the game, I was gunning for it to be a 4.5 stars, but there's a few qualms that I have with the game that holds it back. For starters, I don't like how there's no means of strafing until you get to the bosses which are forced to do which is fine, bosses are designed this way. But you are unable to strafe until then which can make aiming a bit rough and sometimes the movement can be jittery when trying to aim at a specific direction. The game's frame rate also takes a drop at points and it's not that unbearable; I've seen much worse on that front, but any frame rate drops is never a good sign.
But then there's my biggest problem with the game, the penultimate level. So even though the game mostly takes place on the ground, the developers have the idea to make it a traditional sky top down shooter for this one level using the Wind Robe. It's an auto-scroller, you shoot enemies, and it plays how you'd expect it to. It's not that bad on its own, it gets frustrating with enemy placements and trying to dodge obstacles, but its manageable... until you get to the boss. It doesn't seem bad at first when you figure its attacks and know where to position yourself, but once you knock the rider out, you better hope you saved up those two magic bombs and you're at full health, or I can assure you that you're going to be in for a bad time, but staying at full health is tricky because there's only two health potions throughout the entire level, and you have to deal with projectiles that will very likely hit you because you're in an auto-scroller which I assume you aren't quite used to facing by this point.
But regardless, I still had a great time with this game. I'm sure you've played this game if you're a die hard Sega Genesis fan, but if you love the system and haven't heard of this game by some chance until now, you should definitely give it a go. You could clear it in maybe an hour if you play well enough.
This game never released outside of Japan and physical copies were even known to be extremely rare these days. Fortunately, a translation patch exist for this game and luckily I don't have to go through elaborate means of getting it to work. Though with a game this rare and elusive, you'd probably wonder if this game is even worth it? Well, I can say that while no game is worth forking over $300 unless you happen to be Youtuber who collects physical copies of video games, I can very well assure that the gem shines as bright as it is hidden.
Twinkle Tale acts as a top down shooter, but instead of being an auto-scroller, you're on the ground which gives you a lot more control to avoid attacks although it's still not that easy since it still goes off the classic "3 hits and you're out" although as you progress in the game, you can get up to 7 health which makes things manageable and you're going to need it since the game gets gradually harder.
As for your weapons. You have three basic weapons which you can upgrade up to Level 3 for maximum effect. The Shooting Star fires stars that spread out going farther distance the higher the level. The Diamond Arrow which fires arrows in a straight line, but deals the highest damage out of the weapons. Finally, the Silver Comet which fires a homing comet that damages enemies nearby although it has the lowest damage of the weapons. And luckily, the power that you lose from taking damage isn't as severe and power-ups are usually given out generously throughout the levels. You also get "Magic Bombs" which come in two variants. A giant comet that homes in on enemies and a Dragonflame which damages the whole screen. They're pretty similar and the differences are minimal.
I just really love the game's wizardry aesthetic, shooting enemies with powerful magic. It's traditional fantasy with forests, castles, and mountains; but it still adds a mystical charm that I think works for the game, and the music is amazing. It gives an adventurous and sometimes triumphant feel to it.
The game's difficulty is definitely hard, but it should be manageable enough. You do have control although some of the enemy placements can get rather rough although the good news is that healing potions aren't too sparse, so even if you get hit, you can get some of your health back with no worries. The bosses aren't too bad either... with one exception.
With how much fun I had with the game, I was gunning for it to be a 4.5 stars, but there's a few qualms that I have with the game that holds it back. For starters, I don't like how there's no means of strafing until you get to the bosses which are forced to do which is fine, bosses are designed this way. But you are unable to strafe until then which can make aiming a bit rough and sometimes the movement can be jittery when trying to aim at a specific direction. The game's frame rate also takes a drop at points and it's not that unbearable; I've seen much worse on that front, but any frame rate drops is never a good sign.
But then there's my biggest problem with the game, the penultimate level. So even though the game mostly takes place on the ground, the developers have the idea to make it a traditional sky top down shooter for this one level using the Wind Robe. It's an auto-scroller, you shoot enemies, and it plays how you'd expect it to. It's not that bad on its own, it gets frustrating with enemy placements and trying to dodge obstacles, but its manageable... until you get to the boss. It doesn't seem bad at first when you figure its attacks and know where to position yourself, but once you knock the rider out, you better hope you saved up those two magic bombs and you're at full health, or I can assure you that you're going to be in for a bad time, but staying at full health is tricky because there's only two health potions throughout the entire level, and you have to deal with projectiles that will very likely hit you because you're in an auto-scroller which I assume you aren't quite used to facing by this point.
But regardless, I still had a great time with this game. I'm sure you've played this game if you're a die hard Sega Genesis fan, but if you love the system and haven't heard of this game by some chance until now, you should definitely give it a go. You could clear it in maybe an hour if you play well enough.
Extremely underrated MD game. A Shmup with a rpg mask. Pretty challenging, cute designs. Not a fan of some of the bullets though. Not good to make bullets the same color as the ground, makes it harder to avoid. It has an issue where it just throws way to much at you too.
Still this is fun on the go with my retro hand held.
Still this is fun on the go with my retro hand held.
I really enjoyed this one, I liked all the ground levels and they provided a nice challenge and the bosses felt satisfying to beat. Really the only bad thing I have to say is the flying level, it's easily the low point of the game which is disappointing. I guess I should be thankful it only happens once.
Twinkle Tales is probably the most obscure game on this list - again - never released in the west, it is considered one of the most expensive and sought-after Mega Drive games, while Japanese releases on the Mega Drive are usually quite affordable, this one goes upward in the $300 range. It is a run-and-gun game with a top-down perspective, similar to "Pocky and Rocky" (Kiki Kaikai) in its cutesy charm and gameplay. Our hero, a young witch named Saria, must rescue the three trapped sages and defeat the demonic Kaiser Demon to restore the land of Alpherion. Saria can shoot in 8-directions, alternating between three different spells. Graphics and sounds remind us of a PC Engine game more than a Mega Drive title and have a charm often found in PC98 doujin games such as the popular Touhou series, it is definitely a Japanese game!