A little melodramatic perhaps, but this page examines Twinbee's limited travel outside of Japan - which games made it to other regions, and what was changed in the process. Typically, Konami have chosen to ignore America in favour of the European market, and have often removed quite substantial gameplay features from the non-Japanese versions.

 First off, it's important to know that this is how 'Twinbee' appears when written using the Japanese Katakana:

As Japanese writing is rarely of the Jellybean variety, here's an example of 'Twinbee' rendered in a more basic form:

 The following games have never made it beyond Japanese shores:

Games related to the series that were never released abroad either are:

 The game 'Moero Twinbee: Cinnamon Hakuse Wo Sukue!', which translates to 'Get burning Twinbee, Cinnamon's been kidnapped' was released in the US as 'Stinger'. I'm unaware of a European version, though it may exist.Why Konami changed the name is anyone's guess...'Twinbee' seems perfectly acceptable to me. The original Japanese version has several enhancements which were lost in the US version. Most importantly, there's a simultaneous 3-player mode, which actually plays rather well. There's also an extra page of text in the introduction sequence, featuring dialogue between the three pilots - strangely it's accompanied by a theme which sounds very much like a track from Gradius. I don't know what the dialogue says yet, but I'm trying to find out. One final minor thing; the signpost outside Cinnamon's house reads 'Donburi Island' - In Stinger it reads 'Konami'. Here are some pictures of what's new:

 Bells & Whistles is known in Japan as Detana Twinbee - definitely the superior name IMO. Fortunately, there's very little difference between the two versions, except of course that the small amounts of text have been translated into English. One minor aggravation - Detana Twinbee has some extra speech effects, which sound very cool indeed. It's a shame to lose them, but it's not a big deal really. Although I've spent some time feverishly spotting 'differences' which have turned out to be imaginary, I'm pretty certain that other than the sound loss, Bells & Whistles really is intact. Here's the Detana Twinbee logo:

 Pop'n Twinbee was granted a European release. European games run at a slightly slower speed in general, but I'm fairly confident that the game is exactly the same in all other respects to its Japanese counterpart. Here's what the original Pop'n Twinbee logo looks like:

 Pop'n Twinbee 2: Rainbow Bell Adventure is quite a different matter unfortunately. I suppose we should be lucky to have got it at all, but the European version has been totally raped. Let's start off with the most innocent difference; the logo.

Not something anybody could object to of course. More seriously though, the Japanese version has a save-game feature which is far superior to the European password system. It's not just a matter of convenience - the save file records far more of your progress and gives you a completion rating which increases the game's replay value tenfold. The game speed is slightly slower - more of an issue given that this game is supposed to be fast. There's also dialogue between each level involving all of the characters - something which was entirely removed in the English translation. Goodbye backstory. Half the levels are initially locked as well and only become available once certain conditions have been met - in Europe we simply got a linear quest with each stage simply unfolding one after the other. Compare the two map pictures, Europe on the left - see how the Japanese one allows slightly different routes through the game. There's also a bit of dialogue to see below as well - Cinnamon's actually making himself useful.

In all, these losses do add up - the most serious being the save game function. The Japanese version has a serious claim to being one of the best Platform games on the SNES - a claim its European counterpart can't really justify.

 The first two Parodius games were released in Europe, the first as an individual SNES title, the second as part of the Parodius compilation for the Playstation. Parodius 1 is known as Parodius: Nonsense Fantasy, and the sequel as Parodius: Fantastic Journey. Apart from the inevitable speed loss, the games are intact as far as I know, with the little bits of Japanese text benefitting from a translation. Here's an example - the loudhailer power-up now spouts bizarre English phrases:

Apparently they're not actually the same phrases as in the original version though...weird. I'll try to find out more about this. Apparently the American palate was judged too sensitive for a series as anarchic as Parodius, and by the looks of things, Twinbee as well. It's nice of Konami to have brought both franchises to Europe.

 Konami's foreign policy would appear to have changed recently. Wai Wai Racing Advance is receiving a worldwide release as Konami Krazy Racers. The name is slightly excruciating, but by all accounts the English versions are 100% intact. The same is true of their other Gameboy Advance launch title Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. If this represents a new attitude inside Konami, then it's very heartening. Hopefully if Konami does release further comical games, the world will not be judged wanting.

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