Stinger

Developer: Konami     Publisher: Konami     Released: 1987     Genre: Shooter

It can’t be stated just how creatively on fire Konami were with their NES shooters.  Gradius revolutionized the genre and influenced legions of shooters to come.  It was so good in fact that even a parody of the series turned out excellent.  Sadly Parodius didn’t reach the US but I digress.  They could easily have rested on their laurels but instead created a third series, Twinbee.  The only Twinbee game to reach the US was Stinger.  While it isn’t the strongest title in the series Stinger is still pretty decent if a little weird.

Stinger is actually the second game in the series.  As a result the story is different to avoid confusion.  Aliens from the planet Attackon have kidnapped Dr. Cinnamon to learn the secrets of his bio nuclear sweetener.  And why do they want this technology?  To turn Earth into a giant ball of cotton candy of course!  It is kind of a blessing that Stinger did not become a hit.  As a series Twinbee would eventually explore other genres such as platforming and even RPGs.  It developed a long running plot that this game may have caused problems with.  But the story is the least of its problems.

If the story sounds strange that is because the game is just as weird.  Twinbee doesn’t exactly take itself seriously and Stinger is goofier than the other titles in the series.  I’ll admit that for the longest time I was not particularly fond of the game.  The strange sense of humor and the bell juggling didn’t do it for me.  But I’ve grown a new appreciation for it.  I still think Stinger is only slightly above average but will admit that it has a strange charm that some may find endearing.

Rather than copying the Gradius power-up system Konami created something different.  In Stinger you gain power-ups by juggling bells.  Bells spawn from clouds of which there are more than you will know what to do with in each level.  You’ll have to hit a bell multiple times to make it change colors which correspond to different power-ups.  There are only a few; speed up, a double shot, laser, and a shield.  Juggling bells while dealing with enemies takes skill and gives Stinger a different flavor from Konami’s other shooters.

While every other title in the series focuses on vertical shooting Stinger alternates with horizontal levels.  Depending on the viewpoint your experience will change dramatically.  The vertically scrolling stages offer the traditional Twinbee experience.  Twinbee is a more intense game than its predecessor with more enemy waves, bells, and chaos in general.  So much so in fact there are even a few exclusive weapons that add additional fire on the sides of your ship to help deal with it all.  Juggling bells is much easier although still tough to consistently land the item you want.  But with that in mind it is very obvious that the mechanics were built with this viewpoint in mind.

The side scrolling levels are a different matter entirely.  Frankly these stages are dull.  While they may look like they are ripped straight from Gradius they aren’t as well tuned.  That is mostly due to the mechanics.  Here one button shoots and also drops bombs for ground targets.  The A button is a heart shaped shot that is intended to make bell juggling easier.  It doesn’t work however.  To do so you have ot place yourself in danger constantly which inevitably leads to death.  It is best to pick one weapon and stick with it rather than dealing with the nonsense of these stages.  Aside from difficulty with bell juggling the horizontal levels are boring to look at as they share a lot of the same ground elements despite the change in scenery.  It is no wonder then that there are only three of them.

While its mechanics are questionable at times Stinger still manages to entertain just by its sheer wackiness.  The enemies comprise all manner of household objects such as coat hangers, crazed fruit, sneakers, and even TV sets.  The bosses are no better.  You’ll fight a watermelon that spits its own seeds as a weapon, a deranged boom box, and even a mad faucet.  Even though the American instruction manual offers a different story it actually does a good job of contextualizing the strangeness you’ll see in the game.

In Closing

But is it good?  Stinger is a competent game but against the stronger shooters on the NES it comes up short.  There is some fun to be had with Stinger but only after you have exhausted the better options available in the system’s library.