An Ode to Twinkle Soft!

Right around the start of the new millennium, there was a doujin company that developed four classic shooters that have yet to get the attention they deserve. This...um.....what comes after trilogy? Quadrogy? Whatever, these four games still hold fast as entertaining shmups, which means that the team working on them knew exactly what they were doing. The software house I'm referring to is Twinkle Soft.

The main programmer - accoring to the credits - was Sumomo7. I tried to do some research into what happened to Twinkle Soft since their website is long since gone, with no avail. It's a shame because they really put out some quality product. TS slowed down the speed at which bullets fly toward you, while keeping the insane quantity of bullets, making it much easier to thread the needle and pull off some crazy dodging moves. I think it was around the time of Excess Fraction, back in 1999, when companies started to pay attention to hit boxes.....at least I did, since this is one of the first games I can remember that bullets can sheer your wings and not kill you. Add to these factors some killer music, score chaining systems, and creative secondary weapons in each of the four games, and figure out why you can color me impressed. Here's a breakdown of TS's short yet impressive legacy:

Excess Fraction - 1999

Excess Fraction was TS's first contribution to the shmup world, and it shows. The graphics are slightly dated, and the playing field feels much emptier and devoid of enemies compared to the other TS games.

Fraction uses a "scratch stock" bomb technique, where the player must get extremely close to bullets in order to build up a bomb meter, which you can then explode in a small area in front of the ship, destryoing bullets and granting a breather from all the dodging. This of course also gives you score multiplier combos!

Rally Raid - 2000
RR is by far my favorite offering from Twinkle, due to the bombing system. Instead of scratching this time around, you collect green power ups, and when full you can whip out a massive laser comparable to the Don Pachi series. This lasts for about 20 seconds, and the game keeps track of how many bullets it blocks.....if you can block a preset number, you get an automatic recharge of the laser and the score multiplier increases! OR....during the first few seconds of the laser discharge, the screen will say "burst feasable", and you can change the stream into a large ball of energy that does heavy damage (see screenshot). The game boils down to knowing when to use the laser to suck in bullets and which enemies will give you an instant recharge. Only problem is, Twinkle Soft seems to have increased the hit box in Rally Raid in order to force the player to use the bombing system more. I find it so much harder to dodge......

Steel Heart - 2000
Steel Heart is my least favorite of the bunch: there is little innovation this time around. Just your standard shot and bomb system, but notice the green score multiplier table in front of the ship; close proximity kills are what we are trying for here, people. Only it's really annoying that the table stays with you THE WHOLE TIME. Now you have a giant x(n) thingy to get in the way.






Barrage Tribe - 2001
BT is basically a sequel to Excess Fraction. It uses the same system, only now if you don't use the bomb when your scratch meter fills up, it keeps count of the scratches. So top shelf players can ignore the bombing feature and rack up some crazy scratch. Also the graphics got an overhaul, and bosses get quite insane as you can see from the picture.






Twinkle soft seems to have some interplay with Treasure (for those with the keen eye and too much time on their hands.....) Take for example level 5 from Rally Raid:




This looks to have been taken right from Radiant Silvergun, which was released in 1998, two years before RR.







Treasure got them back though, what does this scene remind you of?






If you said Ikaruga, correct! Treasure might have been fans of level 4 from Barrage Tribe.






I miss Twinkle Soft, and wonder what happened to them........best case scenario, they actually signed up with a large company and are developing for current releases. Worst case scenario, they have faded out of existance, having a drink with Technosoft members in a seedy bar somewhere, with only shmup fanatics like myself to enjoy their games.........