Twinkle Star Sprites


is a 1996 competitive scrolling shooter arcade game originally created by ADK. It was ADK's last production for the Neo-Geo platform. The gameplay, which can be characterized as a combination of a fixed shooter and a versus puzzle game, uses combinations of shots, as well as timed power-ups to attempt to damage the opponent. These attacks also serve as counters to the opponent's attack.

Gameplay

There are two types of standard attacks: a normal shot and a charge-up shot. Each character starts with two bombs which enables him/her in the event of desperate plight, to clean with the screen while briefly acquiring a state of invincibility. The two players' playfields are separated by a vertical bar, each one having its own independent of the other. Series of enemies arrive from the top of the screen. The player is to successfully destroy them in chains, which will send one or more fireball projectiles to the screen of his/her opponent. Shooting at Normal Attacks several times reflects them back as glowing Reverse Attacks. If Reverse Attacks are reflected again, a number of powerful counterattacks in the shape of one or more indestructible enemies appear. Reflecting many Reverse Attacks at once can instead summon a boss.
Twinkle Star Sprites was developed by ADK.

Release

While Twinkle Star Sprites was initially published as an arcade game by SNK for the Neo Geo platform, SNK later ported it to the Neo-Geo AES home console on January 31, 1997, and the Neo-Geo CD on February 21, 1997. On December 7, 1997, ADK developed and published an updated version of it to the Sega Saturn, featuring an anime-style intro, tweaked gameplay, a new character and a bonus 'Fan Disc' full of extra materials. After SNK ended up buying ADK's intellectual properties, SNK released another enhanced version of Twinkle Star Sprites for the Sega Dreamcast on March 23, 2000. To pay tribute to ADK, SNK included the Neo-Geo version along with four of ADK's other notable Neo-Geo titles in the compilation ADK Damashii, which was released for the PlayStation 2 exclusively in Japan on December 8, 2008. Twinkle Star Sprites later became available on the subscription service GameTap. It was released on the Wii Virtual Console for Japan on August 9, 2011.
A port developed by DotEmu for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux and asm.js was released as part of the Humble NEOGEO 25th Anniversary Bundle on December 8, 2015. It was released on Steam on May 26, 2016; and on GOG.com on May 30, 2017.
Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game on February 21, 1997.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Twinkle Star Sprites on their January 1, 1997 issue as being the fourteenth most-successful arcade game of the year.

Sequel

Twinkle Star Sprites - La Petite Princesse is a 2005 sequel to Twinkle Star Sprites originally created by SNK. At E3 2005, it was shown at the SNK Booth. It is an enhanced re-vamp of the Neo-Geo title featuring fully 3D environments and a host of new characters. Clearing the game opens up a perfectly emulated version of the original Neo-Geo title. There was a possibility that it would be released in North America, but after some consideration, at E3 2006, Ben Herman, president of SNK Playmore USA, stated that the game will not be published in North America The decision was that it will not be marketable for the North American audience. The sequel was released exclusively in Japan for the PlayStation 2 on July 28, 2005, and was re-released for the same platform on November 22, 2006, with the green-label 'SNK Best Collection' added to the front cover. Content remains the same as the original print.