Bells & Whistles

To do: The Arcade Archives release censored the red cross on the ambulance. Check if it applies to other rereleases as well.

Bells & Whistles marks the return of TwinBee to the arcades, with more colorful visuals and more lively FM synths than ever before.

Dev Message#

After the game rolls its credits at the end, there's a devotion to the game's director, Masato Ohsawa.

WE WOULD LIKE TO DEVOTE
THIS GAME TO
MR. MASATO OHSAWA.

However, it seems more text would have been displayed about it. An incomplete leftover of that can be found in the game's memory at 0x273EA in the Japanese version and 0x271B6 in the World version.

THE CREATOR OF THIS AND
MANY OTHER GAMES AT KONAMI,
WHO PASSED AWAY SUDDENLY
ON JANUARY 2ND, 1991,
JUST PRIOR TO THE

The additional text makes it clear that the dedication is in memory of the director, rather than just being an honor. Although the text itself is incomplete, based on the date given, it most likely implies that Masato Ohsawa passed away before the game was released in arcades. This extra information may have ultimately been omitted to make the credits less cluttered.

Regional Differences#

To do: Check for more regional differences.

Title Screen#

Japan	Europe

Miscellaneous#

• The Japanese version uses two buttons: one for air attacks and the other for ground attacks. The European version changes the controls so that air and ground attacks are both performed with just one button.

• A lot of voice samples were removed from the European version, particularly those in Japanese. This is most notable when collecting the power-ups, starting a level, losing a life, summoning GwinBee, and during the end-of-level cutscenes.