Twin Cobra (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of American Sammy's 1990 shooter for the NES, Twin Cobra.

Originally released in the arcades in 1987 as the sequel to Tiger Heli, Twin Cobra (known in Japan as 究極タイガー / Kyuukyoku Tiger) quickly became a hit that helped solidfy Toaplan's growing reputation for creating difficult, high-quality vertically-scrolling shoot 'em ups.

I've been a huge fan of Twin Cobra since I first played Sammy's excellent (and brutally hard) conversion for the Sega Genesis back in the nineties. When I learned that they had also released an NES version, I was initially filled with skepticism - Tiger Heli's NES conversion left a lot to be desired - but I was hopeful. Sky Shark turned out pretty nicely, after all.

And when I finally managed to get my hands on the cartridge, I was pleasantly surprised. The quality of the NES version wasn't going to blow anyone away, but it turned out to be a serviceable effort that stays relatively faithful to the original’s gameplay.

All ten stages are present and accounted for, as are all of the chopper's upgradable weapons. The enemy patterns have been simplified, the action is slower, and there's no two-player option, but the game controls well and it puts up a reasonable challenge. I've always enjoyed it in spite of its limitations.

The graphics might be best described as utilitarian. They retain enough detail to still be recognizable as Twin Cobra, but they fall well short of what you'd expect from a 1990 release. The hatchet-job of a soundtrack doesn't do much to impress, either. All the classic tunes are represented here, but the rinky-dink arrangements are shrill and grating.

(Speaking of the soundtrack, I did an SNES arrangement of the BGM from stage 4, "Tsugaru," a couple years back. If you're at all interested, you can hear it here:    • ♫TSUGARU (Twin Cobra) SNES Arrangement - N...  )

The presentation doesn't hurt the game's playability too much, though. That might not sound like a ringing endorsement, but when you consider that Sammy farmed production out to Micronics... well, things could have turned out far worse than they did. (Remember Athena? Ikari Warriors? Super Pitfall? Yeah, these people commited crimes against humanity with some of their work.)

But so long as you aren't expecting anything in the same league as LifeForce or Zanac, there's some legit fun to be found in this 8-bit take on Twin Cobra.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!