Maker - SNK   Catalogue No. - T-3103M

Type - Puzzle Shooter

Originally on the Neo Geo then ported to the Saturn and now on the Dreamcast, Twinkle Star Sprites is a shooter with a difference. In a way it’s not really right to call Twinkle Star Sprites a shooter because it’s actually a puzzle game played in the style of a shooter. Confused? I know I was when I first played it. The idea is to shoot the on screen enemies is a certain pattern so that you can perform a combination. Performing these combination attacks will send projectiles over to player 2’s side of the screen where by he must dodge them or rebound them back unless he wants to lose a life. Think of Puyo Puyo but instead of placing your blobs in order to dump a load of junk on the opposing player’s screen, you just simply shoot things.

This Dreamcast version is jam packed with options including some pretty cool ones such as choosing the game speeds from the original Neo Geo speed with it’s awful slowdown to a 68000/10khz speed (Even slower) or a slowdown free Dreamcast speed. There is even a selection of sound modes including the original ROM audio, a high quality ROM audio setting and CD audio. Another cool option is the score bug fix that fixed the score problem found within the original game.

Over all Twinkle Star Sprites isn’t that hard to complete but as a two player game it’s incredibly addictive and well worth the high price it fetches.