Developed by ZAP Corporation and published by Wonder Amusement Studio (a subsidiary of Japanese record label Toyo Recording), Twinkle Tale is a scrolling ‘bullet hell’ shooter released exclusively for the Sega Megadrive, in Japan only, in 1992. Fan translations into English, Spanish and Korean exist, making the game accessible to a good proportion of the world outside Japan.

You play an apprentice magician, called Saria, who is given three magical items and must fight her way through nine stages to rescue the great wizards of the land, and recover the powerful gemstones from the dark sorcerer Gadou, before the demonic king of darkness – Kaiser Demon – is summoned and brings chaos to the world.

Since the action takes place on the ground, the game plays like an ‘arena shooter’ (like Smash TV, Kiki Kaikai or Robotron: 2084), and since there’s no level timer, Saria can take her sweet time in order to deal with the waves of deadly enemies. In fact, it’s pretty much essential – at least at first, until you learn the patterns of the game – that you move carefully in Twinkle Tale, because Saria‘s position on a level is the trigger for most waves to attack. And, once you’ve moved forward, you can no longer go backwards on a level, so if you miss anything, it’s gone for good.

Saria‘s three magical weapons can be cycled-through and used as needed. They can also be powered-up by collecting star balls from treasure chests. If Saria is hit, though, her current weapon will drop a level. A number of other items can also be revealed by shooting various objects (usually chests or statues), and collecting them will allow Saria to use more powerful magic. Magic potions will also give her a health boost.

Protecting Saria‘s health is vital above all else, because you only get one life, and the game can be over before you know it – if you rush ahead without being careful. Saria begins with three health bars, and this is increased by one for every stage completed. Once all health is lost, you’re given a limited number of continues to keep playing. If the game is completed on the highest of the three available difficulty levels, a “Super Hard” difficulty level is unlocked in the option menu.

Twinkle Tale is a rare and sought-after game on the Megadrive collector’s market, and is highly rated among those who’ve played it. If you’ve never played the game before, I recommend that you give it a go. It’s challenging and fun to play, and the only thing about it that I didn’t really like is the shadow effect – underneath sprites – which uses black bars instead of stippling or transparency. If you can forgive the rather crude effect, then you’ll probably enjoy Twinkle Tale.

Note: an alternate version, with a brighter colour palette and the ‘Super Hard’ difficulty mode available from the start, is available as a ROM hack. I’ve published screenshots at the end of this sequence that compares the alternate version to the original.

More: Twinkle Tale on Wikipedia
More: Twinkle Tale on romhacking.net