| Twinkle Tale | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | ZAP Corporation (Uncredited) |
| Publisher(s) | Wonder Amusement Studio |
| Producer(s) | A. Satoh |
| Designer(s) | H. Hayashi |
| Programmer(s) | N. Saitoh Toyohiko Yoshimine |
| Artist(s) | M. Tamura S. Kurosawa Takeshi Kajii |
| Composer(s) | Hiroshi Nishikawa |
| Platform(s) | Sega Mega Drive |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Twinkle Tale[a] is a run and gun video game developed by ZAP Corporation and published by Wonder Amusement Studio exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive in Japan on 24 July 1992.[1][2][3][4][5] It was both the last project created by ZAP, as well as the only title to be released by Wonder Amusement Studio, which was a subsidiary of Japanese record label company Toyo Recording.
Taking place in the fantasy world of Alpherion, the players take control of young apprentice magician Saria on a journey to rescue the great wizards of her land from their captivity and recover the powerful gemstones from the dark sorcerer Gadou and his followers before the demonic king of darkness, Kaiser Demon, is summoned and brings chaos to both the land of Alpherion and the world. Its gameplay mainly consists of run and gun action mixed with minimal exploration elements, using a main three-button configuration.
Despite being exclusive to Japan, Twinkle Tale received generally positive reception from critics who reviewed it as an import title since its release and was commended for the detailed presentation, colorful visuals, gameplay and replay value but some of the reviewers felt divided in regards to the music and sound design. In recent years, the title has since become an expensive collector's item and one of the rarest in the Mega Drive library, leading it to fetch high prices in the secondary video game collecting market.[6] The game has never been officially released outside Japan, although fan translations exist.[6]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Soft Express - ทวินครูเทล - Mega Drive (WAS)". Freak (in Thai). No. 130. 12Bath. August 1991. p. 22.
- ^ "MEGA DRIVE Soft > 1992" (in Japanese). GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ "Be Mega Hot Menu - ツインクルテール". Beep! Mega Drive (in Japanese). No. 34. SoftBank Creative. July 1992. pp. 130–131.
- ^ "ProNews: News From Japan - Twinkle Twinkle". Sega Pro. No. 10. Paragon Publishing. August 1992. p. 16.
- ^ "Mega Drive: Twinkle Tale". Video-Ace Dendy (in Russian). No. 15. Video-Ace. January 1995. pp. 34–35.
- ^ a b Zak, Robert (8 October 2015). "10 Rarest Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Games Ever - 8. Twinkle Tale". WhatCulture.com. Obsessed With Film. Archived from the original on 17 April 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2019.