Twin Cobra II

Twin Cobra II (Kyūkyoku Tiger II, "Advanced Tiger") is an arcade Shoot'Em Up. It was developed by Toaplan (who made Tiger Heli and the original Twin Cobra) and finished by Takumi after Toaplan's demise for release in 1995.

Like Tiger Heli, you control a helicopter and shoot stuff down. Unlike many early shmups, player 1 and 2 had more than just cosmetic defferences, as they each had a different "green" weapon.

This game was ported to the Sega Saturn in 1997 as Kyūkyoku Tiger II Plus, with a storyline and a few new things added in.

This game provides examples of:

 * Awesome Yet Practical: Player 1's Thunder Claw at maximum power. Not only does it shoot a wide spread of three missiles each to its sides (great for weak enemies that attack from the sides), the middle shot allows the missiles to home in on a target that it hits (which is good for larger ones).
 * Player 2's Binchou Laser at maximum power, it does a lot of damage to enemies that come somewhat close to it, which gives it good coverage. It also does decent damage to larger ones if it hits them head-on.
 * Bottomless Magazines: Your regular weapon.
 * Chain Lightning: Player 2's green weapon, the Binchou Laser. Any enemy that got close to the laser would be fried by a lightning bolt emitted from it.
 * Cognizant Limbs: Most bosses have many different parts for the player to target and destroy.
 * Continuing Is Painful: Dying resets your bomb stock to three normal bombs, and powers your weapon down to the minimum level.
 * Cool Airship: The first boss. Once you destroy its connecting sections, it splits apart into a Dual Boss.
 * Cores and Turrets Boss: You fight two of them as Mini Bosses in the final level. The Final Boss is also one.
 * Divergent Character Evolution: Player 1 and Player 2 actually look different (not just being a Palette Swap). Their green weapon also differs- the blue heli (player 1) gets the Thunder Claw, the red heli (Player 2) gets the Binchou Laser.
 * Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: The stage 4 Mini Boss (two wind-generating machines) will spawn tornadoes, which do not suck in the players. If the player touches the tornadoes, they will spin around wildly and cannot attack.
 * Dual Boss: The first boss. Once you destroy its connectors, they will separate and attack individually.
 * The Goomba: Enemy helicopters fit this role. They shots get very fast later on though, so take them out quickly!
 * Law of Chromatic Superiority: Most Mini Bosses and some bosses are pinkish-red in colour. There are also red versions of the regular helicopters- these have more health. fire out spreadshots, and drop stars when defeated.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: Thunder Claw, the green weapon for Player 1. Normally, it would fire out a Spread Shot of missiles with a lock-on missile in the middle. If the lock-on missile hit an enemy, the missiles would all home in on that one.
 * The first, second and fourth boss love doing this to you.
 * More Dakka: The Red Fang weapon that you have. Some enemies also use a rapid spray of shots on the character.
 * No Plot, No Problem
 * Outrun the Fireball: How you escape the enemy's base when it blows up. You fly upwards, out of a volcano vent that "erupts".
 * Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Player 1's helicopter is blue and is piloted by a male, Player 2's helicopter is red and is piloted by a female.
 * Rewarding Vandalism: Destroying crates and stuff get you stars which you can pick up for points.
 * Roboteching: Stage 4's Mini Bosses are two tornado-generating machines.
 * Shock and Awe: Player 2's green weapon shoots out an electrified laser that shocks all nearby enemies.
 * Smart Bomb: Two kinds, a regular one, and a "powerful" one. If you have five Smart Bombs and obtain an extra one, it makes one of your regular bombs into a "powerful" one that hits for a bigger radius, lasts longer and does a lot more damage.
 * Snakes Are Evil: Inverted, your characters have a two-headed cobra as a logo.
 * Spread Shot: Lots abound. The blue weapon (Blue Smasher) used by the players, Player 1's Thunder Claw combines this with Macross Missile Massacre. The enemies have too many to count.
 * Superior Firepower Missile Submarines: The second boss.
 * Too Dumb to Live: The rapid-fire tanks in Stage 5. They will happily attempt to move onto a bridge between two cliffs... even when that bridge is destroyed. Heck, you'll even see one move off the cliff!
 * Wave Motion Gun: Used by the fifth boss when he's on his last legs.
 * Wolfpack Boss: Stage 3's boss, four moving turrets on train tracks. They spew out 8-way bullets (and a spray burst on low health), which can make it painful to avoid all four of them at one go.