Pinobee: Wings of Adventure

Did You Know?

• The Game Boy Advance version received mixed reviews according to Metacritic.
• Famitsu gave the GBA original a score of 25 out of 40 and the PlayStation version 27 out of 40.
• NextGen called it 'A cute but ultimately underachieving entry in an already crowded market.'

Development

Artoon, a studio launched in August 1999 by former Sega senior director Yoji Ishii alongside ex-Sega colleagues Yutaka Sugano, Naoto Ohshima, Manabu Kusunoki, and Hidetoshi Takeshita, created Pinobee: Wings of Adventure. Sugano, who worked as co-director and co-designer, noted that Ohshima originally envisioned the game as a narrative about the development of the human heart. The plot, involving a robotic bee brought to life by an elderly scientist, drew from the fantasy novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. An initial focus on the bond between parent and child was later softened. Ishii remarked that moving the project from Sega platforms to the Game Boy Advance went smoothly because of the handheld’s 32-bit processor and C-based coding. The GBA’s new hardware posed a distinct difficulty for the team, but it was selected as the ideal platform to showcase the game’s visual style. Character designs relied on pre-rendered computer graphics, while the backgrounds were drawn by hand. These CG models stayed close to the original concepts, though the enemies shifted from living bugs to mechanical ones. The game’s world map took inspiration from Vincent van Gogh’s series of oil paintings titled Langlois Bridge at Arles. Prior to its release, Pinobee appeared at events such as Nintendo Space World, the European Computer Trade Show, Jump Festa, and the Tokyo Game Show.

Release

Hudson Soft brought Pinobee: Wings of Adventure to the Game Boy Advance as a launch title in Japan on March 21, 2001. Shortly after release, players discovered a bug causing the game to softlock in two specific spots. Hudson addressed this on its official Japanese website on April 11, 2001, posting an apology and a workaround. Activision partnered with Hudson to distribute the game overseas, launching it alongside the GBA in North America on June 11, 2001, and in Europe on June 22, 2001. A sequel, Pinobee & Phoebee, was developed by Artoon and Hudson, releasing in Japan for the GBA on July 18, 2002. This game lets players switch between the brother-and-sister duo, each with distinct abilities, to collect 20 heart pieces per stage. According to Ohshima, Hudson suggested a PlayStation version could work, and a port was developed. Hudson promoted both the PlayStation port and the GBA sequel on its North American website in 2002. Konami acquired distribution rights to the series and showcased both titles at its E3 booth in May 2002. Hudson released the PlayStation port in Japan in September 2002, with Konami handling North American and European distribution in 2003. Pinobee & Phoebee never left Japan.