Loading AI tools
2001 video game From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pinobee: Wings of Adventure, known in Japan as Pinobee no Daibōken (ピノビィーの大冒険, Pinobī no Daibōken, lit. "Pinobee's Great Adventure") or Pinobee: Quest of Heart, is a platformer for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Artoon and published by Hudson Soft.[1] The game was released as a launch title for the system, on March 21, 2001 in Japan and June 11, 2001 in North America.[2] A version was developed for PlayStation in 2002, simply titled Pinobee outside Japan.
| Pinobee: Wings of Adventure | |
|---|---|
North American GBA cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Artoon |
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Director(s) | Naoto Ohshima Yutaka Sugano |
| Producer(s) | Yoji Ishii |
| Designer(s) | Toshihiko Machita Yutaka Sugano |
| Artist(s) | Masamichi Harada |
| Composer(s) | Chikako Kamatani |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance, PlayStation |
| Release | Game Boy Advance PlayStation |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
A sequel, Pinobee & Phoebee, was released only in Japan in 2002.
![[icon]](#/media/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2022) |
Pinobee: Wings of Adventure was developed by Artoon, which was founded by former Sega senior director Yoji Ishii in August 1999 with other ex-Sega staffers such as Yutaka Sugano, Naoto Ohshima, Manabu Kusunoki, and Hidetoshi Takeshita.[3] Sugano, who co-directed and co-designed the game, stated that Ohshima conceived the game as a story that expressed the growth of the human heart.[3] The story about a robotic bee brought to life by a grandfatherly scientist was inspired by the fantasy novel The Adventures of Pinocchio.[4][5] The game's original main theme was that of the love between a parent and child, but this was eventually toned down.[6] Ishii claimed that the transition from Sega platforms to the GBA and the game's development were smooth due to the handheld's 32-bit CPU and C-based programming. The new GBA hardware presented a unique challenge for the project team and was chosen as the best fit to represent the game's art style.[3] The characters were created using pre-rendered CG models while the backgrounds were hand-drawn.[3] The CG models differed little from their initial concepts, although the antagonists changed from living insects to robots.[6] The game's world map was modeled after the Vincent van Gogh oil painting series Langlois Bridge at Arles.[7]
Leading up to the release of Pinobee, it was shown at Nintendo Space World, the European Computer Trade Show, Jump Festa, and the Tokyo Game Show.[4][5][8][9][10] The game was published by Hudson Soft as a launch title for the GBA in Japan on March 21, 2001. A software bug that softlocks the game in two instances was found by consumers shortly thereafter. A workaround for the bug and an apology was posted by Hudson on its official Japanese website on April 11, 2001.[11] Activision struck an overseas distribution deal with Hudson to release Pinobee alongside the GBA in North America and Europe on June 11 and June 22, 2001 respectively.[12][13] Artoon and Hudson collaborated on a sequel titled Pinobee & Phoebee, released in Japan for the GBA on July 18, 2002. The game gives players the ability to switch between the titular brother-sister duo, each with unique abilities, in search of 20 heart pieces in every stage.[14] Ohshima said Hudson suggested Pinobee could be enjoyable as a PlayStation game and a port of the original game was developed for it.[15] Hudson began advertising both the port of Pinobee and the GBA release of Pinobee & Phoebee (including English language promotional artwork for the sequel) on its North American website in 2002.[16][17] Konami acquired the distribution rights to the Pinobee series and displayed both games at its E3 booth in May 2002.[18] Hudson released the PlayStation port of Pinobee in Japan in September 2002 while Konami handled its release in North America and Europe in 2003.[19][20][21] Pinobee & Phoebee remained exclusive to Japan.
| Aggregator | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| GBA | PS | |
| GameRankings | 67%[22] | 50%[23] |
| Metacritic | 61/100[24] | N/A |
| Publication | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| GBA | PS | |
| AllGame |    [25] | N/A |
| Edge | 5/10[26] | N/A |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 6.5/10[27] | N/A |
| Famitsu | 25/40[28] | 27/40[29] |
| Game Informer | 8/10[30] | N/A |
| GameSpot | 5.4/10[1] | N/A |
| GameSpy | 65%[31] | N/A |
| IGN | 6/10[2] | N/A |
| Next Generation | [32] | N/A |
| Nintendo Power | [33] | N/A |
| Nintendo World Report | 6/10[34] | N/A |
| Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | N/A | [20] |
The Game Boy Advance version received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[24] NextGen called it "A cute but ultimately underachieving entry in an already crowded market."[32] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 25 out of 40 for the GBA original,[28] and 27 out of 40 for the PlayStation version.[29]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
