Twinbee and Light

Twinbee and its pilot Light, from the Twinbee series (C) Konami.

This is another series that rarely comes out of Japan. The first time I heard of it was when Pop'n Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Adventures came out on the SNES in Europe (not the U.S., if I understand correctly). I had no idea it was an overhead shooter series before it was a platformer back in the day.

Twinbee also shows up regularly as a playable character in the Parodius series.