"Twinkle Star Sprites (ティンクルスタースプライツ Tinkuru Sutaa Supuraitsu) is a competitive scrolling shooter created by ADK in 1996. It was initially released as an arcade game for the Neo Geo platform. It was later ported to several systems, including Dreamcast and the PlayStation 2. It is also currently available on the subscription service GameTap. The gameplay, which can be characterized as a combination of a fixed shooter and a versus puzzle game, uses combinations of shots, as well as timed powerups to attempt to damage the opponent. These attacks also serve as counters to the opponent's attack.
There are two types of standard attacks: a normal shot and a charge-up shot. Each character starts with two bombs which enables him in the event of desperate plight, to clean with the screen while briefly acquiring a state of invincibility. The two players' playfields are separated by a vertical bar, each one having its own independent of the other. Series of enemies arrive from the top of the screen. The player is to successfully destroy them in chains (combos), which will send one or more fireball projectiles to the screen of his adversary (Normal Attack). Shooting at Normal Attacks several times reflects them back as glowing Reverse Attacks. If Reverse Attacks are reflected again, a number of powerful counterattacks in the shape of one or more indestructible enemies appear (Extra Attack). Reflecting many Reverse Attacks at once can instead summon a boss (Boss Attack)."
Source: Wikipedia, "Twinkle_Star_Sprites," available under the CC-BY-SA License.
