Unable to speak but communicating through a series of mono tweets* and whistles, young Twario was born into a simpler time. Those were the days when pixels were pixels and an 8×8 grid was a work of art. A time when colours were given names, not numbers and when adventures left everything to the imagination.
Whilst the cool kids visited the Arcades, Twario stayed at home, doing his homework, causing mild trouble at Skool and earning a few points here and there as a Paper-boy. Running, jumping and zipping down holes, the young rabbit had nothing to hold him back. Sixty four pixels could be a friend, a foe, a tree or treat. They could be the end of the tunnel or the tip an iceberg. The world around Twario was as rich and colourful as he wanted it to be, despite everything being in black and white.
Whenever Twario jumped, the whole world jumped with him with a simple chiptune in their hearts, knowing, as they did, that soon he would find a reward in the form of a button or a star; as magical as stories and as precious as the very first sunrise.
It was through these adventures that Twario grew, both in size and in stature, to be the most talked about rabbit on the planet. In his very first, and well received, biography “Out Of The Hat”, Mr Birds noted that these early adventures were more often than not powered by the simple urgency of getting to class on time or finding his mummy whilst on holiday in Jungle Land (and boy, whilst Twario had some great holidays he sure did have a LOT of trouble on them). It was a time whose glory remains set in the sky, beautiful, shining but never to be touched and never to be replicated.
His story, however, does not end there.
* Back in those days, a “tweet” meant a sound. Perhaps it was Fate or perhaps Twario knew the path his life would one day take him as he struggled to alert us to the golden era of Twitter that lay behind those simple beeps.
Surprise. Tragedy. Shock.
Who could have predicted the events following the introduction of the next generation?
What once we saw as giants, striding the world with their superfast 8bit brains, now seemed fuddly and arthritic. Their children shone with not two, not eight, not even sixteen but HUNDREDS of colours; colours nobody had seen nor likely could even imagine.
An age of marvels had arrived.
Poor Twario had a choice: to stay locked into the times, slowly being forgotten along with old planets and politicians, or to upgrade and move forwards (and backwards and upwards and downwards and inwards and outwards). The age of marvels brought with it opportunity.
Booking himself into rehab, the juddering, shambolic and now clunky rabbit quickly shed his old skin and emerged reformed and spritely, ready to face a world of wonders.
But what a world.
Gone were the innocent joys of grasping at stars, now Twario, adrift amidst a whole set of technical challenges, seemed to be more suited to clutching at straws. Holiday adventures and surreal dreamscapes conjured from the minds of wizards were replaced by the straining efforts of Realists and what place does a rabbit have in such landscapes?
What place indeed.
Level 2 was a place of struggle as Twario bounded through misadventures, searching not for his parents (long faded on the silvery paper of history) but for his very identity.
It was time to get back on track.
It was time to forget what he looked like and concentrate on how he acted.
It was time Twario became his own Boss.
Reports of the day are varied but the prevailing (unsubstantiated) rumour is that Twario, upon reaching the end of Level 999 in Twario In The Dark decided enough was enough. He called a meeting with his agents (who were outrageously caught skimming his income by casting themselves as secret Bosses but never actually appearing). One member of the team around at the time was the JenJenRobot – a recurring character for six of his ten previous games and a firm favourite with the fans. The JenJenRobot reported, quite accurately due to use of the new open standards of the time, that the pale and often timid rabbit turned an almost detectable shade of purple as his anger at the scoundrel agents ended in their being dispatched in quick succession.
Whatever the truth, Twario In The Dark represented a milestone for the frenetic little rabbit. Whilst many of his contempories floundered for years in games designed to showcase technology rather than gameplay, Twario welcomed back the pixels and with them a whole new audience of children looking to cuddle up to something wonderful again.
For six more years, Twario would reign supreme; delivering joy after joy that was neither retro nor current but which led to one magazine proclaiming:
THE RABBIT IS GAME!
Perhaps the greatest achievement, Twario made was in the area of social interaction. Often likened to the advent of the “talkies”, the launch of Super Twario (first on iPhone) was credited with changing the face of the social media darling, lifting its numbers from a mere three billion to three billion and three.
Super Twario brought Twitter into the hands of the game crazy masses, hungry for points and achievements.
As @DFawkes says:
Will I end up tweeting more because Super Twario gives you useless points for it? You bet I will! This is a special kind of genius.
Never straying from his trademark antics across beautifully drawn environments, Twario took Super Twario to new heights and made it possible for people to have a bit more fun with Twitter.
It was the beginning of a whole new world of social engagement.
No superstar can last forever and Twario is no exception. Battling the Hordes of Twitter day and night takes its toll and, after a long weekend answering queries, righting wrongs and being polite, Twario turned to the Netherworld.
Faced with a whole new set of rules, Twario descended into the Nightmare level where all his Tweets were darkier, murkier and scarier than ever before.
Still, down and down and down again, went Twario, determined to dig his way topside again and reclaim his beautiful bunny fur and the bright world of Tweetland.
And as he dug he found something new, something homely and something true.
He found a whole new place to call his own and a way to be rid of the terrible moan.
Twario Lives once more. And more than before he could sure…
Of discovering worlds with a different shore…
