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Bonk TG-16 Series Review [message #315403] Sat, 02 April 2016 13:20
Anonymous
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turbogfx16:

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   In the late 1980’s and the 90’s, mascot games were all the rage. SEGA had Sonic The Hedgehog, Nintendo had Mario, and the Turbografx… Well, the Turbografx’s mascot was supposed to be Keith Courage. While Keith Courage wasn’t by any means a horrible game, it was quite slow, and a very average game by pack in standards. A pack in game is supposed to showcase the capabilities of the system, while providing addictive, fun gameplay. Keith Courage only accomplished the first mark on the list.

Flash to 1990, and Bonk, the caveman who is always fighting to save Moonland from the clutches of the evil King Drool (and his descendants), comes and steals the show. Bonk’s Adventure began what would be the beginning of the official mascot of the Turbografx here in North America. The series on the Turbografx ended in 1993 with Bonk’s Big Adventure. It also received a spin-off series, the Air-Zonk series. One last game was released in North America after the Turbografx was discontinued, Super Bonk on the SNES. Bonk also made appearances on the NES. Amiga, and Game-Boy, but the Turbografx versions are the ones that are most remembered.


Bonk’s Adventure (1990 US)


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  Bonk’s Adventure was one of the first games of the year for the TG16 in 1990, releasing in February. One of my first experiences with the system was Bonk, and I immediately was addicted. The graphics were amazing, the gameplay was addictive and fun, and the music was fantastic. That, however was when I was 6. How does it hold up by today’s standards?

Bonk’s Adventure is pretty much still the game that I tell any platformer fan, would have sold them on the Turbografx back in the day. The “bonking” your enemies gimmick is very satisfying, the game’s length is in the sweet spot of not too short, not too long, and the level design, including the bosses, are nothing short of amazing.

Bonk’s Adventure holds up rather well, the meat power-up system is still fun to use. One hunk of meat makes Bonk stronger, while the second makes him invincible for a short time. Flowers hold fruit, meat, or let bonk jump higher. Bonk can scale walls by using his teeth, yes, you read that right. He can also swim up waterfalls, spin quickly in the air with his head to make it over large gaps, and apparently also knows how to swim rather well for someone with such a big head.

Memorable music, characters, and bosses highlight an excellent prehistoric platformer. It’s not one of the more difficult games for the system, extra lives can be easily obtained by juggling enemies for maximum points, but some of the bosses will challenge you towards the end of the game.

Overall, Bonk’s Adventure still plays quite well today, and is worth owning either on the Wii’s Virtual Console, or in physical Hu Card form.

Review Score 8.5


Bonk’s Revenge (1991 US):


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  The 2nd outing for Bonk is by far my favorite one in the series. Bonk’s spinning has slowed just a tad, but the the overall gameplay feels faster. There are a lot more secrets this time around. Bonus flowers carry Bonk off to various Bonus stages where he can collect fruit and smileys, and  smileys are actually very important to the game this time around. Whereas last game, they refilled your life and gave you points at the end of a level, here they give you access to one of 4 levels of an elevator. The top most, which requires 50 smileys, will give you an extra heart container, a meat power-up, an extra guy, and warp you over the next stage. This isn’t difficult to do if you know where all the bonus flowers are located and how to perfect each of them.

As far as the flowers go; new to this entry is the ability to bonk flowers to get them to change colors. Fruit ones are still pink (or they could be a Venus Bonktrap if they don’t smile), meat ones are still orangeish red, and new to this game are blue flowers, which grant bonk either full health or an extra life. Yellow flowers can be re-positioned when bonked, it’s actually very handy when trying to get smileys.

Meat has stayed mostly the same, but it has been tweaked to give Bonk the powers to shoot a projectile that freezes enemies, and in his second form, he can breathe fire, and create an earthquake when he bonks the ground, causing all enemies touching the ground to die.

The music in this game is fantastic, and even better than the last entry. I will say that the bosses are just a little bit of a letdown. The first game’s bosses were so memorable, and these just seem like generic bosses which have no connection to the story (not that story is big in Bonk games, but they were connected to the plot for the first game). Even the fight with King Drool’s grandson is a letdown. The fight is simple, the music isn’t memorable, and he only has one form, where as in the first one, he had two. 

All that aside, this is still the best Bonk game. Just the sheer variety in locations, gameplay, and the changes to the meat power ups, make this the best of the series.

Review Score 9.5


Bonk’s Big Adventure (1993 US):


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  This one is bittersweet for me. This entry seems stale. The bosses are even less memorable than Bonk’s Revenge, there’s a new candy system which changes bonk’s size, there have been no changes to the meat system this time around, and the music is sub-par all around. Some of the tunes are good, but the only that stands out is the final battle with King Drool. which is really epic sounding.

The biggest changes to the game are in the form of the candy system, and Co-op. That’s right, this time around there is multiplayer. It’s a cool concept, but it doesn’t save it from mediocrity. The game feels unpolished. The Bonus stages are not as fun this time around, the smileys are back to not meaning anything other than your ability to play the bonus stages between stages. It just feels like a pretty big step back from Bonk’s Revenge, and that’s very disappointing for a final entry into a series that had, up to that point, been showing progress. Maybe it’s that Bonk’s Revenge really lifted the bar as far as expectations go, but it just doesn’t even feel as good as Bonk’s Adventure. It is certainly my least favorite of the 3 Bonk games.

Bonk 3 is unique in that it was released in CD format and Chip format. No other game did that upon release, but the CD version’s music is even worse than the chip’s music, believe it or not, and aside from a few exclusive multiplayer modes, the games are identical. Bonk 3 on CD is NOT worth the price of admission. It’s not even worth the price of admission in Hu-Card form, as it costs a couple hundred dollars these days. Download it on the Virtual Console, that’s my advice on this one.     

Review Score: 7.75

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