Bonk's Adventure

~ BONK'S ADVENTURE ~

Hudson Soft / Atlus / Red

HuCard

1990

Although I'm not a fan of "mascot platformers" in general, I've always found Bonk's Adventure to be extremely enjoyable. It's a very likable and endearing game that features a charismatic and infectiously gleeful protagonist, a colorful enemy cast (the giant-dino bosses are particularly memorable), a cute ending, and neat visual elements. And I must mention that its soundtrack is one of the Turbo's finest.

I turn the game on from time to time expecting to play only a level or so--just enough to experience a good bit of nostalgia. I always end up immersed in the headbutt-administering caveman's amusing endeavors and wind up playing through the entire adventure. It's really nice when you revisit an old game and that sort of thing happens.

The eggshell-capped fellows are the low-ranking wretches of King Drool's army, but there's no question that they could slaughter any "Little Goomba"-type fodder-fool. One of the Bonk series's greatest strengths is its lineup of bad-guy dinosaurs, who are so much more fun to fight than Mario's mushrooms-and-turtles contingent or Sonic's "woodland robots."

The coolest villain of all is the awesome T. Ractorhead. Even Bonk seems happy to see him.

Most of the bosses are extremely vulnerable to noggin spin-slams. I'll still take 'em any day over the boring Bowser clan or Robotnik's stupid contraptions.

Kongo Zilla can fight pretty well, but he eventually softens up.

The best thing about the end-round battles is the dramatic tune that accompanies the combat; it ranks among the greatest boss tracks ever if you ask me. It can also be heard during the brief, action-packed, Triceratops-and-Pterodactyl-dominated fourth stage. Bonk doesn't seem to be coping with the intensity very well in this screen.

One thing he can handle well is swimming. The controls feel great whether you're underwater or under... whatever that orange stuff is.

Bonk is also a proficient climber. Being that these are prehistoric times, crazy ideas like using your hands and feet for climbing hadn't been invented yet, so clever Bonk uses his teeth.

There actually aren't all that many stretches that call for you to swim or climb. In fact, you can spin-jump your way right through many of the mostly linear levels. Even the more-restrictive zone constructions fail to meet the stage-design standards later set by Bonk's Revenge. But at least the action remains fast and fun here, while many similar titles slow everything down for the sake of including dull moving-platform sequences and the like.

BA isn't amazing graphically, but its backgrounds occasionally feature some very appealing visual embellishments, such as the enormous moon up in the sky in the screen on the left. And a number of levels are quite neat thematically; who needs "donut plains" and "marble zones" when we can explore dino innards?

Do make sure to explore each stage thoroughly, as you can stumble upon lots of secret entryways...

...most of which lead to bonus rounds or rooms full of goodies.

The best goody of all is meat. Upon nabbing a piece, Bonk blows his top and becomes super strong, eager to steamroll all who stand in his way.

Aw.

Bonk's Adventure

Atlus/RED/Hudson Soft - 1990 - U.S.A.

HuCard

The TurboGrafx mascot in his first-ever adventure. Bonk's Adventure is a great game in every respect, not to mention having been quite original back in the late '80s when it debuted in Japan.

The gameplay was really pretty innovative back in the day and offered many new twists on the "Mario" platformer standard. Bounce enemies on your head consecutively for bonus points. Use your teeth to scale otherwise impassible walls. Eat giant pieces of meat and go temporarily insane. One great thing about Adventure is that it knows how to have fun, even at its own expense. The characters you'll encounter, including Bonk himself, are virtually caricatures.

Adventure features fantastical cartoony graphics, and while they really set the mood for the game, they look pretty dated anymore, especially stacked up against later 16-bit contenders. The second game in the trilogy introduced a new graphical style (still cartoony) that holds up a little better than the look featured here. While Bonk's Adventure might have a dated visual aesthetic, it still looks miles better than primitive 8-bit junk.

Music, on the other hand, is top-notch and stands the test of time well. Even today the Bonk's Adventure soundtrack holds a place as one of the best works from the 16-bit era. This game is a prime example of why I prefer the Turbo's soundchip over that of the Genesis or SNES. The songs are just so warm and fluid, and the instrumentation lends itself perfectly to the gameplay. There's no way the Genesis's abrasive FM could accurately replicate Adventure's warm tones, and a SNES interpretation would undoubtedly prominently feature flutes.

Levels in Adventure are a bit more linear than those in the later journeys, but that's not necessarily a bad thing-- gives Adventure a flavor of it's own. Bonus rounds have always been a staple of the Bonk games. Adventure's bonus rounds are admittedly a little weaker and lesser in number than those found in later episodes, but fun nonetheless.

My two favorite bonus rounds in Adventure.

Bonk's Adventure also features one of my favorite video game bosses of all time-- T. Ractorhead the 3rd.

A very solid & consistent game, bested only by part 3 in the trilogy. That said, Adventure possesses a certain magical quality unparalleled by any of the four sequels and is more than deserving of a place on the gaming shelf of any self-respecting TurboGrafx-16 player.