If there is one video game console out there that I have very little experience with as a whole, in terms of both the system and the games, would be with the TurboGrafx-16, or the PC Engine for those of you who care about that kind of shit. It’s a shame though, because it seems like there are so many great titles for the system that have been lost over time, and while I myself have played one or two of these titles throughout my life, most of the library is an absolute mystery to me. So, I figured I would go ahead and try to check out more TurboGrafx-16 games (key word being “try”) so that I can see if there are any hidden gems out there that are permanently stapled to this console. Before I get there though, I may as well start off with the character who is said to be the mascot of the system, Bonk, and his first game, Bonk’s Adventure.

I have zero experience with Bonk as a whole, as I have never played any game in the series before, but I have known of him for quite some time. It didn’t look like anything too grand or special, but it had some kind of odd charm to it, not just in terms of its presentation, but also due to some of its… odd qualities. But hey, again, maybe there is something to Bonk that makes his games some of the best that you could have for the TG-16, so I decided to play through the first game to see if that was the case………… it wasn’t the case. From what we got here, it’s a good game, and I’m sure owners of the system would have a pretty good time with it, but it isn’t anything too unique or original compared to other platformers out there.

The story is straight out of “How to Make a Platformer from the 80’s and 90’s for Dummies”, where the fair maiden Princess Za is kidnapped by the evil King Drool and taken away from her home on Moonland, so it is up to Bonk to set out on a mission to rescue her, which is the most stereotypical plot you could ask for, but hey, Mario did it, and he sold millions of copies, so why can’t Bonk do that too? The graphics are good, looking like a much more detailed version of an NES game, and having plenty of good sprites for the enemies, bosses, and Bonk himself, but it is nothing too exciting, the music is pretty good, with some catchy 8-bit tunes to listen to while you are going around and bonking all over the place, even if none of them stand out as anything to listen to, and the gameplay/controls are pretty basic for a game like this, but it is all put together in a way that works and is fun to play, with the exception of a few snags in the road I did encounter.

The game is your typical 2D platformer, where you take control of Bonk the caveman, go through a set of five worlds, each filled with a set of different stages to conquer, defeat many different enemies using your giant noggin to bonk the shit out of someone, whether by jumping or just hitting them regularly, gather plenty of different food items to heal yourself, as well as some power ups and upgrades to make your journey a little easier, and take on plenty of prehistoric foes that will give you a good challenge if you aren’t using your head like you should. It is a simple set up with a simple execution, but it manages to be fun enough, and bonking all these losers in the head does feel satisfying when you get it right.

A lot of the charm and uniqueness from this game, from what I experienced, is not just seen from all the different enemies and bosses that you fight, but also Bonk himself, who is one of the most expressive protagonists I have seen from this era of video games. He has so many faces for anything that he does, such as when he is climbing up a wall with his big-ass teeth, whenever he gets hit and his eyes bulge out like a cartoon character, and even when he gets a power up, where he bugs the fuck out, with his head exploding and him floating up in the air for a few seconds. It is weird as hell, but I am a big fan of weird, and again, it adds a lot of charm and fun to whatever it is you are doing and facing in this game. The same can also be said for the upgrades and abilities you can get, such as with the powerups where you can headbutt the ground and stun all of the enemies, extra hearts that will give you more health for whatever lies ahead, and temporary invincibility so that you can blaze through a lot of your problems lickety-split of you know what you are doing. Granted some of these power ups are temporary, which kinda sucks, but they do help out a lot when you have them, and you have them for enough time to where you can make good use out of them before they run out.

The temporary power ups aren’t the only issue that I have with this game though, as there are some that I did have, with the biggest issues being with Bonk himself, or more so how he controls. I don’t know how to describe it, but something about Bonk’s momentum feels very… off, and you can feel it whenever you try to run and jump a specific distance, whenever you fall off of a ledge and onto another platform, and whenever you are in a tight space and need to bonk somethings. Again, I don’t exactly know how to describe it, but for those of you who have played the game before, you’d know what I am talking about. You can especially feel it whenever you try to climb up a wall or swim up a water stream, which doesn’t feel great to do at all, and I hate having to do that whenever it pops up, such as in stages that require you to go upwards in order to complete them. Aside from that, there is also a unnecessary boss rush here, which I love about as much as a trip to the doctor, and how it is just yet another prehistoric platformer at the end of the day. It is one of the earliest ones that were made, to my knowledge, but given how many there were back in the day, they all tend to blend together after a while.

Overall, despite some control issues and some common platforming tropes that I wish weren’t there, for his first title, Bonk’s Adventure managed to still be a good time, providing plenty of fun platforming challenges to take on, fun bosses to fight, and the zany charm that I would expect from a character with as big a head as that one. I would recommend it for those who are fans of old-school 2D platformers, as well as those who also want to see just what kind of games the TG-16 has, because despite how there are plenty of other games out there that are better than this, Bonk is literally the perfect place to start for those of you who want to go down that route. Oh yeah, and by the way, there is also an arcade version of this game that’s apparently much more different then this version, and I would play it, but… I don’t want to. I am just one man, and there are too many other games calling my name at the moment, so I apologize to all you bonking fanatics out there.

Game #553

As both versions of this game have their own difficulty peculiarities, I won't give a fixed star rating, but I will summarize them in topics

PC Engine - 2 stars - Status/Abandoned: Honestly, Hudson was so desperate to have her Super Mario Bros. who looks like he called the cleaner to develop the game in a hurry with chains around his neck and the end result is a slow, boring, stuck, buggy and unfair game full of ridiculous enemy positioning where it looks like you're playing a shoot em up , the difference is that your character is so slow, so slow that even a turtle would dodge faster, so much so that this was the only one in the trilogy that I didn't complete and I don't intend to

NES - 4 and a half stars - Status - Completed: it's the best version of the original game, they fixed almost everything that made the game unbearable in the original, it's calmer and much easier, I just think it could have improved in some stages so as not to make the game repetitive and unfortunately it lengthens the phases too

Overall, do I recommend Bonk's Adventure? If it's the PC Engine version, I only recommend it out of curiosity if you've already played Super Bonk, but I don't recommend playing it for a long time, the NES version is much more playable, but honestly, I don't really recommend Bonk's Adventure, this game is very dated and it's not as fun as first title games like Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Country, Crash Bandicoot, Kirby's Dream Land or Megaman 1 (which, even though it has flaws, you have fun once you get used to the level design)

Bonk's Adventure is a very simple platforming game. Some other people remark that there isn't that much platforming to it, and that's true—you are mostly moving from left to right without much jumping or challenge. Don't play this game expecting Mario. The pleasure of Bonk's Adventure comes from its "game feel" — the way the cartoony animations tie so closely to your button presses. It's a great feeling game, even if it isn't a unique or interesting one in its level or enemy design.

Though I was honestly initially put off by the art and unholy character style, which is chibi-esque but vaguely Western animation inspired—which is to say, ugly. I ended up being really charmed by Bonk, and it all comes from little touches. The way Bonk peacefully lays on his back like he's in a coffin when he runs out of health, waiting for you to spend a credit to revive him, made me laugh every time. His maniacal Bart-ish transformation when he's biting a wall to hold onto it and climb it is hilarious, and the way he shakes slightly upward as you repeatedly tap the jump button, until he finally leaps into the sky—it feels excellent.

Bonk's unique feature is right there in his name. Like all of us, Bonk is what he does—and for Bonk, that's bonking. For purposes of this review, bonking refers to smashing paradoxically diamond hard yet infant shaped head against things. There's the standard Bonk attack, where, after a slight satisfying Castlevania-esque wind-up, Bonk moves forward with a headbutt. There's the up-bonk, where Bonk jumps from underneath something to headbutt it from below. Then there's the divebonk. Unlike Mario, Bonk will get hurt if he lands leg first on an enemy—rather, he must land headfirst. The dive bonk triggers from a jump, and travels forward in an arc, and landing it always feels great. Bonk gets a little bounce from a successful dive bonk, and it is little. You can chain your up bonks into dive bonks, and after landing a dive bonk, chain that into more dive bonks. You can also continously juggle enemies with your various Bonk attacks—dive bonking them to send them into the air, up bonking to bounce them again, and so on. Sometimes juggling enemies will spawn a meat, which Bonk's power up. When you eat a small meat, Bonk's skin gets darker (?) and he can freeze enemies by dive bonking on the ground around them. Eating a large meat, or two small meats, will cause Bonk's skin to grow even darker, (?) and he will enjoy a brief period of invincibility.

The enemies are mostly no great shakes, though my favorite were the Bonk-like dinosaurs that have your same moveset; I love these kinds of fights in Dark Souls games and Zelda games, and they were just as fun here. There are some other interesting ideas, like the flowers that usually spawn point giving fruit sometimes turning into an enemy when jumped on. Where Bonk shines as a game is in its boss fights, where you will be searching for the perfect dive-bonk opportunities to whittle down your enemies health. These are built around giving you opportunities for dive-bonk combos, and pulling them off always felt good. There's a boss rush at the end of the game, and it was fun to fight them all again after having more bonking experience under my belt.

I'm looking forward to playing more Bonk. I love the feel of Bonk, but I don't think this first game really uses him or its ideas to their full potential. I hope they develop them in later games.

A mascot platformer with an unlovable mascot and no platforming. You kinda just walk ahead and avoid enemies. There's a lot of charm to the way characters deform, very ahead of its time and reminds me of stuff like Crayon Shin-Chan. That's kinda all it has for it tho? Bonk feels horrible to control, so heavy in the head - it's the point, but I don't like the character in the first place, so, I don't have much incentive to care about the ludonarrative resonance between the two.

I hear the sequels are better, and they look like they have actual level design, so, maybe this is just a rough first attempt

Finally got to play Bonk's Adventure! It's a charming little mascot platformer for the PC Engine where you play as a caveman and bash enemies with your comically large head. When I first saw this game, I was immediately charmed and knew I had to play it.

I was wildly bad at this. Holy crap. I haven't played a game this hard in a while. The difficulty rollercoasters from like piss easy to ball busting difficult. There were parts of enemies it was okay to hit and other parts that aren't but it's never really clear which is which. This also might be the first game ever where I prefer the underwater sections over anything else just because I found them easier to get through lol.

Everything else about this game is great though. All the enemy designs are neat, I especially like the lil dinos with eggshell helmets that throw hatchets. Also the bosses are all unique and have a lot of character to them. The gameplay all boils down to "headbutt enemies" but the way they keep it fresh for each boss fight had me really enjoying those encounters for the most part. The jumping car and the final boss that I feel like can't be hit without also taking damage sucked bad for me.

One thing that really does help is that PC Engine controllers have a turbo you can enable for each button to automate or keep the action going. In the case of Bonk's Adventure, having the turbo on while using the II button allows rapid headbutting and doing this while jumping allows you to fall slower like a Princess Peach or something. Good for crossing gaps and doing damage since you are also continually attacking by doing so.

So yeah it was tough as nails and I probably couldn't recommend it to many based on that alone but I enjoyed it overall and I'm looking forward to more in the series. The retro adventure continues!

For a platformer... it has very little platforming. The level design leaves much to be desired, often not progressing beyond entirely flat areas with very little to explore.

The music is "okay," although there's very little variety. The bosses are interesting but become a joke thanks to the 'turbo' button.

It's an entertaining game, but it has many issues that I hope they've fixed for the sequel.

So I almost didn't play the Game boy version because, judging by the name, I thought it was going to be a watered down port of the Turbografx 16 version of the game. Goddamn was I fucking wrong.

So firstly, unlike the Turbografx Bonk Trilogy, Bonk actually controls well in this game. Crazy that it took a Game Boy game for this to happen (have yet to try the NES game). This instantly makes the game much more enjoyable.

In addition, the music here is extremely charming, especially when you notice the music that is from the Turbo trilogy.

The levels are simple, which goes great with a handheld game (played this on my Analogue Pocket to make it a little more true to form) and the boss fights were fun, but this is where my only real negative of this game comes into play. With the exception of the final boss, the bosses in this game are too easy. Bonk 1 and 3 I feel had the perfect middle ground of not too easy/not too hard, but this game felt just too simple.

All in all, I had a blast playing this game, damn shame they didn't name it something else because I almost missed out on playing the first Bonk game I would consider 'great,' and that's mostly due to Bonk actually controlling well.