Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure / PC Genjin 3 - Turbografx-16 / Turbografx-16 Super CD (1993)
The other big innovation is the ability to transform into Giant Bonk, or shrink to Tiny Bonk, by picking up colored pieces of candy. Giant Bonk is tough to manuever and is a huge target, but he packs a wallop. Tiny Bonk can get through small passages, but is obviously pretty weak. Additionally, if you're squashed by certain bricks, you'll be transformed into a crab for some reason, also allowing you to squirm into tiny areas. In his angered form, Bonk can also breath fire. You can also no longer move the yellow bouncing flowers.
Unfortunately these additional power-ups just highlight the game's biggest weakness - the level design just seems lacking after the first two games. It ruins the pace when you need to find a power up to shrink down, or find an enemy to hit you so you can change back to regular size. The Giant Bonk power-up just seems to exist to show off the graphics of the system, and it's too cumbersome to use effectively, especially since you return to normal after a single hit. The setting also strangely deviates from the prehistoric theme, as Bonk goes through all kinds of random levels without much explanation, like modern day cities and warehouses. At one point, apparently you enter a giant's house, and need to wander around supersized version of their furniture. It's not that there's anything wrong with a bit of variety, especially given how well the usual themes were already explored in the first two games, but it still feels weird and out of place. At least some of the bosses look pretty cool, like the robotic crab near the end of the game. There are a few alternate levels, at least - certain fish can swallow you whole, leading you to a small bonus stage, which is pretty cool. There are tiny flowers that take you to various stages, much like Bonk's Revenge. There's also eight more bonus levels you can choose to play at the end of each world, as long as you've collected enough smileys.
Bonk's Big Adventure technically has most of the same ingredients as its predecessor, but the lacking level designs and mostly useless power-ups render this one of the weaker titles. Strangely, while the game was released on HuCard in both North America and Japan, the Super CD version was only released in America. It's basically the same game, with the addition of redbook audio music and some extra two player minigames, like a wrestling tournament and a volleyball match. Both North American releases are extremely rare and expensive, due to them being released at the end of the system's life span in the territory.
MP3s Download here
Intro (HuCard)
Bonk's Big Adventure
Bonk's Big Adventure
Bonk's Big Adventure
Super Bonk / Super Genjin - SNES (1994)
There are still plenty of completely random stages - you start off in what appears to be modern Japan and go through an amusement park. One stage consists of several areas where you go through a dinosaurs body, including the circulatory system, the intestines, and the heart. (Strangely, the boss of this level is named Blue Balls, undoubtedly a result of naive Japanese developers trying to speak English.) There is one stage that takes place on the Moon in low gravity, although it's quite hard to control Bonk in these levels.
There are a few changes and additions to the power-ups, at least. As Tiny Bonk, you can scream the word "RAGE!", which manifests as flying letters across the screen, which bounce back and forth. These are essentially makeshift platforms allowing you to conquer a few particular stages. In his agitated state, Bonk transforms into a weird looking dude with huge eyebrows who can freeze enemies in their tracks. When in Giant mode, Bonk transforms into a Godzilla-like creature whenever you eat the big meat, and grows an even more bizarre ostrich body when agitated. You can also pick up and carry bouncing flowers, allowing you to find lots of hidden stuff.
The best addition is the inclusion of branching levels. Like the previous Bonk games, the stages themselves are fairly short, but some levels have alternate exits which take you to different areas. It's still a fairly short and easy game, but at least there's a bit to explore in multiple playthroughs. There are no post level bonus games any more - you just get extra lives for grabbing smileys, although they can occasionally be used as fare for elevators to skip parts of certain stages.
The two player mode has been removed, for better or worse. The graphics have technically improved with the move to the Super Nintendo, but while there's a lot more detail in the sprites and backgrounds, overall it seems much less colorful. The music suffers the same fate - despite being technically superior, seems a bit lacking, despite the addition of cutesy little sound effects when you kill an enemy or take damage. Once again, it's an alright game, but seems lacking compared to its predecessors. Although it was released in America, it's quite difficult to find. The Japanese release is far more common.
Super Bonk
Super Bonk
Super Bonk
Super Genjin 2 - Super Famicom (1994)
These changes do a lot to inject a bit of life into the stagnating visuals of the previous games, but it's more than just that. The Giant Bonk and Tiny Bonk power-ups have been ditched, and instead, there are three different forms you can turn into when you eat a piece of meat. The Ballerina form is much like the girlish, make-up wearing ability found in the Japanese versions of Bonk's Revenge and Bonk's Big Adventure, although here it also lets you double jump. The Thief form from the Gameboy version of Bonk's Revenge also returns, allowing you to throw smiley faces like shurikens and bury into the ground. There's also a Drill form which attaches a drill to your head and allow you to bury through certain rocks. In your angriest form, Bonk can cause waves of fire by smashing his head on the ground.
The Smiley Faces just give extra lives, but you can still access bonus stages by finding flowers. Here, you can take on a number of Bonk's other forms - in addition to the Ostrich form from Super Bonk and a new Lizard form, you can turn into a tank with a freakish Bonk for a head - as you roll through a city and ruthlessly destroy buildings, each of which reveals a banner decrying your vicious deeds, pleading for you to stop or calling you a monster.
The levels themselves are much more interesting too. In one graveyard level, you're turned into a zombie as soon as the stage begins, with your soul floating in the upper corner of the screen. You wander through the stage as the undead, eating fruit until eventually you restore your life and get your body back. In other level, you bite onto a pole of a helicopter (which looks like a pig for some reason) and rotate around, acting like a blade and allowing you to fly over the landscape. There are still a few anachronistic levels, like the Wild West stage, but when it's filled with enemies like alligators who wear giant cannons on their crotches, it's definitely forgivable. With touches like this, it's easy to see that Super Bonk 2 has regained the crazy inspiration that initially made the series so likable.
Additionally, each level has a number of hidden specialty items, which will deal extra damage to bosses before you fight them. Naturally, the more you uncover, the more damage you'll do. Finally, you're sent back to a checkpoint whenever you die instead of resurrecting where you perished, so it's a bit less easy than some of the other games.
The designers finally realized that the bosses of the previous games were totally missing the personality found in the original Bonk's Adventure, so here you fight against a team of five eggshell helmet-wearing dinosaurs, each of whom pilot a unique machination and pop up at the beginning of each stage to taunt Bonk for a bit. There's also a world map, although it just exists to show your progression through the stages and doesn't allow you to select levels. Even though the game isn't terribly long, there's a password system to track your progress.
Even though it was passed over for North American release, Super Genjin 2 is still an excellent title, one that's usually forgotten because it's not on an NEC platform. Japanese copies are common too, and hopefully it'll reach outside Japan on the Wii Virtual Console.
MP3s Download here
Boss Theme
Super Genjin 2
Super Genjin 2
Super Genjin 2
Super Genjin 2
Super Genjin 2
Super Genjin 2
Super Genjin 2
American TG-16 Cover
Japanese PCE Cover
Bonk's Big Adventure
Despite some excellent multiplayer games on the Turbografx-16 - Dungeon Explorer and Bomberman in particular - there weren't very many games that support two player action, mostly because the system only had one controller port and required an additional accessory for more players. Bonk's Big Adventure is the first in the series to allow two player simultaneous play. Both characters share the same life bar, which is a little annoying, but the game's much easier with two heads bashing enemies instead of just one.
Intro (CD)
Stage 1-1 (CD)
American SNES Manual
Japanese SFC Cover
Super Bonk
By 1994, the Turbografx-16 had been long dead in America, and it was clear that the Super Famicom was the system of choice in Japan. After laboring so hard to support NEC's systems, Hudson finally threw in the towel and brought the next Bonk game to Nintendo's 16-bit system. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have learned after the issues with Bonk 3. The shrinking/enlargement power-ups still aren't particularly interesting, and the level designs aren't really up to par either.
Japanese Cover
Japanese PCE Cover
Super Genjin 2
This is more like it. Super Genjin 2 - only released in Japan for the Super Famicom - is a return to form, with levels that more closely adhere to the original Turbografx-16 games. It's also received a beautiful visual overhaul. Although the sprites are technically a bit smaller than the previous outings, the stages are much more colorful, consisting of a brighter color palette and unique background designs. Many of the background tiles are angular, making it look like you're adventuring through a garden of pristine stained glass. It's a nice alternate take on the storybook-style visuals found in Yoshi's Island.
