Bonk's Adventure

aka: B.C. Kid, FC Genjin, FC Genjin: Freakthoropus Computerus, PC Genjin
Moby ID: 12481
TurboGrafx-16 Specs
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Description official descriptions

Bonk's Adventure is a prehistoric platform game where you are in control of a large bald headed caveman, guiding him through the levels taking out all manner of strange prehistoric creatures that get in your way including King Drools henchmen - all in effort to free the captured/controlled residents of Moonland (bosses) - including the Princess Za from King Drool attempted take over.

The game is not unlike other platform games of the era. Though it's unique in that you can climb walls and swing on rope with your teeth and your only method of attack is head butting enemies - straight forward or dive bomb style. The game starts off with simplistic point A to point B style, but focuses more on exploration in the later stages, which include finding hidden bonus areas.

The game is also known for its trademark gameplay mechanism of 'spin attack', where Bonk floats through the air if you have the turbo button on. This can be used to float around the level and reach areas for extra/hidden items, but also as a method of attack as well. The game starts you off with 3 hearts, but allows you to increase this number when you find special heart container items, allowing Bonk to take a number of hits before dying.

A variety of bonus stages can be found throughout the game, which provide bonus points upon completion and thus resulting in accumulating extra lives. Enemies themselves can be 'milked' for points in that you can keep 'bonking' their dead bodies and not letting them hit the ground. Spin attack is another method for doing this.

Spellings

  • FC原人 - Famicom Japanese spelling
  • PC原人 - PC Engine Japanese spelling

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Credits (TurboGrafx-16 version)

33 People · View all

People Who Made This (぀くった ひとたけ)
People Who Helped Out (γŠγ›γ‚γ«γͺった ひと)
  • Goma-chan [ごまけゃん]
  • Takeo Imai (Imai-chan [いまいけゃん])
  • Kuma-chan [くまさん]
  • Mat-chan [まっけゃん]
  • Ethiopian Taro (Echiopi [えけおぴ])
  • Doku-san [どくさん]
  • Boku Kubo (Kubochin [くぼけん])
  • Hideyuki Yokoyama (Tonny Yokoyama [とにー γ‚ˆγ“γ‚„γΎ])
  • Hirorin [γ²γ‚γ‚Šγ‚“]
  • Kazutoshi Ueda (Boo Ueda [ぢー γ†γˆγ ])
  • Teruhisa Hiroi (Hiroi-san [ひろいさん])
  • Atsushi Adachi (Adachi-san [あだけさん])
  • Bakobako [ばこばこ]
  • Kazuki Yuzawa (Yuzawaya [ゆざわや])
  • Suzuki-san [γ™γšγγ•γ‚“]
  • Mitsuhiro Kadowaki (Kado-chan [かどけゃん])
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 42 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 57 ratings with 2 reviews)

One of the best Platform games on the TG-16

The Good
It is a basic platform action game that is put together very well. The characters main attack, his big head, is different from all others in the same class. The cartoon graphics are original as well as the story line. The music is good and will get stuck in your head. Nothing really stands out but the game as a whole is worth it.

The Bad
Some of the power-ups change your attributes and sometimes they don't make much sense. Only the invincibility power-up is immediately understood.

The Bottom Line
Ok, you are a little big headed cave boy. You must bonk everything with your head. You have big old teeth that allow you to climb walls. You eat meat and go berserk. You swim through a dinosaurs gut. All the things a cave boy can do on an alien planet. The TG-16 did come with a platform action game but it was not very playable and Bonk was NEC's answer to Nintendo's Mario and Sega's Sonic. Bonk's Adventure and it's sequel Revenge are two must-have games for the TurboGrafx owner.

TurboGrafx-16 · by gametrader (208) · 2006

Classic platformer

The Good
Being perhaps the most underrated console of all time, the Turbografx never really got the attention it deserved in most of north America and Europe even though it had some very good games. Alongside the Genesis and SNES it was a major console of the 16 bit era, and also like those two, it had a mascot of its own: Bonk!

Bonk is a cute little caveman with a very strong head, which also acts as his main "weapon". The gameplay is pretty standard 2D platforming fare: You explore various levels while collecting powerups, defeating enemies and doing a few minigames to add a bit more variety. As mentioned the main weapon is your head, and while in mid air you can use the attack button to use it to land on an enemy and crush him. It might not sound like much since it's basically a glorified jump, but it's actually very satisfying and fun to use. You can also attack enemies in the air by hitting them from below. This is essentially Mario in reverse, as you can kill any enemy with your head, while in Mario if your head hits any enemy, you take damage.

Enemies come in all forms. Some are on the ground and are easily taken out by a single headbutt, while others fly or even disguise themselves as plants! Speaking of plants, there are various types of them: You can bounce on the yellow ones to jump higher, while the orange ones hold various powerups or fruits. You can enhance your health bar by finding blue hearts and you can also use a certain type of meat which results in an amusing animation that makes you enter a "frenzy" state, in which you're invincible for a short time and you can turn enemies to stone using your headbutts. Pretty cool.

The sound certainly isn't on par with Sonic the Hedgehog but it gets the job done. I found some of the tunes to be pretty catchy too, and most of the standard sounds aren't irritating at all.

The Bad
Being an early Turbografx game the graphics do not look nearly as good as they could, and some lack any form of shading so this basically looks like a mixture between a NES and a Genesis game... usually. That said it doesn't look particularly bad at all, but just not that good compared to Bonk's Revenge, which is a better showcase of what the Turbografx can do.

Also, I have to ask, who designed these bosses? While they generally put up a decent fight, they look like... dinosaur emos! And the dialogues once you defeat them go on like this: "Oh Bonk, you opened my heart!! I am now your best friend!!! Woof Woof!". Really? It's funny though because when this happens Bonk doesn't even say anything and just walks away very quickly. At least the final boss looks better and more "evil". In fact I'd say he looks downright scary, but you'll see by yourself.

The Bottom Line
The game may lack the polish of Sonic or Mario, but as far as pure fun goes, it might just be on par with those two. What's important is that the "gimmick" of the character remains fun to use and the level design is varied and clever enough to maintain your interest from start to finish.

Bonk may have never gotten the respect he truly deserved, but it's never too late to enjoy a classic game such as this one.

TurboGrafx-16 · by CKeen The Great (160) · 2012

Trivia

Awards

  • Amiga Joker
    • Issue 02/1993 – #2 Best Dexterity Game of 1992 (Readers' Vote)
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • October 1990 (Issue 15) - Most Exciting New Theme
    • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #85 (Best 100 Games of All Time) (TurboGrafx-16 version)
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/1993 – #2 Best Action Game in 1992 (Amiga version)

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Neepie Lantern.

Wii added by Corn Popper. Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. PlayStation 3, PSP added by Doppelgamer. TurboGrafx-16, NES added by Katakis | γ‚«γ‚Ώγ‚­γ‚Ή.

Additional contributors: Alaka, Martin Smith, Freeman, Игги Π”Ρ€ΡƒΠ³Π΅, formercontrib, CesarMFM, Patrick Bregger, PatMan785.

Game added February 19, 2020. Last modified September 18, 2023.