Bonk's Adventure is a 2D platform game, developed by Red Company and Atlus as the first game in the Bonk series, that was released in 1989 in Japan and 1990 in North America for the TurboGrafx-16. In Japan it was released as PC Genjin (PC原人), a play on the Japanese name for the system, 'PC Engine'. The game was re-released for the TurboGrafx-16 in the U.S. in 1992 on the Gate of Thunder 4-in-1 game CD-ROM. The game was later ported to the NES, Amiga and arcade systems under different titles (FC Genjin and BC Genjin). A completely different game with the same name appeared on the Game Boy (under the title GB Genjin in Japan). The TurboGrafx-16 version was re-released through Nintendo's Virtual Console service and on the PlayStation Store. There is a version for mobile phones in Japan.
Plot[]
The game's protagonist is Bonk, a strong and bald caveboy who battles anthropomorphic dinosaurs and other prehistoric enemies. Bonk's mission is to rescue Princess Za (a small pink Pleisiosaur-type reptile) who has been kidnapped by the evil King Drool (a large, green, Tyrannosaurus-type dinosaur). In the arcade version, Bonk is also assisted by a female version of himself.
Legacy[]
In 2003 Hudson Soft included a 3D remake of Bonk's Adventure in their Hudson Selection series of games released exclusively in Japan for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube consoles.
Factor 5, developers of the Amiga port, have made the Amiga version of BC-Kid available for free through their company website.
The TurboGrafx-16 version was released for Wii's Virtual Console on November 22, 2006, and according to informal surveys it has been one of the most purchased games.
In March 2008, a version for mobile phones was released in Japan.
Hudson was developing a reboot of the franchise entitled "Bonk: Brink of Extinction" for WiiWare and PlayStation Network. With the closure of Hudson the status and future of this title is uncertain.
On October 19, 2015, it was announced that Bonk's Adventure was given a rating on the Virtual Console for Wii U for a future release. After months of rumors, the game finally saw a Wii U release in its TurboGrafx-16 form on July 14, 2016. The PC Engine version of the game (fully in Japanese) will be included on every regional variant of the TurboGrafx-16 Mini set to release exclusively through Amazon on March 19, 2020.
External links[]
- Bonk's Adventure at the Bonk Wiki