Air Zonk (TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine) - Zappin' Some Baddies on the TG16 - Saturday Afternoon Gaming
5The sci-fi cute 'em up that turned Bonk into Zonk!
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I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, fan of retro games, and determined optimist... Normally I'm working my way through the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE in my Let's Play 1001 Games series. This is a great book with a ton of classic retro games but it doesn't have everything and it's even missing some of my favorite video games. Hence, in Saturday Afternoon Gaming, screw it, I'm just going to play whatever I want!
In this series I will be playing some of the best retro games that don't appear in the 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE book. So pull up a chair, slap on your headphones, and join me as babble aimlessly through some of my most favourite classic games! And hey, if you have ideas or suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments below. I'm always looking for more games to try! Today we play...
Air Zonk
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Zonk
Air Zonk (also called PC Denjin Punkic Cyborg!/PC Denjin／Completion○／Clear× (PC電人／補完○／クリア× PC denjin/ hokan ￮/ kuria ×)) is a video game, a side-scrolling shooter released for the TurboGrafx 16 console in 1992. Air Zonk was an attempt to update the company's image via a modern, punkish character called Zonk, who bears a purposeful resemblance to the TurboGrafx-16's caveman mascot, Bonk.
The game was developed by Red, better known for their Gate of Thunder series. Air Zonk features King Drool, antagonist of the Bonk series, along with many other enemies from the series. It was followed by a sequel in 1993 called Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise for the Turbo Duo, and has been released on the Wii's Virtual Console.
Air Zonk is similar to other scrolling shooters, but includes companion characters. Artistically the game is lighthearted, featuring humorous bosses such as a sentient garbage heap and an anthropomorphic boat. The gameplay centers around the effective use of shooting and bombing to complete a stage. At the start, the player may pick a companion character to team up with to perform special attacks, limit themselves to using the designated companion characters for each level, or opt out of using companion characters altogether. Each companion character, or friend, can only be used once. Air Zonk takes on the distinct visual style that is sometimes called "cute 'em up". There are three difficulty levels: sweet, spicy, and bitter.
Zonk can charge his shots, which allows him to fire a more powerful attack. Charging longer causes Zonk to drop a bomb, which damages all enemies on the screen. Zonk can also acquire seven types of power-ups, each of which can also be charged for a unique special attack. As usual for scrolling shooters, whenever Zonk acquires a new power-up, he loses the current one. If Zonk is hit while he has a power-up, he loses the power-up but does not die, except in the case of the mini-Zonk power-up. The mini-Zonk power-up also differs from the other power-ups in that it cannot be charged, and can be found in both florets and random enemy drops (other power-ups can only be found in florets).
Zonk starts each stage alone and with no powerups. He must collect seven smiley-faces, the last of which will appear in giant form with sunglasses, in order to get his friend to join him. The friend initially acts as a Gradius-style support which follows Zonk around shooting projectiles. If the player collects another seven smiley-faces, Zonk and the friend will merge into a hybrid form, granting a new attack and 20 seconds of invulnerability. This new attack cannot be charged, and Zonk cannot drop bombs while in hybrid form. Once invincibility expires, if Zonk is hit he will revert to normal form and his friend will leave, though he retains whatever power-up he had before changing to hybrid form.
In addition to having its intro removed instead of translated, "PC Denjin's" vulgar humor was seriously toned down for "Air Zonk". The computer brain encased in glass shown at the start of each stage was a sentient pile of manure, the fusion with the cow character would cause Zonk to grow breasts and shoot them at enemies instead of bottles of milk from his hands. When charging the button, Zonk drops a bomb whereas in the original game he defecates.