Bonk's Adventure: Arcade Version (Arcade) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
258A playthrough of Kaneko's 1994 arcade platformer Bonk's Adventure: Arcade Version.
Played through on the machine's default difficulty setting.
This coin-op addition to Red and Hudson's Bonk/PC Genjin series looks and sounds quite similar to the original TurboGrafx-16 trilogy of games, albeit more vibrant thanks to its being developed for a more capable hardware platform. The gameplay marks a fair shift in the established formula, and while it's not quite as memorable as the console games, it is pretty good.
The game is split into twenty-one stages, playable in any order you like, with a boss fight occurring after every third stage you complete. Instead of the long-form stage format of the console versions, the arcade game serves up its short stages at a frenetic pace. If you're good, most areas can be completed in under a minute, and there's a solid amount of variety to the platforming challenges on offer.
If you're familiar with the original Bonk games, you'll soon notice that the mechanics have been changed. The smiley faces that Bonk collects now attach to the top of his head, forming a makeshift hammer of sorts to smash enemies with. Bonk can also no longer bounce off of enemies he lands on, changing the moment-to-moment flow of gameplay quite a bit.
The updated graphics look great - the higher color depth really makes everything onscreen pop - and the sample-driven soundtrack, though a bit tinny, is super bouncy and catchy.
Bonk's Adventure: Arcade Version serves up a comfortable bit of lighthearted, casual platforming action. It's less substantial and cohesive than the console games it's derived from, but if you enjoy the Bonk games, this one is certainly worth checking out.
Especially if the idea of game gauging your "ball size" when you compete a level makes you involuntarily giggle.
If you'd like to check out some other Bonk games, here are a few links to other playthroughs I've done:
Bonk's Adventure (TG16): https://youtu.be/z__Bky_cXwM
Bonk's Adventure (NES): https://youtu.be/DEpeEInxVBI
Bonk's Adventure (GameCube): https://youtu.be/oONZyiTp8s4
Super Bonk (SNES): https://youtu.be/wvBHYuuuToA
Air Zonk (TG16): https://youtu.be/Q8bm3-bxVDQ
PC Denjin (PCE): https://youtu.be/0je-dRD_3cg
Super Air Zonk (TGCD): https://youtu.be/srcRvZFlJjs
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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