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When Bonk came out in the early 90s he totally blew me away. I loved the characters and the game so much. There were not many games set in prehistoric times and certainly none that were being compared to Super Mario. The games graphics were enough to fuel my imagination as a kid, but I have to wonder how much more inspired I would have been if Bonk's original art had been left intact, much like Kid Icarus, Metroid and Zelda to name a few?
The manauls for Turbogrfx 16 were freaking criminally bad. This is the only page with any kind of art work and it looks like a total hack job.
When Bonk came out in the early 90s he totally blew me away. I loved the characters and the game so much. There were not many games set in prehistoric times and certainly none that were being compared to Super Mario. The games graphics were enough to fuel my imagination as a kid, but I have to wonder how much more inspired I would have been if Bonk's original art had been left intact, much like Kid Icarus, Metroid and Zelda to name a few?
The manauls for Turbogrfx 16 were freaking criminally bad. This is the only page with any kind of art work and it looks like a total hack job.
Bonk started out life as a comic that promoted the PC Engine. He was so popular he soon became a game and the official mascot.
You may recognize some of his early strips. They were sometimes used by import stores advertising in EGM. They of course would change all the dialog. I remember one where they were all out skiing.
He even had a manga! I wish I could find these to read. :)
Now take a look at the wealth of art in the Japanese Manual alone. Man, were we missing out in North America. Maybe Turbo would have been a bigger success, if the people peddling it over here treated it with as much love as the Japanese did.
You may recognize some of his early strips. They were sometimes used by import stores advertising in EGM. They of course would change all the dialog. I remember one where they were all out skiing.
He even had a manga! I wish I could find these to read. :)
Now take a look at the wealth of art in the Japanese Manual alone. Man, were we missing out in North America. Maybe Turbo would have been a bigger success, if the people peddling it over here treated it with as much love as the Japanese did.
This is the Japanese Ad for Bonk 1 (PC GENJIN.) It's nice and all, but I think the American ads are a little more exciting. It's the one and only time they one upped the Japanese. I really like the huge 2 page spread with Bonk smashing into his title. It's one of those ads that forever sticks in your mind.
Yeah the dope writing this called Princess Za a total babe, but whatever. Maybe he had a thing for plesiosaur chicks?
Even the silly comic got my interest as a kid.
Even the silly comic got my interest as a kid.
But we didn't get anything like this huge two page spread group picture for Bonk 3. WOW! I thought Only Mega Man got that kind of treatment. This would have gotten the attention of many kids around the globe. Some of those marketers in the 90s sucked ass. One thing you notice is how bad the Americanizing of these games could get. Most games only suffered the loss of box, or manual art, but Bonk got some heavy changes to his in game sprites too. I think the following image taken from Bonk's Revenge speaks for itself. Bye bye sex changing Bonk.
Wow thats alot of Bonks XD
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