This Week in Defunct Games - April 5, 2011

What Is It? Bonk may be best known as the large-headed mascot for the TurboGrafx-16, but that didn't stop this lovable caveman from moonlighting on a number of other platforms. This is Super Bonk, Hudson's first attempt to bring this beloved character to a Nintendo platform. Super Bonk combines the Alice in Wonderland-style power-ups (one plant makes you bigger, while the other makes you super tiny) with the graphical power of the Super NES. You play Bonk on an adventure through modern day cities, prehistoric islands and everything in between. Like the TurboGrafx titles, Super Bonk offers a heavy dose of headbutting action, gigantic dinosaur bosses and dozens of exciting bonus stages. Who cares what system the game is for when it's this charming?

Does It Still Hold Up? The Bonk series never gets the acclaim it deserves for its clever level designs. This is not one of those games where the protagonist simply walks from left to right (though there is a fair share of that), instead Bonk is part of a huge branching world that will take him into the sky, under water and everywhere else. And that's just in one level. In most 2D sidescrolling platformers, players die the moment they fall into a pit. But not in Super Bonk. In this game you'll simply fall into a whole new level, one that allows the player to climb out. It would be safe to say that most players won't even see half of the game's content the first time through.

Beyond the level designs, the controls are tight and the game has a strong art style. Instead of using the Super Nintendo's power to create more advanced graphics, everything looks much like it did on the TurboGrafx. The game uses more color and Hudson added scaling and rotation effects, but it's easy to see this game as an extension of NEC's failed console. Although the game suffers from the occasional slow-down, it still holds up better than most of the 16-bit mascot games of the day.

Is It Worth The Money? Between Natsume Championship Wrestling, Bomberman Hero and Exed Exes, it's been a tough few months for the Virtual Console. Super Bonk may not be the must-have 16-bit game of 1994 (that honor would probably go to Earthworm Jim, Donkey Kong Country, NBA Jam or Super Metroid), but it's easily the best Virtual Console released so far in 2011. The action is fast, the levels are inspired and it's hard to resist those adorable animations made by this beloved caveman. Super Bonk is Hudson at their best. And on a side note, this Virtual Console release gives me a glimmer of hope that we'll eventually start seeing Hudson developed TurboGrafx games released on the PSN. I still have my fingers crossed.