History
His first game, Bonk's Adventure, was released in 1990/1989, published by Hudson Soft in Japan and by NEC Electronics in the United States, and developed by Atlus Software and Red Company. The game was a side-scrolling platformer, a genre that was very popular at the time, especially for mascots (Sonic The Hedgehog and Mario both vaulted to mascot status via this genre). Bonk's Adventure was very well received by critics outside of Japan, winning several awards in 1990: "Turbografx-16 Game of the Year" by Game Player’s Magazine, "Most Exciting New Theme of 1990" by Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine, "Special Achievement Award" from OMNI Magazine, and "Best Action Video Game of 1990" by Video Games & Computer Entertainment Magazine. Despite this, the TurboGrafx suffered from poor sales, and the Bonk mascot was eventually retired in 1992 (with the launch of TTi's new TurboDuo console), replaced by Air Zonk (the official mascot of the Duo). Zonk—a "future descendant of Bonk", according to the mythos—bears a strong likeness to his predecessor, Bonk. Zonk, who was featured prominently in all of TTi's branding efforts, was the only mascot for the TurboDuo.
When NEC's TurboDuo console was sold in 1992, it included a CD-ROM containing Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge and Gate of Thunder, packaged with merely a slipcover and manuals.
Kaneko published an arcade version of Bonk's Adventure (released as B.C. Kid in Europe) in 1994. This version offered more enemies per screen than the standard Bonk game and included a variety of other strange tasks for the player to accomplish. Other unique features included two-player simultaneous play and the only female Bonk in the series.
Bonk also appears in the Sega Saturn game "Saturn Bomberman" as a playable character in multiplayer mode. This was his only appearance on a SEGA console.
Read more about this topic: Bonk (video Game Series)
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