View Poll Results: Who is better?

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  • Bonk

    53 84.13%
  • Zonk

    10 15.87%
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Thread: Bonk or Zonk?

  1. #1
    ServBot (Level 11) ShinobiMan's Avatar
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    Default Bonk or Zonk?

    I recently was playing some of my old Turbo Grafx 16 games, and was having a blast playing the old Bonk and Zonk games. Yes, even the Super CD release of Super Air Zonk is still a joy to play... although the original is better.

    Given the two "mascots" and their respective games, who do you prefer? Who is the most iconic and badass???

    Bonk or Zonk? And what does Zonk even mean? I know Bonk refers to a headbutt... but... Zonk? Hmm.

    Last edited by ShinobiMan; 02-25-2010 at 10:47 PM.

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    Strawberry (Level 2) tomaitheous's Avatar
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    Tough choice. I love Air Zonk for hucard. I even wrote a music engine to play the songs ripped from the game. But the original Bonk (and part 2) are a lot of fun. I love the gameplay mechanics. I just wish Bonk 1 was a little longer (some more challenge in the later area bosses too) and that Bonk 2 retained that super float/spin of the original. Bonk 2 was great in every way but that. Well, I hate that they capped the amount of extra men you could hold in Bonk 2. That was lame.

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    Default

    Bonk all the way; I never got into Zonk
    Quote Originally Posted by bangtango View Post
    If you have trouble figuring out the meaning of "Multiplayer", "Time Trial" or "Campaign" without the manual, I probably don't want you doing my income taxes for me and I don't want you dating my daughter either.

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    I pick PC Genjin. :P Considering his name is actually a clever spin-off of the system's name rather than a lame description of what the character does.

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    Strawberry (Level 2) tomaitheous's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    I pick PC Genjin. :P Considering his name is actually a clever spin-off of the system's name rather than a lame description of what the character does.
    What else could they have named him for the US release? BC-kid? That's lame. I like PC-Genjin too, but Bonk fits fine.

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    I know, the joke is a localization nightmare so it's not like they could've done better, but it's still my favorite of the three.

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    Zonk always struck me as a desperate move, as if someone said, "Our character isn't popular! We need to make him Darker and Edgier! Let's throw a bunch of crap on his face!"

    So jah, go Bonk.
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    Apple (Level 5) Arkhan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    I pick PC Genjin. :P Considering his name is actually a clever spin-off of the system's name rather than a lame description of what the character does.
    its not a clever spin off. Its a clever coincidence.

    Genjin means primitive man in Japanese.



    I pick Bonk because the games are more fun than Air Zonk. Air Zonk should have been a contra style game.
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    Coincidence? What, do you think it was a happy accident or something? Of course it was intentional. I don't know what came first, the idea for the system's name or the idea for a mascot's name (likely the former), but obviously one begat the other. I don't think they came up with the idea for a game that stars a caveman and then half way through development realized "Oh crap, 'genjin' rhymes with 'engine'!"

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    Bonk > TG Cro-Magnon - If chosen to judge, I would accept Turbo Australopithecus though.

    Isn't this kinda like asking, "Who's better? Astro Boy or Fred Flintstone?" I mean, one is a robot and the other stops stone cars with his feet... Tough call.
    Last edited by Icarus Moonsight; 02-26-2010 at 03:48 AM.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    Coincidence? What, do you think it was a happy accident or something? Of course it was intentional. I don't know what came first, the idea for the system's name or the idea for a mascot's name (likely the former), but obviously one begat the other. I don't think they came up with the idea for a game that stars a caveman and then half way through development realized "Oh crap, 'genjin' rhymes with 'engine'!"
    you said "his name is a clever spin-off" like they made up the word for the sake of rhyming with the game.

    at least, thats how i took it.
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    Gonna have to go with Bonk, the little bastard makes me smile every time I look at him.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Arkhan View Post
    you said "his name is a clever spin-off" like they made up the word for the sake of rhyming with the game.

    at least, thats how i took it.
    No, I said it was a spin-off of the system's name, so that would suggest "PC Genjin" came second, not first. And I do believe that they came up with with the idea of a platformer starring a caveman purely because "genjin" rhymes with "engine". It's kind of funny to think about; if they had chosen a different name for the system, there would probably be an entirely different kind of mascot and probably different gameplay too considering the whole headbutting business wouldn't make sense with most other character concepts.

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    Strawberry (Level 2) tomaitheous's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    No, I said it was a spin-off of the system's name, so that would suggest "PC Genjin" came second, not first. And I do believe that they came up with with the idea of a platformer starring a caveman purely because "genjin" rhymes with "engine". It's kind of funny to think about; if they had chosen a different name for the system, there would probably be an entirely different kind of mascot and probably different gameplay too considering the whole headbutting business wouldn't make sense with most other character concepts.
    Correct. PC-Genjin(1990) came out after the PC-Engine(1987). PC Genjin was also a comic first, before it was a game. Due to its popularity in a japanese game magazine, and gamers mistaking it as a promotion for a game, Hudson contracted Red to create a game based on the comic. Chris Covell has a write up on it.

    Another fun fact, Air Zonk the first one - wasn't created from the ground up. They (Red? Hudson?) licensed the engine from Naxat, who was already running it as Coryoon. It's not speculation (although one can easily see the similarities). I actually wrote a Air Zonk music player from scratch to play song data from the rom. After hearing about the similarity between the two games, I looked/traced through the code. And sure enough, it uses the exact same code/engine. Even ram variables and code in the *exact* same place, which is very rare even for having source code (small changes offsets the ram/rom addresses).

    (Shameless plug) And this thread reminded me to upload this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVDiPPtYMUE&fmt=18 . An Air Zonk song playing on a half working music engine at the time (there are a lot of errors, so that the result was something very much different and with different tracks playing at different parts, etc).

    And with that, I finally decided. I voted Bonk. I love me some Air Zonk shooting action, but Bonk 1+2 has more content than just Air Zonk 1 (I don't care for Air Zonk 2 CD game).

    Edit: You know, the cover of Air Zonk reminds me a lot of "Garbage pal kids"....
    Last edited by tomaitheous; 02-26-2010 at 05:44 PM.

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    Apple (Level 5) Arkhan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    No, I said it was a spin-off of the system's name, so that would suggest "PC Genjin" came second, not first. .
    hmm.

    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    I pick PC Genjin. :P Considering his name is actually a clever spin-off of the system's name rather than a lame description of what the character does.
    Yes you did.

    its not a clever spin off, its a happy accident. lol
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    Huh? You're not making any sense. Those two sentence say the SAME dang thing, man. It (as in the title "PC Genjin") or his (as in the character's name: PC Genjin) were derived from the system's name, PC Engine. How can I possibly make such a simple statement any clearer?

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    zonk was the first TG16 game i played as a kid

    so, zonk

    i love bonk but zonk is hella underrated
    And don't bring up that stupid girlie Aladdin rip off! Shantea?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    Huh? You're not making any sense. Those two sentence say the SAME dang thing, man. It (as in the title "PC Genjin") or his (as in the character's name: PC Genjin) were derived from the system's name, PC Engine. How can I possibly make such a simple statement any clearer?
    HIS means the little bald guy running around

    ITS means the title of the game.

    you were making it sound like they pulled out their clever-o-matic and had it create a word that rhymed with "engine". All they did was put PC in front of the Japanese word for caveman. Thats all I was sayin'

    I love the game and all but I don't see whats so clever about it, or how its a "spin off". You're not spinning anything off of anything if you're just using two vocabulary words.
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    Kirby (Level 13) j_factor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arkhan View Post
    I love the game and all but I don't see whats so clever about it
    PC Engine.
    PC Genjin.

    It's called a pun. And it's pretty goddamn clever.

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    Bonk for me, I have it on my NES

    Can Air Zonk be done on the NES or the Mega Drive??

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