Bonk or Zonk?

[treismac]

The fact that, after the Turbo went kaput, Bonk went on to have a few games on other platforms and Zonk didn't, well, that speaks volumes.

Mmm... just because a franchise never achieved much success financially or branched out to other systems doesn't mean that the game or its protagonist was lacking. There are many great games that never got proper recognition.

[MarioMania]

I didn't realize I posted on here already

[retroman]

Bonk all the way..I have all 3 Bonks and both Zonk's..All are fun, but i like Bonk's gameplay better.

[starsoldier1]

I love Bonk but after I got the world record for the first game in the series I gotta go with Zonk.

[tomaitheous]

The fact that, after the Turbo went kaput, Bonk went on to have a few games on other platforms and Zonk didn't, well, that speaks volumes.

Except you forget the fact that Zonk and Bonk were developed in Japan, for the Japanese PC-Engine. It had nothing to do with the success or failure of the US TG16.

isufje: Yeah? BC-Kid was the European localization name for the game, not the US. Note sure why the weird (and late) arcade spin-off (which isn't like any 'Bonk' game) uses that name, but the other home ports in Japan had different names as well (GB-Genjin, FC-Genjin, whatever-the-hell-the-superfami-one-is-called).

[BlastProcessing402]

Except you forget the fact that Zonk and Bonk were developed in Japan, for the Japanese PC-Engine. It had nothing to do with the success or failure of the US TG16.

Except you forget the question had nothing to do with the success or failure of the tg16 either. It was about which character was the better mascot.

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

I merely submit that the relative longevity of Bonk makes him the more iconic and better mascot.

[Retronick]

I like Zonk personally, but to tell you the truth, the fact that it was a shoot em up confused me back in the day. I know Zonk was only released because Bonk was lacking the attitude that Sonic the Hedgehog was succeeding with, but I always thought he was pretty cool. Air Zonk is probably my favorite game on the console... Super Air Zonk can suck it.

Bonk will always be more fondly remembered. He is the embodiment of a more hopeful time for the PC-Engine's success in America, and less of a desperate cry for attention.

[retro junkie]

Even though I am an avid fan of the shooter genre, Bonk's Revenge is my favorite. Zonk is only a guilty pleasure.

[Parodius Duh!]

PC Genjin and PC Engine were not created to rhyme with each other. It just so happens that the way you pronounce it is similar. "Personal Computer Engine" makes sense. "Personal Computer Primitive" is basically what PC Genjin translates into. I highly doubt they were creating the character to rhyme with PC Engine. What other word for Caveman or primitive is there in Katakana or Kanji? pretty sure nothing...


And correct me if Im wrong, isnt Zonk just Bonk from the future? or hes somehow related to Bonk Im almost positive....

[tomaitheous]

PC Genjin and PC Engine were not created to rhyme with each other. It just so happens that the way you pronounce it is similar. "Personal Computer Engine" makes sense. "Personal Computer Primitive" is basically what PC Genjin translates into. I highly doubt they were creating the character to rhyme with PC Engine. What other word for Caveman or primitive is there in Katakana or Kanji? pretty sure nothing...

No, there weren't created at the same time to rhyme with each other. They are at least two years part. But PC-Genjin *is* a pun on the name PC-Engine. And the PC in PC-Genjin stands for Pithecanthropus Computerurus, not Personal Computer (but a pun on PC itself). PC-Genjin started out as a mini comic/strip/whatever promotional thing for the PC-Engine. People got confused and thought it was actually a new game in development for the system - so they developed it as a game due to the popularity of the event. Matter of fact, I remember reading it in some Hudson or PC-Genjin (atlus or red or such) interview. Hudson owned the rights to PC-Genjin, hired Red to produce the game, which in turn hired Atlus to develop(code) the game. Hudson, the guys that made the PC-Engine and licensed it to NEC.

And correct me if Im wrong, isnt Zonk just Bonk from the future? or hes somehow related to Bonk Im almost positive....

You mean Bonk in the future? Zonk is a robot (doesn't look like a cyborg from the cut away pics), so I assume he's not human at all. Other than that, I have no clue exactly how the story or connection goes. And I doubt they even thought that much into it. TTi claimed he was a descendant of Bonk, but that's just the US branch so no idea how credible that is.