Bonk's Revenge

~ BONK'S REVENGE ~

Hudson Soft / Red

HuCard

1991

I've never been a big fan of Revenge, but whenever I power it up, I'm immediately struck by how appealing its cartoony graphics are. Bonk's Adventure is nice looking and colorful and all, but Revenge definitely takes things to an entirely different level. The difference in graphical quality is vast despite many level themes and cast members being quite similar.

The level design also took a huge step forward. There are secrets all over the place, great ideas at work in enemy design and level structuring...

...along with numerous bonus rounds, most of which are enjoyable. And as my brother Duomitri can tell you, it's tons of fun to see how many smiley faces you can find in a level (and the train bonus scene at the end of each stage is also very cool).

The soundtrack is as good as you'd expect it to be since it borrows quite heavily from the first game (although most of the original material is also quality stuff).

My only major complaint, and it really killed Revenge for me for many years, is that a brief delay takes place during each spin of Bonk's spin jump, and it makes the gameplay feel pretty crappy at times. I know there are two typical responses to this gripe:

1) It adds to the challenge. Well, I always beat the game with lots of lives left no matter how terribly out of practice I am. There is very little challenge with or without the delay.

2) It prevents people from leaping into the air and cannonballing their way through stages, as was possible in many levels of the first Bonk. Well, the level design is strong enough here to minimize that sort of tomfoolery anyway, and there's so much more incentive to explore this time.

It could be said that the boss battles are a little more interesting in Revenge because, for the most part, you can't just bounce around on top of the fools' heads like you could with many of the big lugs in Adventure. This is a fairly minor point since the game's strengths lie in level design and aesthetic appeal rather than in strategic battling, so I still wish I could have the old spin back.

Speaking of the bosses, another (relatively minor) complaint I have is that the last battle stinks. Talk about anticlimactic. Some of the earlier fights are interesting, if not particularly difficult...

...but the last couple of bosses are bums.

I enjoy Revenge more now than I did in years past, even if the spin delay still irks me. I guess I'm more patient these days, so I appreciate things like the level design and smiley scavenger hunts a lot more. I still find Adventure to be much more enjoyable, though.