Past-Due Review: Bonk's Adventure (Wii VC)

I'm fairly certain Bonk will forever be known as the character that ended up with the bronze medal in the great gaming mascot wars of the 90s.

Bonk had a lot going for him--he was cute, knew how to use his head (bad pun, I know) and never buckled under pressure (even when that pressure came from immense green dinosaurs)--but just couldn't overcome the one-two punch of Nintendo's Mario and Sega's Sonic.

So while Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog helped sell millions upon millions of Super NES and Genesis systems during the 16-bit era, Bonk struggled a bit to hock NEC's doomed-from-the-start TurboGrafx-16 system.

That's too bad, because Bonk's Adventure was an enjoyable little platformer. It didn't offer the speed of Sonic or the depth of Mario, but it was a fun and fairly unique experience nonetheless.

Now that the game has been released for the Wii's Virtual Console, a new generation of gamers have been given the chance to experience Bonk and his cromagnon quest. Is it worth your hard-earned Wii points? If you're a fan of 2D action/platform games, I'd say the answer is a definite "yes." If your idea of fun is blasting through 3D environments and nothing else, well, you may want to pass this one by.

Bonk's Adventure goes by at a fairly leisurely pace. You basically move Bonk through various BC-inspired landscapes while taking out enemies (mostly dinosaurs and such) with your big noggin. In that regard, Bonk can headbutt his foes or jump into the air and dive bomb them. Another move at his disposal is to jump into the air and spin wildly--which effectively lets him fly or float for a bit to cross chasms and such.

That's really all there is to it. It's like Mario transported back a few millennia. And aside from the headbutting, that's where Bonk's charms lie: the landscapes are colorful, cute and fun--all of which aptly describe his friends and foes as well. The music and sound effects are a bit on the "blip" and "bloop" side of things, but even they fit the bill and are never grating or annoying.

If you have a few Wii points burning a hole in your virtual pocket--and are longing for a bit of old school platforming action--you could do much worse than download Bonk's Adventure. Keep an eye out, too, for the sequel, Bonk's Revenge, and the Bonk-themed shooter, Air Zonk. Both provide similarly unique thrills for those interested in the genre.

Is Nintendo less creative than it was during its heyday?

I can't tell you how many times I've read that Nintendo isn't as creative as it once was. I believe it started as far back as the 90s, after the Super NES was released. As soon as a few sequels (presumably with the word "super" in the title somewhere) popped up for the system, critics started bashing the big N for relying too much on its key properties (usually called "intellectual properties" or IPs) and not on new and original characters and concepts.

Having heard this year in and year out since then, I decided finally to do a bit of research (made a lot easier by the fantastic Nintendo Database) to see if the criticism has any teeth.

The job was a fairly straight-forward one: I simply looked back at the games Nintendo itself produced and published for each of its systems from the NES to the Wii. I only chose games released in the U.S., since I'm guessing if anyone ever reads this blog that's where they'll be coming from.

Anyway, based on that information, it's true that Nintendo released the most "unique" IPs on its first system, though I'm not sure that should be much of a surprise (of course the characters and concepts were original and unique on their first system). Has it released fewer games based on "new" IPs with every system since? Not really.

For comparison's sake, there were many, many original games released by Nintendo for the NES--too many for me to care to count, at least. Rest assured it was more than 13 (I'll list some of the most memorable below). The GameBoy, throughout its life cycle, has produced about nine "new" IPs thus far.

(A note of warning here: I only count original, unique characters and game styles as new IPs. For instance, the games produced around the Wario character (WarioLand and WarioWare) are unique IPs, in my opinion, while Super Mario Land on the GB is not a new IP to the system since it's really just another Mario platformer. None of the platforming Mario games on any other system count as a new IP for that system in my opinion either. Also, I'm only considering the U.S. market here. So, even though Fire Emblem and Earthbound/Mother began its life in Japan on the NES/Famicom, they were first introduced to the U.S. audience on the GameBoy and SNES, respectively.)

During the SNES era, Nintendo released eleven new IPs for the system. Moving on, six new IPs were released for the Nintendo 64 (many more if you consider Rare's contributions, to which Nintendo no longer owns the rights), and eleven were released for the fairly short-lived GameCube. Lest you should still think Ninty has, in fact, been shortchanging fans when it comes to new IPs for its more current systems, the still-young Nintendo DS has already seen the emergence of eight new IPs, and Nintendo has released two new IPs for the months-old Wii.

Although it seems clear Nintendo has released slightly less unique and original concepts/characters with every system released since the NES, I don't think it's as serious as some naysayers claim. The fact is, since so many new IPs are released for each successive Nintendo console, the company has many more games for which fans will be demanding sequels. Considering that fact, Nintendo has done a pretty good job of keeping sequel-happy fanboys in line while also attempting to attract gamers to other IPs.

With that said, what did I base my opinions on? Here are the lists of original IPs released by Nintendo for each of its consoles (the NES list is only representative and is not exhaustive):

NES: Balloon Fight, Dr. Mario, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Ice Climber, Kid Icarus, Kirby, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Punch Out!!, Rad Racer, Star Tropics and Super Mario Bros.

GameBoy: Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, Hamtaro, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Pokemon (includes all later Pokemon titles as well), Tetris, WarioLand and WarioWare.

SNES: Donkey Kong Country, Earthbound, F-Zero, Mario Paint, Pilotwings, StarFox, Stunt Race FX, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario RPG (includes future Paper Mario games), Uniracers and Yoshi’s Island (includes later Yoshi platformers as well).

N64: 1080, Mario Golf, Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Super Smash Bros. and WaveRace.

GC: Animal Crossing, Battalion Wars, Chibi Robo, Custom Robo, Eternal Darkness, Geist, Luigi’s Mansion, Mario Superstar Baseball, Odama, Pikmin and Super Mario Strikers.

DS: Brain Age, Electroplankton, Elite Beat Agents, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Mario Hoops, Nintendogs, Super Princess Peach and Trace Memory.

Wii: Excite Truck and Wii (fill-in-the-blank) series.

Another (probably) yawn-inducing note: I decided not to consider any of Nintendo's sports games outside of the Mario sports series as "new" IPs for any of the systems. As far as I can tell, few if any of them ever produced sequels or new versions for later, successive systems, so I personally lump them together as updated versions of games originally released on the NES (Tennis, Baseball, Soccer, etc.).

Have I missed any, or do you completely disagree with any of the games I've called new IPs? Let me know!

Introducing: The Gay Gamer's 'Past-Due Reviews'

Early on in this blog's life I mentioned that I tend to be a bit late for things--I mean, fashionably late for things. Fortunately or unfortunately, for me that trait extends into the world of video games as well. I barely have time to buy games these days, let alone buy them on launch day and write up a review before the first week is up.

I still like the idea of writing little reviews now and then--and I imagine there are plenty of people out there who, like me, don't buy every game the second it's released--so once in a blue moon I'll post a "Past-Due Review" for your reading pleasure.

Until then, enjoy this pic from Yggdra Union--a game I have, but have yet to "get into." Based on how sweet it looks, I imagine I'll be doing just that very soon.

New insights into FF XII: Revenant Wings

I finally got my DS lite yesterday (I know, I'm way behind the times--so sue me) and what better game to look forward to now that it's in my grubby little hands than Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings?

I've been drooling over screenshots of this little beauty for a few months, but until now I can't say I've fully understood how the darn thing will play. This new trailer, released today by Square, does the best job I've seen thus far. Looks like the game uses an active-battle system similar to its big brother, FF XII on the PS2.

Personally, I'd prefer it handle more like the old 8- or 16-bit Final Fantasies, but I'll take what I can get. Regardless, I'm in love with the game--especially knowing it features some old FF tunes re-invented for the DS and displays graphics that in more ways that one remind me of Final Fantasy Tactics (one of my favorite games of all time).

Now Square just needs to announce a release date for us U.S. gamers. And while they're at it, let us know when Heroes of Mana, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Rings of Fate and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 will be showing up on our shores...

Super Mario Bros. serenade

It's amazing how many artists in different genres and areas are inspired by the 8-bit gaming era. Painters and other graphic artists are the most commonly discussed, but musicians are right up there as well.

Joystiq just put up this video of Greg Patillo, a beatbox flutist playing the main theme from Super Mario Bros. All I can say is "encore! encore!!"

Oh, and here's his MySpace page. Check it out!