As stated on Hudson Soft’s website, in their “The Definitive Bonk” article, Bonk was originally created as a comic character, PC Genjin, in a magazine for the PC Engine. So many people liked the character that there were talks held on giving him a game of his own. In addition to this, many people even mistook him for an upcoming game character even before his game was in development, due to the fact that the magazine frequently featured comics of upcoming games. Some reputable sources confirm that this character was based on an individual named Tasos; specifically due to the large nature of his head in comparison to the rest of his body. – Wikipedia (Bonk Video Game Series Article)

Bonks origin may not be the best advancement in video game history- or as interesting as the Adventure Island original, but the series is one of Hudson Soft’s originals which has the character and styling of a success.

Bonk undoubtably only has three games (at least of note), Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge and Bonk 3: Bonk’s Big Adventure. Well there are more, but there are just slight remakes, or ulterations to the original three, essencially not worthy enough to become there own here. But wait you say, what about the new Bonk!

Yes Bonk is coming back, regardless of my poorly written article because of my lack of interest of writing stuff at this moment. You see Hudson Soft has decided to bring the little guy back into a Xbox Live/ PSN and WiiWare game thing.

Brink of Extinction (which ironcly is possibly where this series was almost and probably will be after the release of the game of the WiiWare etc. version of Adventure Island is anything to go by…) is a 2010 title which seems to have taken a few pages out of Mario (yay Bonk can shoot fire balls!) and a few other games to bring back the original series.

But besides that the series is a spun out, great magical game full of color and pashion. Each level or zone is full of admazing creatures and monsters. Essencially a magical world, which if I wasn’t to bored of writing stuff or not wanting, wait I don’t know what my direction here was- well essencially just read 1Ups thing on Bonk :/ least that has a begining a middle and an end, unlike my article.

But maybe you say, you want to learn more about Bonk from me, not some Media conglomerate?

Well then I’d be glad to oblige, Bonk plays like most platformer games and the game play isn’t ground braking stuff. What it does offer is a solid experience, and a few….wait nah.

Last generation if you mentioned this game, you would be greeted with people not knowing what it was, in fact now still it continues having that fate. Konami has continued the series this time around under a name for westerners which removes the original name and plasters a new casual friendly one onto it- Lost in Blue is the new name which the series takes itself as and it seems Konami has shattered the series once again with horrible design flaws.

But most people don’t know to this day that the series Lost in Blue started on the Game Boy Color under the name Survival Kids (Standard Kids in the UK) and was released worldwide (though the sequel on the GBC was limited to Japan). So for those who joined in when it was too late, here’s a look back onto the game which made it all possible.

The game was something fresh and unique which at the time was hidden in the shelves and forgotten by many, a simulation title which centred itself around been lost on an island. Unlike other simulation games of the time, Harvest Moon for example, it didn’t gain a strong enough following to see the sequel appear in English countries. It was a simple game compared to the generation of its future cousins, and contained more survival action then survival caring.

The game contained various items and “Easter eggs” of sorts which you could create just to humour yourself, some had survival functions while others just lightened up the atmosphere. One such item was the baseball set which you could make, or even the left which you used as an umbrella.

It wasn’t all fun and games, for those new to the series the ionic monkey followed you around even on the Game Boy Color original, annoying you with its tricks and devious desires. In the end you could keep him as your evil monkey slave and even try to finish the game and rescuing him. Of course you didn’t have to even worry about him.

The land was a different world then what we are used to now with the titles DS and Wii cousins. It contained land types of all possible encounters, there weren’t just fields and forests, there were also swamps and mountains of impossible heights. It was something fun and funky for the Game Boy Color which didn’t look half bad either, the graphics a style which will forever be one of the best on the Color.

Music on the other hand was a hit and miss, and the title wasn’t exactly acclaimed for that. But what was seen when you removed away from the core game was quite good animation scenes which depicted various events though out the game. They could seem dark and evil for the untrained eye, but at the end of the day it seemed to appear to give more heart to the game which seemed to be more about the adventure and less about the survival- something which Konami has forgotten in the newer titles.

Survival wasn’t a must on most days, and you were looking after yourself instead of some random you just met who doesn’t do anything but sit and complain when you don’t do everything she wants you to- a complaint which the newer games where often targeted for, but in this title non-existent in an island with just you.

The game even had some wacky mini games, that just proves that survival wasn’t the main objective here.

The island was undoubtedly more interesting than the islands which where to come, while Survival Kids 2 became the penicil of island creativity, the newer titles just picked and swapped bits of what was once great. The objectives to advance where not ground breaking, but the fitted in the game and created a flow which was easy, but regardless if you did get stuck- would want to continue to survive in the areas you have already unlocked, they were full of animals and objects which would be replenished almost every day.

The game was more of a piece of art and a complete package to what was to become of the series. You could still pick to be boy or girl, and while another character wondering around you would of spiced up the game, it seems so far Konami still hasn’t gotten it right, so in retrospect what we have experienced was for the best.

I spoke earlier about how survival was less important, it’s much easier to keep your health at a maximum. The system isn’t based around staiuma, hunger and thirst it’s a full health bar as well, so that cuts the troubles down heaps. You also still have things like hunger pains as well, so they are still included in the original title, but once you learn how the game works, it’s quite easy to be always with it to advance into more complicated areas.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQet3NwtHO4

The only major problem on some degrees would be how long a day lasts, it seems to feel much shorter than the titles sequels, but on the same token it fits right in with how big the world map is.

Overall what you have here and should try and look for an old cart of is a title which depicts the coming titles in the series quite well and is possibly still one of the leaders in the series.

Let’s take some time to go back a few years, maybe a few decades. To a time which consoles where quite interesting and very retro! The year is 1983 and the Vectrex has now washed onto store shelves. An interesting little 8-bit console which wasn’t connecting itself to any television or monitor you owned. No it had its eyes on its built in vector monitor which of course has vector graphics- great? Maybe.

Another devious little ploy in the Vectrex was the fact it couldn’t really display colours. So you had some plastic sheets which had colour overlays on it. You pretty much sit these on top of the screen and now your game has gone from ugly to colourful!

Each game had its own plastic sheet, and the Vectrex was quite an arcadish console. What is great is I have one of these babies, which hopefully still works, but when I was young it was a console relic then. Now it’s a dinosaur, but underneath its raw hard shell is a console which has some quite interesting games.

One of those is Hyper Chase.

A game for a second generation monster which somehow found itself into my home, the carts lying around under boxes and the console sitting waiting for it to be turned on again.

But to play it again would be a crime, the memories which have developed especially of Hyper Chase should be forever.

It wasn’t the most charming retro game, and decades later feels dated and unwanted, but it still has a charm which doesn’t hinder the game.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUF0rdmZV8I

It’s plastic screen giving the game a green glow, cars flying everywhere and your following a road which sometimes has various obstacles, for the most part it’s a straight flat road, which occasionally would move over towards the left side of the screen, or the right.

It had some amazing animations, okay it’s a simple crashing sound and animation which has appeared in previous titles of that generation. But no doubt for a car game, seems humorous.

It’s meant to be a race, but for you unless you dig out the manual, it could be a road out in the middle of nowhere. What you have to do is avoid the edges, cars and other obstacles. Sounds easy? Well maybe it is, maybe it’s not but it’s one amazing game.

The controller for the Vectrex was something interesting, and for retro enthusiasts would be quite simular of pads of the time. A row of buttons and a Joy Stick or D-Pad.

The game is shows decently what a prequel of Need For Speed of this era would be like, it’s interesting to play and shows off the console well. As for the Vectrex its now probably one of the longest supported consoles, its game line up according to Wikipedia is disappointing, but that list of homebrew which continues over the decades, now that’s amazing.

Shadow Gate for the Game Boy Color is a remake of the original Shadow Gate, thus the “Classic” in the title. It’s one of those games which seemed to have died off from popularity and existence after the Game Boy Color entries. And similar to the Survival Kids series in the sense that all future entries or sequels haven’t been worthy of the title.

The game can be traced back to the Mac in the earlier generations before it appeared on the Nintendo Entertainment System only a few years later. With the games premise been as simple as they come, you’re the last of a great hero and you have to defeat the evil Warlock- who is summoning demons to kill you before you can kill him, sounds like a Zelda plot gone wrong, but at the end of the day what we have here is something quite interesting.

I never heard of the series before buying the Game Boy Color game (which sadly for some reason is now lost because when I was little I for some reason gave all my games to dad to keep safe or something and then he lost it , anyway…), the game is quite an interesting little gem which people would be spending hours with.

There are other titles available with a similar design choices, but Shadow Gate stands alone with its puzzles and story.

Graphic wise it’s something which has run ahead of the crowd on the Game Boy a few miles ahead of everyone else, it looks great and appears that lots of time has been put into the presentation of the title.

It’s quite easy to understand how to play, in fact it’s a point and  click adventure game like no other, and when it comes to fights with evil demons, it’s still point and click, but its then taken a roll of turn based games when it comes to damage etc.

Shadow Gate Classic is one of those games which always wants to hurt you, there’s lots of puzzles which if you get wrong your quite easily going to pay for it, either with death or damage. The wrong solution to a puzzle could kill you, while the right solution lets you pass, it’s a game with a long winding maze of rooms which could kill you or if you have the right items accumulated set you free.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jufy_sDi3Kg

The game is quite spooky for some parts, one because you don’t know if your move is going to kill you until it happens and then the other token that the evil guy in this game is quite bad ass.

For those looking for simular titles, MacVenture also has the Déjà vu series which has appeared on the Game Boy Color as well as the original platforms, but Shadow Gate seems to be alone when it comes to sequels (there is one for the 64 and one which died in limbo in the 64 era).