Air Zonk
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| Air Zonk PC Denjin Punkic Cyborg |
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| Developer(s) | Red Company |
| Publisher(s) | Hudson Soft |
| Platform(s) | PC Engine, TurboGrafx 16, Turbo Duo, Virtual Console |
| Release date(s) |  1992 December 12, 1992 |
| Genre(s) | Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | HuCard/CD-ROM |
| Input methods | Game controller |
Air Zonk (Jp: PC電人／補完○／クリア× – En: PC Denjin Punkic Cyborg) is a side-scrolling shooter released for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 video game consoles in 1992 and was developed by Red Company and published by Hudson Soft. Air Zonk was an attempt to update the company's image via a modern, punkish character called Zonk, who bears a purposeful resemblance to the Turbo's caveman mascot, Bonk.
Although some consider the theme of this game (and corresponding main character) to be a knee-jerk reaction to the popularity of Sega's Sonic mascot, Air Zonk is widely considered to be an excellent shoot 'em up. The developers of this game, Red, were also the force behind the critically acclaimed Gate of Thunder series. Air Zonk features quirky protagonists, anthropomorphic enemies and bosses, and fantastical power-ups. Moreover, the game can be considered as being part of the Bonk series of games, as it features the same antagonist, King Drool, and many of the same enemies and artistic styles. It was followed by a sequel in 1993 called Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly Paradise for the Turbo Duo, which has been released on the Wii's Virtual Console [1].
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[edit] Gameplay
Air Zonk is similar to other scrolling shooters, but what sets it apart are the large number of power-ups and companion characters. The game is artistically light hearted and features humorous bosses, such as a sentient garbage heap and anthropomorphic boat. Gameplay involves both shooting and bombing. At the start, the player must pick a companion character to team up with to perform special attacks. Air Zonk takes on the distinct visual style that is sometimes called "cute 'em up". There are three difficulty levels: sweet, spicy, and bitter.
One of the main distinguishing elements of Air Zonk is the ability to use a friend in each level, who help out in attacking enemies and can also grant Air Zonk temporary invulnerability combined with a new special attack. Friends can be either automatically assigned, through a fixed order, or can be manually chosen before each level. Each friend can only be used once, and wear the Zonk-style shades to signify that they have been used prior. The friend shows up once a power-up showing a large smiley-face with sunglasses is obtained. The large power-up is triggered when approximately five small smiley faces are collected within a period of a few minutes. The friend will initially act as a Gradius-style option which follows the player around shooting a straight-forward, relatively weak projectile. If a second large smiley-face icon is collected, Air Zonk and the friend will combine into a hybrid form, granting a new attack and temporary invulnerability. However this will not occur if the friend is injured, indicated by white clouds of smoke coming from the friend's rear. If the friend is damaged, and a new icon is picked up, the friend will be repaired. It takes multiple hits for friends to be eliminated from the screen completely.
[edit] Reception
Air Zonk was awarded Best TurboGrafx Game of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[1]
[edit] Sequels and re-releases
Air Zonk received a sequel in 1993 -- Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly Paradise (also known as CD Denjin Rockabilly), which was released in the SuperCD format. It requires the Super System Card to play, and is widely considered to be of lower quality as the graphics are made worse by the omission of parallax scrolling. As its name would imply, the game has a CD audio soundtrack consisting of rockabilly music. The game contains all new levels, assistants, and enemies.
[edit] Zonk: Mascot for TurboDuo video game console
The protagonist in this game, Zonk, is a cyborg version of Bonk--the mascot for NEC Corporation's TurboGrafx 16 video game console. When TTi released the DUO console (successor to TurboGrafx-16), Zonk was adopted as the official mascot. Zonk adorned nearly all of TTi's promotional material, and was even featured on the package art for the TurboDuo console.
[edit] Virtual Console
Air Zonk has made an appearance on the Wii's Virtual Console. It was released in May in Japan and July in America, and on July 13th in Europe. It has gained an E rating from the ESRB.
[edit] References
- ^ Electronic Gaming Monthly's Buyer's Guide. 1993.
[edit] External links
- The Bonk Compendium (Covering all games and references to Bonk and Air Zonk)
- Detailed information for "Air Zonk" at the PC Engine Software Bible
- Air Zonk featured in 1-up's "Stchick 'em up" article
- Information on Super Air Zonk
