PC GENJIN ~ PITHECANTHROPUS COMPUTERURUS
( Bonk's Adventure )
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ＰＣ原人
©1989 Hudson Soft (vol.24)
©1989 Atlus Ltd.
©1989 Red
Release : 1989-12-15 (¥5800)
HuCard (4 Mbits) HC89024
Action / Platform game
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Released in America as
BONK'S ADVENTURE
( TGX030028 )
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PC Genjin is a wacky multi-directional platform game by Red
and published by Hudson Soft. Drool, the evil king lizard, has
seized power and is aggressively wielding it. The game tells the story of a
young and cute primitive caveman, who is on a long journey to dethrone the
demonic lizard king. His only weapon is his big bald head that can be used to either
hit his opponents with a simple head-kick, or by jumping up in the air and then diving down,
head first, to smash them. This last technique is the most powerful and enemies
usually do not survive it long. It is also the preferred attack against the
different bosses waiting for our fellow friend at the end of each area (they
always turn into nice fellows after being defeated though). Our caveman can
also use his blunt teeth, not to bite enemies, but rather to climb trees and
walls. The game features several prehistoric stages from grasslands, jungle,
underwater lakes and even a journey inside a giant dinosaur, without
forgetting tons of hidden levels and bonus stages. The player can jump over
strange plants to find hidden bonuses, collect yellow smiley coins for
points (which are credited at the end of each stage) and fruits or hearts
to gain some health back. Pieces of raw meat can also be collected and
have a strong effect on our bald primitive man, and turn him into an angry
wrath. If he eats too much meat, he then becomes invincible for a short
amount of time and destroys everything on his path.
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The first PC Genjin game was released for the PC Engine (version tested here).
However, it was later ported to the Commodore Amiga in 1992. This version,
called BC Kid, was developed by Factor 5 and published by Ubi Soft.
Another version was released by Hudson Soft for the Famicom in 1993 - FC Genjin
(Aka Bonk's Adventure) is a cutdown version of the original PC Engine game, and it
is anyone's guess as to why Hudson Soft ported the game to Nintendo's 8-bit machine.
PC Genjin was also ported to the Game Boy in 1992 - GB Genjin (aka Bonk's Adventure)
is however not a direct translation of the PC Engine version. Finally, Hudson Soft
released Hudson Selection Vol. 3: PC Genjin, a 3D enhanced/remixed version of
PC Genjin released in 2003 for the Playstation 2 and the Gamecube.
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The wacky caveman was inspired by a comic strip originally included in the Japanese magazine
Gekkan PC Engine and published by Shogakukan (picture on the right). PC Genjin, the name of the
original Japanese version, is a passing reference (a pun) to the PC Engine system and
"Genjin" (原人) literally means "primitive man" in Japanese. The same pun
was used with Punkic Cyborg - the main character was called PC-Denjin and
Denjin (電人) means "Electric Man" in Japanese. The bold headed character
became instantly popular and a new PC-Engine mascot was born, ready to join the
rank of Sega's Sonic or Nintendo's Mario. The character also appeared for many
other systems and the game's creators changed its name accordingly:
PC Genjin (1989, Pce-Hu),
PC Genjin 2 (1991, Pce-Hu),
GB Genjin (1992, GameBoy),
PC Denjin - Punkic Cyborg (1993, Pce-Hu),
PC Genjin 3 (1993, Pce-Hu),
PC Denjin - Cyborg Rockabilly Paradise (1993, Pce-SCD²),
FC Genjin (1993, Famicom),
GB Genjin 2 (1994, GameBoy),
Super Genjin (1994, Super Famicom),
GB Genjin Land: Chikkun Outoku (1994, GameBoy),
Super Genjin 2 (1995, Super Famicom),
PC Genjin (2003, GameCube),
Hudson Selection vol.3: PC Genjin (2003, Playstation2).
An arcade game was also released by Kaneco in 1994 and allows two players to
jump into the PC Genjin world. If we believe the original game's flyer, this arcade
game was the first ever video game to feature ticket dispensers. As a side note, notice
that every system had its own name prefix - "PC" stands for 'Pithecanthropus Computerurus'
and "FC" for 'Friendthropus Computerurus'. The character is also known as PC-Kid
and was curiously renamed "BC-Kid" in Europe, which probably stands for "Before Christ",
he is a caveman after all...
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Teaser text from the American version:
Bonk yourself out in this head-buttin', head-splittin' adventure.
As Bonk the Caveman, your head against Kongo Zilla,
Tractohead and the wackiest array of prehistoric foes ever seen.
Be sure to eat your meat-and-vegetables as you power-up to
battle Evil King Drool himself. It's a read head-banger !
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Don't get me wrong here. I only gave PC Genjin 4 stars because PC-Genjin 2
and PC-Genjin 3 are technically better. But PC-Genjin is an excellent
platform game with wacky characters as we love them. More recent episodes of the
PC Genjin series have better graphics and music overall, but this title is
nevertheless very enjoyable and packed with great and unique ideas - such as the part
happening inside the belly of a huge dinosaur or the large walking trees which appear
later in the game. PC Genjin is the kind of platform game that just keep
pulling you back in for another sip and it's always hard to put the controller down
once you grabbed it... All in all, an excellent and addictive game shining with
originality and creativity.
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