Air Zonk

Air Zonk (Jp: PC電人／補完○／クリア× – En: PC Denjin Punkic Cyborg) is a horizontal scrolling shooter released for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 video game consoles in 1992 and was developed by Red 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. Air Zonk has made an appearance on the Wii's Virtual Console. It was released on May 22nd in Japan, July 9th in America, and July 13th in Europe. It has gained an E rating from the ESRB.

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 is exemplative of cute 'em up games, featuring quirky protagnoists, 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 TurboGrafx-16 TurboDuo, which has also been released on the Wii's Virtual Console.

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. Within the diverse shoot 'em up genre, Air Zonk falls neatly into the "cute-em-up" sub-genre. There are three difficulty levels: sweet, spicy, and bitter.

Weapons and powers

 * Default weapon – The default weapon is a small green projectile which has two different types of charge up attacks. The first, which occurs after the attack button is held for three seconds, will shoot a large green pixelated project. Once hitting a target, the attack will fan out into five smaller objects that can strike through multiple targets. The second charge-up attack, activated after holding for approximately seven seconds, Zonk is spitting out a large bomb which will explode causing a chain of large explosions, dealing heavy damage. As the missile initially falls down the screen, it can deal light damage to any enemies it hits along the way.


 * Melee attack – when an enemy flies behind Air Zonk, he will attack them automatically with his jet engine feet.


 * Small mode – shrinks Air Zonk making him harder to hit, and gives him an extra attack that aims, but not seeks, for the closest enemy. Zonk can still perform melee attacks, but cannot however perform any chargeup attacks.


 * Boxing Gloves – A pair of boxing gloves shoot across the screen and then back to Zonk, hitting enemies both ways, dealing heavy damage.


 * Deck of cards – This weapon is a light-damaging spread gun composed of various playing cards. In a charge-up attack, cards will fan out in multiple spirals emanating from Zonk.


 * Metal mandibles – One of the more peculiar weapons. Zonk shoots bear-trap like projectiles from his mouth with this weapon. When charged up, he detaches an enormous set of jaws for a few seconds that does cumulative damage to anything it touches.


 * Electricity gun – This weapon, which Zonk holds in his mouth, is a short range thin laser that deals heavy damage and can pierce multiple enemies. The charge-up attack is a forward-firing spread of yellow and purple shock rings.


 * Homing missiles – This small missiles will actively seek enemies. The charge-up attack shows the missile launcher becoming quite large and many more missiles are launched simultaneously.


 * Boomerangs – This weapon is several boomerangs that are fired linearly. The boomerangs travel approximately 2/3 of the screen before returning backward. They return, keeping on the same line as their initial launch trajectory, not back to Zonk. The charge-up attack is a wide three-pronged attack of large yellow projectiles, which do not return back.


 * Fake powerup – Like in the Bonk series of games, there are power-ups that are actually enemies in disguise. The fake powerups, designated by a blue coloring, will attack if the container is opened. The resulting enemies can absorb a surprisingly moderate amount of damage.

"Friends"
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 projecticle. 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.

After the invulnerability wears off, the hybrid will be able to absorb three hits before reverting back to whichever weapon mode was in before the combination took place. In hybrid attack mode, Air Zonk cannot perform the melee foot-jet attack, charge up attacks, or utilize other weapons.


 * BOB (BALL in Japanese): A baseball with some attitude.


 * Scud: A large missile named after the weapons system.


 * Power Dump: A green dump truck with only two wheels.


 * Bubblican: A Magician gumball machine; a portmanteau of "Bubble" and "Magician".


 * Spike Ree: A red and orange man with a spikey head.


 * Ripp: A small dog-like creature who has one eyeball inside of his mouth.


 * Mumbles: A female mummy with a large drill-bit for her head.


 * Astra: A small female magician holding a crystal ball with wings attached to her head. Her name refers to astrology.


 * Moo Moo: A cross between a cow and a puffer fish which has no legs but only udders.


 * Tojo: A portmanteau of "Toto" and "Dojo", this is a little dog that looks like a traditional Japanese Building.

Stages and bosses
Sub-boss - Red Anthropomorphic Battleship End-boss - Blue Anthropomorphic Battleship with a magnet
 * Stage 1: TOXY CITY-

Sub-boss - 3-Floor Flying Building with a different snake coming out from each floor End-boss - Bouncing Black Trash Bag/Trash Monster
 * Stage 2: CYBER CITY-

Sub-boss - Robotic Hornet End-boss - Football Robotic Hornet with Snakes/Football halves
 * Stage 3: ROCKIN' STADIUM-

Sub-boss - Mechanical Sea Creature End-boss - Bubble Flower/Flower Satellite
 * Stage 4: DEEP BLUE-

Sub-boss - King Drool's 2 Cronies/4 previous stage bosses End-boss - King Drool/Grand Droolbot
 * Stage 5:

Trivia

 * Unlike most TG16 games, it did not come with a jewel case. Instead, it was packaged within a cardboard box with a plastic insert.


 * The name "Zonk" was found as part of a contest held by Turbo Technologies Inc. It was advertised in a mid 1992 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. The winner of the contest, a young American girl, received a grand prize of TTI products for naming Bonk's descendant.


 * The game's original title while in development was "Bonk's Thunder Shooting", but it was officially titled "Air Zonk".

External link

 * Original text from Wikipedia
 * Air Zonk at the Virtual Console Archive