B. C. Kid
| Developer: Factor 5 | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Ubi Soft | Sound: |
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| Year: 1992 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Platformer | Replay value: |
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| Number of players: 1 | My overall rating: |
7/10 |
B. C. Kid, also known as PC Kid, the Kid from the "PC Engine", an old Japanese 8 bit console not well known in France. So this is a port from one of its flagship games, a sort of mix between Baby Jo and Chuck Rock (both released later on).
This title is the result of a succession of muddy puns :
In Japan, the first game was called PC-Genjin (prehistoric man, released in 1989), a pun on the console name and the acronym "Pithecanthropus Erectus" (Homo Erectus) diverted into "Pithecanthropus Computerurus". Funny huh?
And this little acronym was changed when the game was ported on other platforms (FC Genjin on Famicom (Nes), GB Genjin ob Game Boy).
In Europe, it was translated PC Kid on PC Engine and arcade, then B.C. Kid (Before Christ Kid, to keep the idea of prehistory, right?) on other consoles and Amiga.
Americans though, chose to rename them all simply: Bonk's Adventure.
So the hero, Bonk, is a Cro-Magnon baby who uses his oversized head to defeat hordes of dinos and save princess Whatsit, kidnapped by Bowser's cousin . . . I think.
Basically, all you have to do is head-butt everything in sight.
The levels are fairly diverse, with a great atmosphere and a touch of humor. I liked for example, that when we aim a bit short while jumping over a precipice, our character bites the cliff edge.
The difficulty starts low, take the opportunity to collect extra lives since the last worlds are much more demanding (they remind me a bit of Mega Man, with a concentration of enemies coming from every directions).
The game supports controllers with 2 buttons, which is appreciable. By cons, no save, no passwords, and only the arcade version has a two players option.
Places to download:
 Amiga Chapter.One
 Emuparadise
Planet Emulation
The Game Archives
The Old Computer
Other sites of interest:
The Bonk Compendium
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