Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A playthrough of TTi's 1992 shoot 'em up for the TurboGrafx-16, Air Zonk.
Played on the "spicy" difficulty.
Air Zonk, a spin-off of the Bonk series, is a console-exclusive shooter from Red Company that fell between the releases of Bonk's Revenge and Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure.
Set in the distant future, Bonk's titular cyborg reincarnation takes off on a rocket-fueled adventure to bring down Sandrovich, the mechanized descendant of his ancestor's arch-nemesis, the evil King Drool.
Fun side note: the Japanese name for the mainline Bonk series, PC原人 (PC Genjin, lit. "PC Caveman"), is a clever wordplay on the name of the PC Engine console. Air Zonk follows this convention, with the Japanese version being named PC電人 (PC Denjin, "PC Electric Man").
The game is a fast-paced, (most of the time) horizontally-scrolling shooter that plays out over the course of five stages. Zonk starts out with a standard forward-firing cannon, rear-firing rocket thrusters, and an unlimited supply of screen clearing bombs, but he can upgrade his arsenal in several ways. He can shrink to half his normal size for easier navigation in tight spots, or he can swap out his primary gun for things like streaming lasers, heat-seeking missiles, boomeranging scissor blades, spreadshots of playing cards, and bladed boxing gloves that blast through obstacles unimpeded. He can also summon a friend who'll provide cover fire, and if he collects enough smiley faces, he can merge with his friend to further beef-up his firepower and temporarily become invincible.
It's a very tongue-in-cheek take on the genre, and the tone fits the Bonk universe like a glove. The enemies retain all of the personality that made their platforming counterparts so endearing, the selection of buddies and weapons are as useful as they are absurd, and it's hilarious that way Zonk strains before dropping a "bomb" that blasts the entire playfield. (In the Japanese version, the bomb is a poo.)
As you'd expect from the creators of youtu.be/fGoloG3NQqQ, the game is a real showpiece for the hardware. The sprites are huge, the colors are hyper vivid, the animation is smooth, and the characters and bullets never get lost in the chaos. There's a fair amount of sprite flicker and slowdown, but that's to be expected when the screen is regularly flooded with explosions, and they rarely interfere with the gameplay. The controls are tight, the challenge scales nicely between difficulty levels, and the ever-changing enemy formations and firing patterns are good at keeping you on your toes. The audio also deserves a major shout-out: Air Zonk's high-energy, hook-laden chiptune soundtrack stands out as one of the best of its era.
Air Zonk is one of the small handful shooters I find myself going back to year after year, and it's one of my favorite titles on the TurboGrafx-16. If you're into quality shmups and kickass PSG music, and you have a sense of humor, check it out!
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
A playthrough of TTi's 1992 shoot 'em up for the TurboGrafx-16, Air Zonk.
Played on the "spicy" difficulty.
Air Zonk, a spin-off of the Bonk series, is a console-exclusive shooter from Red Company that fell between the releases of Bonk's Revenge and Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure.
Set in the distant future, Bonk's titular cyborg reincarnation takes off on a rocket-fueled adventure to bring down Sandrovich, the mechanized descendant of his ancestor's arch-nemesis, the evil King Drool.
Fun side note: the Japanese name for the mainline Bonk series, PC原人 (PC Genjin, lit. "PC Caveman"), is a clever wordplay on the name of the PC Engine console. Air Zonk follows this convention, with the Japanese version being named PC電人 (PC Denjin, "PC Electric Man").
The game is a fast-paced, (most of the time) horizontally-scrolling shooter that plays out over the course of five stages. Zonk starts out with a standard forward-firing cannon, rear-firing rocket thrusters, and an unlimited supply of screen clearing bombs, but he can upgrade his arsenal in several ways. He can shrink to half his normal size for easier navigation in tight spots, or he can swap out his primary gun for things like streaming lasers, heat-seeking missiles, boomeranging scissor blades, spreadshots of playing cards, and bladed boxing gloves that blast through obstacles unimpeded. He can also summon a friend who'll provide cover fire, and if he collects enough smiley faces, he can merge with his friend to further beef-up his firepower and temporarily become invincible.
It's a very tongue-in-cheek take on the genre, and the tone fits the Bonk universe like a glove. The enemies retain all of the personality that made their platforming counterparts so endearing, the selection of buddies and weapons are as useful as they are absurd, and it's hilarious that way Zonk strains before dropping a "bomb" that blasts the entire playfield. (In the Japanese version, the bomb is a poo.)
As you'd expect from the creators of youtu.be/fGoloG3NQqQ, the game is a real showpiece for the hardware. The sprites are huge, the colors are hyper vivid, the animation is smooth, and the characters and bullets never get lost in the chaos. There's a fair amount of sprite flicker and slowdown, but that's to be expected when the screen is regularly flooded with explosions, and they rarely interfere with the gameplay. The controls are tight, the challenge scales nicely between difficulty levels, and the ever-changing enemy formations and firing patterns are good at keeping you on your toes. The audio also deserves a major shout-out: Air Zonk's high-energy, hook-laden chiptune soundtrack stands out as one of the best of its era.
Air Zonk is one of the small handful shooters I find myself going back to year after year, and it's one of my favorite titles on the TurboGrafx-16. If you're into quality shmups and kickass PSG music, and you have a sense of humor, check it out!
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
![Shining Force III (Saturn) Playthrough [3 of 3]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QXOo3_eBfxw/mqdefault.jpg "Shining Force III (Saturn) Playthrough [3 of 3]
A playthrough of Segas 1998 strategy-RPG for the Sega Saturn, Shining Force III.
This is the final part of a three-part playthrough, showing from the beginning of chapter six through the ending.
Links to the other parts:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/XnPdZvZJIrg
Part 2: https://youtu.be/lxAoyO-gOoI
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!")
