This is GTV! Truly Historic!
Oh the wonderful world of localization! The “art” of taking a video game, or a movie
or an album or a book, and moving it from one region to another,
while along the way, altering it in certain ways to make the audience in the new region
better understand or appreciate said game, movie album or book.
In the gaming world this has been going on since nearly the beginning, especially in
brining games from Japan to The West. Naturally the language gets changed, but so often too,
does the title, character designs and even sometimes the music! Some of the more famous
examples are Doki Doki Panic became Super Mario Bros 2. Kato Chan and Ken Chan became JJ and Jeff.
Kamen no ninja hanamaru became Yo Noid! Majin Eiyuu Den Wataru became Keith Courage,
Dragon Slayer IV, The Dra-Slay Family become Legacy of the Wizard. There are
different versions of Nintendo Ice Hockey too, and I could go on and and on (and on and on) I
made a few videos about these already, but just the ones that were interesting.
But a certain game series never really gets mentioned on this
list. Even though it was fairly popular, it doesn’t get this kind of localization scrutiny.
A game series and character that has had More names
and different versions than any other character ever!
That’s this guy! To keep it simple we will just call him Bonk,
though that is just one of his many names! Sit back and let’s relive the
history of the many names of Bonk! A story one million and 30 years in the making.
Our story begins in 1989 when Hudson Soft released the first Bonk game for the Japanese PC Engine,
known in America, but not by many, as the TurboGrafx 16. But here’s where you have to
follow closely because in Japan, this character was not called Bonk. He was
known as PC Genjin PC原人. A play on the name of the hardware he was made for. PC Engine.
The PC in PC Genjin stands for Pithecanthropus Computerus. This is the Latin Binomial, that is,
a universal name given to all living organisms that is recognized by the scientists
worldwide. When reading a binomial, the first word refers to the GENUS that
organism belongs to and the second name is the SPECIES that organism belongs to.
Easy to understand examples are Tyrannosaurus Rex or Felis Domesticus while humans are known
as Homo Sapiens. The Japanese word Genjin means in a scientific sense Homo Erectus,
which also known as Pithecanthropus, and loosely can refer to any primitive man.
So the whole name PC Genjin would mean, loosely, computerized caveman.
In the game, the name PC Genjin also refers to Bonk in his normal state, by which I mean without
any powerups. If Bonk eats different kinds of meat found in the game, he will power up. As it’s
pointed out in the instruction manual of the game, his name changes with each step. The first step,
gained by eating a small meat, gives him the name PC En-Jinn 猿人 meaning, literally a monkey
man. Eating a second small meat or just one big one changes Bonk again and then he is known as
PC Henjin 変人 meaning, loosely, a weirdo. And I mean just look at him! It’s weird.
Jump ahead to the next year, 1990 and PC Genjin comes America.
Except in America the PC Engine is called the Turbo Grafx 16.
To keep it simple and catchy with just the right dose of early 90s ‘tude PC Genjin was
renamed Bonk! It really is the best name to have as it lets the player at home
easily connect to the game’s core gameplay mechanic: literally bonking your head on things
to get through the level. It’s also short, catchy, easy to remember and fits well on a
poster. As a side note the dictionary states the the word Bonk entered the English language in the
early 1930s. I’d like to hope deep down it came from the Three Stooges, but I cant prove that!
Then came PC Genjin 2, known in English as Bonk’s revenge.
Something strange happened along the way because the Japanese instructions in the first game
call the bonk move a head butt. By the time the next game came around the move was called a BONK
in Japanese! And the name Bonk can be seen written on the walls of the game, in some places.
Its also coincidental that the term GRAFX was brought into Japan, as the PC Engine,
at least the main unit that plays H U Cards was renamed the CORE GRAFX and later CORE GRAFX 2.
Taking the name from the English Turbo GRAFX after the release of the CD ROM2 peripheral..
Yea Super Grafx too. Never forget!
Anyway In PC Genjin 2, Bonk has 2 different names for his power ups, PC 美人 (bi Jin) or beautiful
person and PC 噴人 (funjinn) loosely meaning an eruptive person as Bonk spews fire with this
power up, like a volcano. These names would be used in PC Genjin 3 / Bonk 3 as well. The size
up and size down from Bonk eating candy gives the names 大原人 Dai Genjin or giant caveman when big,
and マメ原人 mame Genjin or Bean Man when small. There’s also Kani Genjin when you’re a crab.
What came after that was, in those days an unusual event as Bonk moved to Europe as
Bonks Adventure was released for the Amiga Computer, in 1992 where he was given the name
B C Kid! B.C. of course meaning the era before Christ was born.
Now the Turbo Grafx was released in Europe, though just barely. NEC just never shipped more than a
handful in 1989, and it appears Bonk was never formally released there! So while they did have a
perfectly workable name, though nothing to connect it to, they chose BC Kid for whatever reason.
He still retained the Latin binomial Pithecanthropus Computerus though!
That’s all for the original set of games, but we’re just getting started!
More to come after this!
In 1992 Bonk appeared on the GameBoy for the first time! The PC Engine was
firing on all cylinders in Japan and limping along in America, but as Hudson Soft wasn't
solely a first or third party maker, they just kind of did whatever! And moving to
the GameBoy opened up Bonk to a whole new audience. Particularly outside of Japan.
The American game title stayed the same
Bonk's Adventure, as did Europe with BC Kid. For Japan it was changed to GB Genjin!
The GB was never explained further But with his powered up state he, again, gains new nicknames.
Eat a small meat and GB Genjin becomes GB 岩人 (ガンジン) a stone man
Reach full power with two small meats or one big one
and he becomes GB 叫人 (kyoujin) which means a yelling person. In Bonks Adventure for GameBoy,
Bonk can use his voice as an attack when in a powered up state. Wow!
There’s also カメ原人 (Kame Jin) or turtle man where Bonk morphs into a turtle with a protective shell.
In Bonks Revenge for GameBoy, aka PC Genjin 2 there are FOUR MORE! Naming
variations based on power ups. In this game, the power ups are not based on a level system
but a roulette wheel based on luck. You can gain one of the following abilities.
GB 達人 (tastu Jin ) or Master which gives Bonk double speed and power.
GB 盗人 (tou jin) or thief. Where Bonk is dressed as a thief when in this state. Also note that
the costume is different in Japan and elsewhere!
GB 食人 (shokujin). Literally this means cannibal! In English this mode was referred as Hungry Bonk,
which now that you know he was called a cannibal in Japan, makes for a good laugh.
There’s also a power down. GB 怪我人 (kegajinn) which means injured person. If you lose a
bonus stage battle against mecha Genjin, you’ll be powered down and take double damage there after.
There was a third PC Genjin game released between 1 and 2 called
GB Genjin Land. Viva Chikkun Kingdom, which was a mini game collection that had no power ups,
surprisingly. All three of these games were sold together as a set later on,
the games came in a box like a package of bandaids. How cute!
Bonk also made an appearance on the NES as a scaled down, 8-bit version of Bonk’s
Adventure appeared in 1993. I emphasis 8-bit as the PC Engine was 16-bit and I’ll hear no
disagreement about it! In Japan Bonk was called FC Genjin. FC Being short for the Family Computer,
as Nintendo never did actually call it a Famicom, if you’ll recall from a previous video.
Beyond Family Computer, The FC Actually stood for two things.
In the game FC stands for Freakthoporus Computerus. Though on the box it stands for
Friendthoporus Computerus. So I guess he's your friend and he's a freak as well!
There’s still more as Bonk had his own spinoff shooting game, in 1992, known in America as
Air Zonk. The plot of which involves Zonk and and his friends setting out to stop The robot Army of
King Drool III. If you’re really digging deep for game trivia, the game takes places on April 4th,
2999. So be sure to commemorate it when the time comes around. In Japan, Hudson kept the
funny names rolling and called Zonk “PC Denjin” This time the PC means Punkic Cyborg, even though
they pronounce Punkic as Panic in Japanese, both work! He is after all a robot who moves
at a frenzied pace, which is what PANIC actually means in Japanese, and he and his friends are a
bit punky, what with his lightning bolt mohawk and all. Denjin means, literally, electric man.
Really though it’s even more layered than that because the Punkic Cyborgs is the name of the
group of robots you play in the game, with Zonk being called GENHEAD! A portmanteau of Genjin and
Gunhead. That was an anime film released around this time which Zonk is kind of a loose parody of.
In America Zonk got his name through a contest held by TTi, though behind the scenes,
they had already had the name picked out and just assumed someone else would come up with the name,
so they held a giveaway to choose the name of this new character and gave the the prize,
probably a copy of the game to first person who submitted Zonk as a name.
Air Zonk was followed up with Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly Paradise in 1993 for
the Turbo Grafx Super CD Rom2 aka Turbo Duo or as it was known then,
The Duo. It was a wholly different game and not just a CD remake, as a few games were
back in those days. Super Air Zonk was given the name CD Denjin in Japan. To show off the
game being on a CD Rom2, even though in the ending テーマ he’s still called a Punkic Cyborg
That’s the end of the second phase of Bonks evolution, but there’s more to come after this!
After the PC Engine series of games came to an end, Bonk moved to the Super Famicom with a pair
of games, in 1994 and 1995. Known in America as Super Bonk, and In Europe Super BC Kid.
In Japan though Bonk was called CHO Genjin. Cho basically has the same meaning as Super,
and since every Super Famicom and Super NES game had to have Super tacked on to the title,
CHO Genjin makes for a pretty good name! Actually there were only 187 games out
of 1,758 for the Super NES and Super Famicom that had Super in the title, or about 10.63%
But it sure felt closer to 90 or 95% back then, didn’t it?
Anyway Cho Genjin adds two more nicknames based on power ups. Gorugo ゴルゴ原人 Genjin which give Bonk the
eyebrows of Golgo 13, and ニョッヘ原人 Nyohhe Genjin! Another manga reference, but one so obscure,
nobody will ever get it. Basically Nyohhe Fukuda is a character in a long forgotten
manga series and it was about a pop singer who was crazy, or something... with no power
up Bonk is called 普通原人(Futsuu Genjin) or normal caveman, an ironic pun on the game being “Super.”
In Cho Genjin 2 these power ups come along for the ride, but
even more crazy ones! There’s げしげし原人 geshi is a type of water insect.
ゾンビー原人 Zombie Genjin, that’s pretty self explanatory
as is カメレオン原人 Chameleon Genjin. Another animal variation is モグラ原人 Mogura Genjin,
which Turns Bonk into a mole. And the best power up of the game キンタマ原人 which turns Bonk
into King Drool! The main antagonist of the series who in japan was called King Tamago.
Like oh so many games and characters of this era, when the world went 3-D,
Bonk fell off the map and went into hiding for a while, until it was decided 2-D was
cool again! Actually it was just the posers deciding that, we always knew it was cool!
But Bonk did have a comeback in 2003 with a remade game for PlayStation 2 and GameCube.
Bonk kept his original name of PC Genjin, thankfully saving everyone’s sanity. But with one
game being on the Game Cube the game just calls out to be titled GC Genjin! Gamecuburus Genjin!
I mean come on! Though there’s also the fact that Game Cube games were sometimes catalogues as GCN,
so I’m told, I never actually had one. So GCN-Jin would have also been a nice
fit. As for the other game, PS2 Genjin is kind of a stretch. I guess lower
budget remakes don’t have to money to hire someone to come up with something clever.
Did you know there were Bonk games that never made it to the store?
Yeah, a few! The most famous one was known, unofficially as Bonk 4. The game was
only shown a few times in game magazines in 1992, despite Bonk 3 not being out until 1993,
and it wasn’t going to be your standard Bonk game either. It was going to be an RPG! Probably the
coolest idea for an RPG that we will never get to play. In Japan the working title was RPC Genjin,
with RP meaning Role Play. I think some places may have called it RPG Genjin, which also makes sense.
Since it never saw the light of day, I guess it doesn’t matter what you call it.
There was an attempt to put Bonk on the N64 but before it even became anything it was
turned into Bomberman, that’s just to quiet the super nit pickers, it also doesn’t really matter.
But Then there was Bonk’s big comeback. Nooooo not Bonk’s Return for old style push button
cellphones from 2006, I mean Bonk: Brink of Extinction. For PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360
in 2010. This game was finished enough to show off but never made it to stores.
As it never saw official release we’ll never know what they’d’ve called it in japan.
But with weird new power ups, I’m sure they would’ve had fun with it.
But despite all these different names across regions and hardware,
Hudson did one thing from the start that was brilliant! Maybe they knew it all along from the
start this game would get put the localization wringer. And that is wether you call him Bonk
or PC Genjin or whatever else you want. He is known world wide by his Latin Binomial:
Pithecanthropus Computerus. Which as I said at the start of this is how those in scientific circles
understand each other and can cross language barriers. For that Hudson and RED, we thank you!
Now that you know more about Bonk, and his history of aliases, why not go out and play the games?
Thankfully the inheritor of Hudson Soft’s legacy, Konami
saw fit to release a mini machine that plays Bonk and lots of other great games,
available from March 19, 2020, it’s known as the PC Engine Mini in Japan,
TurboGrafx 16 Mini in the US and Core Grafx Mini in Europe! Way to keep it real!