Bonkheads

Bonkheads or Grag And Thog Bonkheads is a 2D platform computer game first published and developed in 1996 by 1AM Productions. It was re-released by Aspyr as Bonkheads Deluxe for the Mac OS, Windows and Linux. In the game, the player must rid of pests in 139 levels that comprise the game world. The player can play the role of Grag, or have a partner join the game as Thog. Bonkheads was only moderately successful, and was said by some fans to be underrated.
Gameplay
Using the direction keys on the keyboard, the player controls their character, moving left, right and jumping using the respective keys (press the left-arrow to walk left, right-arrow to walk right, space bar to jump). In each level there are a number of platforms, with each level having a different layout and number of platforms.
Different platforms and levels have different attributes. For example, metal platforms are un-'bumpable', and underwater areas let the character jump higher and with a longer duration.
The goal of the game is to get rid of all the pests. Throughout the levels, 9 different kinds of pests (bulldogs, raccoons, bees, cobras, demons, rats, spiders, bats, and baby raptors) fall from the top of the screen on the top platform. They begin to walk on the platforms. Whenever a pet reaches the end of a platform, it falls to the platform underneath it. When an enemy reaches the bottom-side of the screen it reappears at the top again, the only difference being it walks a little faster. Getting rid of a pest is done by bonking the pest - jumping and hitting the platform that the pest is walking on. This knocks out the pest for a few moments. During that time, the player can swipe the pest off the screen by running through it. When there are no more pests on the screen, the player wins and advances to the next level.
There are giant bosses throughout the game including Shrew-Man-Chew, T. Wrecks and D. Evil (a play on devil). Defeating bosses (like Shrew-Man-Chew, a giant shrew with vaguely human-like/molelike features), is usually done by bonking the boss a number of times.
There are also a number of powerups (i.e. faster speed) and TNT boxes which help the player advance. The mentioned are triggered by bumping a platform or TNT box, of which, in the case of the former, a powerup will appear on top of, and the latter, an explosion will occur which flips all pests on the screen over.
When the player finishes all the worlds, Huntho advises that you must go back to Waterville. After that, you go back to all of the previous worlds you visited (but in a completely different order), and beat all the bosses again. Finally, after Grag finishes all 139 levels, the game ends.
Worlds (a further division of levels):
Surfaceville
Ancientville
Waterville
Mudville
Subterraneanville
Trollsville (The trolls` destination)
Hellville
Oilville
Stoneville
Moltenville
Iceville
Additional Information
Bonkheads was made by Jason Tartaglia and Jason Malcolm. They are the founders of 1AM productions.
There was a demo version of the game released as shareware.
Similarity to Mario Bros.
The game is similar to the video game Mario Bros., in which both games involve hitting a creature from below it and running through it. Both games also have a box in the middle that kills all of the enemies, a POW box in Mario Bros., and a TNT box in Bonkheads.
External links and references
* Bonkheads website
* gameDB - Bonkheads Deluxe
* Le Grenier du Mac - Bonkheads
* Bonkheads at Macintosh Garden
 
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