Hidden Gems: Dragon's Curse

Dragon's Curse

is a cute cartoony action adventure game released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16
It's quite a unique game for it's time due to the features and it's one of my favourite Retro Games.

You'll be exploring Deserts and all-sorts

You begin the game at the end of the previous Wonder Boy game (Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair)
with the best equipment you can get, you head towards the final boss' lair and defeat him,
then a flame appears from his body and curses you, transforming you into a Lizard-Man.
The story of the game is to travel the land, destroy the evil dragons and regain your human form.
As you destroy each dragon he curses you into a new form, each having their own abilities,
later on in the game you can resume old forms to solve later puzzles.

The first thing you'll notice about the game is it's bright, cheery, cartoony graphics and it's similar upbeat music, it's stuff like this in a game that I like and it was the reason I went for this game in the first place.

All the forms you take in Dragon's Curse

It's quite a simple Side-scrolling Action game on the surface but has some cool RPG elements beneath all of that. It's pretty similar to Zelda II, except without the annoying new screen for every enemy you bump into and without the Top-Down Overworld exploration.
For example, while there's no experience/level system, you power up by buying Armour, shields and swords which boost your AP (Attack Power), DP (Defense Power) and CP (Charisma Points)
Attack and Defence Power is pretty much typical and need no explanation, however, the Charisma Points system is quite a unique addition to this game.



The items that the Shopkeepers sell you depends entirely on Charisma points,
if you don't have a high enough charisma then they wont sell you a certain item.
Your Charisma points depend on your form and the armour you're wearing, so you're gonna wanna
wear your sharpest get-up if you wanna buy that Crystal Blade.

In my opinion, this game is a highly addictive, fun and interesting game that everyone (with a little patience)
can enjoy. But don't be fooled by it's child-like appearance, this game gets HARD later on.

Toku-R

Hidden Gems: Bonk's Adventure

Bonk's Adventure is a platform game released on the TurboGrafx-16 in 1990,

Set in prehistoric times, dinosaurs wearing propeller caps and shades rule the earth...naturally.
It's about a boy-caveman with an abnormally large noggin called Bonk.
He attacks by 'bonking' enemies with his head, either headbutting or doing an aerial slam with it.
The 'Power Mushrooms' of the game are hunks of Meat, you eat one, steam'll burst from Bonk's ears and he'll get mad, momentarily freezing enemies if he does a head stomp, eat another and he'll turn invincible charging through everything in sight and will freeze enemies for much longer.

You play through 5 worlds, each containing various amounts of levels, to beat King Drool (A large green dinosaur) and rescue Princess Za (a cute pink plesiosaurus)

So all in all a storyline that everyone will be familiar with.

It's an easy enough game to get to grips with, simple to get through, and in general very fun

the levels are bright, colourful, vivid and most, creative (one level has you going through a dinosaurs insides!)

Others though are pretty stereotypical for prehistoric times, (jungles, caves and savannas)

but this doesn't mean to say that they aren't great looking levels!

The music, in my opinion, is absolutely fantastic.
They suit the levels and feel of the game perfectly and are very memorable,
one of my personal favourites is the Swamp theme, which I am listening to now actually!
It's always a pleasure to listen to and sometimes I stop in the middle of the game just to listen to it.

At the end of every world there's a cool looking Dino-bones elevator that takes you to a boss stage (music kicks ass there too!)
The bosses are all Dinosaurs full of character that have been brainwashed by King Drool via an egg shell on their head, the main idea is the same, keep smashing their head till the shell and the spell breaks.
After the fight, you have a little cutscene where the brainwashed Dino introduces himself and thanks you for breaking Drool's hold over them it's pretty cool.

Wrapping things up Bonk's Adventure is an awesome game that was sadly ignored because people at the time were fussing over Mario and Sonic instead, so to you people that bought Bonk when it originally came out.. I bet you got hours of enjoyment outta the game!
Bonk went on to have many sequels (which I may review in the future)
and a couple of Spinoffs (which I may buy in the future)
I'm not surprised at all, because after beating this wonderful game, you'll be hungry for lots more!