DEVELOPER Q&A
ORIGINAL DESIGNER MANABU KUSUNOKI TELLS US HOW HE ILLUSTRATED AND STYLED THE BONANZA BROS WORLD
What inspired you to create the unique look and feel of Bonanza Bros? While action games with realistic life-size drawings and powerful racing games were gaining popularity, I wanted to create a completely different impact. I remember thinking that computer graphics could be a kind of art material, and I wondered if it would be possible to create pictures featuring unique colours and textures through trial and error. I also wanted to create something easy-going and silly, in contrast to the serious atmosphere of many games.
How did you and your colleagues work together on the visual design, gameplay and character animations? The basic game design, such as the characters’ actions and gestures, was done by the planner at the time, and I thought about how to express them in a way that was easy to understand and interesting. The team was very small, and I think we were able to communicate effectively. The team’s goal for the production was to create the atmosphere of The Drifters, a Japanese comedy group I used to watch on TV when I was a child.
Did working with the System 24 arcade board pose any challenges? I remember that the colouring in System 24 was different from the colouring we had been used to at work, and I had a hard time adjusting it until I got the picture as I intended.
How does it feel to see Bonanza Bros made available for so many different systems, including modern platforms? I am still happy that we were able to transmit unique graphics that did not have many parallels at the time, and that they were accepted. It also gives me a unique feeling that thanks to home videogame machines and mini-hardware, people who were not even born during the arcade era have the opportunity to play these games.
Manabu Kusunoki now works alongside other prestigious Sega alumni at the game development company Arzest. Our thanks to him and to Arzest for their time.
words of encouragement for any reluctant players who might find the concept unusual or not fast-paced enough, suggesting “try it out – you’re only gambling 20p”.
Bonanza Bros certainly brought something very different to the arcade. On home computers the nearest point of comparison was perhaps Keystone Capers, Activision’s 1983 game for the Atari 2600, which featured cruder but somewhat similar yellow characters running across layers of a building in a cops-and-robbers chase. The persistently split-screen framing of the action in Bonanza Bros and the emphasis on multiplayer has also drawn comparisons to Spy Vs Spy for the Commodore 64.
Despite such comparisons, Bonanza Bros was undoubtedly out there doing its own thing. The game was unsurprisingly successful enough in the arcade that Sega quickly chose to pursue home conversions for the Master System and Mega Drive. The company also licensed US Gold to publish versions for 8-bit computers, and also the Amiga and the Atari ST. The size of the game was reduced from twelve to ten levels for these conversions, but otherwise they were remarkably faithful to the coin-op game and in some cases built on it. Gamers in Japan were also able to play versions for the PC Engine and the Sharp X68000.
In recent years, the re-releases of Bonanza Bros have just kept on coming. The game arrived on Playstation and Xbox consoles through various Mega Drive compilations, as well as the Nintendo Wii and two miniconsoles, the Mega Drive Mini 2 and the Astro City Mini. Not content with staying within their own game, Robo and Mobo also made a guest appearance in Sonic And Sega All-stars Racing as unlockable and playable kart racers. On top of this, from 1992 onwards three arcade spinoffs were released by Sega under the Puzzle & Action banner, putting a minigame spin on the
Bonanza Bros universe. And then in a move that certainly fits well with the casino level of the original game, in 2009, the company Aristocrat partnered with Sega to release a
Bonanza Bros slot machine.
The repeated resurfacing of Bonanza Bros for new audiences really shows the lasting charm and appeal of the game and its characters.
With such a long record of sneaking their way onto different platforms and compilations, we wouldn’t be surprised if Robo and Mobo aren’t tempted out of retirement at some point in the future for one more heist.
“I AM STILL HAPPY THAT WE WERE ABLE TO TRANSMIT UNIQUE GRAPHICS THAT DID NOT HAVE MANY PARALLELS” MANABU KUSUNOKI