Bonanza Bros was originally an arcade-game and has been adapted without any major loss to the plot and game play.
Bonanza Bros on the Master System is a particularly good example of what the MS can do if it is programmed properly. There is very little to fault with this game. The only thing I can think of that could have been done better is perhaps the number of traps and the method of shooting. This is a bit simplistic. It is really no challenge to shoot down the offenders - particularly in the early stages. Of course, the further up you go, the more the offenders and the less they stay down! Now for the good points...
The game consists of a series of multilayer buildings; a bank, a mansion, a Casino, a mint... anywhere where you can find loot. Such is the nature of the brothers Bonanza: Robo and Mobo.
You have the choice of a number of options of time and sounds before you begin. Once you're there, you'll see that the game is full of crisp 3-D graphics with absolutely no sprite flicker. This is sometimes a problem on MS games - if they have been poorly designed, the sprites appear unstable. Not so with this little gem I assure you.
Of particular note, is the use of digitised speech, really pushing that 8-bit processor to the max. It's quite a complicated matter to produce this kind of sound - requiring analogue to digital conversion and a lot of memory capacity. It's good to see the MS being used properly by a competent designer. The music is very good - not such a great variety, but well designed.
The best thing about this game though: is it's witty. The whole idea is clever and the way the characters act is like an old Laurel and Hardy or Keystone Cops movie.
Bonanza Bros was originally an arcade-game and has been adapted without any major loss to the plot and game play. Definitely one of the best.
Brian Costelloe
As printed in Megazone magazine Feb/ Mar ‘92