Bonze Adventure brings cutesy hell to Arcade Archives

Back like a Bat Outta Hell

This week’s Arcade Archives addition is a real forgotten gem, and sees Hamster reach well into the past to deliver Taito’s unique and mythical platformer Bonze Adventure to PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Originally released to the arcade market in 1989, before later finding fame in a successful PC Engine port, Bonze Adventure, (or Jigoku Meguri in its native Japan), sees a Buddist monk venture into the bowels of the underworld itself in order to confront its monarch, King Emma, who has gone a little bit doolally and has thus lost control of Hell’s denizens, which are escaping into the human realm.

Check out the action in the video below, from no less than Hamster Corporation itself.

The surprisingly holy adventure sees Bonze venture through Emma’s domain, defending himself with powered Buddist “Mala” beads, and warding off an array of demons, monsters, ghosts, spiders, and other creepy enemies and he picks his ways through a variety of glum, but strangely cute, environments. Several powerups can be gathered, and help is occasionally provided by an arriving Deva. A neat mechanic sees time represented by a series of melting candles. Despite its success, both in arcades and on the PC Engine, Bonze Adventure would fall into relative obscurity, not receiving any sequels.

Bonze Adventure is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8.