Bonanza Bros. Co-Op Gaming Partners in Crime

And they say crime doesn't pay

When people think of the older days of a big video game company like say a Nintendo, they likely might go all the way back with the start of the moment and think about the face that put Nintendo on the map in Super Mario Bros. Yes, Nintendo had done a few video games before the red plumber, but it was the Nintendo Entertainment System’s Super Mario Bros. is what made Nintendo a house hold name in every kid’s living room. Their 90s rival company in Sega would reach similar heights with the debut of the high speed Sonic The Hedgehog. However unlike Nintendo having not much of footprint into video games maybe besides something like arcade Donkey Kong and a few other titles, Sega had a few handful of arcade classics themselves. Heck they even had the Sega Master system before they found massive success with the Sega Genesis, The Master System of course did not reach the popularity as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Sega would find their Micky Mouse in Sonic, however I think this gives the misconception that Sega really didn’t do much of note before 1991, the year Sonic The Hedgehog was released. It’s a shame because there’s some good old school arcade style hits from Sega in its life before Sonic. The early days of the Sega Genesis before Sonic had a few hits such as Altered Beast, a fantasy 2D beat em up, Super Hang-On, a motorcycle racing game, and Columns, a puzzle game that was Sega’s answer to the insanely popularity of Tetris. I personally kind of like Columns more than Tetris, but I know I’m in a very small group of people to say that, but Columns might be a tale for another day.

There is however one game I feel like really did get overshadowed because of the timing of things and Sega not being a super mainstay in gaming. That being a little arcade game that would soon get ported over to the Sega Master System and Sega Genesis know as Bonanza Bros. The Sega Genesis version is the one I played the most so my focus will be on that port.

Bonanza Bros is an arcade 2D side scroller style game where you play as the Bonanza Brothers, two guys who are masters of the art of robbing and stealing rare items and making their get away, all with the goal to not get caught by the police and to steal valuable items for points, all within a 3 minute time limit. This also includes not just getting rare and valuable items, but making an escape route and get a way on an air ship as well. You have a gun that you can use but the bullets but the shots are slow at times and will only get you so far. Come on you thought you can just run and gun your way in this game? It’s a little more complicated than just that. You’ll need more than firepower to get past the wall of guards and swat teams out to arrest you. Also you can’t just shoot your way out of everything as most guards might have shields that will block your bullets, so you have to use your head and take advantage of the environment around you to get pass. You can also use object in the room to hide for cover and use corners, doors, and walls to sneak into places into your advantage. You can even set up traps and use doors to knock out security guards for a short while. There’s a balance of speed and stealth if you want to be a master of the heist. When you pick up a rare item of interests, you’ll hear the player make a “WHAA HA HAA!” voice that just screams you getting away with the perfect crime. It’s the little things sometimes.

What makes Bonanza Bros. so different and for its time is the game in fact has a major focus on co-op play, after all there are TWO brothers. That means you and a friend need to team up and order to make the perfect getaway. Rarely in this era of gaming you’d get to play something where you had to work together as a team to achieve a goal. Bonanza Bros. is a rare game where I would highly recommend playing with a friend because it adds so much more to the game and is great having someone else to make a game plan with. You can have one player focus on getting the item you are stealing as the other worries and distracts the security guards. You can also work together in other ways, such as being a distraction or if one player goes down with the treasure, the other player can pick it up from you and try to complete the level themselves, however of course it will be much harder getting away by yourself.

The Bonanza Bros. making their getaway

The best way I can describe Bonanza Bros. To a modern game would be something like the Payday series where you are also working with friends to act in a robbery or other co-op focused games such as “A Way Out” or “It Takes Two”.

In the end, Bonanza Bros. is a fun old school game that’s a fun idea on to play on it’s own, but the game becomes much more fun with am equality awesome partner in crime on your side. This is a much older game so it’s not super deep but if you and a friend want to play something retro that has you teaming up rather than facing each other, it’s a good time killer.

Bonanza Bros. gets 3 out of 5 stars