differences from PC Genjin3 and Bonk3 ?

[GameFreak]

So just to clarify, do both U.S. versions (CD & turbochip) have a 2 player VS. mode??

[nat]

No, only the CD has the VS. mode. Both have 2-player co-op play, however.

[GameFreak]

so....
-(U.S.) Bonk 3 CD - Better CD quality music, inferior animation art compared to Huey, CD has 2 player VS.mode but hucard and turbochip do not.
-(U.S.) Bonk 3 Turbochip - Better graphics & animation than CD version, inferior music compared to CD version, no VS. mode on turbochip.
-(JPN) Bonk 3 Hu Card - Cheapest price, same as US turbochip except language and "gayness".

That about right? If not I can edit... 

[GameFreak]

What kinda cheat codes do you guys know in bonk1, 2, or 3 ?? Tips?, Cheats?

The only one I know, you all probably already know. In (U.S.) Bonk-1 when you are at first stage 1 level 1 if you go to the far (all the way!) left and jump and bonk head on ground a flower appears that has a 1-up free life. Great way to start the game!

[Black Tiger]

so....
-(U.S.) Bonk 3 CD - Better CD quality music, inferior animation art compared to Huey, CD has 2 player VS.mode but hucard and turbochip do not.
-(U.S.) Bonk 3 Turbochip - Better graphics & animation than CD version, inferior music compared to CD version, no VS. mode on turbochip.
-(JPN) Bonk 3 Hu Card - Cheapest price, same as US turbochip except language and "gayness".

That about right? If not I can edit... 

The CD does indeed have CD music for most of the songs, but it's debatable whether they're better. They sound pretty inferior to me. If the games were identical other than the music and cost nothing, I'd stick to the HuCard.

We don't know just how much got cut from Bonk 3 CD. No one has gone through both games and scrutinized them to discover all the differences.

The CD has a different ending and/or credits, which lists Johnny Turbo and maybe his boyfriend.

There may be other differences between the English and Japanese HuCards. The different powered up sprite is only the most noticeable.

Only the HuCard versions play in all PC Engine setups, including TE and GT.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, many PCE CD games have such shitty music...terrible. A bunch of Yamaha DX7s...all diarrhea "smooth' and whatever. Usually mastered in Japan which means superfluous reverb, quiet boring drums and no bass.

For every Tengai Makou II you have 50 Dekoboko Densetsu's.

One game where the upgrade to CD actually worked: Panic Bomber. This is because when they remixed the classic Bomberman tunes they used a similar, unashamed, electronic sound that was beyond the capabilities of the PSG, but in a good way. Some of the tracks, anyway...

[Black Tiger]

Yeah, many PCE CD games have such shitty music...terrible. A bunch of Yamaha DX7s...all diarrhea "smooth' and whatever. Usually mastered in Japan which means superfluous reverb, quiet boring drums and no bass.

For every Tengai Makou II you have 50 Dekoboko Densetsu's.

One game where the upgrade to CD actually worked: Panic Bomber. This is because when they remixed the classic Bomberman tunes they used a similar, unashamed, electronic sound that was beyond the capabilities of the PSG, but in a good way. Some of the tracks, anyway...

I don't really care what kind of instruments are used, games like Valis II sound great to me because of the compositions. But for PCE games that appear on both HuCard and CD, the "performance" of the CD recording has to be better than the chip tunes in most cases to actually sound "better" to me. Bonk 3 CD sounds sloppy and lazy compared to the original. Dungeon Explorer II has an amazing soundtrack, but the tracks from DE1 don't sound nearly as nice as the originals. Sidearms Special is another case of a worthwhile soundtrack, but even the HuCard has better music than the original arcade.

Unfortunately, a lot of 16-bit game players are only concerned with the types of sounds they hear and the actual music is irrelevant. For them, it always goes CD > SNES > Genesis > TG-16 > NES > SMS.

[nat]

The Bonk 3 CD also has mixing/mastering issues on the redbook that shouldn't have been allowed to make it out the door. Some tracks are EXTREMELY loud, completely drowning out the sound effects, while others are mixed at a more reasonable level. Seems to me someone forgot to equalize before the game when to pressing.

Personally, mastering issues aside, I prefer the instrumentation and arrangements of the chiptunes over the redbook anyway.

In a shame-less move of self-promotion, here are my reviews of the cart and CD, respectively:

Bonk 3 Cart
Bonk 3 CD

And my hardy brother's views on the same:

Bonk 3 Cart
Bonk 3 CD

It's worthy of note that since I wrote my review I actually took Bonk 3 CD and ripped the redbook tracks to WAV files, lowered and normalized the volume on all tracks, and re-burned the game. It makes the CD experience a bit more bearable, but the point is I shouldn't have had to do that. There is also the issue with the sampled "effects" that play during some levels that are just utterly ridiculous and ear-splitting. Think 1.5 second clips of a bird flapping its wings violently against a microphone, replayed over and over every 3 seconds for the entire duration of the level. Not only is it annoying, it's distracting.

[Mathius]

Yeah, many PCE CD games have such shitty music...terrible. A bunch of Yamaha DX7s...all diarrhea "smooth' and whatever. Usually mastered in Japan which means superfluous reverb, quiet boring drums and no bass.

For every Tengai Makou II you have 50 Dekoboko Densetsu's.

One game where the upgrade to CD actually worked: Panic Bomber. This is because when they remixed the classic Bomberman tunes they used a similar, unashamed, electronic sound that was beyond the capabilities of the PSG, but in a good way. Some of the tracks, anyway...

I don't really care what kind of instruments are used, games like Valis II sound great to me because of the compositions. But for PCE games that appear on both HuCard and CD, the "performance" of the CD recording has to be better than the chip tunes in most cases to actually sound "better" to me. Bonk 3 CD sounds sloppy and lazy compared to the original. Dungeon Explorer II has an amazing soundtrack, but the tracks from DE1 don't sound nearly as nice as the originals. Sidearms Special is another case of a worthwhile soundtrack, but even the HuCard has better music than the original arcade.

Unfortunately, a lot of 16-bit game players are only concerned with the types of sounds they hear and the actual music is irrelevant. For them, it always goes CD > SNES > Genesis > TG-16 > NES > SMS.

I agree with your DE sentiment.  I don't even find the system generated tunes to be any better than DE1's. The bar tune is okay, but far inferior from its older brother's bar tune. The first game's musics is made of nostalgia!

[Dyna138]

I've played through both versions quite a few times and to me Bonk 3 CD music > Bonk 3 chip music. In fact the first time I played the CD version I was shocked how good it was after hearing some negative opinions. The missing frames are not that noticeable to me, about the only one that stands out is "big" Bonk's walking animation. The art for "angry" big Bonk is missing too which is a shame, but if I had to choose a version to play I'd sacrifice it for the better sounding (to me anyway) CD music.

[ParanoiaDragon]

In a general sense, I really like Bonk 3's music....but not in a Bonk game!  First of all, the tunes in the Hu version are ok in general for the most part, some of very Bonkish, but still decent.  However, with the change of sound engine that Bonk 3(& DE2) went thru, it just made it less Bonky sounding in general compared to the more powerful & rich sounding engine used in Bonk's 1 & 2(& DE1).  I really wish they'd kept the same engine, it would've made a huge difference in the chip tunes(as well as most of the sounds themselves).  It's a same there's no real way to hack Bonk 3 & insert a different sound engine!

When it comes to the cd music, I think in general it was quite well done, & in some ways better sounding then the chip music....however, it seems even less Bonk sounding.  Even for both, the lack of bongo's(especially in CD) hurts it IMO.  Those bongo's were everpresent in the first 2 games, & were never seen again.  The chip version did have a few songs with some el cheapo sounding bongo's, they don't quite cut it.  A part of me would love to go & redo all the CD songs to sound more like Bonk's 1 & 2.  Wish I had the time for that, as I have alot of sounds that sound ALOT like the original Bonk engine!