Bonk's Adventure: Level Names

[nat]

So we all know the USA version of Bonk's Revenge features actual names for the levels while the first game and Bonk 3 feature Mario-esque "1-1" nonsense.

Bonk 3 even goes so far as to throw you for a loop with TWO level "2-3"s and completely forgetting about "2-2" (or maybe it's the other way around).

I recently acquired the Japanese version of Bonk's Adventure (for play in my GT) and was surprised to find out the levels actually have names in this game, too. Why these weren't translated and used for the USA version is beyond me.

EDIT:
With the help of thumpin_termis and Chris Covell, we have determined the following:

1-1: Ankylo Desert (Ankylosaurus Desert)
1-2: Decadent Volcano
1-3: Stego Hill (Stegosaurus Hill)

2-1: Amigo Desert
2-2: Elekin Waterfall
2-3: Looper Cave
2-4: Sara-Zara Desert
2-5: "Buruka's"/"Burka's"[?] Swamp
2-6: Giant Fern
2-7: Ozone Wilderness

3-1: "Dekotan"[?] Desert
3-2: Bone Bone Bridge
3-3: Tropical Islands
3-4: Korigori Trench
3-5: Aurora Zone

4-1: "Hirobiro" Desert (Wide Wide Desert)

[Keranu]

Very good thread! I never noticed that Bonk 3 labeled 1 - 2 as 1 -3 either, nor have I put much thought at all in the level names used in Bonk's Revenge! Would be interesting to read translations from the Japanese version .

[termis]

I'd give it a shot if I had nice, clear, screenshots.  (just sold my copies of PC Genjin a few weeks ago)

[nat]

So if I give you some screenshots you'll do it for me? Cuz I'm just dyin' to know!

[termis]

As I said, I'd give it a shot.  My success rate would depend on the complexity of the Kanji involved.

[nat]

Here's all the levels from the first stage. Try your hand at these:

[termis]

Ankylo(saurus) Desert

Decadent[?] Volcano

Stego(saurus) Hill


edited: to show shortened words.

[nat]

Cool, I'll post some more tomorrow.

[nodtveidt]

Well, that all explains why the US versions got level numbers instead of names...it'd take tons of letters to scrawl out all of that.

[nat]

I actually disagree. I don't think that's the reason at all.

I believe they used numbers in the US version to make it more similar to the Mario games. May seem like a silly concept, but from a marketing standpoint, it would add a small sense of familiarity for those "upgrading" to the TG-16 from their old NES.

Hell, maybe not, but I can't believe "too many letters" is the reason they didn't use the names.

You have to remember Bonk's Revenge used the level names and a lot of them aren't much shorter than those above:

"Hatchet's Hometown" (one letter shy of Ankylosaurus Desert)
"Conveyer Tunnel"
"Orange Waterfall" (the same length as Stegosaurus Hill and Decadent Volcano)
"Volcano Castle" (only two letters shy of Stegosaurus Hill and Decadent Volcano)

...and so on. Most of the rest are around the same length as "Volcano Castle."

[guyjin]

Suprise, another blindingly stupid decision by NEC America. 

[termis]

Yeah, since Japanese kana characters contain a whole syllable, Japanese words will usually take a lot less width than the equivalent English words.  And on top of that, they're shortened the words itself as well.  In the above example, they actually wrote "Ankylo Desert" and "Stego Hill" instead of the full ~saurus name of the dinosaur.

It'd even be shorter if they used some Kanji instead of only Hiragana for some things like volcano: from かざん to 火山, or Hill: from おか to 岡.  (Though I reckon the game resolution may be too low for some complex kanji with a lot of strokes to be clearly legible on a small signboard like the ones above)

I'm sure they could've just lengthened the signboard to accommodate the English characters, but as nat said, they either went the Mario way, or just got lazy.  I'd imagine the space shortage issue has got to be a bitch for people who translate games -- especially for fan-translating groups without proper support from the original developers. 

Reminds me of playing old school 8-bit RPGs and wondering, why the HELL can I _only_ put in 4 characters for player names?  Makes sense now.

[nat]

God, I've forgotten how much playing emulated games sucks. Uncomfortable chair, no controller pad (yeah, I'm using the keyboard), lame screen.

Here's all the levels from stage 2, except 2-3, the cave. For some reason I forgot why I was putting myself through the punishment of playing a game via emulation during that level and forgot to take a snapshot of the sign. Oh well, I'll get it on the next pass through....

[termis]

I'm not sure on a couple of them.     I know there are a few others who can read some Japanese on the board, so if you know any of these, or read any differently - post away!

Amigo Desert


?


Sara-Zara Desert


Buruka's/Burka's[?] Swamp


Giant Fern


O-Zone Wilderness

[nat]

I'm curious about the swamp level name....

I don't know of any characters in the game called Buruka or Burka. Anyone else want to give a second opinion on that one, and have their guess at the forest level?

Also, I've updated the original message to show what we've determined so far.

Stage 3 coming soon...