Bonanza Bros review - Sega Megadrive

Bonanza Bros was a great game in the arcades, mainly because the player only had to stump up 20p for a game which was packed with great humour, excellent graphics and decent playability. The Megadrive version is very close to the coin-op, with only some of the later levels and bonus stages missing. However, the gameplay does get very repetitive after a while and on easy level, you can see the whole game if you use all of the credits. Even on the harder setting, Bonanza Bros doesn't represent a serious challenge to a hardened games player due to the wealth of credits. I didn't find much fun with the two-player mode - there's no real sense of either team work or competition to add to the gameplay. If you're a real Bonanza Bros nut (like Julian), you'll like this, but if you only find the game marginally intriguing, spend a couple of quid on the coin-op instead.

Bonanza Bros' unusual, beautifully coloured graphics, great sound effects and superb playability have been fully captured in this stunning conversion! It's incredible fun to play, with utterly frantic action (especially when you're trying to do something like dodge around three policemen who are converging on you from all angles) and many hilarious touches. Watch what happens when a fly lands on your head, you step on a can or rake, fall off a wall or get splattered behind a door! My only gripe (I've already said this about another Megadrive title this month!) is that there are too many continues, and they let you finish the game very quickly (especially if you're also playing it on "easy" level). Play sensibly on the "normal" level with one credit at a time and you've got a thoroughly enjoyable and very unusual Megadrive conversion which fans of the coin-op will adore.