Of all of Sega’s arcade titles Bonanza Bros. is one of the few I’m the least familiar with. I never saw it in the arcade and heard nothing about it beforehand. But in the dry early days of the Genesis it made for an interesting rental. The idea of playing cops and robbers is certainly nothing new but Bonanza Bros. was pretty unique in that it did so from a horizontal perspective. While playing it solo isn’t recommended it makes for a decent coop game for the brief time it lasts.
The premise behind Bonanza Bros. is simple depending on the version. For the English release the brothers are a security firm testing out the security of various establishments for paying clients. In the Japanese version they are straight thieves. Each level tasks you with stealing a certain amount of loot and reaching the exit before time is up. Each set piece becomes more elaborate, with loot scattered further and further away. You’ll have to plan your route to grab everything with enough time to make a getaway. All the while time ticks down and enemy patrols become denser.
Mechanically Bonanza Bros. is a simple game. You are armed with a gun but it isn’t all that reliable. It only stuns enemies for a few seconds and has a slow firing rate. Stealth is the best option, such as it is. Although the game is on a single plane you can duck into the background to press up against walls to avoid detection and hide.
Bonanza Bros. tries its best to present itself as a stealth game. To a large extent it succeeds. While the mechanics are simple the game excels thanks to great level design. Every stage is nonlinear, allowing you to chart your own course. That non linearity is the game’s best feature and is put to good use. The early levels feature light patrols and only a few pieces of loot. There is enough time to study the map and make mistakes on the way to the exit. It ramps up quickly however as the stages become larger with more dead space between treasure. The game is incredibly creative and makes a lot out of very little. Simple dead ends and raised partitions radically change your approach to a map and are extremely fun to work around. Unfortunately Bonanza Bros. has some heavy flaws.
The stealth aspect of the game is incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes a cop will simply walk past you even though you are in plain sight. Other times they can see through walls and will alert everyone in the area. The sluggish controls don’t help either; characters are slow to react and move like molasses. The long stun times are a remnant of its arcade lineage and no less frustrating. Stealth isn’t always possible but you are ill equipped to utilize brute force. It often comes down to luck when dealing with bomb throwing security guards or riot cops. The best I can say is that when everything is working properly it is exciting. Slamming cops behind doors and squashing them with traps never gets old. But when it falls apart, which is frequently, it is frustrating.
Bonanza Bros. has a steep difficulty curve that starts early and only gets worse. Between the slow controls and aggressive enemies you will lose quite a few lives cheaply. But the biggest enemy is time. You are given a flat three minutes to complete each level, no matter how complex. At first it is generous. By the middle of the game it is barely enough. Toward the end it is near impossible. Three minutes is far too little time to study the map and execute late in the game. By stage six or seven if you aren’t bum rushing your way past every enemy and moving non-stop it is impossible to beat the clock. That is simply not fun.
The reasoning for the sharp rise in the difficulty is mostly because Bonanza Bros. is clearly designed for two-player coop. From its UI to its map design it is obvious the game is meant for two players as it truly excels when you partner up. Splitting up to search separate parts of the map, teaming up to distract guards, it really is amazing how much Bonanza Bros. comes alive in coop. Alone it grows boring quickly; with a friend not only does it remain fun until its conclusion but it is also easy to overcome its shortcomings as well.
In Closing
Bonanza Bros. is a unique yet flawed take on the stealth action genre. While I have issues with it I still found it entertaining in short bursts. But unless you plan on playing with a friend you might want to avoid it.
