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The infamous Bonanza Brothers have been summoned by a mysterious figure for a mission that involves breaking into banks, casinos, mints, and other such establishments. The goal? Steal precious valuables or artifacts to, depending on what region of the game's plot you're pulling from, either test security systems or gather incriminating evidence to expose corrupt institutions.
Regardless of the reason, it's time for some thieving!
When you enter each establishment on a stage-by-stage basis, moving through each structure in a side-scrolling perspective, your task is to steal marked objects. Not only can't you exit a stage if all objects haven't been confiscated, but you must accomplish this task within three minutes. Inside each building is a series of guards, whether they're standing in place, patrolling a specific path, sleeping, or just staring out the window. How they react to your presence is based on how you approach a situation, and this is where the game's action and stealth mechanics come into play.
While you have a "gun" that temporarily stuns, it shouldn't be used so freely unless there's no choice. You know what happens if spotted by a guard? They'll either blow a whistle or fire their weapon in the air, alerting everyone within your vicinity and make their way to the noise's location. If you're swift, you can quickly incapacitate the nearby guard, run into another room, and hide before the guard wakes and the others arrive. With that said, stealth is straightforward: the ground has two planes you can navigate to and from, with the background essentially being used for hiding when not spotted. That's it.
Going from one B&E to another, the buildings become more multilayered and "maze-like." While some stages are structurally very basic, allowing you to go wherever you want due to multiple stairways leading to practically the same spots, others require you to go in a specific order due to dead ends. Considering the time limit and the fact that guards never vanish because they're only stunned, you really want to avoid backtracking as much as possible; thankfully, there's an on-screen map at all times to make this less stressful.
Despite all these mechanics and "rules," Bonanza Bros. is quite a simple arcadey game, but still an amusing experience; the hardest it ever gets is whenever you're confronted by shielded guards and timing your shots against them, that and the final stage having so many rooms with its labyrinth-like layout. The biggest complaint concerning difficulty has to do with the actual difficulty settings: there's faint differences between Normal and Hard. Basically, the three minute timer counts down at different speeds, with Hard only shaving off 30 seconds... and that's that. The devs could have at least added tougher guards and more marked objects on the Hard difficulty.
Lending to the game's simplicity is its atmosphere, starting with an interesting graphical style that easily sticks out. With 2D sprites, it's purposely doing a very specific style of quasi-3D using basic smooth shapes; so what you see are a bunch of bald spheremen walking around... with no legs connecting their body to their feet. Include that with the art deco-esque backdrops, the swing music-influenced tunes, and the grainy film reel cutscenes, and it becomes evident the game is likely going for a 1930s-themed presentation.
Furthering the lighthearted tone, the game goes out of its way to make your thieving escapades fun and goofy. Instead of taking itself seriously, it oftentimes feel like you're in the middle of an oldschool Looney Tunes or Silly Symphonies slapstick situation, both also notably originating at the cusp of the 1930s; open a door when someone is on the other side and you'll flatten them like a pancake; accidentally slip on a soda can and alert all guards in the general area; step on a rake and get hit in the head with its stick; hide amongst a row of robots and your character will cover their face with a shallow robot head. It's just silliness all around.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Bonanza Bros. is that it was originally a 1990 arcade game. Surprising in the sense that arcade titles back then were basically designed to squeeze as much money out of you by making them harsh, yet it is anything but that. The game, at its best, feels like it's just designed to give you a chill time and not to be taken as anything too easy or too hardcore. While it's playable solo, it's clearly meant to be played with a buddy, especially if one or both are playing it fresh; the buffoonery that pans out when the two are tackling guards, hazards, and accidentally against themselves only heightens the goofiness.
Put simply, you play Bonanza Bros. to take a break from video games.
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