of which will appear in giant form with sunglasses, in order to get his friend to join him. The friend initially acts as a Gradius-style support which follows Zonk around shooting projectiles. If the player collects another eight smiley faces, Zonk and the friend will merge into a hybrid form, granting a new attack and 20 seconds of invulnerability. This new attack cannot be charged, and Zonk cannot drop bombs while in hybrid form. Once invincibility expires, if Zonk is hit he will revert to normal form and his friend will leave, though he retains whatever power-up he had before changing to hybrid form. Reception Air Zonk was awarded Best TurboGrafx Game of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. The game retrospectively has gained a cult following. Air Zonk is often considered by many game critics to be one of the best games released for the TurboGrafx-16. Legacy Air Zonk received a sequel in 1993 named Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise (also known as CD Denjin Rockabilly), which was released in the SuperCD format and requires the Super System Card to play on first-generation TurboGrafx-CD consoles. As its name would imply, the game has a CD audio soundtrack consisting of rockabilly music. The game contains all-new levels, assistants, and enemies. Air Zonk was released in 2007 on the Wii's Virtual Console in May in Japan, July in America, and on July 13 in Europe. It has gained an E rating from the ESRB. It was also released on the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan on June 19, 2014, in America on July 27, 2017, and in Europe on August 3, 2017. References External links The Bonk Compendium (Covering all games and references to Bonk and Air Zonk) Detailed information for "Air Zonk" at the PC Engine Software Bible Air Zonk featured in 1-up's "Stchick 'em up" article Information on Super Air Zonk 1992 video games Horizontally scrolling shooters TurboGrafx-16 games Video games developed in Japan Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U Fictional cyborgs Hudson Soft games Video game spin-offs Single-player video games