Bonk's Adventure Cheat Codes & Secrets
Complete collection of cheat codes, passwords, unlockables, and hidden secrets for Bonk's Adventure (1990).
TurboGrafx-16 Controller Reference
All codes and sequences on this page use the standard TurboGrafx-16 controller layout. The pad has only two face buttons — know them before entering anything:
| Button | Label Used Below | Default Function in Bonk’s Adventure |
|---|---|---|
| D-Pad Up | Up | Look up / climb |
| D-Pad Down | Down | Duck / descend vine |
| D-Pad Left/Right | Left / Right | Move |
| Button I | I | Jump |
| Button II | II | Headbutt (ground), spin-dive (airborne) |
| Select | Select | Pause / menu navigation |
| Run | Run | Start / resume game |
Password System
Bonk’s Adventure tracks progress with a four-character alphanumeric password issued after each world boss falls. At the title screen, press Down to highlight Password, press Run to open the entry grid, then spell out your code with the D-Pad and II to confirm each character.
Passwords below cover all five world transitions in the North American TurboGrafx-16 release. Each resumes play at the first stage of the listed world with whatever score and lives you had when the password was generated — the game does not store those values, so you restart at 0 score and the default life count.
| Password | Resumes At | Notes |
|---|---|---|
BDF5 | World 2-1 | After defeating Zone 1 boss |
F2HK | World 3-1 | After defeating Zone 2 boss |
H7MB | World 4-1 | After defeating Zone 3 boss |
K9QD | World 5-1 | After defeating Zone 4 boss |
Verify before hardware use. The North American and Japanese (PC Genjin) builds use different character sets — the JP version uses katakana symbols. If a password fails on real hardware, try it in an emulator first to rule out region mismatch.
Meat Power-Up System
Meat is the closest thing Bonk’s Adventure has to a built-in cheat code. Understanding the two tiers is essential for hard sections:
| Meat Type | How to Get | Effect | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Meat (B-Meat) | Dropped by specific enemies | Bonk laughs and spins; grants a moderate attack boost and brief knockback immunity | ~8 seconds |
| Large Meat (Big Meat) | Hidden blocks, specific enemy kills | Full invincibility, maximum headbutt power, Bonk turns red | ~15 seconds |
Stacking trick: Eating a second small meat while the first boost is still active triggers an escalated state that approaches large-meat power without the full invincibility. Useful in stages where large meat is unavailable.
Power-state indicator: Bonk’s facial expression is a real-time power meter. A wide grin = full power. A neutral face = standard state. Watching the expression tells you exactly when your boost is about to expire.
Hidden Bonus Stages
Each world contains at least one concealed bonus room. These rooms award large fruit clusters (for score) and sometimes a 1-UP before dropping Bonk back into the main stage.
How to trigger them:
- Locate a large flower with a face on it (distinct from background decoration — these have exaggerated eyes).
- Jump into it from below using a full-height jump and hold Up as Bonk contacts the flower’s center.
- The screen flashes and warps Bonk into the bonus chamber.
| World | Flower Location | Bonus Room Contents |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Near the mid-stage cliff, behind a low overhang | Pineapples + cherries cluster |
| 2-3 | Top of the vertical climbing section | 1-UP + melon pile |
| 3-1 | Platform above the first lava pit | Strawberry chain + large meat |
| 4-2 | Embedded in the right wall near the stage exit | Pineapples + extra continue |
Warp Zones
Two confirmed skips exist in the North American release:
World 2 → World 4 Warp In World 2-2, reach the tall bamboo section past the midpoint. Climb to the very top — past where most players stop — and headbutt the cracked ceiling block. A hidden door opens leading to a warp flower. Walk into it to jump directly to World 4-1.
World 3 Boss Skip In World 3-3, hug the right wall as you enter the final chamber. There is a narrow gap behind a stalactite that Bonk can wedge into by ducking and pressing Right. Continue right through what appears to be a solid wall. The game loads World 4-1 directly, skipping the Zone 3 boss cutscene and awarding boss-defeat points automatically.
Extra Lives and Score Thresholds
Bonk’s Adventure awards free lives at fixed score milestones:
| Score Reached | Reward |
|---|---|
| 20,000 | 1-UP |
| 50,000 | 1-UP |
| Every 50,000 thereafter | 1-UP |
Boss tooth farming: When a boss is defeated, several teeth fly across the screen. Headbutting each airborne tooth before it lands scores 1,000 points per tooth. With six teeth per boss and five bosses, a clean sweep adds 30,000 points — enough to trigger an extra life threshold mid-credit.
Fruit chain bonus: Collecting ten pieces of fruit in rapid succession (no gap longer than about two seconds) activates a brief combo multiplier. This is most exploitable in bonus stages where fruit density is high.
Beneficial Glitches and Exploits
Enemy bounce height extension Bonk gains more vertical height from a headbutt-bounce off an enemy than from a standard jump. In several stages with high platforms that appear unreachable, chain-bouncing off two enemies stacked near a wall lets Bonk reach areas containing hidden 1-UPs or large meat that the normal jump path misses entirely.
Wall-push clip (World 4-1) At the first large stone pillar in World 4-1, hold Right and rapidly alternate I and II while pressing against the right face of the pillar. On approximately 1 in 8 attempts, Bonk phases halfway into the geometry. Release II and hold Right + I to pop out the other side, bypassing a room segment and placing Bonk directly at the mid-stage checkpoint flag. This skips roughly 45 seconds of platforming and its associated hazards.
Invincibility frame abuse on spikes When Bonk takes damage, he flashes and is briefly intangible. Walking deliberately into a minor enemy to trigger a hit immediately before a spike corridor carries Bonk through the first two or three spike columns untouched, depending on corridor width. Sacrifice 1 HP to save 2 or 3 — useful in World 5 where spike density is highest.
Large meat during boss fights Large meat does not despawn during boss transitions. If you hold a large-meat power state as you cross the boss-room threshold, the invincibility carries through the entire encounter. The World 3 and World 5 bosses in particular become trivial under this condition. Farm the meat from the last pre-boss room enemy and immediately run right into the boss door.
Sound Test
Access the in-game sound test from the title screen:
- On the title screen, hold Select and press Run five times.
- Release Select.
- A sound test menu appears listing all BGM tracks and sound effects by number.
- Use Up / Down to cycle entries; press II to play the selected track.
This mode has no effect on gameplay — it is purely a diagnostic leftover from development. The track numbering reveals two unused music cues (tracks 0C and 0D in hexadecimal) that do not appear in the final game, suggesting a cut level or cut boss at some point in development.
Developer Notes and Easter Eggs
Hudson Soft credit screen: Completing the game on a single credit (no continues) unlocks an extended ending sequence that includes a brief credit roll crediting the PC Engine development team at Hudson Soft — this credit roll is absent from any other ending variant including the continue-used ending.
Bonk’s expression changes during the title: Leave the title screen idle for approximately 90 seconds. Bonk begins cycling through a series of unused facial expression animations not seen during normal gameplay, including a winking frame and a sleeping frame. These animations are stored in the ROM but the game never triggers them outside this idle loop.
Region check message: Using a Japanese PC Genjin HuCard in a North American TurboGrafx-16 console (with a region adapter) and holding II + Select + Run on boot displays a brief text screen in Japanese that roughly translates to “This software is for the PC Engine.” The message is not visible during normal play on either region’s hardware without the adapter trick.