is a Japan-exclusive side-scrolling

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

for the

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

published by Bandai in 1994. The game is an adaptation of the manga series Gon by

Masashi Tanaka Masashi Tanaka (田中政志, born June 10, 1962) is a Japanese manga artist best known for '' Gon'', his silent manga starring a miniature dinosaur. He began publishing ''Gon'' in 1991. GON is possibly his most well known work, famous for bei ...

, about the daily life of a

super-deformed Chibi, also known as super deformation, or S.D. is a style of caricature originating in Japan, and common in anime and manga where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby with stubby limbs, oversized heads, and m ...

orange ''

Giganotosaurus ''Giganotosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 99.6 to 95 million years ago. The holotype specimen was discovered in the ...

'' dinosaur named Gon.

Plot

Like the manga, the game has minimal plot and no dialogue. It advances the story using comics-style

cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

s with a focus on comic situations Gon gets himself into searching for food, interacting with other animals, or venturing into different ecosystems that made up the prehistoric world.

Gameplay

Enemies include

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly cons ...

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

es,

ibex An ibex (plural ibex, ibexes or ibices) is any of several species of wild goat (genus ''Capra''), distinguished by the male's large recurved horns, which are transversely ridged in front. Ibex are found in Eurasia, North Africa and East Africa. ...

, and

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

Shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

s and

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only Extant taxon, extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black ...

s have the special ability to swallow Gon whole, but he can break free in most instances. There are

Mode 7 Mode 7 is a graphics mode on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console that allows a background layer to be rotated and scaled on a scanline-by-scanline basis to create many different effects. The most famous of these effects i ...

chase sequences between levels, in which Gon must avoid obstacles while catching up to a monkey. A 4-digit password is seen at the end of each level. Gon has three attacks: a basic self-defense biting attack, a whip of his tail, and a

headbutt A headbutt is a targeted strike with the head, typically (when intentional) involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of an opponent, such as ...

. The game lacks a

HUD Hud or HUD may refer to: Entertainment * ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman * ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film * ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadian e-sports television program Places * Hud, Fa ...

-style

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

bar. Instead, taking damage from enemies results in Gon getting more frustrated (a music will play if he is almost fully frustrated). If he is angered enough, he will destroy the planet, leading to a game over screen. Sound effects are based on music instrumentals and vice versa.

Legacy

Gon would later go on to play a role in the

Sony PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divi ...

fighting game ''

Tekken 3 is a fighting game, the third entry in the ''Tekken'' series. It was released to the arcades in 1997, before being ported for the PlayStation in 1998. The arcade version of the game was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 as part of ''Tekke ...

'' in 1998. A new platform game, '' Gon: Baku Baku Baku Baku Adventure'', developed for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

, was released in Japan on June 14, 2012 by

Bandai Namco Games is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are resp ...

. A new mobile game ''GON: Match 3'' puzzle was released in 2013 by Lunosoft Inc. for iOS and Android.

External links

''Gon''
at Video Game Den
''Gon''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...

''Gon'' character sprites
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at Super-Famicom.jp Gon (manga) 1994 video games Bandai games Dinosaurs in video games Japan-exclusive video games Platform games Side-scrolling video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Super Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Video games based on anime and manga Video games developed in Japan Video games set in prehistory