The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (1999)

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is the type of game that has a lot of charm and some really fun games hidden within its collection, but has some other segments that drag it down enough to only be a light recommend.

On a mission to save her brother from an evil loan shark, the air pirate Tron Bonne trains and sends her Servbot crew out on various missions to make enough money to pay off her brother's loans. This can consist of robbing banks and farms, moving crates out of a harbor, or digging in ruins for hidden treasure. Each of these missions are represented with their own unique playstyle type, which is either a third-person mech combat action style, a block-moving puzzle style, or an RPG-esque exploration style. The container puzzles are surprisingly challenging and well implemented and the exploration can be engaging, but the action ranges from either frustrating to a cakewalk as the actual shooting/jumping/movement elements are undercooked and mainly rely on upgrades to steamroll the segment.

On top of each of these different modes are Servbots that you can train and take along with you for each of these missions. Each Servbot is cute and charming and has a variety of stats, traits, and a special ability that can sometimes come in handy. Most of the time you'll only be bringing a few Servbots on your missions (it's unsure how much you really need to train the 40 members of your Servbot crew) but you can talk with them, give items, and torture them if they get too lazy. In the field Tron can use a special bomb to summon Servbots to do a variety of actions such as search for treasure, disable enemies, or use small projectiles. Servbots can also be trained further by special items or little minigames in the player's HQ.

The presentation is what truly helps this game shine enough to get noticed. Taking the cel-shaded anime look from Mega Man Legends with bright colors, blue skies, and stylized expressions help give this game an energetic and light-hearted personality. The Servbots are also endlessly cute and charming, and take up the majority of the game's character rendering (very optimal!) Upbeat synth and playful melodies make for a generally pleasant environment to match.

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne has the makings of what SHOULD be a classic, but the consequence of putting a bunch of minigames in one package is that some work much better than others, and the ones that suffer drag down the game quite a bit. Still, I had some fun and fans of Mega Man Legends would definitely get a lot more out of this title!

I played this on my PSP and this game is perfect for that platform. All the gameplay takes place in bite-sized chunks, with you going on individual missions that rarely last more than a few minutes each. There are five sets of missions and each set focuses on a particular gameplay mechanic. One is a box-moving puzzle series. One is action-oriented with you running and gunning. One has you hunting for keys to open doors and chests underground. That sort of thing.

But there are two big problems with this title that kept me from finishing it. First, because the gameplay is so choppy I couldn't get into the flow. Just as I was starting to get into a mission it would end and boot me back to the hub screen. I would need to check on all my little robots and send out scouts and do all this housekeeping before I could jump back into the mission again.

The second problem is that I just didn't enjoy many of the missions. This game suffers from that old design problem of trying to do too many things so it does none of them well. Conceptually, having an RPG-style game, a box puzzle game, and an action game all in one means you get more bang for your buck. But it also means that none of these modes have any focus. Gameplay lacks polish. The game systems are shallow.

Unless you are a huge fan and collector I would probably give this one a pass. It works as an introductory game for kids twenty years ago, but it fails to hold up to modern game design.

“Nobody is a villain in their own story. We’re all the heroes of our own stories.”
―George R.R. Martin

The sun rose today. We’re here with another review for all of you: The Misadventures of Tron Bonne! Most will probably recognize her from Marvel vs Capcom 2 or 3, rather than from this game.

That’s cuz it’s a rare treat on the PlayStation and an interesting entry in the Mega Man franchise. Misadventures is hard to find, with limited copies in existence. As a huge Mega Man fan, and one who took great pleasure in playing Mega Man Legends, I knew I had to pick up a copy of this game. Can’t remember if my parents demonstrated their love for me by purchasing this title for their firstborn, or if fate magically materialized it in my cabinets. Either way, it’s there in all of its over-the-top glory.

Serving as a spin-off/prequel to Capcom’s Mega Man Legends, Misadventures ditches the blue bomber and follows the… well… misadventures of the villainous Tron. She’s a member of the Bonne crime family, a lineage of infamous and bumbling air pirates. She’s inherently good-natured though her upbringing has given her a nasty edge and she is both caring and cruel to her irrisistably cute minions, the Servbots.

Taking place in the same universe as Legends, the world has been long covered by water. Think of it as the video game adaptation of Waterworld but without having to drink your own pee. Or (better yet) think of it as Wind Waker except they’ve swapped out Zelda characters for Mega Man ones. In this world, there are ancient machines and treasures lying underground, relics of a bygone era, which are unearthed by diggers or looted by pirates.

The game opens with Tron Bonne and her elder brother Teisel aboard their ship the Gessellschaft. Turns out building a ship to house their crime family and robotic servants was expensive and they’re in dire need of some funds. Good thing they’ve just discovered the Nakkai Ruins. Lying there is a massive and valuable Refractor (an ancient device for powering machines now used as currency). It’s the Diana’s Tear, a priceless treasure.

Unfortunately, when Teisel and baby brother Bon Bonne try to uncover the Refractor, they’re attacked by rival sky pirates and taken for ransom. Teisel recognizes the other pirate, Glyde, who works for Mr. Loath, to whom Teisel owes a large sum of money. Teisel and Bon Bonne will be forced to work for Mr. Loath if they can’t pay back their debt.

Tron, unaware of her brothers whopping debt of 1 million zenny (plus interest), is a little ticked but she decides she’s going to pay off her brother’s I.O.U. the only way she knows how! That means lots and lots of villainy. It’s te only way to get Teisel and Bon Bonne back. She mounts her custom mech, the Gustaff, and commands her 40 Servbots to action.

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