Underground Games: The Misadventures of Tron Bonne

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne was an example of Capcom deciding to follow the amazingly popular formula of guaranteeing that no one will ever hear of your amazing game (Zack and Wiki anyone?). First: Create an even more obscure spinoff of an obscure spinoff. Then: Place the comic relief villain from said game into the main character role. Now: Only produce a handful of copies. But don’t forget the box art… oh god, the box art.

Still, in my high school years, I had my fingers on the pulse of everything and anything Mega Man. I remember wishing that I had a buster on my arm and I often dreamed of growing long blond hair and green robot boobs. When I heard that a Mega Man Legends title was coming out that put me in control of Tron Bonne, the resident genius of the Bonne family of air pirates, I jumped at the chance at finally being bad in the Mega universe. But as it turned out, the only thing criminal about the game was that so few people got to play it.

I remember the game sucking me in quick. It started off similar to Legends, as a 3D action game where you run and gun past enemies to collect as much money as possible. Soon after the opening tutorial, Tron’s brothers are confronted by creditors who funded their signature robots. Rather than constantly bothering them in the middle of dinner with harassing phone calls, they take a more direct approach and outright kidnap them. It’s then up to Tron to collect money by any means necessary to pay off their debts and rescue her family.

Now, this was long before every game on the market let you be bad, so this felt truly special, and even a little wrong while you’re raping and pillaging cities. You could rob citizens, break into houses, blow up children who are protecting their belongings… You know, the usual. What kept it all lighthearted were the Servbots, 50 child like bots who do most of the dirty work for Tron, not to mention they look as adorable as possible while ridding a town of all it holds sacred.

Violence is never the answer though, or at least not all the time. This was the true strength of the game. If I didn’t feel like blasting foos, there were puzzle stages that I could make money off of. If I suck at puzzles, (which I usually do,) I could explore caves in an RPG type stage that rewards me for exploration. I could even search for more hidden stages! The game was so non-linear that as long as you raise enough cash, you could reach the end of the game without having to play the stages you suck at. So obviously, I used that as an excuse to play again while taking different paths. There was even a strategy element where Servbots could be sent to scout the map for items between missions, and micromanaging their performance through hard labor or torture mini-games. Yup… I said torture mini games. I’m pretty sure this is the only game that features robbery, burglary and torture that manages to stay cute and charming.

And charming is exactly why this game remains so fond in my heart. Finding items let you customize your Gustaff mech to make it your own, the majority of the game was voice acted superbly and brought so much humor to the game, and you can’t help but let out an “Awwwwww!” at the adorable Servbots. In fact, it was so charming that it pretty much set me up with who would later become my wife, considering she was one of the 5 people on the planet who owned a copy. Thanks, Tron Bonne!

While the game mostly went unnoticed, someone at Capcom must still have some love for the pirate family. Numerous icons featuring the characters can be purchased as Playstation Store avatar icons. Servbots make cameos in many of Capcom’s other games, from Dead Rising to Tatsunoko vs Capcom, and were even a playable joke character in Marvel vs Capcom 2. But Tron was still firmly in the spotlight, making her fighting game debut in Marvel vs Capcom 2 as well, with a modified Gustaff and nearly an entire moveset inspired by her abilities in Misadventures. She has most recently appeared in Marvel vs Capcom 3, who even got the distinction of having her own stage with her brothers observing the battle in the background. Ironically, she got into the game while Mega Man himself had yet to appear, but that’s a conversation for another day.

So what makes The Misadventures of Tron Bonne so memorable? Is it the amazing presentation? No, it has to be the non-linier progression and variety of game play mechanics. Or maybe it’s the metallic jock strap. Yep, gotta be the jock strap.

But when I’m not focused on proper groin protection for my favorite game characters, I’m focused on a solid, memorable gaming experience, which Tron Bonne brought in full force. If you’ve got a spare $150 laying around and a functioning PS1, eBay is the perfect place to dig up this gem. If that money has to go to trivial spending like food and rent, look for Tron in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 this holiday season to see what the pirate is made of. Hopefully, Capcom comes to its senses and re-releases this cult classic on the Playstation Network soon. Hell, Jonathan prayed every night for 15 years for Gargoyle’s Quest (another buried Capcom classic) to return and he ended up getting his wish two weeks ago.