Tag: Spanky’s Quest

A Spankin’ Good Quest on Game Boy? – Lord Reptile

Much like how Pyramid Head once punished strange creatures in front of James for avoiding his guilt, Spanky the Monkey has arrived on Game Boy to punish the odd enemies in Spanky’s Quest. Spanky lives up to his title as a punisher and is well equipped for the job with his unique ability to make an entrance with his long tail and to produce bouncing bubbles of death. Tapping the B button while facing in one direction will allow Spanky to produce an orb of punishment that will immobilize the monster, but in order to truly finish the job one must hold the B button and add one extra bounce of the projectile, turning it into an orb of death. The doom orb, now complete, will hurl itself into Spanky’s foe, obliterating it and any of Q-Bert’s extended family that are in its way. Not a bad day’s work for a little monkey.

As Spanky advances through the towers some of the monster formations will require a bit of innovation from the player, wether it be expanding the bubble with successive bounces or jumping to extend the range of the bubble, Spanky’s Quest will put your puzzle platformer chops to the test. As for how long it will stay that way, that largely depends on how long you, the player, can withstand the punishment of the looping music that will not change from one level to the next. If you’ve played Adventures of Lolo you know exactly what I mean. Luckily each tower contains its own unique tune, so if you grow weary you can just change the tower when Spanky runs out of lives.

Spanky’s Quest isn’t a particularly engaging or unique Game Boy title, your mileage with those one may vary. It’s not for everyone, but you might as well give it a try if you love a little monkey hero solving puzzles and you’re tired of the same old platformers aping Super Mario Land.

Witness the return of Reptile, or Lord Reptile if you’re not into the brevity thing. Their favorite genres are fighting and survival horror but they’ll play anything on the Game Boy. @lrd_frgsht

Illustration by Rick V. itsmerickv.com

February 2026: Spanky’s Quest (1992)

IT’S GAME 100! That’s…

::calculator::

8.33333 repeating years’ worth of slacker coverage!

We aren’t slackers, though. Truly! We’re just three dads (one canonically and two spiritually) getting older and busier with families, homes, etc. I’ve grown to enjoy the monthly check-ins, the games to play, and the basic idea of Yokoi Kids more as time passes, even if my presence is less apparent. 

So, yeah. Game 100? Spanky’s Quest.

Your expectations have been shattered. 

A monkey stands atop the mountain. 

AND

we’re putting a wrapper on a wrapper. Take it away Rick! Then Nolen! Then Rick again! Then me one more time!

Have we really attempted to cover a hundred games? When Ian and I brainstormed Yokoi Kids as a Game-Of-The-Month thing back in 2017, I never imagined myself being in my forties and still participating. It’s a very silly concept and it’s even sillier that we have stuck to for a hundred different games.

We never broke into the online world of retro video gaming coverage and that was never the intention. We have definitely had some past contributors who very obviously tried to use Yokoi Kids as a stepping stone to that status (sorry). But we have always been fine with very half-assedly running this program. Hell, I’m writing this the day before we announce “Game 100”. Yokoi Kids has always been on the back burner of our busy adult lives and I think we collectively think that’s A-okay.

But maybe we shouldn’t. It would be nice to have some weekly content on our cheaply put together website. It would be nice if we put out another volume of the zine at a timely fashion. It would be nice if we promised to stay on top of the queue of contributors to pick games. But we can’t really do that without YOU! We need more contributors. That was the only idea of Yokoi Kids in the first place. We want your doodles, writing, what-have-you’s in our inbox. Please?

But it’s also totally cool that you folks are playing along and commenting on the Bluesky and Discord (we also have an Instagram that nobody seems to look at). So keep on keeping on!

Which brings us to our hundredth game. Some people were hoping for a high profile game like Pokemon or Link’s Awakening. Nope, you’re getting Spanky’s Quest, a game about a lovable little monkey and his ever growing balls…

Hit them with that info, Nolen…

Spanky’s Quest is a weird game with a wacky game mechanic. You bounce a ball on your head until your little monkey hands touch it, effectively turning it into a murder ball for your enemies. It gives arcade platformer vibes, similar to Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, or Tumble Pop. Clear all the enemies in the level to progress to the next. It’s pretty difficult, due to the whole ball-bouncing shtick, but it’s got a lot of charm and is worth a play! –Nolen

And I know how some of us go on and on about how we don’t like folks picking games that are just console ports. But Spanky’s Quest actually predates the SNES version by eight months! Besides, the SNES version may have the same game mechanics but it is a very different game.

Ian and I once had a slightly heated debate about this game in a car with our spouses present. They could not care less. But this is what Yokoi Kids is for, baby!

So, hell yeah to making it to a hundred. Let’s hope we don’t burn out at 112.

–Rick

I agree with Rick’s sentiments above. We’d love contributions and we’d love them to be outside of the normal reviews and impressions. Does a game make you want to paint something? Did you take a picture that reminds you of a game? Did you play something else that reminds you of the game of the month? Compare them and recommend something! Make it you. Relate it to your life or other interests. Represent it in your favorite medium. Take a deep breath and submit that idea you’ve got. Have a blast.

I truly believe that the only way through is by creating.

Emulate, have fun, tell your friends you love them.

-IF  

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