Inspired by
Bonanza Bros and the joy of a two-player heist
Sega's 1990 arcade game Bonanza Bros made sneaking around with a friend brilliant. Why it still works, and how it shaped our cat burglar game Clawback.
Most arcade games in 1990 wanted you to shoot everything. Bonanza Bros wanted you to tiptoe.
Sega’s game put you in charge of two robbers, Robo in red and Mobo in blue, breaking into buildings to steal the treasures marked on a map. The guards walked their rounds, you hid in doorways, and when it went wrong it went wrong loudly. It was funny, it was tense, and with a friend it was one of the best things in the arcade.
What Bonanza Bros was
Bonanza Bros came out in arcades in 1990, running on Sega’s System 24 board. A year later it arrived on the Mega Drive, with ten locations to the arcade’s twelve, and it turned up on a handful of other home systems after that.
The setup is simple. Each stage is a building full of guards. Somewhere inside are the treasures you’ve been sent to take. You creep through the rooms and up the stairs, flatten yourself against walls when a guard walks past, and knock them out when you have to. Once you’ve got everything, you leg it to the roof.
Why the two-player heist works
One player in Bonanza Bros is a good stealth game. Two players is something better.
The magic is that you’re on the same side but not in the same place. You split up to cover more of the building, then one of you gets spotted and the other has to decide whether to help or keep stealing. Somebody always trips the alarm. Somebody always ends up blaming the other one. A heist game for two is really a game about trust, and about how little of it you can afford.
It also looks the part. The chunky, toy-like characters and the bright buildings make the whole thing feel like a cartoon caper rather than a grim crime story. You’re not hardened criminals. You’re two idiots in a museum after closing time.
How it shaped Clawback
Clawback is our heist game, and Bonanza Bros is a big part of why it exists.
In Clawback, the dogs of PAWWALL have bought up the world’s nostalgia: the old games, records, comics, tapes and toys. They’ve locked it all away in museums you have to pay to visit. Two cat burglars, Pip and Moss, break in at midnight to set it free.
Like Bonanza Bros, it’s built for one or two players, with a 16-bit look and a sense of humour. You creep past the guards, grab the loot and get out before anyone notices. Where we’ve gone our own way is in the buildings themselves: every stage is a brand-new museum, dealt out fresh each time, so no two break-ins go the same way. And between heists there are bonus rounds, like the getaway, where Pip drives and Moss throws balls of yarn back at the vans chasing you.
Clawback is a playable prototype, and we’re building it one finished museum at a time. If you’ve got fond memories of Bonanza Bros, we’d love to know what you’d want from a heist game for two today.
Quick answers
What is Bonanza Bros?
Bonanza Bros is a Sega arcade game from 1990. One or two players control a pair of robbers, Robo and Mobo, who sneak through buildings stealing marked treasures while avoiding the guards.
What did Bonanza Bros come out on?
It started in arcades in 1990 on Sega's System 24 board, then came to the Mega Drive in 1991, along with several other home versions.
Is Bonanza Bros two-player?
Yes. Two players can work together at once in the arcade and Mega Drive versions, which is a big part of why people remember it.
Are there modern games like Bonanza Bros?
We're making one. Clawback is a 16-bit style heist game for one or two players, starring two cat burglars called Pip and Moss. It's a playable prototype.