“ | We're going to capture all of your valuable treasures!! Here we go, you gang of clowns!! | „ |
~ Translated from original Japanese flyer advertising the Bonanza Bros.' game |
“ | Our future's so bright, we've gotta wear shades! | „ |
~ The Bonanza Bros' reason for why they wear sunglasses in one of the flyers for the U.S. Gold home conversions of the game of same name. |
The Bonanza Brothers are the titular main protagonists of the game of same name.
The duo consists of the young short sibling Mobo (aka Spike) and the much older and taller sibling Robo (aka Mike). They are burglars who use their expertise in stealth, burglary and thievery skills in order to expose the corruption of Badville's officials to the nation by taking their valuables from 12 heavily guarded places in Badville, getting past the unlawful policemen and security guards that are remaining in every building in the crime-infested city, return each of these items stolen by several people in Badville and returning it to this client on the television who promised them with a reward such as a paid salary for retrieving these items they are tasked to find through the use of robbery and theft, and they both seek to achieve at making the officials in Badville look pathetic and incompetent for their crimes, in order to bring hope and justice to a whole nation in doing so.
Their original voices in the game they starred in were provided by Koichi "Mickey" Namiki, and it still remains unknown who voiced them in Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing.
Story[]
Background[]

Bonanza Bros being informed by a TV about Badville.
Robo and Mobo Bonanza are well-known for excellent infiltration and burglary skills among the underworld and thieves. But one day came a request from a rival criminal organization that asks Robo and Mobo to expose corruption involving Badville; a town riddled in corruption, crimes of all kinds and the town's officials. To that end, The Brothers are to infiltrate 12 heavily fortified places, steal valuables from those places, reveal the stolen goods as evidence of corruption to the medias and blow it into a huge scandal, and using a blimp to help them escape from building to building. The Brothers leaped at the opportunity and commenced heist immediately. Will they succeed?
Burglary Spree[]

During the Bonanza Bros.' crime spree, they have stolen valuable artifacts from a bank, a millionaire's mansion, a casino, an underground gold mine, a department store, a laboratory, a luxurious cruise line, an art museum and a treasure-filled pyramid. Armed with popguns, the Bonanza Bros. must sneak in unsuspected and steal the valuables and escape within 3 minutes in their getaway zeppelin. If they are detected, they must find a way to outsmart the guards using the popguns or other cunning tactics to decieve them, go past them and escape with the stolen items. Otherwise, they lose a life. Running out of lives results in either or both being returned to jail.
Appearance[]
Robo is a yellow-skinned, tall and thin man with a red shirt, whilst Mobo is an orange-skinned, short and fat man with a blue shirt.
They are both bald, wear snazzy white scarves on their shirts, sport on some black tight pants, black shoes and have dark shades they don't take off. They both don't appear to have moving mouths, but they can still be heard laughing at times.
Personality[]

Bonanza Bros sizing up their next target in the title screen.
The two are calm, straight-faced, nonchalant, sly, cunning, devious, rebellious, coolheaded, sneaky, smart, prideful, manipulative and they both work very well as a duo of crafty thieves who tend to assist by relying on stealth, strategy, deception and concocting underhanded schemes with a tactical approach as their skills and prowess in burglary more than just fighting or brute strength. They also keep a business card that says, "We'll get the treasure within 3 minutes." for each building they go, and before they even go to all 12 buildings; they are both seen plotting and strategizing for each heist in a private room where they have a room projector that shows the items they are tasked to steal from said locations (and they always appear to have blueprints in every stage so they know how to operate said building and how to navigate on their own).

Their blimp.
Even though they don't cover their faces, nor do they keep a consistently low profile during the heists they pull, but they are nevertheless resourceful, astute, agile, deceptive and overall competent as thieves since they always come equipped with weaponry to shoot and stun any official in the buildings they infiltrate, they always keep maps for every building they encounter in order to execute their secretive plans successfully and effortlessly as they rob buildings from room to room, will resort to any tactic and opportunity to actively deceive the policemen and guards in any building, and always escape the scene with a blimp that helps them escape from each building they have infiltrated.
Even though they don't cover their faces, nor do they keep a consistently low profile during the heists they pull, but they are nevertheless resourceful, astute, agile, deceptive and overall competent as thieves since they always come equipped with weaponry to shoot and stun any official in the buildings they infiltrate, they always keep maps for every building they encounter in order to execute their secretive plans successfully and effortlessly as they rob buildings from room to room, will resort to any tactic and opportunity to actively deceive the policemen and guards in any building, and always escape the scene with a blimp that helps them escape from each building they have infiltrated.
Speaking of the items they steal, whenever they collect treasure, they both frequently give off an arrogant cackling laugh "Nyeh heh eh!" when they grab an item, to show an expressive and confident side to their shameless enjoyment in stealing items as they seem to be sneaking around to get their hands on and also laughing all the way to the finish line in every level (and in general).
The duo can be seen as somewhat durable as well. Not only can you survive from anything and get back up after getting shot, getting bit by a dog, or whacked by an object while having four to eight lives (Mobo being able to have ten lives), but in levels such as the second level at a millionaire's mansion, for example, you have to go outside and use an zipline to move and slam through a brick wall that a demolition obese guard with a purple outfit remains in, and both characters are left without a scratch and can shoot the guard to stun him and get past him.

Mobo checking himself out through a mirror
While they are overall strategic and rather undefeatable thanks to their diligence and tactics, they also have humorous traits or some moments of "physical comedy" that are played for comic relief throughout the game, such as them smacking their foreheads to get rid of a fly that flew on them when they hide behind a wall so the guards can't see them, getting doors slammed onto you as well, tripping over a soda can and falling onto the ground or stepping on a rake seen at Stage 2's Millionaire Mansion and Stage 4's The Mint, falling off of a cliff and landing on their heads in a cartoonish way at Stage 9's The Art Gallery Musuem (if you choose to walk to the left without looking at the ground), the way both of the characters does a funny tap dance if your player makes it to the exit first while the first/second player in a Co-Op is still searching for the items to steal, and in the ending cutscenes that portray the style of a silent black-and-white slapstick film; they both get into some shenanigans such as Robo pretending to play dead so a dog wouldn't notice him being awake, the duo tiptoeing and even Mobo (for a brief moment) is seen using a mirror to look at himself in a self-admiring way much like a vain narcissist does while the ending credits of the game play.

Robo using a giant forging press device to crush a guard in Stage 4's The Mint.
Some of their acts of trickery throughout the game can also be treated as light-hearted, cartoonish and comical as well, such as them simply taking stuff left around the like fruit near them a robot head and simply placing both of it on themselves to disguise themselves are just enough to make a fool out of the guards and tricking them into thinking you're not around, slamming doors in their faces when they least expect it, being able to get a guard to chase you in and then catch them off-guard by luring them a trap to get themselves crushed by a giant forging press device set in the building as seen in Stage 4's The Mint, and even in one of the cutscenes before the next stage; you see in the game of Robo and Mobo sneaking fast past the demolition purple-suited guard without him realizing they went past him.
However, while they're often seen as chill and are also loyal to each other, there were funny moments Mobo and Robo themselves provide in Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing (especially whenever they win a race), where they can be seen laughing jovially while dancing after getting first place, they both imitate an "clinking a glass and drinking" hand gesture as their victory secret handshake, and the two are even seen teasing each other by giving each other nudges, Robo patting Mobo's head very hardly or Mobo even hopping and bopping off of Robo's head to provoke him tauntingly and excitedly.
Gallery[]
Voice Samples[]
Trivia[]
- Originally in the US, the Bonanza Bros. were supposed to be a duo of spies helping the government. This idea was later dropped once the game was ported to the Commodore Amiga. The game was later ported onto the Sega Master System, Commodore Amiga, and most importantly, the SEGA Genesis.
- In the Nintendo DS port of Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing, only Mobo drives the car, and while Robo does appear; it's only during the All-Star Move.
- The SEGA Genesis box art for Bonanza Bros. pictures has Mobo and Robo with more cartoonish designs.
- Since they appear as unlockable racing characters in Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, this was their first 3D appearance in a Sega game (as well as a Sonic game) after 20 years after their appearances in the arcade and ports of said arcade. Where they can be purchased with SEGA Miles. The Bonanza Bros drive a Get-A-Way Wagon; that of which while lacking in weight, makes up for in tremendous speed. Their All-Star Move is called "Blimp Strike", where their blimp from the game called Get-A-Way Zepplin appears and proceed to throw explosives at the other racers.
- They also make a cameo in Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed and they're not racers anymore in this game.
- Although this is all implied and not shown in the games, in the manuals of the European Master System version and U.S. Gold home computer ports; Robo is described as being the leader of the duo who is also the most crafty and intelligent between the brothers whereas Mobo is apparently brawnier and more dimwitted compared to Robo.
- While they are described as "professional burglars" in their original Japanese backstory and in the Sega Superstars bio, however, the U.S. Gold home computer versions of the game, however, the Bonanza Brothers are described as "reformed villains". Which is suggesting they must have put their days of burglary behind them. The catch here is that they only break out of retirement whenever a businessman is in need of security help, and they would be most likely by hired by the Badville Chief of Police to recover evidence from crime scenes and various crooked businesses and institutions, all thanks to the duo's experienced fields in robbery.
- They both make a cameo appearance in one of the minigames in the PS2 port of Puzzle & Action: Tant-R, where they are seen in a bar talking to the 1P detective.
- While not official, it is possible that the duo might have been modeled after The Blues Brothers, especially because of the key traits like the nonchalance, one of them being short and the other being tall, the duo being chased by police and law officials, and also the duo wearing shades they never take off to highlight how "cool, calm, and collected" they are.
External Links[]
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