Punky Skunk[a] is a side-scrolling action-platform video game developed by Ukiyotei and published by Visit in Japan on 1 November 1996 and by Jaleco in North America in 1998 for the PlayStation.

Punky Skunk was conceived by Ukiyotei founder Kenshi Naruse during his time working at Ukiyotei, which began creating a mascot action game intended for younger audiences reminiscent of Sony's Skyblazer on the Super Famicom as a commission by Bullet-Proof Software; the company later settled on doing a new title directed towards western audiences with Visit using the same game engine after Bullet-Proof Software changed their direction.

[3][4][5][6][7] Throughout the stages, players may find a set of special tools for Punky via a "gear" icon, including a skunk spray, a parasail, a pogo stick, inline skates, digging claws and a snowboard.

[3] Punky Skunk was the creation of Ukiyotei founder Kenshi Naruse, whose previous works at the company included Hook, Skyblazer and Todd McFarlane's Spawn: The Video Game.

[8][9] Kenshi claimed that Punky's design and main method of attack were a product of Visit, who told the team that "this incorporated the opinions of North American buyers".

[8][9] The programming team used Punky as research in order to code previous techniques they were able to perform with Super Famicom on PlayStation such as character animation and parallax scrolling, as software development kits for the latter console were deemed to be not suitable for 2D titles, converting several elements from the former version while finishing level design and other aspects during the process.

[3][8][9] Artists Midori Nasu, Michiyo Komura, Rika Ueno, Sadaki Matsumoto, Tadashi Aoyama and Teruo Nagato were responsible for the character designs and pixel art respectively.

The editors felt its rudimentary design resembled something from the previous console generation and compared it unfavorably to 2D platformers such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, remarking "it's like the game was programmed on the Yaroze."

Although the magazine declared that its levels and bonus minigames did have enough variety to "squeeze a small iota of fun" from the title, they concluded that its simple gameplay meant it was targeted to a much younger audience than the average PlayStation user.

[33] Screen Rant's Evan Hopkins stated that "by the time the game released in 1996, gamers were over colorful 2D platformers, and Punky Skunk landed with a resounding thud.