Pengo (video game)
| Pengo | |
|---|---|
| Screenshot of Pengo (video game) | |
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Nobuo Kodera, Tsutomu Iwane, Akira Nakakuma, Shinji Egi |
| Release | 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Maze/Retro/Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Arcade system | CPU: Z80 |
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Pengo is an arcade game made by Sega in 1982. The player takes the role of Pengo, a red penguin, who resides in the Antarctica. The game takes place in an overhead maze made of ice blocks where Pengo fights the blob-like Sno-Bees, who patrol the maze. The objective of the game is for the player surive as long as possible by eliminating all the Sno-bees in each round.
Gameplay
The player has a joystick and a single button. Pressing the button will cause Pengo to push the block in front of him forward. It will slide until it hits a wall or other ice block, crushing any Sno-bees in between.
New Sno-bees appear from ice blocks, hatching from eggs. At the the start of each level, the blocks which contain Sno-bee eggs are briefly flashed the color of the sno-bees for that level. As Sno-bees are elminated, new enemies will appear from those blocks which contain eggs. The eggs can be elminated by crushing the iceblock. This is the most efficient way of elminating Sno-bees. they are crushed fast enough, or enough are crushed, or the diamond blocks are aligned (see below), the next level starts.
There are two kinds of blocks. Regular blocks will crumble if they are pushed with no room to move, but it is possible to kill hiding Sno-Bees in this way. Diamond blocks are unbreakable, and if they are aligned in a straight line the player will earn bonus points. They can be aligned either horizontally or vertically, and will cause all Sno-bees to be temporarily stunned. Sno-bees can also be defeated by using the side walls. If the player pushes a side wall, any Sno-Bees next to it will be stunned briefly. They can be defeated by tagging them when they are stunned.
After the round has been going on for 60 seconds without a death, the game enters into a sudden death mode; the music tempo and movement speed of the Sno-Bees increases. Sno-bees tend to act more aggressively when there are more of them on the screen. In some cases when there is only a single enemy left, it will turn will run into a corner and dissappear. There are a total of 16 levels, which will repeat starting round 17.
Intermissions
Similar to Pac-man there is a brief intermission after the bonus is awarded for any even-numbered round,. The intermissions feature eight penguins performing various routines. In the first inetmission the Pengos do a small marching routine. In the second intermission they "shake their booty." In the third intermission each penguin stops and salutes you. In the fourth, the penguins turn to face you and then do jumping jacks as they exit the screen. In the fifth intermission the source of the game's background music is releaved - its Pengo himself, playing a mean piano. And in the sixth intermission, Pengo appears from beind the piano to play "peek-a-boo" with you. Unlike many other video games (with a limited number of intermissions) as long as the game goes on, more and more intermissions are shown. They are shown in the following order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, and so on.
Scoring
The points for crushing Sno-Bees depend on how many are crushed in one push of an ice block:
- 400 for 1 Sno-Bee
- 1600 for 2 Sno-Bees
- 3200 for 3 Sno-Bees
- 6400 for 4 Sno-Bees
Walking over a stunned Sno-Bee awards 100 points.
10,000 points are awarded for aligning the three diamond blocks together if at least one is not touching a wall, but only 5,000 if all are against the walls.
Crushing an ice block will award 30 points if it's empty, or 500 in a Sno-Bee is inside it.
Once a level is completed, a bonus is awarded depending on how long it took:
- 5000 points for under 20 seconds
- 2000 points for between 20-29 seconds
- 1000 points for between 30-39 seconds
- 500 points for between 40-49 seconds
- 10 points for between 50-59 seconds
- 0 points for at least 1 minute
A bonus life is awarded at 30,000 points.
Ports and variations
It received ports to a few consoles, including: Game Gear, Commodore 64, and Atari 2600 and 5200. There was also an enhanced remake for the Sega Genesis.
There are four known variations/bootlegs/hacks to the game: Penta, Popcorn, Pingo, and Vector Pengo.
Miscellaneous
- Pengo makes a cameo appearance in Up'n Down. If you manage to pass the first four rounds in under a minute each, Pengo will appear in the water of round five riding a surf-board.
- Pengo was a popular game. The final version of the game used Popcorn as its theme music and took a few moments to draw the maze at the beginning of each level. An earlier version of the game drew the maze instantly and used its own distinctive theme music.
External link
- The KLOV entry on Pengo with screenshots of the game
- MobyGames' entry for Pengo
- Pengo Clone (requires java)