Wikipedia

Pengo(video game)

Pengo(ペンゴ)is anarcade video gamedeveloped byCorelandand published bySega.It was first released inJapanon September 26, 1982, inNorth Americathe following month, and inEuropethat December. The player controls Pengo, a redpenguinthat resides in theAntarctic.The game takes place in anoverhead mazemade oficeblocks, where Pengo crushes blob-like Sno-Bees by sliding blocks into them. The objective is to survive each round by eliminating all Sno-Bees and Sno-Bee eggs, while optionally lining up the three diamond blocks to earn a large score bonus.

Pengo
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)Coreland
Arc System Works(Game Gear)
Publisher(s)Sega
Designer(s)Nobuo Kodera
Tsutomu Iwane
Akira Nakakuma
Shinji Egi[citation needed]
Platform(s)Arcade,Atari 2600,Atari 5200,Atari 8-bit,Game Gear
Release
Genre(s)Maze
Mode(s)1-2 players alternating

There are two versions of the arcade game: the first uses "Popcorn"as the theme, and the second has original music. There are other small differences as well.[4]Pengowas ported to theAtari 2600,Atari 5200,Atari 8-bit computers,andGame Gear.

Gameplay

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The start of a round with Pengo in the center (arcade)

The player uses a four-position joystick and a single button to control Pengo, a penguin character. Pressing the button while pushing the joystick against an ice block will cause it to slide in that direction until it hits another block or a wall if the space ahead of it is empty. If that space is occupied, pressing the button will crush the block instead.

The goal is to destroy every Sno-Bee on the board by sliding ice blocks to crush them, crushing blocks that contain unhatched Sno-Bee eggs, or running over them after stunning them at a wall. Doing so in less than 60 seconds awards bonus points based on the time taken.

At the start of each round, a certain number of eggs hatch into Sno-Bees, while other blocks flash to indicate that they contain eggs. As the player destroys active Sno-Bees, new ones hatch from the eggs to replace them. Crushing multiple Sno-Bees with one block awards extra points. The Sno-Bees can crush blocks in an attempt to reach Pengo. Pushing against a wall causes it to vibrate and temporarily stuns any Sno-Bees in contact with it; the player may then crush them with a block or simply run over them to destroy them.

Three blocks in each round are marked with diamonds and cannot be crushed. Bonus points are awarded for forming a continuous vertical or horizontal line of these blocks: 10,000 if none of them are touching a wall, or 5,000 otherwise. Forming such a line also stuns every active Sno-Bee for a short time.

If the player survives for two minutes without either losing a life or completing the round, all active Sno-Bees become Blobs. Their movement speed increases and they will move directly toward one of the walls, crushing all ice blocks in their path. Once a Blob reaches a wall, it will move toward a corner of the screen and disappear upon reaching it. Once all Blobs have either disappeared or been destroyed, the round ends. If the player destroys one of the last two Sno-Bees, the survivor will become a Blob after a 12-second delay. However, if the player destroys multiple Sno-Bees and leaves only one alive, it will become a Blob immediately.[5]

The game includes a total of 16 rounds. After every second round, one of sixintermissionanimations is displayed. It then repeats indefinitely.

One life is lost whenever Pengo touches an un-stunned Sno-Bee or Blob. When all lives are lost, the game ends.

Reception

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In Japan, the annualGame Machinechart listedPengoas the fourth highest-grossingarcade game of 1982.[6]Game Machinelater listedPengoin their June 1, 1983 issue as the fifteenth top-grossingtable arcade cabinetof the month.[7]In North America, the game was a commercial arcade success for Sega in 1982,[8]and it sold an estimated 2,000 arcade cabinets in the United States.[9]

Computer and Video Games(C&VG) magazine gave it a highly positive review upon release, calling it "the cutest of coin-operated video games" and praising the "wonderful graphics, delightful characterisation, plenty of scope to work out your own" tactics, "catchy melody" and "that feeling of satisfaction you get when an ice-block picks up speed and knocks all the wind out of a surprised sno-bee!" Four members of theC&VGteam gave a verdict that "is unanimous...Pengois the C&VG tip for 1983 ".[3]

Legacy

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In 1982 and 1983 Bandai Electronics created two[10][11]official Sega licensed handheld games featuring Pengo. The first was an LCD pocket game, the second a VFD tabletop version. In 1995 a brand new game calledPepenga Pengowas released for theSega Mega Driveonly in Japan.

According toZeromagazine,Hudson Soft'sBombermanseries adopted gameplay elements fromPengo.[12]

In 2010 a location test for the wide screenremakewas announced in arcades, which features eight player multiplay.[13][14]A second location test took place at Sega Shinjuku Nishiguchi in May 2012.[15]During the 3rd location test at Club Sega Akihabara Shinkan between 2012-07-14 and 2012-07-16 as part of the 4-game compilation title named 'Ge-sen Love ~Plus Pengo!~' (ゲーセンラブ. ～プラス ペンゴ! ～),[16]the game was made available as a download by RINGEDGE2 machines through Sega's new ALL.NET P-ras Multi game network,[17][18]and was later released on 2012-09-20.[19]The compilation title is included with theXbox 360gameGe-sen Love Plus Pengo!.[20][21][22]

Clones

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ContemporaraneousPengoclonesinclude Orca'sPenga,[23]Pengifor theBBC MicroandAcorn Electron,Percy Penguinfor theCommodore 64,[24]Block Busterfor theVIC-20,Chilly Willyfor theMicrobee,[25]Pengonfor theTRS-80 Color Computer,[26]the unrelatedPengonforAtari 8-bit computers,[27]Pengyfor theAtari ST,[28]Freez'Bees[29]andDo-Dofor theZX Spectrum,Stone Agefor theVTech CreatiVision,andPangoforMS-DOS.[30]Hopperis a clone for theTI-99/4Awith akangarooinstead of a penguin.[31]Bubble Troubleis an underwater-themed adaptation forMacintoshcomputers.

References

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  1. ^"Manufacturers Equipment".Cash Box.Cash Box Pub. Co. 5 February 1983. p. 35.
  2. ^"Pengo (Registration Number PA0000152539)".United States Copyright Office.Retrieved13 May2021.
  3. ^ab"Arcade Action: Pengo is Really Cool!".Computer and Video Games.No. 15 (January 1983). 16 December 1982. p. 30.
  4. ^"Pengo High Score Save & Enhancement Pack".Arcadeshop. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-02-19.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  5. ^"Pengo. Sus últimos secretos".Zona de pruebas. 2017-08-03.Retrieved2017-08-03.
  6. ^""Pole Position" No. 1 Video Game:Game Machine's "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" Survey Results "(PDF).Game Machine.No. 207.Amusement Press, Inc.1 March 1983. p. 30.
  7. ^"Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル hình TVゲーム cơ (Table Videos)".Game Machine(in Japanese). No. 213. Amusement Press. 1 June 1983. p. 29.
  8. ^Compasio, Camille (November 20, 1982)."Around The Route"(PDF).Cash Box.p. 37.
  9. ^Fujihara, Mary (July 25, 1983)."Inter Office Memo: Coin-Op Product Sales"(PDF).Atari, Inc.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 20 October 2021.Retrieved14 October2021.
  10. ^Jaro Gielens."Electronic Plastic: a museum of handheld and tabletop games from the 1970s and 1980s".Handhelden.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  11. ^Jaro Gielens."Electronic Plastic: a museum of handheld and tabletop games from the 1970s and 1980s".Handhelden.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  12. ^Stokes, Doris (December 1991)."Dosh Eaters".Zero.No. 26. United Kingdom:Dennis Publishing.pp. 91–92.
  13. ^"'˝?l? "ƒvƒŒƒC'މÂ" \'É'Č'Á'˝ wƒyƒ "ƒS I x'Ěƒ ƒfƒBƒA'Î?R?í'ŞŠJ?Ă - ƒtƒ@ƒ~'Ę".Famitsu. 2010-07-30.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  14. ^"Five New Arcade Games To Get Excited About".Kotaku. 5 August 2010.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  15. ^"ロケテスト - シューティングラブログ.".Triangleservice.co.jp. 1999-02-22.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  16. ^"ロケテ - シューティングラブログ.".Triangleservice.co.jp. 1999-02-22.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  17. ^Am-show.sega.jpArchivedJuly 16, 2013, at theWayback Machine
  18. ^"3 Newsfeeds For The Price Of 1: Sega launches ALL.NET+ Multi, Fantastic Arcade, Midway Classics".Arcade Heroes. 2012-09-24.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  19. ^"ゲーセンラブ. 〜プラス ペンゴ! 〜 [ ARCADE ]".4Gamer.net. 2012-09-20.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  20. ^"Chúc, Xbox 360 bản 『ゲーセンラブ. ～プラス ペンゴ! 』 nhổ trồng quyết định! Đằng dã xã trưởng × giếng đá ぜんじ đặc biệt đối nói! - ファミ thông".Famitsu. 2014-01-20.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  21. ^"Game Center Love Plus Pengo Will Test Your Arcade Skills".Siliconera. 2014-01-02.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  22. ^"Xbox 360『ゲーセンラブ. ～プラス ペンゴ! ～』 phát bán! | トライアングル・サービス".124.146.199.138.Retrieved2015-04-30.
  23. ^"Overseas Readers Column - Orca Apologizes To Sega For Copies Of" Pengo "Also".Game Machine(in Japanese). No. 212.Amusement Press, Inc.15 May 1983. p. 28.
  24. ^Percy Penguinat Lemon 64
  25. ^Passfield, John."My Games".Passfield Games.
  26. ^Boyle, L. Curtis."Pengon".Tandy Color Computer Games.
  27. ^"Pengon".Atari Mania.
  28. ^"Atari ST Pengy".Atari Mania.
  29. ^"Freez'Bees".World of Spectrum.
  30. ^"Pango for MS-DOS".archive.org.1983.
  31. ^"The games of John Phillips".dadgum.
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