Lost In Translation/Pengo

About The Game
Pengo is a maze-based arcade video game.

Pengo the Penguin is the eponymous star of Pengo the video game. The basic layout of Pengo is akin to that of Namco's legendary 'Pac-Man'; featuring, as it does, a top down, single screen, maze-like arrangement. Pengo's enemies, the Sno-Bees, are also similar to the Blinky, Inky, Clyde etc. - the ghosts that pursued Pac-man; not least because Sno-bees also come in 4 different varieties, each represented by a different colour.

One aspect that distinguishes Pengo from the Namco classic is that the Maze itself is a wholly interactive environment. Each section of wall is represented as a block of ice, which can be pushed onto the Sno-bees to destroy them. The Sno-bees themselves will destroy the ice blocks as they move around each level, so speed is of the essence. Some of the blocks are 'Diamond blocks' which cannot be destroyed, and can be re-used by Pengo.

The outer wall of each level can also be utilized; if the player pushes against the wall when a Sno-bee is next to it, The Sno-bee will be temporarily stunned; allowing Pengo to move in for the kill.

Trivia
Released during September 1982.

Rodney Day holds the official record for this game with 1,110,370 points.

A bootleg of this game is known as "Penta".

Updates
(Set 2) draws its maze much more quickly and has snappy original music, whereas (Set 1)'s music is a copy of an instrumental pop song (Hot Butter - Popcorn - 1972).

Tips and tricks

 * The last remaining Sno-bee on the screen will try to escape. If you do not kill it before it reaches one of the corners it will disappear.
 * The indicator at the top of the screen tells you how many Sno-Bees are remaining on the level, including those still in ice blocks.
 * At the start of each level some ice blocks will flash. This indicates that there is a Sno-Bee inside and you can destroy the ice block to kill the Sno-Bee before it emerges.
 * When you kill the last Sno-bee you have a couple of seconds before the level ends. Use this time to crush an ice block for an extra 30 points.
 * Concentrate your efforts on lining up the diamond blocks. The 10,000 points are the biggest single score in the game, and stunning all the Sno-bees is also a valuable side effect. You can then kill them easily by pushing ice blocks onto them rather than running over them (400 points as opposed to 100).
 * Try to kill more than one Sno-bee at a time, as 2 or more together are worth more points than killing them individually.

Staff

 * Designed & Programmed By:
 * Nobuo Kodera
 * Tsutomu Iwane
 * Akira Nakakuma
 * Shinji Egi

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Atari 2600 (1983)
 * Atari 5200 (1983)
 * Atari XEGS
 * Sega Game Gear (1990)
 * Sega Saturn (1997, "Sega Memorial Selection Vol.1")


 * Computers :
 * Atari 800 (1983)
 * Commodore C64 (1983)
 * Commodore C64 (1983, "Petch")
 * Tandy Color Computer (1983, "Pengon")
 * Amstrad CPC (1986, "Troglo")


 * Others :
 * LCD handheld game (1982) by Bandai
 * VFD portable game (1983) by Bandai
 * Mobile phones (2001)