| Pengi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | F. Knock |
| Publisher(s) | Visions |
| Platform(s) | Acorn Electron, BBC Micro |
| Release | 1984 |
| Genre(s) | Maze |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Pengi is a game for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro, released by Visions Software in 1984. It is a direct clone of the 1982 Sega arcade game Pengo , even down to calling the enemies "snow bees," as in the original.
The player takes the role of a penguin named Pengi who finds himself in a maze made up of ice blocks that is surrounded by an electric fence. If the blocks are kicked, they will slide along until they hit another block or the fence. If however, the block is already touching something else (in the direction it would slide), it breaks and disappears. As in Pengo , three of the blocks are marked with diamonds and cannot break.
The maze is inhabited by deadly "snow bees". They move in a semi-random way: a bee may sometimes choose to get away from Pengi instead of chasing him (especially on early levels). The bees can be killed by crushing them with a moving ice block (bees do not stop the blocks so more than one bee can be killed with one kick) or by kicking the fence while they are touching it. This momentarily stuns them and they can be crushed by simply walking over them. Only a set number of bees are on the screen at once (e.g. 3 on level 1) but there are more (a total of 6 on level 1) which emerge from the diamond blocks as others are killed. A level is completed either by killing all of the bees or by lining up the special diamond blocks. This is the preferred way of completing the level because a huge points bonus is awarded (5,000 if they are touching the fence, 10,000 if they are not).
The game continues with different coloured bees in a new maze. The number of bees on screen, the number of "reserve" bees, the speed of the bees and the intelligence of the bees all increase on each successive level, making it much more difficult to successfully line up the diamond blocks.
Electron User (#2.04, January 1985) gave a particularly favourable review: "Visions' Pengi is far superior to any Pac-Man program... The graphics are excellent as is the sound... If you're into arcade games, you will love this one." [1]
Tapper, also known as Root Beer Tapper, is a 1984 arcade game developed by Marvin Glass and Associates and released by Bally Midway. Tapper puts the player in the shoes of a bartender who must serve eager, thirsty patrons while collecting empty mugs and tips. It was distributed in Japan by Sega in 1984.
BurgerTime, originally released as Hamburger in Japan, is a 1982 arcade video game from Data East released initially for its DECO Cassette System. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients in a maze of platforms and ladders while avoiding anthropomorphic hot dogs, fried eggs, and pickles which are in pursuit.
Ice Climber is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo. It was released in 1985 for both the arcade VS. System and the Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System console. The characters Popo and Nana, collectively known as the Ice Climbers, scale 32 vertically scrolling, ice-covered mountains to recover stolen vegetables from a giant condor. In some European countries, Ice Climber was bundled with the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Pengo (ペンゴ) is an arcade video game developed by Coreland and published by Sega. The game was first released in Japan on September 26, 1982, in North America the following month, and in Europe that December. The player controls Pengo, a red penguin that resides in the Antarctic. The game takes place in an overhead maze made of ice blocks, 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.
Tron is a coin-operated arcade video game manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway in 1982. The game consists of four subgames inspired by the events of the Walt Disney Productions motion picture Tron released earlier in the summer. The lead programmer was Bill Adams. The music programmer was Earl Vickers.
Repton is a video game originally developed by 16-year-old Briton Tim Tyler for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and released by Superior Software in 1985. The game spawned a series of follow up games which were released throughout the 1980s. The series sold around 125,000 copies between 1985 and 1990 with Repton 2 selling 35,000 itself. The games have since been remade for several modern systems, including iRepton for the iPhone / iPod Touch in 2010, and Android Repton 1, Android Repton 2 and Android Repton 3 from 2016 to 2018.
Mr. Do! is a 1982 maze game developed by Universal. It is the first arcade video game to be released as a conversion kit for other arcade machines; Taito published the conversion kit in Japan. The game was inspired by Namco's Dig Dug released earlier in 1982. Mr. Do! was a commercial success in Japan and North America, selling 30,000 arcade units in the US, and it was followed by several arcade sequels.
Amidar is a video game developed by Konami and released in arcades in 1981 by Stern. The format is similar to that of Pac-Man: the player moves around a fixed rectilinear lattice, attempting to visit each location on the board while avoiding the enemies. When each spot has been visited, the player moves to the next level. The game and its name have their roots in the Japanese lot drawing game Amidakuji. The bonus level in Amidar is a nearly exact replication of an Amidakuji game and the way the enemies move conform to the Amidakuji rules; this is referred to in the attract mode as "Amidar movement."
Micro Power was a British company established in the early 1980s by former accountant Bob Simpson. The company was best known as a video game publisher, originally under the name Program Power. It also sold many types of computer hardware and software through its Leeds 'showroom' or via mail order.
Bone Cruncher is a puzzle video game for the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, and Commodore 64 first published by Superior Software in 1987. It uses the "rocks and diamonds" mechanics of Boulder Dash. An Amiga version was released in 1988.
Cybertron Mission is a multidirectional shooter released by Micro Power in 1983 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and ported to the Commodore 64 in the same year. The game is heavily influenced by the 1982 Atari 8-bit family game Shamus, which was itself inspired by the 1980 arcade game Berzerk.
Snapper is a clone of the Namco arcade game Pac-Man programmed by Jonathan Griffiths for the BBC Micro and released as one of the launch titles for Acornsoft in 1982. It was also one of Acornsoft's launch titles for the Acorn Electron in 1983.
Hyperball is a clone of the 1986 arcade game Arkanoid created for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro. It was released as part of the compilation Play It Again Sam 13 in 1990.
Diamonds is an arcade-style game released for the Macintosh in 1992 by Varcon Systems, Inc.
Cops 'n' Robbers is a video game published by Atlantis Software in 1985 for the VIC-20 and in virtually identical form on the Commodore 64. It was ported to the Commodore 16 and Commodore Plus/4 (1986), Acorn Electron and BBC Micro (1987), and the Atari 8-bit family (1988). The game was controversial when released as the player takes the role of a robber and must shoot the police.
Frenzy is an 8-bit computer game published in the UK by Micro Power in 1984. It is a version of the arcade game Qix. The game was released for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro in 1984 and for the Commodore 64 in 1985.
Lady Bug is a maze chase video game produced by Universal and released for arcades in 1981. Its gameplay is similar to Pac-Man, with the primary addition to the formula being gates that change the layout of the maze when used, adding an element of strategy to the genre. The arcade original was relatively obscure, but the game found wider recognition and success as a launch title for the ColecoVision console.
Diamond Mine is a maze video game first published by MRM Software for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro home computers in 1984. Diamond Mine was reissued by Blue Ribbon in 1985 and ported to other systems in 1985 and 1986. Blue Ribbon released a sequel, Diamond Mine II, at the same time. Both games are similar to the 1983 game Oil's Well, which itself is a re-themed version of the 1982 Anteater arcade game.
Perplexity is a video game created by Ian Collinson for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro and published by Superior Software in 1990. It is a pseudo 3D maze game with Sokoban-style puzzles.