Pengo - MAME software

Atari 5200 cart. published 42 years ago:

Pengo © 1983 Atari, Incorporated.

As Pengo the Penguin, you race around the ice field rearranging huge blocks of ice. Your objectives: Destroy your opponents, the Sno-Bees, before they sting you; and line up three diamond blocks for a fortune in bonus points.

Use your joystick controller to move Pengo around the ice field. Press the lower fire button to kick an ice block across the playfield or to crush an ice block that is trapped against the wall or against another block.

Squash the Sno-Bees by pushing ice blocks into them or by running Pengo over them when they are frozen. Line up the three diamond blocks by crumbling and kicking strategic ice blocks around the field until all three diamond blocks adjoin.

Each round is completed when you destroy all the Sno-Bees or when the last one escapes. The game ends when you lose your last Pengo life.

TECHNICAL
Model CX5236

SCORING
Crumbling an ice block: 30 points.

Squashing Sno-Bees between Ice Blocks
1 Sno-Bee: 400 points.
2 Sno-Bees at once: 1,600 points.
3 Sno-Bees at once: 3,200 points.
4 Sno-Bees at once: 6,400 points.

Destroying a Frozen Sno-Bee by:
Stepping on it: 100 points.
Squashing it between ice blocks: 400 points.

Crushing an Ice Block Containing a Sno-Bee Egg: 500 points.

Lining up Diamond Blocks:
Against a wall: 5,000 points.
Inside the ice field: 10,000 points.

Time-Bonus Points for Destroying Sno-Bees
0 to 19 Seconds: 5,000 points.
20 to 29 Seconds: 2,000 points.
30 to 39 Seconds: 1,000 points.
40 to 49 Seconds: 500 points.
50 to 59 Seconds: 10 points.
60 Seconds or more: 0 point.

TIPS AND TRICKS

• Kill as many Sno-Bees as possible with a single ice block. You'll score lots of points and you'll get rid of the Sno-Bees quickly for potential time-bonus points.
• Kicking and crumbling blocks in your path slows you down. So if Sno-Bees are chasing you and you come up against an ice block, don't lose time by trying to destroy it, run around it!
• Try to put a block between you and pursuing Sno-Bees. Then use that block to crush the little nasties.
• For higher points, remember to crush Sno-Bees with ice blocks rather than stepping on them.
• The best strategy for lining up diamond blocks is to make a wall out of the regular ice blocks against which the diamond blocks can be pushed.
• Each time you begin a new round, analyze the maze. If it's easy to line up the diamond blocks, do that first. If the diamond blocks are far apart and hard to align, kill the Sno-Bees first.
• Remember that regular ice blocks are worth 30 points each. So, after aligning the diamond blocks, start crushing the regular blocks for extra points, but don't destroy them all before you kill off the Sno-Bees!

STAFF
Programmer: W. Sean Hennessy

CONTRIBUTE
Edit this entry: https://www.arcade-history.com/?&page=detail&id=50073&o=2