Penguin
Adventure is the follow up to the MSX/ColecoVision/Famicom game Antarctic
Adventure. It is a great game with decent graphics and a great soundtrack.
Very few people in the UK will have played this game as it was only released
for MSX and available in small quantities in the UK. It was a 1 MBit (wow)
game and cost £14.99 in the UK. The European version comes in a small white
cardboard box. It will be extremely rare to find this version in mint
condition as the boxes Konami used were very fragile and it was easy to rip
them removing the cartridge and the even more flimsy tray that the cart was
housed in. The Japanese version comes in a hard plastic box and the
cartridge itself has a colorful picture of the Penguin rather than the text
of the European version. The Japanese version also has a slightly different
opening sequence. In the game you play Pentarou a penguin with a mission to save the Penguin Princess. Initial gameplay involves dodging/jumping crevices and catching fish. Later these fish can be used to upgrade your penguin by buying items like a gun, speed shoes and amour from the barter shop. There is also a slot machine sub game where you can gamble your fish. The game features nine different types of landscape. Every three stages you meet and end of level boss who you have to dispatch by cracking the ice and watching him fall through. When you complete the game there is a happy and a sad ending. To get the happy ending you have to pause the game once and ‘take a rest’. If you pause the game more than once or not at all you get the sad ending.
Compared
to contemporary Spectrum and C64 games this game is superior. It contains
many secrets and is very playable. Pentarou appears in many other Konami MSX
titles. He is the star of Antarctic Adventure, in the crowd in Ping Pong
(looks a bit like a gorilla), on the main screen of Gamesmaster 1 & 2,
Konami Astrology, Parodius and If you insert Penguin Adventure in the second
cartridge slot with Nemesis 2 in slot one your ship is a penguin and it
fires fish!! There is a Famicom platform game Yume Moongatari Penguin from
Konami that stars a retired Penguin who has become very fat. He also appears
in the GBA game Konami Krazy Racers on the menu screens. Penguin Adventure
appeared on the PlayStation and Saturn in Japan as part of the Konami
Antiques Collections.Graphics: 8/10 as good as it gets on MSX 1
Sound: 9/10 catchy tunes and good spot effects
Gameplay: 9/10 easy to play but difficult to master
