Manual Stimulation: Penguin-kun Wars Vs. (GameBoy)

I hate to begin this post on a negative note, but I'm going to do it anyway: the Penguin-kun Wars Vs. instruction manual can't quite hold a candle to the game's eye-popping cover art or cartridge label. (Both can be seen in the previously published, "Surprise! The Year of the GameBoy Continues: Penguin-kun Wars Vs.")

That doesn't mean you should click away from this write-up. The Penguin-kun Wars Vs. manual has plenty to offer even though it lacks the wow factor of the rest of this Japanese game's packaging.



Before we get to the meat of the instructional booklet at hand, though, let's address the scan above, which is of its front and back covers. Rest assured I had nothing to do with the off-color splotches that dot its surface.

Sadly, that's the condition it was in when it landed on my doorstep some time ago. Which is weird, as otherwise this copy of Penguin-kun Wars Vs. seems untouched. Maybe it wasn't stored properly?



Regardless, those splotches basically are nonexistent inside the Penguin-kun Wars Vs. booklet, so let's not linger over them.

Moving on, boy, the penguin illustration above is adorable, isn't it? Stylistically, it reminds me of the similarly rough-hewn drawings that can be found in the manuals made for Bubble Bobble Junior and Penguin Land.



The text that sits behind that piece of art details the history of the Penguin-kun Wars series, by the way. Or at least that's what I was able to gather with my admittedly still-developing understanding of the Japanese language.

The pages above, on the other hand, detail the rules and controls of Penguin-kun Wars Vs., respectively.



The manual then moves on to explain the ins and outs of this GameBoy title's one-player mode.

Surprise! The Year of the GameBoy Continues: Penguin-kun Wars Vs.

In light of the recent news (see japanesenintendo.com for more info) that publisher City Connection is prepping a "modern remake" of Penguin-kun Wars--to be called Penguin-kun Gira Gira WARS--for the Nintendo Switch, I decided now was as good a time as any to publish a post about the original portable version of ASCII Entertainment's one-on-one battler.

If this is the first you've ever heard of Penguin-kun Wars, it's an arcade-style game that stars a handful of animals (specifically, a bat, a cow, a rabbit, a rat and, of course, a penguin) who, for some reason or another, come together to toss balls across a table at each other.

You, the player, choose and then control one of the above-mentioned creatures in a timed battle against another animal, with the goal being to get all 10 balls onto your opponent's side of the table before the clock runs out. Should you fail to accomplish that task, the next best thing is to ensure there are fewer balls on your side of the table than there are on your opponent's when the buzzer rings.

Not all animals are treated equally in any version of Penguin-kun Wars, by they way. For example, the rat moves quickly side to side but throws balls slowly. The cow, on the other hand, lacks foot speed but is fast to recover when hit by a ball. (Sorry, I forgot to mention earlier that characters are knocked unconscious when pelted by said projectiles.)

It's hardly the deepest of experiences, mind you, but it's good, clean fun while also being pretty darn cute, so it's an easy title to recommend even with its shallow gameplay.

Penguin-kun Wars began life--in 1985--as an arcade game, by the way. That same year, ASCII published home ports for both the MSX and the Famicom. The portable port discussed and highlighted here, which added multiplayer tournaments via the Game Boy Video Link to the mix, didn't see the light of day until early 1990.

Unlike the Famicom and MSX iterations Penguin-kun Wars, Penguin-kun Wars Vs. wasn't a Japan-only product. In fact, Nexoft brought it to North America as Penguin Wars, while Nintendo handled its release, as King of the Zoo, throughout Europe.

Considering every other version of Penguin-kun Wars is crammed with color, a GameBoy conversion could've been a major disappointment. Like Bubble Bobble Junior, Tumblepop and Snow Bros. Jr., though, Penguin-kun Wars Vs. is surprisingly easy on the eyes despite being a black-and-green affair. Actually, I'd go so far as to say the sprites showcased in the latter game look better than either of its homebound counterparts.

Unfortunately, Penguin-kun Wars for Famicom bests this on-the-go effort in the area of gameplay due to the portable title's somewhat stutter-y frame rate. Don't let that scare you away from it, though; it's still perfectly playable--it's just not perfect.

Granted, I'd probably recommend this game for its packaging alone. I'm especially fond of its cover art, though the interior of its instruction booklet has its moments, too. Speaking of which, you can virtually flip through the entirety of the Penguin-kun Wars Vs. manual in this "Manual Stimulation" post of mine.

In the meantime, have any of you played Penguin-kun Wars in some form or fashion? If so, I'd love it if you're share your opinions of the experience(s) in the comments section of this post.

See also: previous 'Year of the GameBoy' posts

Who's that (ASCII) girl?

Did you see yesterday's post about the completely awesome--not to mention complete-in-box--copy of Otocky that I picked up recently? If not, check it out here.

And if so, would one of you--those of you who know Japanese, especially--be so kind as to help me figure out the identity of the girl shown in the photos below?

The first photo is of the front of Otocky's outer box, while the second is of the back of its box.

I'm guessing the second photo, and the text that accompanies it, will be more helpful to those of you who are willing to come to my aid, but what do I know?

Also, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that the girl in question won some sort of competition held by ASCII, or that she was one of those "idols" the Japanese seem to be so fond of.

Acquisition #146: Otocky (Famicom Disk System)

My initial idea was to begin this post by saying, "I have no idea why I recently bought this game." I thought that because, truth be told, although I own a rather wonderful Twin Famicom system--a cherry red one; here's a photo of it, and here's another--I rarely play it or the many cartridges and disks I've acquired for it thus far. (Yes, that means I tend to play said games via emulation these days.)

As such, picking up yet another Famicom game--especially a disk system one, as I play them even less than their cart-based counterparts--seemed to me to be a waste of money at best.

So, why'd I go through with this particular purchase? Well, beyond the fact that this game--ASCII's Otocky, which was released in Japan in 1987--is completely awesome, I went through with it because I'd never before seen a complete-in-box copy of it for sale and I was worried I'd never come across one again.

Before I move on to some of the photos I snapped of this acquisition, I probably should share a detail or two about Otocky with those of you who've never heard of it. The main thing you should know: It was conceived and designed by the great Toshio Iwai, who later made Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS.

Otocky is every bit as experimental as the aforementioned DS game, although I personally find this one--which conceals its musical aspects within the confines of a side-scrolling shmup--to be both more accessible and more fun. (To catch a glimpse of the game in action, check out this gameplay video.)

With all of that background information out of the way, let's get to what most of you likely clicked on this post to see: Otocky's packaging. Here's the front of the game's box:



And here's the back of its box:



The game's box is larger than most Famicom games, by the way. In fact, I'd say it's nearly the size of a PC game box. Why? Don't worry, I'll get to that in a second.



The photo above shows off the case that contains the Otocky disk. Sure, the art is the same as what was used on the game's outer packaging, but it's so cute and colorful I'm not going to complain.



So, here we get to the reason for the outer box's girth: Otocky's manual. If someone were to tell me that it's the largest instruction manual to be included with a Famicom game, I wouldn't bat an eye. Not only is it large in terms of dimensions, but it's also large in terms of number of pages. It's 72 pages long!



Thankfully, it's not simply 72 pages of text. In fact, it includes a number of completely adorable illustrations--one of which can be see above, and one of which can be seen below--that are nearly worth the price of admission all on their own, in my opinion.



I also really like the pages shown in the photo below, which shine a light on a few of Otocky's enemies.



If you somehow haven't gotten your fill of Otocky information in this post, head on over to my Flickr photostream to see a few more photos of its outer packaging and its disk.

See also: Previous 'Acquisition #123' posts

Five favorites: Games featuring penguins

My recent experiences with The Berlin Wall, a Japanese Game Gear title that's filled with penguins of various colors and sizes, got me thinking it might be fun to write about my favorite games that feature these waddling, flightless birds.

This post is the result of that brainstorming, of course. Please note that I decided to focus on games that have penguin protagonists. As such, you won't see games like the aforementioned platformer or, say, Super Mario 64 discussed here.

1. Binary Land (Famicom)--This Hudson Soft-made game, which puts players in control of a pair of in-love penguins, is one of my favorite Famicom games, so it shouldn't be too surprising that I'm including it here. I don't love Binary Land because of its adorable protagonists, by the way; I love it because of its unique gameplay (you literally control both characters at the same time as you work them toward each stage's "exit" of sorts) and its highly hummable soundtrack.

2. Parodius Da! (PC Engine)--I could have included any of Konami's Parodius games in this post, really, but I decided to go with this, the series' second release, because it's the first I played. A few additional reasons for its inclusion here: it stars Pentarou, son of Antarctic Adventure's main character, and it features hordes of penguin "baddies" as well as a rather notable penguin boss (who earns extra points from yours truly for being both pink and a pirate), too.