Battle of the Ports - Pengo (ペンゴ) Show

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Rip off a 70's synth track and add in a penguin and what do you get? Pengo! On this week's Battle of the Ports
Time Code
00:23 - Arcade
02:08 - Atari 2600
02:52 - Atari 5200
03:39 - Game Gear
04:30 - Sega Saturn
05:16 - BBC Micro
06:11 - Mega Drive
07:07 - Xbox 360
Enjoy!

[@darkerfalcon3747]

With the arrival of the new MAME romset, it was revealed that the version with the Popcorn music, is the Japanese version of the game. While with the original music one, is the International version.

[@pauljohnson7548]

I'm so glad you did this episode and explained about the alternate soundtracks. When I was a kid I used to play Pengo at my local arcade, and I loved the music so much that I even programmed my own version of the song on an Apple computer in our school's computer lab. However it wasn't Popcorn -- it was the alternate song that plays in the Atari 5200 version in your video. When I started playing MAME years later, I loaded up Pengo, expecting to hear that song that I still remembered after all those years. Not knowing there were two versions of the game, I was really confused that it was not playing the song I remembered. I thought I had lost my mind or something!

[@RetroCore]

I beleive the version of the game nit using the Popcorn song was distributed by Bandai. I can't be 100% sure mind you.

[@JoystickVersusMachine]

In the US both revisions were distributed by Sega. I played that game for years in the arcade and never managed to find a Popcorn revision (I didn't even know it existed until MAME).

[@loganjorgensen]

Never noticed the slowness on Atari but a good place to start if you're not very good at the original. That multiplayer 360 version looks sweet, like Bomberman the bigger level and more players works well.

[@tonyarmentano]

Great! I love the remix music at the beginning/ending of the video

[@TechGamer64960]

IS THE SONG POPCORN?

[@Ziko577]

Yep.

[@Retro_Royal]

Remembering having the Arcade Cabinet in a Shopping Center in Germany when i was a boy. Only Kid-friendly games where allowed back then in public / outside the Arcade (and there you can´t enter before you turned 18). Joyfull memories escaping my sister and mom to hover around the arcade, watching gameplay. Got replaced by BubbleBobble later.

[@RetroCore]

At least it was replaced by another good game 😃

[@thrillington2008]

I love popcorn it's a true electronic music classic

[@MrWolverineDK]

Gershon Kingsley (not Hot Butter) wrote this beautiful piece of electronic music in 1969 (one year before Kraftwerk came out with their first album). But I had no idea an official arcade game had used the music :-) that just makes me smile :-) sweet game I must say :-)

[@RetroCore]

Yep, back in the early days quite a few Arcade games "borrowed" early electronic music.

[@davidfernandezsabio3844]

Nice ports of a classic gem.Thanks again Mark!.

[@FuzzballRenakitty]

Popcorn will always be a classic! I am reminded of Segas ( very rare!) arcade game Super Locomotive which had a very well done cover of YMOs Rydeen! I know there is a MasterSystem or Gamegear port but I don't know of any others..

[@retrovideogamejunkie]

awww, when arcade and their remix of classical music..... although my fave is the one on gyruss

[@Fortuna1]

Interesting game, it's my favorite for years PS: exist a fanmade for MSX2 console is a 1:1

[@chrisnizer5702]

Slow down in Pengo is a good thing, that game is wicked hard! Thanks for the video my friend good stuff. 👍

[@RetroCore]

Tha ks for watching.

[@topofbones]

That's a pity there isn't a Master System version of this funny game. Great BotP! I love this type of games like Flicky or Mr.Do!

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

Sean Hennsey, who handled the Atari 5200 and A8 versions, thinks it was between 4 and 6 months work, with 20% of the code reused from his earlier Tennis title. He had the coin Op, plus a print out of the source code. He left the intro sequence out due to memory constraints, plus an intro designed to attract players to a coin op, isn't needed for a home version.

[@Mr.madmight266]

I remember playing this game years ago but i didn't remember that"Popcorn"song until now, to me is funny and catchy at the same time xD

[@kenwheeler3637]

I love Pengo. I've had the 5200 port the longest. Also have the 2600 and GG ones. Would like to get the others. One way to get out of a jam when you're against a wall is to turn towards it and press it like you would pushing an ice block. Any snow bee's along the same wall will be dazed. You can then simply walk over them to take them out.

[@miikasuominen3845]

Loved this in the arcades, all those years ago. You didn't seem to rumble the walls, which makes it much more easier also ;) I have to check out some of these ports and maybe MAME too :)

[@RetroCore]

Sadly I forgot all about the wall rumbling. No wonder was having such a tough time.

[@Clasiku]

Nice, another BotP video! Also, Ohai Mark! :)

[@RetroCore]

おはようございます。

[@fulgenzio1973]

A true classic

[@Charlie-Cat.]

I don'r recall playing this game before Mar. But I do like penguins...So this will be a plus for me. 8^) Nice work bro, I learned something new from you again. 8^) Anthony..

[@normantor]

You can shake the walls. Makes it way easier

[@RetroCore]

You can? I didn't know about that.

[@ExtremeWreck]

normantor How is that actually possible?

[@billcook4768]

I was yelling at the screen - kick that wall, KICK THE WALL :)

[@Nestalgba92023]

@@billcook4768 XD!

[@alainazor3990]

"PENGO" #1.Arcade 👍🏆 #2.Saturn Great arcade ports ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐music sounds 100% same the graphics pretty much same like arcade ports because Saturn is a strong machine for 2D games #3.Xbox 360 large Map can see everything very well it's look fantastic better gameplay like arcade + great graphics #4.Sega Genesis almost like arcade ports + very close to the arcade still very good ports the graphics is very good #5.Sega Game Gear unbelievable look very good excellent ports + is play very well + good graphics #6.Atari 2600 is ok not very bad , play the game is excellent the problem is slow but still very good game the graphics is ok i think they doing very good is a good different ports not close to the arcade either i love the way the game playing 👍

[@rorydropkick]

A note about the 2600 version, it does have BGM if you flip one of the difficulty switches. Additionally, there's 2 different roms iirc. I had a cartridge that had a basic "PENGO" on a black screen, and whenever Pengo would melt blocks, he would make sound effects.

[@RetroCore]

Do you know if both versions by the same developer?

[@rorydropkick]

Yes, from what I understand it's just different revisions.

[@dse763]

"The windows version of the SEGA Memorial Collection is missing as I couldn't get hold on it". I try to get it too as I want to play Fantasy Zone, Flicky and Pengo on my PC (without resorting MAME) and because I'm in full SEGA PC testing mode. Unfortunately, nowhere to be found in Yahoo Auction Japan but I found large stocks of Advanced Daisenryaku 98 and Sakura Taisen (3, I think). I think all of those are straight ports of SEGA AGES Fantasy Zone and SEGA Memorial Selection Vol 1 though.

[@MarcBarkyMarta]

So two things about Ge-sen Love plus Pengo!: 1) I think Pengo! Was released with the rest of Ge-Sen Love to the arcades under the Sega RingEdge 2 System later and 2) Arcade/Ge-Sen Love plus Pengo! was released for the Switch after this video came out.

[@sloppynyuszi]

I had this on the game gear, was kinda bummed this is the game that brought me from his travels, after a couple of months I gave it a go and couldn’t put it down. I think with the blue background and large sprites, it looks better than the arcade.

[@javaykirk2688]

There's also a c64 and pc ms dos version as well. The pc version is called pango.

[@RetroCore]

Whish I had known when making this video.

[@gabrielloko30000]

This title song i swear to god, that i heard on a birthday party, the DJ maybe never heard about the game Fun fact: The "Yellow Louie" of Bomberbam series, maybe take inspiration of the game, i mean the special ability of her is actually the same

[@ExtremeWreck]

Gabriel Zero Huh, never knew that before as I haven't played that much Bomberman.

[@billcook4768]

The DJ was undoubtedly playing the Crazy Frog versions of the song. While I love it in Pengo, I feel sorry for anyone having to attend an event where the DJ would play Crazy Frog ;)

[@JoystickVersusMachine]

The European Game Gear version has an alternate music track as well. I ended up with a copy because there was a shop where we used to go vacation that sold European GG games (which was weird, because some actually had NA releases). I dunno if it was just not what I was used to or expecting, but I found the music in this version very off-putting.

[@RetroCore]

I wasn't aware that the Euro GG version had different music. Thanks for the info.

[@connardman]

In 1987, Ubi Soft released a really nice Pengo clone called "Mange Cailloux" (pebble eater in french) for the Amstrad cpc.

[@RetroCore]

That's right. There's quite a few nice clones out there.

[@bhirawamaylana466]

I can dance with these opening !!!!

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

I think I had this on my CPC, or something like that.

[@RetroCore]

ah, that would be a clone version. There was no official CPC port sadly.

[@geoserenity]

wait, pingu made a game? oh, pengo...my bad...

[@RetroCore]

I had to be careful during the voiceover as not to call this Ping 😁

[@chunkycjw]

That is a fine remix of Popcorn on the intro and outro, what version is it ? This game always reminds me of the UK Children's program, Pingu, lol.

[@RetroCore]

The name of the mixer is listed on the opening. KZbin his name to get the whole track :)

[@chunkycjw]

Cheers :)

[@weegoh8324]

Attack of the killer Kirbys 😂

[@frankschneider6156]

There is a really good port called Pengo on the C64 by Colosoftware (the guys who also ported Burning Rubber to the C64), that looks a lot more like the Arcade game than most of the games reviewed here. Also: maybe I'm dumb, but why is the name Pengo written in Katakana and not Hiragana, it's a Japanese and not a foreign name, is it ?

[@RetroCore]

The whole Katakana for none Japanese words is kind of miss leading. There are many words in Japanese that while being Japanese are written in Katakana or Hiragana. Ramen is a prime example or how about the character Doraemon? His name is half of each writing style. It looks like this ドラえもん. The first two "letters" are katakana while the last 3 are hiragana.

[@frankschneider6156]

sigh .. thanks .. I'll never manage to learn that language.

[@ExtremeWreck]

Heck yeah, it was a fun game for the Atari 2600. Did you know that there's a clone of it called "Frisco" also on the Atari 2600?

[@RetroCore]

Yep. There's quite a few clones of this game out there.

[@TandokuOokami]

Does anyone know what the Popcorn Song remix is called? Thanks!

[@psistis80]

I am surprised that there was no port for the SG-1000 or the Master System.However i remember there was a port for the Ti-99,but not if it was official.

[@RetroCore]

It is odd how this never got a SG-1000 or Master System port.

[@Nestalgba92023]

I think Sega maybe wanted make more money by it's arcade machines and the PC ports.

[@luisreyes1963]

Didn't know there was a version of Pengo for the Atari 2600.

[@RetroCore]

Nope, is it official?

[@SNARC15]

The 2600 version you shown is actually the 1983 prototype. There was a final release with a 1984 copyright date that plays faster.

[@RetroCore]

Does it look same?

[@SNARC15]

@@RetroCore From what I recall the title screen looked different (PENGO is in different text, has a 1984 copyright date, and the character actually marches back and forth.) There are other changes that I can't truly remember as I haven't played the game in about 30 years, but if you go to AtariProtos.com, they explain all the differences between the 83 prototype and the 84 final release.

[@SNARC15]

This is the 83 proto you shown. www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/pengo/earlyproto.htm And this is the 84 final release. www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/pengo/pengo.htm

[@oscarzxn4067]

Interesting to see that in the Atari versions you move fast horizontally but slow as shit vertically

[@giuseppecalabrese396]

Popcorn a go go!

[@yellowinahat]

Yeah, um, the Atari 2600 port shown here is a prototype.

[@JoãoMartins-t4e]

What is the remix version of the popcorn song in the intro and the ending called?

[@RetroCore]

I'm afraid I don't know. It's just something I found on my hard drive at the time.

[@anthonysalvaro2979]

the Atari 5200 version is GREAT..it's much more playable than the arcade

[@johnsimon8457]

GameGear is interesting, low resolution, so they kept the sprites the same but decreased the bounding boxes while keeping the same level design. Popcorn could be a song they didn’t have rights to in the first place but copyright is different in Japan. Always confused this game with Binary Land kzbin.info/www/bejne/o37amp6lbJakjNk

[@RetroCore]

Oh my God, the music on the Binary Land game is awful.

[@Lightblue2222]

You have the music turned off on the 2600 version. But that might be a good thing

[@RetroCore]

Ah, wasn't sure that was an option but yeah, probably the better choice.

[@vasileios6301]

Weird it didnt get a SG1000 or a Master System port but a Game Gear one

[@RetroCore]

Yeah, that is odd.

[@afropowa1598]

I am sadden that the 360 version isn't on PC with online multiplayer support.

[@losalfajoresok]

Pengo is kinda forgotten mascot, if Sega wanted, it could be more famous and starred different style of games, I think.

[@amerigocosta7452]

Not exactly the kind of game you'd expect to have a physical release on the 360!

[@RetroCore]

Absolutely. Kind of a strange release.

[@dave4shmups]

I wish the Mega Drive port wasn’t so blasted expensive.

[@jeremycline9542]

Mark I'm trying to place your accent...I'm thinking west of England, perhaps Wales? (I'm far off, right? Like a Frenchman calling a Texan a New Englander?)

[@RetroCore]

I'm actually from the North West of the UK, Liverpool. I left the UK 20 years ago though.

[@jeremycline9542]

I was thinking just to the north of Wales, so I wasn't far off, except as an American I don't know the right terms.

[@dallase1]

I take it the Saturn version was another Japan only release ?

[@RetroCore]

Yep.

[@dallase1]

That Sucks, I hate it when they don't bring some of the good stuff to America.

[@Nestalgba92023]

@@dallase1 'Cause Bernard Stoller, the CEO the Sega of America, Sucked.

[@dallase1]

That's what I heard,so I guess he killed Sega of America and any chance of ever seeing another console from them. But what about Sega of Japan,why aren't they going to make a new console?

[@MahmoudEhab2023]

Man I think that the Mega drive is one port to play this game and well ..... that's all I can say you know but what is the next battle of the ports ? Please do capcom vs snk dude pretty please?

[@RetroCore]

Virtual On is next.

[@MahmoudEhab2023]

Retro Core WHAT? Are you serious?

[@RetroCore]

Yep. Made the title card today.

[@DIASTCartoons]

I enjoy playing Pengo on MAME. I really want to play the Xbox 360 remake eventually.

[@RetroCore]

Sadly the 360 version is really expensive now. It's become one of those cult games.

[@DIASTCartoons]

Retro Core I heard about that. It's a bummer that it is expensive and that I never owned an Xbox 360 in my life. Luckily, one of the Ge-sen Love + Pengo games, Shm'up Skill Test is available on Steam and it's a fun $5 game.

[@fernandocollazo8705]

Where is the homebrew msx version?

[@RetroCore]

I wasn't covering the clones and homebrew version. No time this week.

[@IncaWarrior3000]

Did not recognized the game until I saw the atari 2600 version lol.... (the only version ever seen it.)

[@RetroCore]

Now that is something special. Recognising a game from the 2600 port.

[@daviddyer3543]

Hmmmm...has anyone made a version of this game with Pingu as the main character?

[@RetroCore]

I sure somewhere someone must have made a hack of one of the existing versions. It's just too tempting not to.

[@codiepereira636]

Do you know ther is a c64 verson

[@RetroCore]

That's apparently not an official port.

[@74Amighista]

Where is the C64 version?

[@RetroCore]

There isn't one. The version on the C64 is unlicensed / a clone game.

[@zero3san590]

As far as I can find, it was called Petch on C16 then ported to C64 as Pengo. Not sure about the name change.

[@RetroCore]

Ah, that's unlicensed then in its based upon the C16 game.

[@davidvfx]

This don't count? kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXmlo3ign66Vg7s I really did not know the arcade version of MD, I only knew this remix version, I saw no reference to being a sequel and I thought it was a renewed version.

[@RetroCore]

That's the game where the Mega Drive footage came from. The main game plays nothing like the original so I didn't include it.

[@memberberry6177]

No C64 port shown? :(

[@RetroCore]

It wasn't an official port.

[@memberberry6177]

Retro Core It was good, tho...

[@AaronRedding]

haters gon hate the sega saturn version is arcade perfect ... where is the psx port it doesnt exist

[@RetroCore]

There is no PlayStation port.

[@AaronRedding]

I am well aware. even if there was it would not run as well. Sega always got the better arcade ports in most cases.