The History of Pengo - arcade console documentary

The history of Sega's Penguin filled Arctic classic
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[@xxHUNGRY4THETRUTHxx]

Fun fact.. Beethoven Symphony #9 is also played in Binary Land. Another block maze type game involving penguin protagonists.

[@AndreSjoberg]

Thanks for making this :) Pengo is one of those childhood memories, the machine I played was located in a roadside tavern we stopped at every winter vacation and easter vacation going to the cabin, so I only got to play it twice every year - but the memories of that game in the basement of that tavern back in the eighties are burned into my brain :)

[@tylerward6723]

Damn man. I haven't heard of Pengo for a long long time. Used to love that game. Thanks for the nostalgia.

[@TheAnkMan]

This channel brings back a lot of (forgotten) nostalgia. I love it!

[@daerth4423]

I used to hate this game because it was super hard for me. Now that I can play it without feeding it quarters I've grown to appreciate it. Another great video as usual.

[@RDJ134]

This video brings back so much good memories, Pengo was in the movie theater back in the 80's and that was a theater where more rough crowd came and f*up you game while playing or trash the machines. But if you came early there whas almost nobody there in the long L shaped hallway, als Bomber Jack and Kung-Fu where there. I cant remember what i ate last week, but a arcade set up for almost 40 years ago...... Great video as always :)

[@DIASTCartoons]

I would have loved to see Pengo as a playable character in Sonic the Fighters.

[@MrEd20901]

Always like pengo as a kid. Probably since it was one of the few games at the local pizza place.

[@1984Brandon]

Nebulus, Pengo, New Zealand Story, Dynamite Dux, and Radical Rex. There was just something about the 1980's and 1990's video games with puzzle solving anthropomorphic characters and orchestral music that sold well I guess.

[@sandmanxo]

I have never seen Pengo in the wild, but had the c64 version and played it a lot. I had no idea you could kick the walls though until about 10 years ago.

[@Mika73x2]

Nice video. I have always been Pengo fan❤ Pengo does also visit Up’n down arcade. If you finish first 4(?) levels fast enough you can see Pengo surfing at sea when play next level. There was also Pengo clone for Vic20 Blockbuster🎉

[@Geforcefly]

Never heard of the recent 7800 version until now, it looks like a great port. One detail about getting the 3 diamond blocks together is that if you get them together against a wall, you get 5K points instead of 10K.

[@forcedfeedbackclassicgamer5499]

The 2600 port is surprisingly fun, not perfect by any means, but a pretty entertaining port nonetheless. Kickle Cubicle on the NES is actually a really interesting Pengo clone. It actually adds quite a few new and interesting mechanics, though, that really help distinguish it from its obvious inspiration.

[@DavidKimFX]

Wow, after all these years, two things I never knew were that you can kick the walls to stun the sno-bees! AND you can run over stunned sno-bees! (I just walked around them! Oops!) Thank you for the gameplay tips, Pat! Another awesome video!! (REQUESTS: The History of Looping, The History of M.A.C.H. 3, and The History of Roc'n Rope!)

[@pauldaniel9199]

Another great video my friend. Thanks for including the unofficial versions, as the homebrew scene has become much more active over recent years.

[@chaoslab]

Popcorn was the music in all the Pengo Arcade machines I saw in New Zealand back in the day.

[@filipe.estima]

Also in Brazil. There were a lot of bootlegs around.

[@BlackArroToons]

The Pengo Penguin game is a fun challenge, pushing the blocks quickly to smash the enemies. Swat looks fun. My Hero on SegaMSys was 10/10 for difficulty. Thanks for showing the ports, which are good to see too. That's something how Sonic is hidden with the Penguins.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

i THOUGHT IT WAS COOL AS WELL. Thanks

[@Hektols]

The first game for my PC was Pango, the MS-DOS bootleg of the game, several years passed until I found out that it came from a Sega arcade game.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

That was a really good clone

[@geardog24]

So Bomberman was influenced by Pengo? I thought this game looked too familiar.

[@filipe.estima]

Pengo itself was influenced by the sucess of Namco's Puck Man (later renamed Pac-Man) and Universal's Lady Bug, released in previous years. Sega knew they needed to have a maze game of their own to ride the wave of sucess this genre had.

[@evilash570]

Pengo is addictive fun!!!

[@02DooD]

So weird hearing a licensed song in an older arcade game. Bomb Jack also does this with Lady Madonna by The Beatles, but the Arcade Archives rerelease had to replace the music with music from Mighty Bomb Jack on NES.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Some companies tried it and got away with it others not so much

[@FutureGroupsofRufus]

I heard the "Popcorn" version lots of times on the "Starcade" game show. My favorite clone of "Pengo" is "Hopper" for the TI 99/4A computer.

[@ianfeuerhake1859]

I’ve been waiting for this one. Always liked Pengo!

[@ks-bg5uk]

A couple things here. The Atari 5200 version on the console actually uses several voices in the music which is better than the 8bit version. The 5200 joystick (that's working) actually plays well with this game and is not a "nightmare" as you describe some people say.

[@kenwheeler3637]

I'm a big fan of Pengo. What a fun concept for a game. The TI99/4A computer had a clone called Hopper where, instead of a penguin, it's a kangaroo pushing around crates.

[@Lauren_Tyler]

I can testify that the Atari 8-bit version is essentially the same as the Atari 5200 version.

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

Humm...Pengo. There are probably a lot of home versions. But any sequels?

[@justinromanowich1763]

Love your posts, and really happy to see your channel keep growing. Liked & subscribed sir.

[@JoseMolina-ij3xx]

It's also very important that you limit your melting of snow bee eggs to 1 or 2 per stage. If you go over 2 eggs, the snow bees get super aggressive and hard to avoid.

[@aaronbruceladner1983]

I Wonder What PENGO would Look Like on the NES

[@c.bretmiller6148]

Probably a lot like Penta.

[@blethigg9320]

Versions with the Popcorn music made it to the UK too. I remember playing one.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Such a classic

[@mymomsaysimcool9650]

Just checked out a Popcorn music video. Think I know where they got the idea for using penguins in the game. Dropping Acid in black&white. Far Out, Man.

[@louyork8379]

Short queef is a quif 😂😂😂

[@jamesmoss3424]

Pengo is an amazing Sega arcade game and I will play it. 😀👍🐧🎮

[@mattmcconnell4814]

Interesting. Never heard of this one but I'll definitely try it out.

[@daveretrolondon]

Well you've done it again Sir! 2 from 2 for me Dig Dug and now Pengo, another of my all time faves from when I was a kid! To this day I had no idea there were 2 versions! I grew up in South Africa and all we ever had were bootlegs so I never came across the 2nd revision, and once again my 52yr old brain has learnt something new 👍 Absolutely wonderful again! Thank you so much 👍 Dave

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed them. Glad I could provide you with some brand-new info :-)

[@johnathanstevens8436]

I love Pengo. One of the first games I played on the 5200

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

I love it as well

[@Studeb]

I had no idea you could stun the enemies by knocking the walls.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

You know, a lot of people didn't

[@timothyware7510]

​@@PatmanQC-Arcade-DocumentariesWatching this makes them wonder did this game came before Angry birds?

[@MrDuneedon]

PatmanQC videos are gifts to the world.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

How nice of you to say, thanks

[@WakandaForever1776]

The guy that used to run the Barrel of Fun in Warner Robins, Ga, Tim, loved this game.

[@Realmasterorder]

Thanks for these very interesting special "documentaries"grew up with Arcades in Europe and i use to go to almost every day in the 80's.I remember Pengo and that distinct music,ot was such a fun lovely and amazingly playable game,this was indeed for Everyone some were ok at it some were really good you could go for a lot of points and complex strategies or just try to end the Stage.

[@VictorHernandez-nj2lo]

I never knew Pengo was gonna be a guest character in Sonic The Fighters. Well, time to start modding so I can have him added

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

That would be cool to see

[@Trenchbroom]

One of my favorite golden age arcade games. Never heard the Popcorn version until MAME years later, so the replacement jingle is the one I get stuck in my head at times.

[@Tweekend27]

When I saw the thumbnail I pictured the game ’Pooyan’ but that was a pig and foxes.

[@quantumfx2677]

I remember staying for a week at an hotel with my family when I was 13 or 14 and spending 80$ in quarters on this game. I think around 1982 or 83. Man am I old.

[@holladaymark]

wish you would have included the MS-DOS version. I grew up on that game..

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Typically I don't include clones unless they are really well done. Also, pengo had crazy amounts due to it not being available on most eight bit computers.

[@_Majoras]

pengo's my favorite arcade game 🧊🧊🧊🧊 now we need mr. do! oh wait, just noticed you did do mr. do 3 years ago

[@majikman7355]

Popcorn Song 1969....thanks man...catchy tune

[@ImaFnT-Rex]

Wow I remember that one Years back

[@KasumiKenshirou]

I've never seen this game before.

[@seanmyster6]

Interesting to hear that this game inspired Bomberman 😁 I'm also reminded of Don't Pull from Capcom's 3 Wonders, and the indie game Pushy & Pully In Blockland, which are more direct Pengo clones.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

There are so many it's unbelievable

[@billcook4768]

I’ve always called the 3 Wonder’s game “Fake Pengo.”

[@superroboted]

I have the 360 of Pengo its nice

[@jackofallgamesTV]

Hey where can I find the Xbox 360 version of Pengo. Is it still available on the Xbox 360 shop? I didn't know about this so I literally saw your video thank you. And I'll probably gift some to some Bomberman loving friends for the holidays assuming you can play multiplayer online on it which I hope for the Xbox 360 is a given. But I've seen games that should be Xbox Live compatible that aren't. And yes if you have a real 360 you could still play Xbox Live games on a real 360 even if it's not backwards compatible with the one or the series.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

I'm not sure where you can obtain

[@roberthunter479]

I had to look up the song Popcorn cause I'd never heard of it before. Oddly, I've never heard or seen this one back in the day either. What I do remember seeing is a game called Kitten Kaboodle by Konami. That game seems to be a blatant rip-off of Pengo.

[@RyanRead]

Loved this game. Not sure why but the hours I put in especially in my old Atari. Great memories.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

I know that in the 80s there was a huge penguin boom in Japan because the main Tokyo zoo got a big penguin exhibit. I'm not sure if the timing lines up but if it does that's probably why

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

That could be, timeline definitely fits

[@anthonychobotdoespopcultur7762]

Awesome buddy

[@elmono6299]

I seriously think Sega (or at least hire either Digital Eclipse or Code Mystecs) should one day make a SEGA Arcade Collection which is a compilation of their arcade games such as Pengo, Congo Bongo, Zaxxon, Super Zaxxon, Astro Blasters, Eliminator, Space Furry, Zektor, Tac/Scan, Future Spy, Flicky, Bonanza Bros, Dynamite Dux, My Hero, Space Harrier 1&2, Choplifter, Outrun, Streets of Rage 2, Puyo Puyo 1&2, Columns 1-3, Time Scanner, Alien Storm, Alien Syndrome, Altered Beast, Wrestle War, Golden Axe, Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, Shinobi, Shadow Dancer, Sega Sonic the Hedgehog, Alex Kid: The Lost Stars, Daytona USA, Rad Mobile, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Cop 1&2, Brave Firefighters, Virtua Fighter 1&2, Sonic the Fighters, Super Monkey Ball, Fighting Vipers 1&2, Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice, and House of the Dead 1-4. 📺🕹🦔🦍🐧🐦

[@VulcanSphere]

Yes, featuring the best of Sega/Gremlin, AM, and Modern Sega arcade!

[@wce05308]

Loved this game. Can't remember my best score but I did clock the 16 stages 3 times in one game. Good memories

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

That's fantastic

[@luisreyes1963]

One of my favorite arcade games. There was a version for the Mega Drive, but was never released in the U.S.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Yes I talk about it in the video

[@TMS5100]

One of my favorite arcade games.

[@spaghettigodultra5069]

I loved my Atari 5200 even though the controllers sucked. But I had the Trac Ball controller which was awesome with Centipede and Pengo!

[@jeffm5056]

I scored a Pengo arcade game on Craigslist five or so years ago for a cool $100. Its a fun game.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Holy cow that's fantastic

[@dashalpha]

I don't think I knew about the other games in the series! Thx for sharing!!

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Thank you for watching

[@luxdico]

well done, thx for the upload. pengo was probably my first arcade game, as a child i put a lot of time and money into that machine but only found out this year that you can stun the snowbees if you kick the outer walls.

[@ItalNico]

About 10 years ago I found a NIB copy of Pengo for the Atari 2600 at a thrift store for $100. I talked the manager down to $60 and then sold it for about $200. Probably don't want to know what it might be worth today.

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Holy cow that's crazy

[@Arcadenut1]

I have couple of additional notes for you: Diamond Blocks are only worth 5,000 if lined up on the wall You can crush the Eggs before they hatch for 500 pts If you power the game on and and start it before the demo shows a maze you'll get the same maze when you start. As soon as the first maze is shown, mazes are random after that. There are patterns you can follow for some mazes. Not sure if all have a pattern, but I did develop one for at least one maze. Like many of the games of that time period you only get one extra life per game. I also made a modern Remake of Pengo called "FrostByte Freddie" in 2002 (20+ years ago!)

[@JinzoCrash]

I was HORRIFIED the first time I played a cabinet of Pengo, and the cute music was replaced with "Hot Butter - Popcorn". I mean, that's a cool song, but my heart is for the song I first met with.

[@yeoldecurmudgeon1969]

I had (and still have) a love/hate relationship with this game! When I was a youngster I thought it was difficult as hell still catchy because of JMJ music (in my country we were lucky enought to have that soundtrack) and because of the funny faces! Now that I'm.... Seasoned, I appreciate the whole and fondly remember those days! Thank you so much for another excellent documentary, good sir! You are one of the very few who are able to bring back the good memories of my youth! I wish you all the possible best!

[@filipe.estima]

Pengo itself was influenced by the sucess of Namco's Puck Man (later renamed Pac-Man) and Universal's Lady Bug, released in previous years. Sega knew they needed to have a maze game of their own to ride the wave of sucess this genre had.

[@riversarcadereview385]

you will only receive 5000-points for connecting the diamond blocks against a wall Pengo also appeared in the game "Up'N Down (my episode 067 at about 3:30)

[@JinzoCrash]

Somewhere on my hard drives I have a zip file, where some guy had recreated Pengo for windows. You could EASILY go in and change the sprite sheet (which I did) to make graphics and title to whatever and change the music (which I did as well) to change ALL the sounds and music. Great stuff.

[@barry-allenthe-flash8396]

At the beginning tease, I guessed Sonic the Fighters because it made sense (or Fighter's Megamix, maybe). But secretly, I really wanted to hear that Pengo almost got into Virtua Fighter 4 or something, lol. I love me some Pengo, though I don't know _where_ I played it. I was a Nintendo kid growing up without any Sega Consoles until the Dreamcast, and looking at the ports you compiled, none of them seem super familiar. I did have a cousin who was a Sega kid, so I suppose I just played the sh** out of this one something he had - that's why I have a love of Alex Kidd, Castle of Illusion and some other old Sega stuff. I know that I think the design holds up; there was even a great homage game, Polar Panic, that came out on the PS360 generation as a downloadable title and I played the heck out of that too. This is just a really fun, really solid, arcade puzzler and I love that genre. Bomberman, Kickle Cubicle, Puzzle Bobble, Zupapa... I don't think you can wrong with retro arcade puzzlers, honestly. Great vid as always, Patman!

[@tarstarkusz]

10:42 It doesn't use the same play-field. The 2600 uses a play-field 8 blocks high and the 5200 10 blocks high.

[@edgardeitz5746]

Is it me, or has anyone else been tempted to mash up "Pengo", "Penguin Land", and non-SEGA title "Antarctic Adventure"?

[@ChrisRoth1972]

I never saw or played Pengo in the Arcade in the 80’s because I guess none of the Arcades in my City had it.I played this on the Atari 5200 as a Kid & I loved Pengo! I wish Pengo was available on the Nintendo Switch!

[@billcook4768]

Really enjoyed this back in the day. Our local Aladdin’s Castle must have had a bootleg because l’ve always referred to the popcorn song as Pengo’s theme. Naughty naughty. But I never was that good at the game because I spent all my effort trying to get the diamond block bonus and didn’t pay enough attention to squishing the bad guys.

[@dallase1]

You forgot to mention Hello Kitty Magical Blocks a Japanese only game on the Dreamcast as a side note or something because it's Pengo but with Hello Kitty or maybe a Reboot of Pengo. It basically plays just like Pengo, it even has an equivalent of the diamond blocks that if you line all 3 of them up in a row you get the bonus points. It's actually better than Pengo because it's way easier. So there is something good related to Hello Kitty.

[@jasonz7788]

Thanks pacmanqc

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Thank you for watching

[@derekchristenson5711]

This was one of my favorite games growing up. I played it a bunch on our Atari 5200 (and I still have it). 🙂

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

Four-player pango sounds amazing but given that it says up to eight players at the bottom of the screen I think eight players would be more amazing 😂

[@BBfanfun]

Also on PC DOS, one of the earliest ports (it was in CGA graphics) not sure it was AtariSoft ...

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

As I mentioned in the video, the only licensed versions were for Atari Councils and the Atari eight bit line of computers. *Every* other version on any home computer was a clone.

Easter Egg: In the attract mode, push the two joys to up, press the two action buttons and one button of start game, and it will show the credits of the game. After a few seconds, the game will reset. The wait can be stopped pushing the 1P Start button.

[@dash8brj]

Thanks for this - I now have an earworm of the pengo version of Popcorn playing in my head. Great game!

[@deathproof8732]

Popcorn reminds me of Alex Jones back during the meme wars of 2015 and 2016.

[@8BitAssassinTV]

Perfect start to the day! 🎉

[@edgardeitz5746]

I prefer Pengo's appearance / design from the SEGA Genesis title "Peppenga Pengo".

[@manuell3505]

Pengo was tne name of KGB-hacker Hans Heinrich Hübner. He liked this game a lot...

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Oh baby, completely forgot about that. I've read that book for five times and thought it was fantastic.

[@ronnier.4522]

I recently bought the Bandai VFD Pengo tabletop. It works well for a portable game from that time.

[@Fastbikkel]

We had a machine in the cantina of the swimming pool in my place in the early to late 80's. I found it an interesting game, but hardly played it.

[@spartan.falbion2761]

A good game that rips off and improves Pengo's format is Kwik Snax Dizzy.

[@tarstarkusz]

1:00 Why? One had good music and the other had a terrible rendition of an awful pop music song called Popcorn.

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

Played a clone of it on my game disc From my magazine.

[@nakerusa]

The most influential penguin-based game until Antarctic Adventure!

[@hardlucknate6769]

I had a plush Penguin and I named him after the game

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

LOL very cool

[@RobsRetroGaming]

Love this game, but it's quite challenging!!!

[@Ticonderous1]

Wow Patman .... I asked for Pengo ... Bam you delivered .... Awesome Thanks Brother... Could i be so daring ....Bomb Jack 😁

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Thank you, Perhaps at some point I will tackle bomb Jack

[@PANTYEATR1]

Awww man, i loved playing My Hero! What a blast from the past 💪

[@christophers.8553]

Your narration suggests that Atari was a Japanese company....

[@mappyandmspacproduction262]

0:49 noot noot!

[@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries]

Such a classic :-)

[@treyslay753]

Long live Pengo! I'm going to have to try and get a hold of the Atari 7800 port.