Penguin Software Games - LaunchBox Games Database

Arcade Album #1

Atari 800 - Released - 1984

A compilation release of Spy's Demise, The Spy Strikes Back, and Thunderbombs. Spy's Demise is a vaguely Pac-Man style game, where you gather intelligence in various floors of a building while avoiding guards. The Spy Strikes Back repeats the theme of avoiding guards while maneuvering through 5 different maps. Thunderbombs is an arcade shooter with enemies on multiple sides of the screen.

Arcade Boot Camp

Apple II - Released - 1984

You play as a little helmet with legs, whose goal is to improve his video game playing skills.Game play consists of walking to 5 separate arcade stations to play individual mini-games. Players are given a performance rank for each mini-game by military insignia: Driver Education - The player attempts to steer their vehicle on a quickly moving winding road. Survival Training - The player must survive progressively more complex environmental challenges while trying to clear out the level.. Chopper Practice - The player must collect numbered cargo loads in progressively more complex mazes. Higher levels involve cannons firing at the player, as well as requirements for dropping off loads of cargo on landing pads. Players must move quickly, or they will run out of fuel while flying. Obstacle Course - The player must avoid being hit by falling bombs, moving rocks, and cannonfire in progressively more complex stages. The player must survival to the count of 10 to advance to the next stage. On later stages, they can receive bonus points for collecting a flag in the stage. Target Practice - The player must shoot various targets before elapsed time expires. They only get so many misses, and it's game over. The player is ranked on shot accuracy and total time to stage completion.

Bouncing Kamungas

Apple II - Released - April 21, 1983

You play as a watermelon farmer armed with a pitchfork. In the middle of a thunderstorm, a swarm of bouncing kamungas have descended upon your fields. You have to plant and defend watermelons until they can be harvested by defending your crop from the hungry kamungas. These bouncing creatures can only be defeated by standing underneath the kamungas, and holding your pitchfork aloft so that they land upon it. If a kamunga lands upon a watermelon, they will eat it. Players are awarded points for every mature watermelon harvested. Players must avoid multiple dangers. If a kamunga lands upon their head, they will lose a life. One must be careful to avoid marauding snakes. If the player holds their pitchfork aloft when lighting strikes, they will be electrocuted. When a player loses 3 lives, it is game over.

Crime Wave

Apple II - Released - 1983

You are the law in Crime Wave. You drive your cop car around town and try to catch robbers in the act of crime. You catch the thieves by running into their car once it changes to red (indicating that they are robbing a building). Then you take them to the station at the bottom of the screen. Your life is complicated by other traffic such as ambulances and cars that haven't yet committed a crime. The one-way streets can also make your life miserable.

Expedition Amazon

Apple II - Released - August 8, 1983

Expedition Amazon is a 1983 role-playing video game designed by Willard Phillips and published by Penguin Software. The goal of the game is to guide four explorers as they study Incan ruins. There are four classes in the game: Medic, Field Assistant, Radio Operator, and Guard.

Expedition Amazon

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

Expedition Amazon puts you in control of a team of 4 explorers on an expedition to map and study (i.e.: plunder) the ruins of the Incan civilization. Your team consists of a Medic, a Field Assistant, a Radio Operator, and a Guard. After equipping your team with all the necessary supplies (don't forget the mosquito netting!) you travel to your base camp at the edge of the jungle where you will begin your journey. You will quickly meet up with many of the hazards of the jungle as you explore, including hostile natives (hope your Guard is a good shot!), mosquitoes, disease, covered pits, wildlife, and more. Each of your team members has an "EL" rating which indicates how close he is to dying. Death comes quickly for new team members, but as your team gains experience by mapping more and more of the Amazon and Incan ruins, your EL rating goes up and your team members become quite a bit more effective at avoiding hazards. You also get an Efficiency Rating "ER" which is an overall score of your exploration completed and loot collected minus your money spent and the number of team members killed. Once you have mapped a few sectors of jungle you will find some ruins with passages leading underground. Underground is a lot more hazardous than the jungle, as many of the pitfalls you encounter mean instant death if you don't have the proper equipment or your team was not alert. The natives are also a lot more numerous underground as well. But don't worry, you can always replace members of your expedition. Besides, what does it matter if you lost your Field Assistant if the rest of your team is carrying out a bagful of gold and silver?

How To Write Adventure Games

Acorn Electron - Released - 1984

The programs on this cassette are designed to be used in conjunction with the book How To Write Adventure Games for the BBC Microcomputer Model B and Acorn Electron by Peter Killworth.

Minit Man

Apple II - August 24, 1983

Minit Man is an action adventure game reminiscent of the popular Epyx game Impossible Mission. The player sneaks into a buidling in an attempt to sabotage a computer that has gone rogue

Pensate

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

Pensate is a strategy game where the player has to move his castle across a checkerboard, from the bottom to the top. The game is turn based and for each turn the player gives instructions on how the castle should move. Number of moves that can be made in a turn is decided before the start of a new game (one to four). The player can move in four directions, up, down, left and right. To reach the top the player has to avoid ten different types of enemies who move around the board at the same time as the player. They differ in the way they move around the board. The most basic enemies can move one step at a time in a specific direction, while others make the opposite move of the player. So if the player moves north, the enemy moves south. Some enemies matches the player's move but turn them a certain amount of degrees clockwise or counterclockwise. Another enemy moves like a chess knight and jumps to a non-adjacent square via an L-shaped path. The game has two play modes; practice and tournament. In the practice mode the player creates his own selection of enemies to play against while in the tournament mode he plays pre-made levels. The tournament is round based and for each round the player faces more and tougher enemies. The game is playable by one or two players. In a two player game one player starts at the top and has to move to the bottom. Also published in Loadstar #040.

Pensate

Atari 800 - Released - 1983

Pie Man

Apple II - Released

You play as an employee of the Automated Bakery Company, attempting to bake as many cakes as possible. From a large machine on the bottom left of the screen, a large oven intermittently lets out a puff of smoke and produces a pie crust. The pie crust travels across the screen to the right on a conveyor belt, and if the pie falls off the end of the belt, it's game over. The player must collect pie filler from the top left of the screen, and place it on the pie on the conveyor belt. They must then grab cherries, and place those on the pie, and then place the finished pie in the bin on the top right of the screen. The player scores 1 point for every pie that is completed. As the game progresses, the conveyor belt moves progressively faster, and obstacles begin to appear in the path of the baker. Intermittently, creatures will appear whom can interrupt the baker.

Pie-Man

Atari 800 - Released - 1983

Spy's Demise

Atari 800 - 1983

Sneak your way through the Soviet Embassy in Pyongyang via elevators, avoiding Soviet security on different floors to piece together the encrypted message. This is a platform game. You move from floor to floor avoiding the security that is constantly moving up and down on elevators. As you climb, you will collect all of the pieces that form an encrypted message as you advance to the next level.

Stellar 7

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

Gir Draxon, Supreme Overlord of the Arcturan Empire has declared war on the Terran Federation. The leaders of Earth respond by sending the Terran Fleet on their way to Arcturus to intercept Draxon's armada. But this was a deadly mistake: the Arcturans have discovered warplinks, which allow them to transport troops from one link to another instantaneously, even across vast interstellar distances. With the fleet halfway across the galaxy, the enemy has already reached the Sol system and occupied Saturn's moon Titan. Now, humanity's only hope is the experimental Raven armored vehicle. One courageous pilot must take the Raven through seven different star systems, from Titan to Arcturus, defeating any and all Arcturans, using the warplinks to travel from one system to the next. Stellar 7 is a first-person action game inspired by Atari's Battlezone, with similar wireframe graphics. In each of the seven levels, the player must defeat a number of enemies. Doing so reveals the warp-link that takes the Raven to the next system. Next to a cannon, the Raven is equipped with radar, shields, and a cloaking device. The cloak drains the energy level of the vehicle substantially, and the depletion of the energy reserves or the shields destroys the Raven. Some of the levels include fuel bays that allow the player to recharge the energy. Various enemies await on the different worlds. These include both ground vehicles (sleds, tanks, hovercraft) and aircraft as well as stationary laser turrets, homing bombs, robot drones and more. All enemies vary in firepower, speed and armor ratings. An in-game mission briefing introduces most adversaries, but some special ones come as surprises.

Sword of Kadash

Atari ST - Released - 1986

You have travelled from the Mediterranean to the deserts of Persia in search of fortune. However, you have met with betrayal and been captured by brigands, who will spare your life only if you agree to enter the Fortress of the Dragon and return with the Sword of Kadash. The game is a top-down action/adventure game set within a maze of rooms and corridors. The player can move in any of the four directions (and diagonally), and fire darts. Only three darts can be fired at a time. These will ricochet off some walls, and be absorbed or cause holes to form in others. They are also the primary method for defeating the various monsters that are scattered about. Monsters can also be defeated by coming into contact with you, but you will in turn take damage. The player has a number of stats. These include health (hit-points) and Armour class, which measures the player's defensive ability and is increased by collecting better armor and rings. There is also experience which is increased by defeating monsters, and will cause the player to level up (increasing hit-points) every so often. The experience levels are equally spaced, with the gap depending on the game difficulty that is selected at the start of the game. The player's dart attack effectiveness is based on the weapon they are carrying, which may be dagger, morning-star, axe and sword, each of which may be enchanted up to +3. Many of the rooms will contain items, which can be collected by walking into them. Better armour or weapons will be equipped automatically. Some items are cursed, causing both armour and weapon to be cursed until a non-cursed holy symbol is collected. Healing boxes, keys and scrolls may also be found. Scrolls allow spells to be cast (using the return key) which temporarily cause monsters to flee from you. There are also secret passages, invisible walls, and a few alarms which cause traps to appear.

The Bouncing Kamungas

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

You play as a watermelon farmer armed with a pitchfork. In the middle of a thunderstorm, a swarm of bouncing Kamungas have descended upon your fields. You have to plant and defend watermelons until they can be harvested by defending your crop from the hungry Kamungas. These bouncing creatures can only be defeated by standing underneath the Kamungas, and holding your pitchfork aloft so that they land upon it. If a Kamunga lands upon a watermelon, they will eat it. Players are awarded points for every mature watermelon harvested. Players must avoid multiple dangers. If a Kamunga lands upon their head, they will lose a life. One must be careful to avoid marauding snakes. If the player holds their pitchfork aloft when lighting strikes, they will be electrocuted. When a player loses 3 lives, it is game over. This game was also published in Loadstar #35

The Coveted Mirror

Apple II - Released - August 4, 1983

The Coveted Mirror was a graphical text-based adventure game published for the Apple II. It was created by Eagle Berns and Holly Thomason and released by Penguin Software in 1983. The Coveted Mirror utilizes a text parser, in which the player types commands to perform actions in the game.Additionally, part of the challenge of The Coveted Mirror involves frequent, timed escapes from the jail tower. Within a limited timeframe, indicated by an hourglass, the player must search the castle, find objects, and talk to people and return to the cell by the time the jailer makes his rounds. This timed element adds another dimension to the exploration and puzzle solving. he land of Starbury was taken over by Voar the evil. During his grasp for power, Voar tried to seize the magic mirror but broke it into five pieces; luckily, he was only able to grab four of the pieces. it is up to you, the hero, to find the fifth and final piece in order to break Voar's rule and save the people of Starbury.

The Quest

Apple II - Released - 1983

The Quest is a graphic fantasy text adventure computer game released in 1983 by Penguin Software. Originally designed by Dallas Snell for the Apple II and was later ported to several other home computer systems of the era. The game takes place in a medieval fantasy setting in the Kingdom of Balema as a dragon threatens its citizens. The player takes the role of the King's newest Adviser and with the help of the King's champion, Gorn, set out to end the dragon menace.

The Quest

Atari 800 - Released - 1984

The Quest

Apple Mac OS - Released - 1984

A dragon is terrorizing the kingdom of Balema, and King Galt send his champion, named Gorn, to solve the problem. The player takes the role of a nameless advisor, who has to help the strong, but not very intelligent Gorn to get rid of the dragon and save his homeland. The Quest was one of the first graphic adventures that incorporated full sentence parsing. Unlike most other adventures, the commands the player inputs do not refer to the playable character. Rather, as the playable character, the player gives those commands to Gorn. Instead of just entering short verb commands, the player is able to type relatively complex instructions, that have to be understood by Gorn in order to perform the necessary action.

The Quest (Penguin Software)

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

The Spy Strikes Back

Commodore 64 - Released - 1983

You thought you had pulled perpetual office duty while recuperating from your mission in the Russian embassy in Korea, when the phone call yanked you from bed at 4:00 Sunday morning demanding your presence in 3's office. When you arrived, Ms Moneypenguin showed you right in. The old man sat at his desk with the contents of a dossier spread out before him. The name at the top of the folder was Dr. Xavier Tortion, an international terrorist of particularly vile repute. Present whereabouts: unknown. "I think we've located Dr. X," 3 said. "Several of our operatives have vanished into a converted castle in the East German town of Aichenbach. One chap finally got back out and managed to let us know the name of the owner before transmission abruptly ended. "As you well know, Dr. X has threatened to detonate a nuclear device in a major population center if the world community does not meet certain demands. Our time is running out. We're sure that we can find where he plans to use the device by searching the fortress, but the security is so tight that none of our agents has managed to return. I'm sorry, 00P, but your administrative career is over. You must enter that castle and find the information it contains. "It is imperative that your presence go undetected. Should you be spotted, run. Do not fight. As long as Dr. X feels that his security has been successful he will not change his plans. However, should you destroy any of his electronic guards, he is likely to alter his strategy and we'll need to start over, totally in the dark. Need I emphasize the need for stealth? Now be on your way and don't dally in the outer office!"

The Spy Strikes Back

Atari 800 - Released - 1983

After your exploits in the Spy's Demise, you have been assigned a desk job to rest and recuperate. Things are slow until you get a call from the Chief, who tells you that the international terrorist Dr. Xavier Tortion is up to no good. It is your job to infiltrate his hideout in the East German town of Aichenbach, and find the 9 clues scattered about the fortress to defeat Dr. Xavier's plans. The fortress consists of 5 floors. Each floor has 24 sections divided into a 6 x 4 grid. Each individual section has 16 rooms divided into a 4 x 4 formation. Patrolling the hallways are Dr. Xavier's security robots. If the player get too close to these robots, they will flash red and attempt to hunt down the player causing a loss of a life. The player is safe while hiding inside rooms, but is at risk of being attacked while in the hallways. The player starts with 3 lives and gets an extra life every 2000 points. If the player finds all 9 clues, it's game over for Dr. Xavier.

Thunderbombs

Atari 800 - Released - 1983

You play as a stormcloud. The player can move vertically in the middle of the screen, and are able to shoot lightning bolts horizontally to the left and to the right. Surrounding the player on the lateral sides of the screen are a series of bombs, which will return fire at the player. A stage is cleared when all enemy bombs are destroyed, but the player will lose a life if struck by opposing fire. The player starts with a total of 5 clouds, and gains a new storm cloud for every 2000 points they earn. The player gains 100, 200, 300, and 500 points for each stage cleared, and there are a total of 5 stages of increasing difficulty. Thunderbombs was later released as part of Penguin Software's Arcade Album #1.

Transylvania

Apple Mac OS - Released - 1984

Transylvania is an adventure with optional graphics, and a VERB NOUN interface. Two weeks ago, Princess Sabrina suddenly vanished and remained unseen since. King John the Good asks any travellers to help in locating her - you volunteer. As you begin your quest in the dark forests of Transylvania, beware of the evil that lurks. You will encounter strange creatures like a vampire and a goblin, and experience strange things. Most importantly, a werewolf is constantly chasing you, until you find the pistol and bullets necessary to kill it. Remember fellow traveller, take care...

Transylvania

Commodore 64 - Released - 1984

Transylvania

Atari 800 - Released - 1984

Transylvania

Apple II - 1982

In an adventure game you are put in a fictitious world inside the computer. The computer shows you where you are, what you see, and where you can go. You travel around and do things by giving the computer two word commands, a verb and a noun, such as "Go North", "Look Tree", "Take Brick", and so on. The computer then shows you the result of your action and waits for your next instruction. The object of an adventure game is to accomplish something in particular through exploring the world around you, perhaps using some of the objects you find, and solving puzzles. This "something" in Transylvania is to rescue a damsel in distress... but first you must find her.