Attack of the Mutant Penguins
Atari Jaguar
Sunrise Games Ltd.
Atari
Original Price: 64.99
FAQ written by: Jeremy Moore
E-Mail:
[email protected]
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Version 0.50 06/03/00 began FAQ, figured out basic outline
Version 1.00 06/07/00 Finished up FAQ pretty much
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LEGAL CRAP---
This FAQ is written by ME, copyrighted by ME, and owned by ME. =) All
names are copyright either, Sunrise Games Ltd. or Atari respectively... If you
would like to use this FAQ on your site... just e-mail me and ask... more than
likely I'll say yes... we Jaguar fans gotta stick together =) However, in no
way will you change this FAQ, or profit from it in anyway.
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First of all, this is not a walkthrough, being nothing but a puzzle/action
game, there are far too many variables to which way penguins may go, to how
many gremlins your able to find, so basically what this document is, is a
helpful had to getting started, and understanding the game. To give somebody
a step for step walkthough on a puzzle game is pretty much impossible, much
like trying to tell someone how to play Lemmings, or Worms, or tetris for that
matter... everyone will play differently... this guide will help you understand
your options and let you plan your own strategy for the game.
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STORYLINE
"It's a fairly well known fact theat the Earth's television transmissions
bounce around the atmosphere and off satellites positioned around the Earth's
orbit. Some of these signals are beamed far into space where they could,
potentially be picked up by aliens. What? You don't believe in aliens? You
better think again. The Earth is being threatened by something, and it's sure
not Human...
It all started in the far off galaxy of 'Bleurgggh' (Nebula Quadrant),
where an evil race of slimy green (but reasonably stupid) aliens were
monitoring the Earth's transmissions.
Unfortunately for them but lucky for us, they tuned in only at a specific
time to a specific television channel and picked up the Wildlife Show. After
watching a few shows, they disguised themselves as the obviously dominant
species on Earth - the penguin.
Soon after landing on Earth they realized they had made a mistake. It was
unlikely that a penguin could infiltrate the human race and become President,
so a rethink was in order. They decided to disguise themselves yet agian, as
humans.
So, to recap, we have slimy green aliens disguised as penguins disguised
as humans, trying to invade the Earth. Of course, they had to improvise a bit
on the new disguises. As a result, the new disguises fool nobody!
When Earth penguins found out about this slur on their integrity, they
were not happy and now they're out to set the record straight. Woe to any
alien penguin who meets a good penguin. He'll be in for a fight!
Word of the Earth's plight has also reached those champions of
intergalactic do-goodery, Bernard and Rodney. This dynamic duo is a legend
throughout the known universe. You don't mess with these boys. Bernard is a
demon with a frying pan, and Rodney kicks but with a baseball bat. In case you
haven't figured it out, Bernard doesn't cook, and Rodney can't play baseball.
They use their accessories in OTHER ways!" -- Storyline Text taken from the
manual
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BASICS
Basically, Attack of the Mutant Pengins is a puzzle/action game. On a
play field there is a mazelike and at the end of the area is the "Doom Scale"
the premise here is to stop the Mutant Penguins from reaching the scale, while
allowing the good penguins to reach it. If at any time the ammount of Mutant
Penguins outnumber the ammount of good penguins on the Doom Scale then the Doom
Scale activates, and you lose, Mutant Penguins win, anarchy will reign, cats
and dogs will live together in harmony, Pizza delivery boys will be on time,
and in general the world will go to crap...
At the beginning of each level you will be allowed to view the entire play
field before it begins, at first you have no weapon, your first goal is to grab
as many "Gremlins" as you can (gremlins are the short furry little blue
puffballs that are running about on the stage) once you have some of them, use
them on treasure chests. To gain your weapon you must open three chests that
contain the three letters that spell out your weapons name (ie: to get Rodney's
bat, you must gather the letters B, A, and T) once you have all the letters you
can then use the weapon. Gremlins are also used to start up penguin killing
machinery which will help buy you some time, especially in the later levels
where every little bit helps. The more gremlins you use on a chest or trap,
the faster they'll open it, or build the trap. After they finish their work
the Gremlins scatter, pick them up again... you can used gremlins on several
items at once if you have enough of them.
Combat with the Penguins is simple... hitting a mutant penguin (or a good
one for that matter) with your weapon causes the penguin to spin and be stunned
for a short time and orbs will scatter, if you gather five orbs without
swinging your weapon(just hit a few penguins then run around and grab all the
orbs) your weapon will power up and will kill any penguin you hit good or bad
(so swing carefully) for a set number of swings (usually 5) then will revert to
your normal weapon again. Gathering Ten orbs without swinging will cause a
double powerup allowing for ranged attacks for a set number of attacks.
So basically, what you need to do is run like mad, gather gremlins (and
free any good penguins if there are some behind bars by activating switches)
use the gremlins on treasure chests, gather all your weapon letters, then start
killing the evil penguins. When the count number of bad penguins reaches Zero
you win the stage (the evil Penguin Counter is in the upper left portion of the
screen). While making sure to let the good penguins reach the Doom Scale, and
not letting the Mutant Penguins anywhere near it... easy huh? yeah it is....
for the first couple of levels anyway. >=)
Special weapons can be found as well to help slow the progress of those
evil penguins, as will activating traps, or using signs to change the direction
the penguins travel (the aliens are stupid and go whichever way the signs
point) Also good penguins will help you by fighting the aliens when they come
into contact with each other... its a sight to see when a massive group of good
and evil penguins clash, fists(er... fins) and smoke fly heehee!!!
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CHARACTERS
There are two heroes to pick from, there are some pros or cons to which
you pick... Bernards frying pan stuns enemies by sending them spinning and is
easier to hip people with, and Rodney's baseball bat is a bit harder to hit
people with, and has no real stun time.
Bernard - looks sorta like a robot, or possibly looking at his red buket-esque
head... a cheap star wars rip-off movie throwaway character. His weapon is a
frying pan, which stuns the enemy, Bernard is the easier character to play the
game as.
Rodney - Basically looks like a green eggplant with legs and arms. His weapon
is the baseball bat. In my opinion using Rodney adds a good deal more challenge
to the game.
Good Penguins - look like your average ordinary penguins, surprisingly these
guys seem to like to scrap, and will fight with alien penguins at the drop of a
hat =)
Alien Penguins - these are Penguins dressed in different clothes. Some are
cowboys, Shakespearean Actors/Actresses, Indians, Romans, and Elvis
impersonaters (HAHA) and more.
Mutant Penguins - once the alien penguins reach the Mutation Station they will
transform into these Giant green monstrosities... the good penguins don't stand
a chance against these fellows.
The Dragon - on some stages he'll be sleeping peacefully somewhere... wake him
up with a hit from your weapon to help fry the bad guys.
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WEAPONS - and other instruments of destruction
(remember... to power up hit an enemy and grab 5 orbs without using the weapon
again, power up #2 hit several enemies then grab 10 orbs before swinging your
weapon again)
Baseball Bat - Rodney's weapon- the more difficult weapon to wield.
Power Up #1 HUGE spiked bat (five uses then returns to normal)
Power Up #2 Breathe fire (five uses then reverts to power up #1)
Frying Pan - Bernards Weapon- when you hit an enemy, it sends them spinning,
and stuns the target for a bit.
Power Up #1 Flashing pan
Power Up #2 Flying Frying Pan =D
*Special weapons/items* (one use items)
Glue - not really a weapon, but will slow down the penguins for a short while
Dynamite - heehee send on alien penguin into Orbit =D
Coins - work much like gremlins (except you use the Special weapon button to
use them instead of the Gremlin use button)
Instant builds - work like gremlins to start up deadly traps, except this
activates the trap instantly.
Samurai Power- gives 10 seconds of samurai power, slice up as many enemies as
possible.
TRAPS
traps start off as piles of material waiting to be built, use gremlins on them
to build them, once running, they will tear up any penguins dumb enough to walk
into it , they're great to use when large groups of aliens are aproaching.
Some machines HELP the aliens however, hangliders can take the aliens directly
to the doom scale area, and some levels have these or teleporters, which also
will let the penguins reach the end faster, use signs or traps to deter them
(or chop em up) before they reach these things
There are a lot of different machines to help and hinder you.
Spinning blades - great trap in most stages, dices aliens quickly
Spinning gloves - will spin around enemy and slow them down greatly.
Steam guns - these work... but timing is hard to get right sometimes, and can
kill good penguins, better off without it...
Dragon - smack this sleeping monster with your weapon, he'll wake up and
incinerate any aliens that wak by (to my knowledge he leaves the good penguins
alone ie: he's never killed any of mine EVER and I've played this game WAY too
much =)
Teleporter - deter those penguins from the teleporter, unless you want to lose
a stage quickly
Hanglider - again try to deter the penguins from reaching this
Giant Drill - guess what this sucker does =)
Signs - some posts can't be turned, some can be turned by flipping nearby
switches, these are a great help when things start getting crowded early on.
Juke Box - plays music duh! ( just watch those Alien Elvis impersonaters dance
when they get near this =D )
Mutation Station - if an alien penguin reaches this, he'll activate it, and it
will transform him into a HUGE green monster, if these guys start reaching the
Doom scale it will be over quickly, again try to make them detour away from
this
there are other types of traps, littered in the landscape figuring them out is
relatively easy, remember, the only way you lose the game is to let the evil
penguins reach the doom scale, so don't be afraid of going toe to toe with the
enemy as soon as you have your weapon, sometimes thats the best strategy you
can use...
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PANDEMONIUM
This is a great way to get acustomed to the controls and strategies
involved in this game, there are 4 Pandemonium stages to choose from. In these
stages the enemies keep coming, there is an unlimited amount of them, so you
can't win, but they are great for training and getting good at combatting the
evil Mutant Penguin Menace =D
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TACTICS
There are a TON of variables to this game. Your options are unlimited,
but the basic purpose will always be the same, stop the alien penguins.
Tactic #1: Frontal Assault-
This will definately get you through alot of stages (but not all).
Basically, you run like hell, grab some gremlins, open chests and get your
weapon. Then you start pounding aliens til they're all dead. A decent
strategy, but some levels will make you pay for ignoring the rest of the
playfield where a second group may sneak in, or terrain and placement may be
against you.
Tactic #2: Misdirection plays
Begin with surveying the area and getting your weapon, once the enemies
pattern is figured out, change signs, set traps and let them walk head first
into some spinning blades of death or a dragons fiery jaws. This basically
works great on levels where treasure chests are spread out and you need time to
reach them. only requirement is, the level needs to have signposts to change.
Tactic #3: Free for All!!!
Get your weapon as fast as possible, all the while setting traps and
leading aliens into them with signs, release any penned up good penguins, and
use signs to send them at the enemy, the requirement here is an alotment of
good penguins to free... this tactic will buy you gobs of time, and usually
will slaughter alot more aliens than it will good penguins.
Tactic #4: Follow the leader
Grab your weapon ASAP... then get as many of your good penguins to the
doomscale as fast as possible. then basically stand in front of the doomscale
and let the aliens come to you, the upside to this is it takes little thought.
The downside is... if you get overwhelmed, it'll be game over in a hurry...
Tactic #5: Camping
Get you weapon, then fight your way up to the point where aliens appear on
the map, and as they appear, stun then kill them... this usually works well for
the first few stages, but when they start coming in mass groups, you'll be in
trouble.
These are basic tactics, and will get you through most of the game, some
stages will require some thought, using machines to get to certain areas fast
and what not... you'll no doubt find a tactic of your own eventually that
you'll stick to, but to start with any of these five should get you pretty far.
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BONUS STAGES
After the stage is complete you will play a short mini game, depending on
your score in these bonus stages you will start the next stage with more good
penguins already on the doom scale (VERY helpful in later rounds)
these are fairly simplistic (but FUN!!!) action sequences
Bonus stage #1
Penguin Attack: if you've played Galaxian, Galaga, centipede or Phoenix...
then you can play this.
Bonus stage #2
Penguin Range: basically move cross-airs around a screen and shoot the
penguins as they fly around
Bonus stage #3
Penguin Control: Us catapults to launch cannon balls at penguins as they float
by on icebergs, there are 3 different catapults, one for each of the 3
different ranges, as a iceberg comes on screen, grab a cannon ball, load it up
in the appropriate catapult and fire... sink as many as you can.
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SPECIAL THANKS
Thanks to Sunrise Games ltd. for making such an addictive game
Atari for making such a great console
The Coca Cola company for the caffiene intake
and all you for reading it... Peace...
Overview:
All in all, you'll get a ton of enjoyment out of this game. its a great
puzzler that you can realistically play a different way every time you ever
play it...
Its a shame this game got so little press, its incredibly addictive, and is
definately worth being in any Jaguar owners collection.
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................ Thats it..... Game over man...... GAME OVER!!!!
