Penguin Pete

This game is wholly credited to Joan Stone, of unknown relation to Gregory and Oliver, Jr. Their mother? Sister? A spouse, maybe? She was also responsible for many of the monsters in the above games.

Whereas Nebula is the strongest game of the bunch, Penguin Pete is the most ambitious. It’s a large game, consisting of several maze levels linked from a complex and dangerous overworld. The protagonist has more moves than the game effectively accounts for, suggesting an even more ambitious design that was slightly cut down.

The main view is of a large ice field; ice islands are connected by a maze of shifting, submerging bridges. Walruses, bears, wolves hassle our penguin; each requires a certain kind of attack to defeat. None is clearly signaled, meaning a bit of fumbling trial and error. There is the occasional hole in the snow; hop in, and search for a chunk of demolished submarine. Some of the mazes are overhead-view; some are simple platformers; one is an underwater level.

The game is harder than it needs to be, and a little too complex for its premise. One of the great things about Nebula is its simplicity. There’s practically nothing extraneous to it. Some of Pete’s moves don’t even work all that well. I commend Joan for trying a Mario-style hop attack, but it should have been cut — as should have the jumping moves in overhead-view levels.

Still, hey, there are a ton of neat ideas in here. I love the level progression, and the mazes that involve blindly burrowing into the snow are a bit of genius. They’re simple, and that’s why they work so well. The game is also attractive and, as with the other sample games, endearing.