Attack of the Mutant Penguins Atari Jaguar Sunrise Games Ltd. Atari Original Price: 64.99 FAQ written by: Jeremy Moore E-Mail: bird33@pa.net ______________________________________________________________________ Version 0.50 06/03/00 began FAQ, figured out basic outline Version 1.00 06/07/00 Finished up FAQ pretty much ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________________ 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!!! ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________ 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... ______________________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________ ................. Thats it..... Game over man...... GAME OVER!!!!