Penguin-kun Wars originally by UPL is a very simple and somewhat shallow vs game. You throw these things call balls in a game called Dojiball which im not sure is japanese for dodgeball because that word was only associated with this game when searching for it. You'll be going tournament style fighting a harder CPU each round. The goal is to have less balls by the end of the timer or to get every ball on the opponents side. Trying to just throw them with 0 thought will get you no where, you want to hit your opponent with them. Hitting them with a ball will stun them making it possible to chain hits at them depending where the balls are placed making for an easy perfect. Just be careful as you can get stunned too so mash A and B to get out faster if possible.

Sadly outside of hazards that can bounc balls around to screw with you, that's basically the game. There's only 2 different settings and there are a couple of bonus games but it's only for points. The most you'll probably get out of the game is it supports up to 8 players for a tournament which I could see getting intense with real people. Though it should be noted you'll always have to fight a CPU but don't worry the first one is easy. Outside of that though, it's hard to recommend it unless you like fighting CPUs. The series would get a couple more games with an MSX sequel, a GB game, and even one for the Switch that has Hebereke DLC. So clearly there's still an audience for it. Oh I guess it should be noted this was the last Famicom game for 1985 so that's neat.

The last fact I have to really give is the music. It's actually an 8-bit rendition of this song called Motto Senkin Shimasho by Hidemi Ishikawa. Apparently it was popular in 1985. It's actually a nice song I won't lie maybe I should listen to more of her music.

Reviewed on Sep 30, 2023


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