Veteran of the Penguin Wars

In Penguin Wars, you control Arctos, leader of the Penguin Rebel Forces, in his battle against the oppressive General Tusk and his Walrus Army. On your way to the Final Confrontation you'll have to rescue imprisoned penguins, fight your way out of the belly of a killer whale and navigate treacherous ice floes.

Just kidding. Penguin Wars is part dodge ball, part air hockey and part Hello Kitty. You pick one of five cute animals to play as and throw balls across a ping pong table at other cute animals.


Each cute animal begins the game with five balls on its side of the table. To win, either get all ten balls to the other side of the table at the same time or have the fewest balls on your side when time runs out. Scoring a direct hit on the other cute animal temporarily paralyzes them, giving you a chance you get all your balls to the other side. If you're not into playing fair, it's possible to hit cute animals while they're down, giving you more points and more time to get your balls across. Winning a set in two straight games lets you play a bonus round for extra points.


Each cute animal has its own strengths and weaknesses. The rat moves the fastest, but throws balls the slowest. The cow moves slow but doesn't stay knocked out as long when hit. The penguin takes on the role of Mario, getting not only the title nod but also the most average stats.

Penguin Wars is cute, fun and well animated. The main knock is that it's so short. There are only four other cute animals to beat and once you beat them all, that's it. If you've got two Game Boys, a link cable, another copy of the game and a friend, you can play a 2-player match. That's a lot of work to add to the play value of one game. Especially since meeting people offline is so hard.