Amazing Penguin(GameBoy) FAQ/Walkthrough version 1.0.0 by schQultz.andQrew@sbcglQobal.net (remove q) Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if you'd like to post it on your site. ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS 3. STRATEGIES 4. WALKTHROUGH 5. VERSIONS 6. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION Amazing Penguin(AP) is a maze game and is fairly straightforward. Your penguin runs around a line maze and the object is to eat all the dots and minuses on the board. If you eat all the objects around one minimal shape(ie one with no lines through it and no background stuff inside) then it gets filled and any enemy on the lines also dies and regenerates where it is flashing. Mark off all areas and advance. There are forty such levels--the first are straightforward, but they take up a few screens by the end and you cannot waste time for a few. You need to anticipate how the enemies turn about as well. Overall you'll be able to do this by feel, and with passwords every four levels and skits too, it's a fun game to sweep through. Any game I write a guide for where I have to avoid the tendency to say, "Oh it's just fun to poke around. You'll get it," is generally a good one. Of course I want to avoid that in the guide proper. 2. CONTROLS Controls for AP are fairly straightforward. You can hold the controller diagonally, which says turn whenever you can. This is useful and probably necessary for tight corners. You can and probably almost always will also hold down the A button to squash dots or minuses. You cannot hold down the B button. You must stand behind a dot to kick it. It's tricky, but you only really ever need to do it once. You cannot hold down the B button. 10 points for dot/minus. 100-200-400-1000 successively for trapping enemies or shutting off squares. Maximum of 100+200 for roping squares since one edge can only touch two squares. Bonus up to 500 3. STRATEGIES It's always a good idea to wait until someone gets near to make a square. Enemies aren't infinite. Better to follow an enemy than be chased. If enemies are moving symmetrically, try to disrupt them or they may stick you in a corner on the later wiry levels. Complete tangly, wiry levels in order. Don't leave anything in a dead end behind for later. Running at a ghost with an intersection ahead is okay too--just watch which way he turns before you get there. Enemies don't get flipped if you step on - while they reform. So they don't all move in the same direction the further you move along. Waiting it out is surprisingly effective. Time isn't a factor til level 35 or so. 4. WALKTHROUGH Level 1 is pretty straightforward. You can just run behind an enemy if nothing else, or you can nip in for a dot and move back out. You can even tear all the way across or up/down the screen pretty easily. Level 2 is more of the same. It may look like the enemies will squeeze you, but don't worry. Go along the outside til you can cut into the center and then retreat and move back. If you catch a few enemies that leaves you a free hand to tear up the rest of the board. Level 3 is one where you can move up and down the columns quickly, ducking to the sides to clear rectangles as you move right. There are enough inner workings that enemies will be distracted if you loop around. Level 4 is a good level to go grab two minuses at once as you go through--one minus can be a surprise. The enemies(pencils) are a bit faster, so you can't tail them too closely, but you can let them go far out and you know how they will come back. This reveals a picture--the penguin playing the violin to rabbits in the snow. Interlude: Penguin leads 4 ducks from the left, and then they kick around and exit the screen. Level 5 is another grid with nothing special. You can eat up squares in succession or cut through a column/row. Level 6 is trickier and with the turn offs you'll need to move diagonally. I try to get to the outside here and chip away--the main trick again being matching up minuses nearby to each other. Level 7 allows you to zigzag up and down and finish in short order--just wait for enemies to the right to get near. It's rather easy to leave the pencils behind even though they are fast. Level 8 takes place on a few screens. You may have to use the very center to avoid enemies coming at you. Finish the DR first, then take the DL enemies out as they'll be less likely to trap you. Pick one off at a time. Patience is important here whenever completing a segment--clear the bottom and get the 2 minuses above(go up the left then work right and go down the right--don't have to clear everything out as you can come back later for a few stray dots.) A lot of times 3 guys will be flying at you and your best bet is to wait and see what they do. Interlude: leads ducks onto screen and they dance but the ducks run off. 235408=pwd Level 9: Work from the outside in. Wait a half-second to go up so the enemy doesn't double back on you, then loop around. Go in when you can and then around in a circle. You have lanes to swerve to the inside or outside if need be. Level 10: Go straight up and you may need to go down the center to lose some enemies. You can cut out the center block pretty easily and then go around the edges. A lot of pairs of squares will fall at once--wait for enemies to be nearby when they do. Level 11: This is a good place to get many enemies close for two blocks at once. Leave the following dots: +--+--+--+--+ | | | | | | . | . | | | | | | +--+--+--+--+ You can wipe out quite a few enemies this way, which should allow you to either go to the other side or duck and wait to get tere. Obviously you want to clear all of the right before the left and you may have to evaluate whether the bottom or top way over is better. Level 12: It's tricky to tell ships from pencils if you're not paying attention. Remember ships have fins and move back and forth. Go L D and wait. Get the - when the shuttle comes over, then loop at the bottom--wait to activate the - til the enemy is at the dot UR. Then loop counterclockwise. I just went across the top and cleared the center after this, then I used the - in the UL once enemies weren't around and gobbled the dots to the right. Kangaroo, squirrel and ducks follow penguin into the boat. Pwd 678163 Ducks follow Penguin, who tries to kick, but they ram him off the screen. Level 13: step on the minuses and land between the dots below. Push down when 4 guys are by and then you can work your way counterclockwise without them in the way. You can wait around similarly at the top to crush two dots at once, though you won't get the same bonus for it. It will still buy time. Level 14: I went up to wipe out the rectangle above then completed the L to the DR which gave me a lot of space and time. You can use the rest of the negatives as pairs or one by one depending on how you need the monsters to move. The Ls are good for catching monsters. Just going counterclockwise in general works well though it is no problem to leave a square or two for later. Level 15: A rather narrow level where you need to avoid being trapped. I generally pair up the minuses here. Nudge right for a dot, go up right, wait, get the other minuses, and clear the bottom. Now moving right each time is tricky but if you leave the center dot/minus for last then you can often clear out a bunch of enemies at once when you have: +---+ | | | | | | +---+ < save for last | | | | | | +---+ This gets a big bonus and a lot of time. When at the next structure to the right you are usually able to loop around one way or the other, buying time to complete the big rectangle to the left if need be. Level 16: A super sized version of level 8 where you need to go into and out of a dead end--there's only one way between screens. Cheat off to the left to see when passage down is clear. If you can complete some of the center beforehand, great. You shouldn't have any time pressure, but there is no sense letting monsters lump around. If you go to the bottom bit you may wish 1) to leave the UL for last to kill anyone buzzing around and 2) NOT to kill the enemies already in the DR as they may regenerate where you need to go next--unless these enemies are blocking your way back up. As for the ways up, again you will want to kill any enemies at the end blocking your way so try to save the UR for last. One thing which I had trouble with was grabbing minuses in such tight quarters. Enemies can spin around unexpectedly. So try to make each minus grab one that fills in a square, if you can. This is even higher priority than the trick of 2 squares from level 15(rotated 90 degrees, of course.) 302945 Penguin, ghosties appear from each side. Penguin chases them off to the right. Pencils chase him back. Level 17: Eat the minuses and go L D U L D U L U L D to the left edge--get two dots along the way. Sit on the dot and burst it when the enemies close in on you. Follow the bottom shuttle to get the two dots then circle around. You can go up for the left minus when an enemy is near, then chip at what's above and go to the right side. Wait on the right edge if you like or if enemies are hovering. Follow the shuttle to pick off the pair of dots if necessary. Level 18: I find it's easier to go to the left first since you have more than a single wire back right. Feint right for a dot and go up for an easy 100. Then go along the edges and grab a minus when you can. You can deke enemies out as you go back right. You have several chances to kill enemies before you get to the single wire, so use each square. Once in the UR the rest of the level is a breeze. Level 19: Go right along the bottom right away. You should be able to massacre enough enemies on the right side with each square you fill in. Try to kill two squares at once, last, so you can make it back right to the center, where you have three squares to catch enemies. They shouldn't be a risk for flooding the center so don't try any fancy tricks. Again go to a far left corner and roughly repeat what you did on the right. Level 20: Go down, get dots, U L D R(leave off the A til someone's near) for a quick square. That should clear up the left to move away from the edge patroller, back to the center and down. Now go back right. If you can't get dots you can feint left and work your way back right later. The pencils are over-aggressive chasing you. Loop around the right patroller to catch it out and then make rectangles to kill enemies in that edge, then take out the rest of the center. Penguin with unicorn. 153876 Penguin kicks ghosties off to the right and they come from the left and run him over. Level 21: go to the DR then back left. Try to catch an enemy with each block as you go right. In the UR you have a choice to make--make an immediate block if you can, or wait for an enemy to come at you from the left. If someone is coming from below, get rid of him or move on. Go through the center of the next bit and then go D R or U R depending on what's free or if a monster turns--if you can almost hit him head on, do it. The last bit should not be tough. If you wiped out the enemies, you won't need to rely on a ghost being in the right place in the left loop, but he probably will be. Level 22: A big but repetitive level. You can always retreat to the 3-wide areas if the 2-wide are clogged, and you can always bag enemies by grabbing the left and right of the 3-wide before the center. Proceed to the top, go right, all the way down, right and up. You can bite off 1 rectangle in a 3- column if you can bag two guys and you should be on the lookout for being able to run behind an enemy to zap a dot and kill him. You can also afford to leave enemies behind--just be careful at the top center with the narrow loop. Level 23: Run halfway up, pause, then U R. Go back down and sweep along the corners--wait for guys to show and move along. You can move counterclockwise and then work to the inside as before. The tall rectangles are good to catch a couple guys too, though the first thing to do is get to the very center so your rectangle clearing can happen all at once. Level 24: Get the minus to the right and wait. The enemies will disperse and you can work clockwise. When down the right side you should be able to sneak in and blow up the center. If not you can approach from the bottom. You also can cut out squares on a piece by piece basis on the outside. Cut ahead of an enemy to get rid of him if you need to. 840492 Penguin chases 3 ghosties off screen, then 1-2-3 triangle comes back at him. Level 25: Go left for a dot then R D L. Go along the path down then back up. Go along the top but don't grab the near dot. Clear everything else out. Kick the dot left when the enemy is at the top. Then walk in. You should be able to loop around the enemies below with no problem--their pattern is fixed. Level 26: L, dot, R D L, gobble, go right. Work your way down then right and up along the edges, digging to the inside when a rectangle does noot touch the edges. There are some narrow areas so be sure to either catch an enemy or have free passage ahead. Level 27: Another one where you work around the horn. You can go R U U R L D and wait on the dot to blast two enemies quickly and, in general, when you can't make rectangles quickly, you can split two at once. Counterclockwise should work well. Level 28: R U L to bag the spaceship patrolling the bottom. You may have to wait a bit before going up, and then you can see which way to go at the top that will net a rectangle. You should be able to clear others out--there's just a lot of confusion at the beginning. Be sure to follow a pencil or keep a turn between it and you. 054217 Pengiun and girl run into each other. But wait, 3 ghosties block the way. He pushes them at her and she runs off the screen. They push him off. Picture: Monkey, dog, cat and bird. Level 29: Head DR immediately to wipe out an enemy. Then in each tight loop, wait for monsters if they are near to crush them. Don't pick off any of the vertical minuses in the middle--get to the DR and go up and use the minuses from above to trap the enemy. Into the left half you have an option of going down for a bit to eliminate stray enemies. You should do that. There aren't any practical two-fers but you can easily run around those guarding the left edges to get rid of them. Level 30: The tough part here is getting to the middle bit. Clear the bottom and wait R D--just D of the shuttle path. Then burst up when you see nobody coming down the wire. You can move right back down if that fails. Jump around quickly and then it is a matter of getting to the top. Make rectangles and wait near the top. If you can shake an enemy either way to get to the first dot, the rest should be easy. Level 31: Make the DL rectangle so it doesn't hang around later, then go right along the bottom. You may need a few seconds' pause to get to the DR. Then work your way up. The key to this level is zigzagging DL and picking off spare rectangles when you can. Eventually enemies get discombobulated and you can pick them off easily. Level 32: This one gets a lot easier once you realize you don't have to get rid of the squares as you walk across them. The level is rotationally similar, so it doesn't matter which way you start, Just go D-L-U-U(or U-R-D- D) and then sweep back across. Stay in the center for when an enemy runs at you across the wire. x x-x | | | x x x | | | x-x x 689721 Penguin and girl back into each other. Then they back away. Then he backs up but she runs. He chases. Level 33: This is a tricky level to jump back and forth around. It's in a windmill formation, and you can clear the DL pretty easil. Just bag the two ghosts while you are at it. That leaves three enemies that will go to the center and come out. You need to either 1) get ahead of the next guy to go to the center, so you can move to another part of the windmill or 2) wait for a guy to come in, then duck aroubnd and go to a windmill part where an enemy is not about to come to the center on a wire. The first may be very good judgement and anticipation--you need to run just ahead of when three guys collide in the center. The second requires pattern recognition ie first the west is blank, then the north, etc. Level 34: Get the dot and go left. Clean out the UL and now work your way down. Kill only the guys you need. Time can run out so you want to get one side of each rectangle on the way up(or here, D-R) and the other on the way back. Level 35: Go right immediately then clear things as you go up the center. Go left at the top and clear the side loop. Work your way down, getting one dot per rectangle, then go back up. Less turning around that way. Work the bottom. Use the loop with two dots to take out any enemies in front of you, then go up the inner side left of the center, through the bottom center and up the inner right. You should be able to race up from the DR easily, just going the other direction from enemies coming at you, and if you need to you can take one dot, retreat and go back up. Level 36: Left, down a bit, wait a fraction, D L U R for the UR square. Down the center and left to break off a little more. You should be squashing enemies pretty quickly at this point to offset their speed. Now one of the two rectangles that don't touch the edge should be available; bag it, then start chipping away at the edge. The tricky one is oln the right side. It's best taken in two trips--one for the UR(complete the shape if it's expedient,) then duck the patroller, then run down so as to get the patroller. The rest may be a scramble but as long as you wait on the dots to zap a few fast moving enemies you can buy time for the next bit. Puzzle: Princess gives sword wielding penguin a cape. 916328 Penguin, 3 ducks, girl walk on, penguin dances and exits right. Level 37: Grab one minus above, then grab one dot above that. Wait to grab the other so you bag two guys on the way up. Then go up and left. Work your way down through each loop and you should bag one enemy with each rectangle, or you may get trapped. Once that's done, go to the UL and then right and clean stuff up there. One enemy per loop. Follow an enemy in if you can The final bit is the trickiest--getting to the center. But again U L D and tearing through worked well. You just need to activate the one - and make sure any enemies coordinated together(who will trap you) are not coming at you. It sort of stinks that you can't see the whole board and have to guess, but this is one of the last levels. Level 38: Time is short here so you can't afford to backtrack into any dead ends more than once. If you can quickly zap monster, do so, but if not, move on. You can't spend a lot of time waiting for enemies to loop--time spent waiting to zap them, however, works well. m** k** p** r** *** *** n** *** *** *** /*** *** *** *** \ / \ / \ / \ / \l** \j* o* q** *** ** ** *** i* *** ** **\ *** t* ** / \ /** **--\ / g** s**/ ** \--h**--*** *** | 7** *** *** u** *** / *** *** / *** | /-5** f**---d**\ e* 6*--/ *** *** *** \--** ** \ *** / ** ** 2** \ / b** ** *** 4* 9* *** *** /** **\ ***\ /\ / \ / \ / \ 1** \-3** 8* a**/ c** *** *** ** *** *** *** *** *** *** Level 39: This one isn't as evil as 38, though you are advised to clear each general area out before proceeding to the next. Head UR immediately to take out an enemy in a rectangle with one dot. Then you have a free path to clear the UR and work back to clear the top and top left. Use the (-) to bring enemies back and kill them if you can, an you can generally weave through 3- wide wires pretty easily to tackle enemies, or just wait on a dot if they are ahead, until you can zap them on a rectangle. Time is not so much a factor here. Work your way down to the center-left and center-right compartments. Then go to the bottom, a mirror image of the top. *-*-* | *-*-* | *-*-* Level 40: Take the first passage up when there is a T, then the first one to the right. There is a long winding way to the UR--back up if the diagonal runners risk getting to you. In the UR take the first left turn off and hold down the A button. When the bird goes to your left, immediately go up and left to sneak in ahead of th flame. The bird goes flying and the ice turns to grass, I think. I'd be sure if this were a GBC game. You get 1000 points per extra guy before the final scene. A big old carpet rolls out and your penguin walks up to her. They walk off the screen. Then in their castle he seems to go for a walk across a few bridges. There's a blimp above as credits roll. He runs past a FIN sign. Maybe he's ditched his woman for a cuter one that will be in a GBC sequel with new puzzles? Or have I been watching too much trashy TV? End of FAQ Proper ================================ 5. VERSIONS 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 10/17/2007, complete 6. CREDITS Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of mine.