Antarctic Adventure is one of Konami’s early hits on the MSX platform. What’s interesting about this title is the fact that Konami really wanted the main character, a penguin named Penta, to be one of their popular mascots. This aquatic bird has made cameos in a variety of different software releases. Today I’m taking a look at the MSX release which is actually even older than I am! Does it hold up, or is it held back by the archaic hardware? Keep reading to find out!
There’s some sort of story here. I’m sure of it. I just couldn’t really find it. A little research shows that the game involves Penta trekking across the wilderness of Antarctica. Why he raises the flag of various countries at the end of each stage I’ll never know. Antarctic Adventure takes place across several different levels which are highlighted by an overhead map displayed in between them. Unfortunately, due to the setting, there isn’t a lot of variety in scenery. I’m sure the limited hardware has something to do with it as well, but I suppose the winter setting was a clever way to hide it.
Antarctic Adventure is, oddly enough, a racing game. The game uses a behind the character viewpoint to simulate 3D graphics. The effect is surprisingly convincing. Objects and enemies scale in to the foreground and this is a very competent effect. Games from this era generally suffered from choppy scaling, but the wizards at Konami managed to pull it off somehow. This is more impressive given the fact that you can control Penta’s speed. Making him run full blast creates a nice illusion of speed. Everything scales pretty well regardless of how fast you’re moving.
Penta’s controls are a bit limited in Antarctic Adventure. That’s okay because the game is designed around these limitations. You can move left and right as well as jump. Penta automatically moves forward on his own. The only control you have over this is the ability to increase or decrease his speed. It might sound limiting, and it is, but it just works. You can jump right in with no practice and be able to play with no problem. What’s more is that Antarctic Adventure does a great job of scaling its difficulty as you play. It’s easy in the beginning, and gradually builds up to a real challenge.
It’s not all smooth sailing however. Each stage is populated with several different hazards. Generally you’ll be jumping across or artfully dodging them. These can all be scaled with a leap, but sometimes they appear in succession and depending on how fast you’re going you may be unable to hurdle across more than one. Thankfully Penta lacks a life bar, or any other measure of his health. He’s invincible, but every time he hits an object or falls into a hole his movement is stalled. This is hazardous because your goal in Antarctic Adventure is to reach the end of each stage before the timer runs out. Should it hit zero before you’ve reached the house at the conclusion of the level it’s game over. You literally have to start the game over from the beginning.
Obstacles are limited to just a few different types, but they repeat a lot throughout the stages. The first of these are little holes in the ice wherein you fall into the water. Next up are bigger holes that Penta falls into and must climb out of. Both of these can be hurdled over with a perfectly timed jump. Sometimes however seals will rise out of the smaller holes. This happens as you approach so it’s impossible to predict where they will come out. As I said earlier there’s no life bar but running into the seals will stall you. The same goes for when Penta falls into and must climb out of the holes. There’s just enough variety here to keep things interesting, but a few other obstacles could have gone a long way in my opinion.
Antarctic Adventure might look like a game aimed at children but it’s actually fairly challenging. There’s enough stages that you will struggle to memorize obstacle placement, but the game does give you time to plan ahead. This holds true even when you’re running at full speed. The controls work perfectly well for how the game is designed. Penta isn’t the most athletic protagonist in a video game, but it’s perfectly believable with him being a penguin and all. The ability to speed up and slow down has an absolutely huge effect on the game. What really helps this is the fact that you can not only see how much time you have left but also the distance you need to go to reach the end.
This is a really good looking game by MSX standards. It’s one of the few games on the platform that looks like it’s an actual step above the NES/Famicom with its big characters and decent scrolling. Antarctic Adventure lacks that trademark 8-bit choppy animation that plagues so many games of this era. The scenery is rather bland, but that’s not a huge deal because of the setting. The graphics are charming and cute, but very simple. It’s a decent title in this regard. The music is also simple, but doesn’t fare quite as well. It’s the same song over and over again while you play. I could take it or leave it. The audio is pretty average in my opinion.
It’s easy to see why this is one of the more well known MSX games. Antarctic Adventure is good, simple, classic fun. The gameplay is focused and not overly complicated which has allowed this title to age gracefully. Yes, the music gets old fast, and the gameplay doesn’t have a lot of variety. Despite these issues I found myself playing over and over again because making it to the end or fighting to top your previous high score is great fun. I recommend playing this one.
