Antarctic Adventure



Antarctic Adventure, known in Japan as Kekkyoku Nankyoku Daibōken, is an arcade game developed by Konami in 1983, and later published for ColecoVision, MSX, and Famicom. The player takes the role of an Antarctic penguin, racing to disparate research stations owned by different countries in Antarctica.

You control a penguin, later named Pentarou, and you must reach the next station before time runs out while avoiding sea lions and breaks in the ice. Throughout the levels, fish jump out of ice holes and can be caught for bonus points. The game, like many early video games, has no ending – when the player reaches the last station, the game starts from the first level again, but with increased difficulty.

Antarctic Adventure was followed by a sequel for the MSX computer in 1986, entitled Penguin Adventure. In addition, the penguin character Pentarou became a mascot for Konami through the 1980s. He has made appearances in over 10 games. Of particularly note are his appearances in the Parodius series of shoot'em up games.