Penguin Crossing

Penguin Crossing, known as ようこそペンギンの楽園へ(welcome to penguin paradise) in the dojo, is a life simulation video game developed by Snowtendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Snowtendo. It was first released in Japan for the Snowtendo 64 on May 16, 2008. Due to limited sales because of the decreasing S64 market, the game was not released for the S64 outside of the USA. It was ported to the Snowtendo IceCube in Stoodelpeep on December 14, 2008; USA on December 15, 2008; Zurch on January 17, 2009 ; and Darktan Realm on September 24, 2009.

History
This version contains extra features that had to be left out in the Snowtendo 64 version, and also uses the IceCube's built-in clock to keep track of the date and time. The Snowtendo 64 version uses a clock inside the game cartridge. With the use of the SnowCube's clock, the passing of time affects the game, even between play sessions. This led to the game's slogan, "the real life game that's playing, even when you're not." ようこそペンギンの楽園へ (for the IceCube) cost 7,140 pebbles and sold 92,568 copies during its first week of sale in Freezeland.

When Snowtendo decided to port ようこそペンギンの楽園へ to the Snowtendo IceCube, the normal version, Penguin Crossing, had much more text than the dojo version, ようこそペンギンの楽園へ Plus, in part because of the immense translation that Snowtendo undertook when translating ようこそペンギンの楽園へ from Japanese to English (which alot of penguins in the USA spoke). Not only did thousands of lines of text have to be translated, but the translators had to create new holidays and items. Snowtendo's Dojo was so impressed with the results of the translation done by Snowtendo of USA's Treehouse division that they translated NOA's version back into Japanese and released it as ようこそペンギンの楽園へ e-Plus. ようこそペンギンの楽園へ e-Plus was released in Freezeland on June 27, 2009, and sold 91,658 copies during its first week of sale.

Gameplay
Penguin Crossing is a social simulator that has been dubbed a "communication game" by Snowtendo.It is open-ended, and the player's character can live a separate life with little preset plot or mandatory tasks. Players assume the role of a new resident to the town. The gender and looks of the character depend on answers given to a penguin named Willy on the train that the character takes to the town. There are also tasks that players can complete and goals they can achieve. The game is played in real-time-observing days, weeks, months and years using the IceCube's internal clock. Many real-life events and holidays span the year, including Independence Day, Halloween, the Harvest Festival (Thanksgiving), and Toy Day (Christmas). Other, regular activities such as fishing tournaments and early-morning fitness classes also occur. When players stop playing, they can talk to their Puffle, a creature next to their house, to save. If the player turns off the game or resets the IceCube without saving first, a penguin called Explorer appears in front of the player's house the next time they play to scold them for resetting.

The main goal of the game, given to the player during the game's opening cut scenes, is to increase the size of the player's character's house. This house is the repository for furniture and other items acquired during the course of the game. It can be customized in several ways, such as roof color, furniture, music, wallpaper and flooring. These customizations are judged by the Happy Igloo Academy (HIA) every sunday.

A penguin named Tails runs the local store. At the beginning of the game, he gives the player their first house with a mortgage of 19,800 Pebbles (the in-game currency). On paying the debt, part of which is done through a part-time job with Tails, the house is expanded, prompting another debt from Tails. The house is expanded several times during the course of the game.

The Penguin Crossing village initially contains five villagers, and more move in or out depending on the player's actions. All villagers are penguins, or nice walruses and each has a home that the player can visit. There are many possible interactions between the player and the villagers, including talking, trading items, completing tasks, writing letters, and, in ようこそペンギンの楽園へ e+, buying medicine for when they get sick. Villagers also interact with each other.

Snowtendo Entertainment System games
thirteen Snowtendo Entertainment System (SES) games are available to collect in Penguin Crossing. Penguin Crossing is packaged in USA with a memory card that automatically gives the player two games upon creating a game file. Others are acquired in various ways. The SES games that can be found and played in Penguin Crossing are:

Some games cannot be accessed without the use of a Snowtendo e-Reader card. In the Japanese versions of Penguin Crossing, Kwiksilver's Time Machine is replaced by Anitic's Festival, and Puffle Land by Card Jitsu.

Advance Play is when the player links a SES to the IceCube to download the SES game to the IceCube temporarily. All other games can be played on Advance Play, but they are slightly squashed on the IceCube's display (as in PocketSES) because of the SES's smaller vertical resolution and are limited to one player.

Multiplayer
There are three types of multiplayer gameplay in Penguin Crossing.

One way, up to four players can create their own houses in a single village. No two players can play at the same time, but by taking turns they can each affect the village in their own ways, communicate with each other via the town board and mail, and share in the experiences of the village.

Another way is that two players can play SES games together. This requires two controllers and a multiplayer SES game. Once the controllers are in the players are able to select the SES game they want to play. Once the game is started, players can select the two-player option and start playing multiplayer.

The third type of multiplayer play consists of trading items with another player using a system of codes. Tails operates a system through which a player can "ship" an item to another player in another town. The player hands an item to Tails and specifies the recipient's name and town, and Tails gives the player a 28-character code. In the other town, the player tells the code to Tails and receives the item. Another way to trade items is to travel to a friend's town and drop the item the player wants to give them. This prevents the loss of the item code which must be memorized or written down.

Traveling
Penguin Crossing has a traveling system that allows one character to visit a friend's village. This system requires an additional memory card with Penguin Crossing game data, and three blocks of memory to save "travel data". Players go to the train station and tell Porter they want to take a trip. The train will arrive and they board it. This saves "travel data" on the other memory card. Players then arrive at the other town. If a player turns off the console in another town or while they are on the train, the next time they play, the player's eyes will be missing and will look black (which is called a "missing face"), and all the player's items in their pockets (including their bells) will be gone. Explorer will not come.

Players can meet new villagers, shop at Tails (which will have different stock), and do almost anything else that they can do in their own town. There are only a few things visitors cannot do, and they all center around the idea that the character is visiting another town, which means the character does not have the same privileges and does not receive the same services that they would in their own town. For example, another town's Tails will not travel to paint a roof, which means players cannot buy paint in another town.

After visiting another town, one of the villagers may move to the visited town. If the visited town has a full fifteen villagers, this will prompt someone from the visited town to move away. Depending upon how many memory cards a player or their friends own, there can be many other villages to see and different items to find.

Villagers can move even if none of the user-created characters travel to another town. If a memory card for another town is in the second slot in the Snowtendo IceCube, when a villager leaves, they move to the other town instead of just moving out. If a player interacts with a villager who has moved away from his or her town to the one he or she is visiting, the villager will remember the player.

Items can be traded by dropping the item outdoors in one's friend's town or through a Puffle (once you give it the item it will go away don't worry it's going to the other town and giving it to him/her.). For items that cannot be dropped, the item must be placed for sale or given away through the Puffle

Using the SES
SES connectivity plays a role in Penguin Crossing, using a Snowtendo IceCube SES Advance Cable.

Tropical island
In Penguin Crossing, each town has a tropical island which can be accessed by plugging in a SES with a IceCube Link Cable. A penguin called Rockhopper ferries the player to the island for free. An exclusive crab roams the island, whom the player can become friends with. The island has an exclusive type of fruit, coconuts. The player can also decorate a small communal beach house and fish at the shores. On leaving, the player can download the island to a GBA and give fruit to the villager, whom drops bells; if the player then returns to the island, they can pick up the money that has been dropped. Players can also leave the islander tools to use, such as the shovel or net. Downloaded islands can also be traded between SES's, using a SES Link Cable.

Sequels
Currently, 2 sequels following this game were titled "Penguin Crossing: Frozen Land", and "Penguin Crossing: The Great Freeze."