The resemblance is uncanny!

[Nostalgic]

Take a look at the screenshots for Pengo Prototype, Pengo Release, and Elk Attack.

 

They're quite similar! Plus, both games were programmed by Mark Hahn.

 

Think some code from Pengo could be lurking within Elk Attack?

[Nukey Shay]

Not really...Elk Attack is based on WireBall, and plays totally different from Pengo.

[davidbrit2]

I've noticed that similarity, too. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they used almost identical gameplay kernels.

[Nostalgic]

Not really...Elk Attack is based on WireBall, and plays totally different from Pengo.

 

Sorry... pronoun trouble. What I meant to say is that the graphics of Pengo and Elk Attack are very similar.

 

I remember a game by the name of WireBall that appeared in Antic Magazine. It was one of my favorite type-ins. Was it a clone of an existing arcade or console game?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

They're quite similar!  Plus, both games were programmed by Mark Hahn.

 

Think some code from Pengo could be lurking within Elk Attack?

CloneSpy says:

                                         0  1  2

0 Pengo (1984) (Atari)                   - 33 17

1 Pengo - 1 Player Only (1984) (Atari)  36  - 34

2 Elk Attack (1987) (Atari)             16 31  -

The Pengo prototype shares about 35% of the code with Elk Attack and the final Pengo version. Quite a lot.

 

And it looks like the Pengo prototype is in the middle of the development circle. I wonder if Elk Attack originally might have been programmed first and then translated into Pengo.

[Nukey Shay]

Yeah...I was sent an excerpt of an interview in which he confirms that the display kernal was "borrowed" from Pengo...(perhaps from an earlier proto version?) And that the game is based on Electric Yo-Yo...which I know nothing about (was Wireball based on that?)