is a

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

video game developed by

Hudson Soft was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo ...

in 1983 for the

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...

FM-7 The FM-7 ("Fujitsu Micro 7") is a home computer created by Fujitsu. It was first released in 1982 and was sold in Japan and Spain. It is a stripped-down version of Fujitsu's earlier FM-8 computer, and during development it was referred to as the ...

NEC PC-6001 The NEC PC-6000 series is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced in November 1981 by NEC Home Electronics. There are several models in this series, such as the PC-6001, the PC-6001 MK2 and the PC-6001 MK2 SR. There is also an American versio ...

NEC PC-8801 The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the three major Japane ...

, and in 1985 for the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

. The MSX version saw release in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

by Hudson Soft and in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

by Kuma Computers Ltd in 1984. While the Famicom version has 99 levels, there is no ending screen implemented in the game.

Gameplay

In the Famicom version of the game, players have to unite two

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

s, Gurin (male) and Malon (female), who are in love. The MSX version features a human boy and a human girl; gameplay remains identical to the Famicom version. Players control Malon and Gurin simultaneously, with a timer adding to the difficulty. These penguins move in mirror images of each other. After completing the 17th stage, players have to start over again on stage 1. ''

Je te veux "Je te veux" ("I Want You") is a song composed by Erik Satie to a text by Henry Pacory. A sentimental waltz with erotic lyrics, it was written for , whose accompanist Satie had been for a period of time. The text consists of two verses and a repea ...

'' by

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

is the

background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...

in the game during the levels. Upon uniting the two penguins, Beethoven's "

Ode to Joy "Ode to Joy" (German language, German: , literally "To heJoy") is an ode written in the summer of 1785 by German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller and published the following year in ''Thalia (magazine), Thalia''. A slightl ...

" is played. A top-down view is used in the game, similar to the method used in '' The Adventures of Lolo''. Standing in the penguins' paths are

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s, birds and other creatures which the player must attack with the penguins' spray.

Cobwebs A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web, or cobweb (from the archaic word '' coppe'', meaning "spider") is a structure created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey. Spid ...

occupy some of the cells on the playing field, possibly slowing the player down long enough for a spider to kill either Gurin or Malon. With each level arranged on a 10-by-15 grid and a vertical wall separating the two penguins from each other, only the upper central cell is free for both characters to reach. This "free cell" always holds the

cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayin ...

d heart that is required to complete the level. A row of walls surrounds each player in a maze-like environment. In order to make the challenges more difficult, they are unbalanced and offer a different experience for Gurin and Malon. Should Gurin or Malon become trapped in a cobweb, they are helpless until the player navigates the maze, crosses the free cell and then enters the other penguin's side of the maze to free them from the web with their spraycan. Should the player reach a high enough score, the player is asked to put their name on a list of the five highest scores of that session.

References

External links

''Binary Land'' at Hardcore Gaming 101Video of the Famicom version
*{{moby game, id=/binary-land 1984 video games FM-7 games Hudson Soft games MSX games NEC PC-6001 games NEC PC-8801 games Fictional penguins Nintendo Entertainment System games Sharp MZ games Mobile games Puzzle video games Top-down video games Video games about birds Video games developed in Japan Virtual Console games