Pen Pen TriIcelon

Pen Pen TriIcelon (known as simply Pen Pen in Europe) is a racing game for the Dreamcast developed by General Entertainment and Land Ho! and published by General Entertainment in Japan and Infogrames in America and Europe and was a launch title for the console. The TriIcelon subtitle is a parody of triathlon and is a reference to the three sections of the game's competion being: swimming, footracing and sliding.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Eight playable PenPens (seven at the start, Hanamizu must be unlocked through beating the game once) all with unique (if not quite weird) designs, personalities and attributes that set them apart from each other.
 * 2) * Sparky: A happy-go-lucky PenPen that absolutely loves speed. He always tries his best when racing.
 * 3) * Jaw: A wild PenShark who can get rough when he's angry.
 * 4) * Tina: A selfish PenPen likes to look as cute as possible.
 * 5) * Back: A lazy and easy going PenSeal who swims backwards.
 * 6) * Sneak: A funny PenOctopus whose plots tend to backfire on him.
 * 7) * Mr. Bow: A PenDog who often rushes into things without thinking.
 * 8) * Ballery: A PenHippo who is the only one capable of proper speech and can be somewhat interruptive.
 * 9) * Hanamizu: The unlockable character and the most mysterious of all the PenPens. His name Hanamizu, is the Japanese word for snot.
 * 10) Controls are simple and very responsive.
 * 11) The game looks very good for a Dreamcast launch title and (for the most part) runs at a nice 60fps . There's also some nice fog effects and lighting.
 * 12) The four courses (Sweets, Jungle, Toys and Horror) are very detailed and stylized and each one comes with their own traps, obstacles and enemies in the other variations (e.g. Middle Icelon, VS. Same Type and VS. Hanamizu)
 * 13) There's a time trial mode, which not only lets you choose which section of a course to play, but is also good to practice with.
 * 14) Various unlockable clothes that you can customize the PenPens with (e.g. Sparky can wear Mr. Bow's top hat and Jaw can have Hanamizu's question mark)
 * 15) The music is very nice and fits the game's theme well. A particular highlight is the Good Night/Bedtime theme.
 * 16) The lunge attack can be useful for a bit of a speed boost and with good timing, can get across certain obstacles (e.g. the Windmill on the Sweets course, the rotating room in the Jungle course and the moving metronome on the Toys course).
 * 17) The game does get trickier on the later courses with more obstacles and the AI improving (especially when playing through the courses a second time)
 * 18) Some people can appreciate the game for what it is, in spite of some of its flaws and can be kind of a guilty pleasure.
 * 19) A fun multiplayer mode, which is where four player party games like this truly shine.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The designs of the characters might not be for everyone and may be a bit of a turn-off. Particular note goes to Unga Pogo, who is depicted in blackface.
 * 2) The game is somewhat short and could have used more tracks (This was many critics main problem with the game).
 * 3) Hanamizu can be quite tough to beat and to make matters worse, he cheats via using skis during the sliding sections. He also appears in the normal races after you beat the game the first time, so watch out.
 * 4) The clone characters' AI could have been better and they could been have nice as unlockable skins for the characters.
 * 5) The sounds the PenPens make tend to drown out the music and can get kind of annoying.
 * 6) The only to get an award is to place first.

Reception
Pen Pen TriIcelon recieved mostly mixed reception. Positive scores came from Electric Playground, Game Vortex, Game Revolution and GamePro with the former two aggregations giving two 7/10 scores and the latter giving a C+ and 3.5/5 respectively. More mixed reviews came from IGN, GameSpot and Electronic Gaming Monthly with all three giving a 6.6/10, 6/10, and 5.5/10 respectively and a negative score from GameSpy giving the game a 3.5/10.

Videos
epZG93izEjY _Dfs530QYvw RV_eWhwuOqk ndOhPkqFIag

Trivia
The PenPens later make a cameo appearance in another Dreamcast game called Blue Stinger, appearing on several posters in that game's Christmas mall level.