[A-Z Games] P: Pang

“If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

The progression of arcade games has seen them become flashier and flashier as a way of extracting money but it used to be about the purest of gameplay before, with compulsion rather than attraction seen as the way to keep the coins coming in. Pang.^[1] was one of a set of classic single screen games where two players would try to clear the screen, somehow. Others of the era included classics like Rodland, Parasol Stars and Rainbow Islands. In the case of Pang, the “enemy” was a series of bubbles (oh, we lived in such innocent times) and you travelled around the world to clear it all. In order to do so, the only weapon you had was a harpoon gun. The harpoon gun would fire only vertically up  It was simple and fun with a compulsive desire to clean awoken in all (also harnessed in Tetris) with a great teamwork mechanic. I remember playing it a lot as a child. The stages also took place around the world with backdrops showcasing landscapes and architecture around the world - but overall it was never short of cute.
The interesting thing about the game, I felt, was that as the bubbles got smaller, they bounced less and became harder to dodge on top of becoming more plentiful so you really had to be careful and plan a strategy. Something I enjoyed as a child, rather bizarrely.

There have been a few sequels but I've not really played them. In fact, I might search them out.

3 other P titles that might be interesting:
Pop 'n' Music - An insane mixture of bubblegum pop graphics and the most technical of musical games - the most impressive feats I have seen in arcades are on this. 
Persona 4, - The utility of friendships - or networking - is how you get along in life.
Pitfighter - Digitised graphics! It was enough at the time.

^{1. This was, unbeknownst me until this piece, also called Buster Bros in the US and Pomping World in Japan.↩}