The main background music in most versions of the game is an electronic rendition of "Motto Sekkin Shimasho" (もっと接近しましょ, loosely, "Let's Get Closer") a song originally performed by 1980s J-Pop singer Hidemi Ishikawa (石川秀美, Ishikawa Hidemi) (in turn a translation of "The Glamorous Life" performed by Sheila E.).

The player participates in a sport called "Dojiball" (ドジボール, dojibōru), a pun on the Japanese pronunciation of "Dodgeball".

In the Game Boy version, the player can choose as any one of the five animals, which, in addition to the penguin, are a cow, rabbit, bat, and rat.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Penguin Wars on their August 1, 1985 issue as being the fourteenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

[2] A remake of Penguin Wars for the Nintendo Switch was released in Japan on September 21, 2017,[3] and on June 27, 2019 in North America and Europe.