''Silkworm'' is a

horizontally scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character mo ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Tecmo was a Japanese video game company founded in 1967. It had its headquarters in the Kudankita district of Tokyo. Its subsidiary, Tecmo Inc, was located in Torrance, California. Prior to 1986, Tecmo was formerly known as Tehkan. Tecmo is known for ...

and first released for arcades in 1988. In 1989, it was ported to the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

systems by

The Sales Curve SCi Games Limited (formerly The Sales Curve Limited and SCi (Sales Curve Interactive) Limited) was a British video game publisher based in London. The company was founded in 1988 by Jane Cavanagh and floated on the stock exchange in 1996. In Ma ...

and released by Virgin Mastertronic in 1990.

Sammy Sammy is a nickname, frequently for people named Samuel or Samantha, and also an English spelling of the Arabic name Sami. People Music * Sammy Adams (born 1987), American rapper and songwriter *Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), American songwriter *Sammy ...

released a version for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

. ''Silkworm'' inspired the 1991 game '' SWIV'' and even though it was not a direct sequel, it followed the same core gameplay design of a helicopter/jeep team, albeit as a vertically scrolling shooter instead of a horizontally scrolling one and was described as "inspired by" and a spiritual successor by several reviews, both of the time and contemporary, respectively.

Release

''Silkworm'' was released at a time where side-scrolling shooters were among the most popular genres. It was released at the same time as ''

Forgotten Worlds , originally titled , is a 1988 side-scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is notable for being the first title released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware. Plot Set in the 29th century, ...

'', ''

Sanxion ''Sanxion'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Stavros Fasoulas for the Commodore 64 and published in 1986 by Thalamus Ltd. It was the first game released by Thalamus. A ZX Spectrum port followed in 1989. Fasoulas also wrote ''Delt ...

'', ''

Mr. Heli ''Mr. Heli'', fully titled in Japan as is a multidirectional scrolling shooter developed and published in arcades in 1987 by Irem. It was released in North America as ''Battle Chopper''. Gameplay Players control a wacky fighter chopper named ...

'' and ''DNA Warrior''. The Spectrum version took three months to develop and was converted from the Amiga version which was almost identical to the original. The game reached number three in the UK Spectrum sales charts, behind ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American Science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen (actress), Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Dani ...

'' and '' Dragon Ninja.'' In November 1990, Virgin re-released ''Silkworm'' as part of the ''Edition 1'' compilation, which also included ''

Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series originally developed and published by Technōs Japan. It began with the release of the arcade game '' Double Dragon'' in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight again ...

'', and the shoot'em ups ''Gemini Wing'', and ''

Xenon Xenon is a chemical element; it has symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...

''.

Gameplay

The player can take control of a

jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

mounted with a machine gun or a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

mounted with forward and downward firing guns. Two players can work simultaneously and

cooperatively Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time, coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition ...

against enemies, with one playing as the jeep and the other as the helicopter. Silkworm featured a variety of enemies, some of which had specific weaknesses, such as the armoured AA guns that could only be harmed when their shields were down. Enemies included the "Goose" helicopter which was a gigantic, heavily armoured "mini-boss" helicopter composed of several smaller vehicles connected together. The players collect shields (which could alternatively be shot by the player in order to destroy all enemies on the screen), power cells that increase firepower and an additional bonus can be added to the score achieved. The game gets harder after the completion of each level, which feature destructible environmental elements, such as buildings and ancient ruins. The speed was one of the defining parts of the gameplay, which the programmers who worked on the home conversions were keen to preserve, using a variety of programming techniques. Silkworm featured a background music theme composed by

Barry Leitch Barry Leitch (born 27 April 1970 in Strathaven, Scotland) is a Scottish video game music composer. His work includes the '' Lotus Turbo Challenge'', '' TFX'', '' Gauntlet Legends'', '' Gauntlet Dark Legacy'', ''Top Gear'', and '' Rush'' video ga ...

, which went on to be included on a ''Sinclair User''

covermount Covermount (sometimes written cover mount) is the name given to storage media (containing software and or audiovisual media) or other products (ranging from toys to flip-flops) packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper. The name comes from th ...

ed cassette, along with ''

Shinobi A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

'' and ''

Continental Circus ''Continental Circus'' is a racing arcade video game, manufactured by Taito in 1987. In 1989, ports for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MSX, and ZX Spectrum were published by Virgin Games. The arcade version comes in both uprig ...

''.

Ending

As an arcade game, Silkworm has no ending, but the home conversions were altered to have either a victory screen, or a more involved final sequence. The end text reads:

AND HISTORY RECORDS THAT DURING THESE 11 DAYS MANY LIVES WERE LOST. PEACE RETURNED TO THE NOW DECIMATED COUNTRYSIDE. THE PEOPLE RETURNED TO FIND CROPS RUINED, CHURCHES DEFILED AND THE VILLAGE POND DRIED UP. A MEETING OF THE ELDER'S PLEASANT PEASANTS IN THE LOCAL PUB DISCOVERED THAT THE PEOPLE SAW THE FUNNY SIDE OF IT.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Silkworm'' on their April 1, 1988 issue as being the fifth most popular table arcade unit at the time. The game was well received. Your Sinclair praised the 2-player mode and the sound effects.

Legacy

The 1991 game '' SWIV'' was considered a spiritual successor to ''Silkworm'', which

had previously converted to home computer formats in 1989. The game's heritage is evident from the game design whereby one player pilots a

, and the other an armoured

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

. ''SWIV'' is not an official sequel, as noted by ex-Sales Curve producer Dan Marchant: "''SWIV'' wasn't really a sequel to ''Silkworm'', but it was certainly inspired by it and several other shoot-'em-ups that we had played and loved." ''SWIV'' was described in the game's manual as meaning both "Special Weapons Intercept Vehicles" and "Silkworm IV".

References

External links

*
Feature on the game at VoxelArcade
* *
Interview with the Amiga programmer Ronald Pieket WeeserikInterview with the Atari ST programmer John Croudy
{{Authority control 1988 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Helicopter video games Horizontally scrolling shooters Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Entertainment System games SCi Games games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Barry Leitch Virgin Interactive games ZX Spectrum games