Silkworm
Silkworm
Cover art (NES)
Developer(s)Tecmo
Publisher(s)Tecmo
The Sales Curve
Sammy
Virgin Mastertronic
Composer(s)Barry Leitch (Amiga)
Platform(s)Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, ZX Spectrum
Release1988
Genre(s)Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, Two-player

Silkworm is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Tecmo and first released for arcades in 1988. In 1989 it was ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and NES (1990) systems by The Sales Curve and released by Virgin Mastertronic.

Silkworm inspired the game SWIV, while 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 shooting games were among the most popular genres - it was released at the same time as Forgotten Worlds,[1] Sanxion,[2] Mr. Heli[3] and DNA Warrior.[4]

The Spectrum version took three months to develop and was converted from the Amiga version which was almost identical to the original.[5] The game reached number three in the UK Spectrum sales charts, behind RoboCop and Dragon Ninja.[6]

In November 1990, Virgin re-released Silkworm as part of the Edition 1 compilation, which also included Double Dragon, and the shoot'em ups Gemini Wing, and Xenon.[7]

Gameplay

Silkworm on the Amiga

The player can take control of a jeep mounted with a machine gun or a helicopter mounted with forward and downward firing guns. Two players can work simultaneously and cooperatively against enemies, with one playing as the jeep and one 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 to fire. Enemies included the "Goose" helicopter - a giant, heavily armoured "mini-boss" helicopter that was 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 which increase firepower and an additional bonus can be added to the score achieved. The game gets harder on 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.[5] Silkworm featured a background music theme composed by Barry Leitch, which went on to be included on a Sinclair User covermounted cassette, along with Shinobi and Continental Circus.[8]

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.[9][10] 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.

[11]

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.[17]

The game was well received. Your Sinclair praised the 2-player mode and the sound effects.

Legacy

The game SWIV was considered a spiritual successor to Silkworm, which The Sales Curve had previously converted to home computer formats in 1989. The game's heritage is evident from the game design whereby one player pilots a helicopter, and the other an armoured Jeep. 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."[18][19][20]

SWIV was described in the game's manual as meaning both "Special Weapons Intercept Vehicles" and "Silkworm IV".[21]

References

  1. ↑ "The YS Rock'n'Roll Years - Issue 43". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  2. ↑ "The YS Rock'n'Roll Years - Issue 42". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "The YS Rock'n'Roll Years - Issue 44". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "The YS Rock'n'Roll Years - Issue 41". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  5. 1 2 http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=SinclairUser/Issue087/Pages/SinclairUser08700060.jpg
  6. ↑ "The YS Rock'n'Roll Years - Issue 46". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Edition 1". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "World of Spectrum - Sinclair User issue 92: 6 Amazing Coin-Op Tracks".
  9. ↑ Silkworm (Amiga 50Hz) - All Clear / No Miss (Heli) - 1,229,600 points. YouTube. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021.
  10. ↑ ChinnyVision - Ep 297 - Silkworm - C64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga, archived from the original on 13 December 2021, retrieved 30 August 2019
  11. ↑ South, Phil (November 1989). "YS Tipshop". Your Sinclair 47. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  12. ↑ "Archive - Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Archive - Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  14. ↑ "Archive - Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  15. ↑ "Silkworm". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Archive - Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 329. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 April 1988. p. 25.
  18. ↑ Bevan, Mike (2008). "The Making of SWIV", Retro Gamer (58): 40-43.
  19. ↑ Mason, Graeme (30 July 2023). "The story of SWIV". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  20. ↑ Caswell, Mark (April 1991). "SWIV review". Crash. Newsfield. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  21. ↑ "ACE - Issue 40". ACE. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
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