_____ ______ __ ___ ______ ____ __ ___ / ___// _/ / / //_/ | / / __ \/ __ \/ |/ / \__ \ / // / / ,< | | /| / / / / / /_/ / /|_/ / ___/ // // /___/ /| | | |/ |/ / /_/ / _, _/ / / / /____/___/_____/_/ |_| |__/|__/\____/_/ |_/_/ /_/ FAQ copyright © Ryan Lynch, AKA Hyakutaro Silkworm and all other applicable trademarks are copyright © Tecmo 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Version # - Introduction - Story - Enemies - Power-ups - Levels - Secrets - My Opinion - Reach Me - Special Thanks, etc. -Version # 0.1 - 9:28pm EST. May 26, 2002 Hey! I just started! 0.9 - 10:43pm EST. June 2, 2002 All done. Just need evil email to go back up so I can fix my email account 1.0 - 1:12pm EST. June 25, 2002 E-mail me at Hyakutaro@evilemail.com . Man, went though a system crash, plus Evil email kept delaying sign-ups. -Introduction Silkworm was a Coin-op side scrolling shooter that showed up in arcades in the late eighties. Its graphics were quite fair for the time, though lagged somewhat when compared to other games like Super Contra. Sound was good, but nothing special. It sported what looked to be as standard shoot-em-up gameplay. Nothing too exciting. However, where the game's uniqueness stood out was in it's 2 player mode. While 1st player controlled the normal Helicopter, 2nd player controlled a jeep with jumping capabilities and a controllable mounted turret. This created a whole new definition of a two player game. Different strategies had to be used depending who played first or second. It was possible to be a master of the helicopter part of Silkworm but still be a beginner in the Jeep part. Beside adding replay, it strategically made more sense, plus it was much more fun for both people playing. Though mostly overlooked, it was quite a fun game, managing a port to the NES and Commodore 64. Overall, a fun, challenging game that perfectly lived up to what an arcade game should be. -Story The supercomputer MCH2, just cause it has nothing better to do, goes berserk and decides the world in need of some good old fashion annihilation. To accomplish its goals, it sends wave after wave of drone helicopters, tanks, jets, little flying thingies, startling similar bosses and silkworm missiles. To counter this threat, two vehicles code named B-Panther and G-cobra are sent to the 2 dimensional plane of side-scrolling to battle the forces of MCH2 and destroy the out of control super computer. The heroes Stacy and Robert pilot the Jeep and Helicopter to battle the forces of evil and save the world. -Enemies Remember that as you further into levels, things that didn't shoot before will now fire, and things that did fire will fire more. I can't explain how every eneime's shots progress. Just be careful and watch out. :) Suicide Helis - This includes all forms of helicopters, jets, freaky flying thingies and such. They occasionally take a shot at you on its mad dash towards the left of the screen. If you are a jeep, they will drop little circular things that roll towards you. A simple jump will take you out of harms way. These are your best choice for taking out enemies so you can pick up power-ups -Multi-part Heli- The ones that give you power-ups. They will fire a missile every once in a while. Take them out as the heli by firing below or above its armored head and then moving below or above your shot. It'll move its head according to where you are, exposing its vital area. As the jeep, simply move below it and aim the turret. -Hill-mounted missile launcher- These show up sticking half way out of a hill, ground or like earthly medium. They fire missiles that home for a second and then follow a set linear path. Not much of a threat. -Scarab missile launcher- Sit there and mainly only pester the Jeep. Occasionally fire a missile but mostly harmless. Takes a lot of shots to kill. -Light tank- Drive in for a slow moving suicide run for the jeep. At later levels it will actually aim its turret and fire a couple shots. Not a huge problem, but watch out. -Heavy tank- Much bigger than most enemies, the heavy tank mainly only gets in the way. It doesn't fire, so its only a problem to the jeep. -Mine- Not really much of an enemy. Use downward fire from the heli and jeep to take them out. No threat to the heli and not much to the jeep. Grab the sparkly for temporary invincibility and shoot it to kill all regular enemies on screen. -Tri missile launcher- Placed likewise as the Hill mounted missile launcher, it fires missiles in three directions. Take them out as the can impede free movement for both jeep and heli. -Parachute tank- These tanks parachute in from no where and once they land, they just leave. Easy for the heli to handle, but make sure you take a few out as they will consign the jeep to death if he has no where to land after his jump. -Missile silo- Only in a few levels and not that dangerous. Fires missiles straight up out of the ground. Can't take out the silos, but the missiles can be shot down -Side mounted rotor heli- Can't think of a better name for this physically impossible flying machine. Fires in a 360 degree manner. Takes a few shots to destroy. A real danger if left alone. -Hoppy heli thingies- These guys take to the screen hopping up and down. They don't fire but can be a hassle for the heli and a serious threat for the jeep. -Unfolding mobile missile launcher- They suddenly appear from the left and fire five missiles in a 90 degree angle. Very dangerous, as the appear with no warning and can't really be taken out by the heli. The jeep can aim backwards, but that takes concentration off avoiding everything else. Jeep can avoid by not jumping, but the heli's in for trouble. -Black Mechs- They don't fire, but take a beating and are a huge problem for the jeep. When the jeep jumps, the top half of the mech will jump too! Time your jumps with the mech and you can clear it without taking it out, but be careful. They will sometimes show up in packs, and you can only clear one at a time. -Ridiculous sized helicopter- Show up first in level 4. They can't be destroyed so don't bother. The real problem is the little buggers it launches. -Ridiculously sized little buggers- Launched from the ridiculous sized heli, they fly around in a circular pattern, causing trouble. Simple for the jeep but as the heli you'll be in for problems. -Boss large missiles- These show up commonly right before you face a boss or it'll launch em at you during the fight. They simply have a compulsive need to get to the left side of the screen. Most likely you will just avoid it without trying, as they don't aim for you. They can't be destroyed. -Black Spheres- Permanently stuck upon the Y-axis of life, they float up and down doing nothing. However, they take forever to kill, and are commonly in the way. -Bug catcher tanks- Or something. Don't know exactly what they think they're doing. It looks like they try to grab hold of your jeep. Not a problem for the heli, and not to hard for the jeep. -Black Heli- This boss shows up on every single odd level. Lame. It can fire homing missiles, regular fire, jeep deterrent rolling thingies and the boss large missiles -Super tank- Shows up every even level as the boss. Ugh. Fires homing missiles, jeep deterrent, regular fire and cannonballs. -Boss on crack mode- Very rarely, when you are fighting a boss, they will inject themselves with the mechanical version of military grade PCP. They go crazy firing millions of homing missiles while shaking cause they're rapidly going into drug withdrawal. No way to survive this. Very cheap. If anyone knows how boss on crack mode is caused or what you can do about it e-mail me. -Power-ups All power-ups are acquired in the same way. A flaming effigy of some sort appears on the right side of the screen while random part of an aircraft fly over and connect to the effigy thingie. When complete, you can blow it up. Doing this release 1 or 2 power-ups, depending if your playing 1 or 2 players. 1st Level - Twin forward fire/Dual Turrets Heli/Jeep 2nd Level - Rapid fire/Rapid Fire After level 2, power-ups give you nothing but points and a higher rank. However if you manage to fill your stripes 3 times, you are awarded a golden bird (not sure what rank this is, e-mail me if you know). This gives you the ability to die and keep your twin and rapid fire. But don't count on this happening though. Each level you can only mostly get one power-up ship, and you must get at least 12 power-ups to achieve this rank. Only the best of the best players would be able to survive long enough to get this many. -Levels Silkworm is separated into 11 basic levels called waves. Each wave really doesn't have any major differences. Same music, hardly different background, and always the same bosses. The only real changes between levels are the enemies, and the volume in which they appear. The 12th wave, for some unfathomable reason, features a level that continues forever, simply looping over and over. The first 2, the 6th and the 11th are perhaps the only important levels in the game. Level 1 - Pretty simple, and the best designed level in the game. The ships are not to hard to deal with, so try to destroy as much of them as you can. The boss features a large, black helicopter Level 2 - A bit harder than the first, offering slightly different enemies that are slightly faster. Again, take out as many enemies as you can so you can power up your Heli or Jeep. Level 6 - After this level, the ability to continue is taken away. Counter this by starting a 2nd player game right before you lose your last heli life and switching off when your lives get low. If you lose your last life without starting a 2p game, you'll have to start over. Level 11 - At last, the final level. This is marked by a noticeable change in decor and much harder enemies. When you have finally vanquished all enemies, you reach the source of the mayhem: MCH2. Not that you fight em. Nope! You fight another bloody black heli! Jeez, they really needed to get some new ideas. Level 12 - This lame continuation of the game is good for only practice. It loops forever and the fact is pretty noticeable. If you've spent enough time getting here, turn away from the machine and cry, cause you suck. -Secrets As far as I can tell, there are no secrets in the game. No shooting in certain places for bonus points, no MA MA MA MONSTER KILL for quick shooting, no nothing. If you know some top secret scoring technique or some bugs in the game send me a message and i'll update this FAQ, with your name in the thanks! -My Opinion I first played Silkworm at a Star Skate World sometime around 1991. I instantly loved it. From the power-ups (omigod! TWIN fire!) to that weird spike of music that would happen no matter what level you were on. It was a classic. Nowadays, you'd more likely be hit by lightning than find a working machine, unless you own the machine (he he) or have the NES cart. I, for some reason have never seen the NES version, but I heard through the grapevine that its even better than the Arcade incarnation (Read: Faididi, special thanks, his review) Send me a mail if you feel like elucidating me upon the improvements. -Reach Me More questions? Extra info? Where do I live? What did I eat for dinner? E-mail me at Hyakutaro@evilemail.com . This is my first FAQ so I want to get it right. If I missed anything or my legal disclaimer isn't enough or you feel like I've taken your work send me a ring and I will fix it immediately. -Special Thanks Big thanks to Faididi and his review of Silkworm. Don't know where the hell he got all his info on the plot. Plus I didn't know about the Silkworms being copies of Russian Styx surface-to-air missiles. Neato. Also thanks to Chris Viloria and his Jedi Starfighter FAQ for layout examples and the link to the ASCII generator. ASCII art rocks. Along with this is my thanks to Jörg Seyfferth at http://www.network-science.de/ascii/ for the ASCII. Don't let the willingness to do stuff for free die. (Hardcore rock riff in the background) AWOOOOOOOOOOO!