Death Worm

If you've ever secretly harboured a desire to snap up entire elephants in a single bite, Death Worm, more Shai-Hulud than Nibbles, just might be the game for you. Loosely inspired by cryptozoological accounts of the Mongolian Olgoi-Khorkhoi, this game allows the player to be to the Gobi Desert what Jaws was to Amity Island -- a menacing avatar of hunger incarnate, lurking somewhere unseen beneath the surface... waiting to strike!

The playfield is a scrolling (but fixed) 2D cross-section, revealing the worm burrowing underground and its innocent victims topside, unaware of the horrifying fate awaiting them. Controls are simple: left and right arrow keys adjust the worm's orientation, while the up button accelerates -- most spectacularly when the worm erupts out of the ground, gulps down two camels, and then arcs back down into terra firma, leaving only shattered security and soiled garments in its wake. Scoring is tallied by measuring the total weight of flesh eaten -- with this Mongolian desertscape unusually populated by birds, lions, dromedaries and elephants, one can quickly determine which meals will bring home the largest point bonuses. (The trick is in suddenly approaching them from behind, to keep them from scattering in flight with advance visual warning.)

The desert is not without human residents, however, and once lunch begins they, pretending to exclusive entitlement over mass extinction, will begin organizing to retaliate -- first with simple handguns, then with larger arms: tanks, bombers, paratroopers, mines, machine guns, rockets and tasers. Like the similarly segmented Saint Dragon, the death worm only takes damage when hit in its head... and while the enemies' aim isn't great, their ammunition reserves are plentiful enough to ensure that their pray-'n-spray tactics will eventually neutralise the worm. (To protract the inevitable, consuming other subterranean critters yields a minor health bonus.)