Ms. Astro Chicken
From Space Quest Omnipedia
Contents |
[edit] General Information
The title character of an arcade game produced by ScumSoft during the Space Quest X era. Ms. Astro Chicken can fly and lay eggs, allowing her to knock out farmers and dogs. But her greatest enemy is the evil Flying Fox-Like-Creature (often referred to as a flying squirrel).
Her relation to Astro Chicken is unknown. She is widely believed to be his wife.
Unlike Astro Chicken you do not need to play this minigame in order to complete the actual game - it was added purely for extra fun.
The machine shorts out and can't be played anymore after five games.
[edit] Instructions
Left-click to move, right click to drop an egg (the game can also be controlled by the arrow keys on the keyboard, although that method can be a bit uncomfortable). Hitting a dog gives you 3 points, hitting a farmer gives 5 (if I recall correctly). Flying through a fence gives you protection against the flying fox-thingies and give you extra points when they hit you, but the "armour" will decay after a few hits. Flying through cornfields will replenish your egg supplies.
Armourless mid-air collisions, shotgun shots, dogbites and windmill splatters are recommended to be avoided, on the grounds of not losing lives and ending the game prematurely.
As many players don't know, the game is actually not infinite and ends after the player reaches over 250 points. After that the remaining number of eggs is multiplied by five and added to the score as a bonus. A good strategy is to try not to hit anyone with the eggs if you're low on them and nearing 250 points. Instead, try to "waste" the eggs by dropping them on the ground and wait for a cornfield (they only tend to appear when you're running out of eggs). Then, having built up a large supply, do the final hit to go over 250 points and let the bonus points roll in.
[edit] Audio
"Ms. Astro Chicken Theme" (info)
(53 seconds - 831 KB)
"Congratulatory message for winning" (info)
"Congratulations in achieving the coveted rank of Corn Wheezer. You have won the Pullet Surprise!"
[edit] Boasting
The highest known score at the game, 325, was achieved by Justas at some point in 2001.
The event was widely announced at the Subspace Channel, despite receiving little feedback. However, it was later referenced to in the 100th strip of WSSQUID.
There have been no publically documented cases of higher scores to date, although the "reigning champion" is gladly accepting challengers.
[edit] References
The Astro Chicken theme song is actually a variation on a popular folk song called the Chicken Reel
