Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Silkworm started life in Japanese arcades back in 1988, developed and published by Tecmo, and it turned into enough of a hit there to pull in an estimated 8 million dollars across roughly a thousand installed cabinets, landing as the fifth most popular arcade unit in the country that March. Home computer ports followed in 1989 through The Sales Curve and Virgin Mastertronic, and the NES version finally reached North America in June 1990, published by American Sammy.
That NES release actually has a hidden story buried right inside its own code. Data miners going through the cartridge years later found leftover graphics and copyright text showing the game was originally set to be published by Tecmo themselves back in 1989, before American Sammy stepped in and hastily pasted their own copyright information over the original Tecmo branding in the final release. Once you actually load it up, you choose between a jeep with a forward firing machine gun that can jump over obstacles, or a helicopter that fires both forward and downward, and a second player can jump in to control whichever vehicle you did not pick, since the two are built to cover each other's weaknesses. Watch out for the Goose along the way too, a heavily armored mini boss made up of several smaller vehicles fused together that drops useful power ups once destroyed.
Silkworm's reach went beyond just this one game too. It quietly inspired a separate 1991 release called SWIV, which reused the same jeep and helicopter team idea as a vertically scrolling shooter instead, even though the developers were always clear that SWIV was never meant to be an official sequel, just something built in that same spirit.
Let me know in the comments whether you preferred running the jeep or flying the helicopter. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#silkworm #nes #nintendo #tecmo #retrogaming #classicgaming #80sgaming #retrogames #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #80snostalgia #shootemup #nesclassic #coop
Silkworm started life in Japanese arcades back in 1988, developed and published by Tecmo, and it turned into enough of a hit there to pull in an estimated 8 million dollars across roughly a thousand installed cabinets, landing as the fifth most popular arcade unit in the country that March. Home computer ports followed in 1989 through The Sales Curve and Virgin Mastertronic, and the NES version finally reached North America in June 1990, published by American Sammy.
That NES release actually has a hidden story buried right inside its own code. Data miners going through the cartridge years later found leftover graphics and copyright text showing the game was originally set to be published by Tecmo themselves back in 1989, before American Sammy stepped in and hastily pasted their own copyright information over the original Tecmo branding in the final release. Once you actually load it up, you choose between a jeep with a forward firing machine gun that can jump over obstacles, or a helicopter that fires both forward and downward, and a second player can jump in to control whichever vehicle you did not pick, since the two are built to cover each other's weaknesses. Watch out for the Goose along the way too, a heavily armored mini boss made up of several smaller vehicles fused together that drops useful power ups once destroyed.
Silkworm's reach went beyond just this one game too. It quietly inspired a separate 1991 release called SWIV, which reused the same jeep and helicopter team idea as a vertically scrolling shooter instead, even though the developers were always clear that SWIV was never meant to be an official sequel, just something built in that same spirit.
Let me know in the comments whether you preferred running the jeep or flying the helicopter. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#silkworm #nes #nintendo #tecmo #retrogaming #classicgaming #80sgaming #retrogames #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #80snostalgia #shootemup #nesclassic #coop
