History VideoGame / ChickenInvaders

* StarterEquipment: You'll always start with the [[SpreadShot Ion Blaster]] in the first to third games, [[MagneticWeapon Boron Railgun]] in ''4'', and [[JackOfAllStats Hypergun]] in ''5''.

** ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Rapid-firing weapons such as [[MagneticWeapon Boron Railgun]], [[DeathOfAThousandCuts Photon Swarm]] and [[GatlingGood Riddler]] aren't too useful due to their low damage per shot, but their rapid firing rate means that the supernova debris will be pushed back even more further, allowing you to hit the boss's core pretty easily. Same applies with the Henterprise's feather attack, with those weapons able to easily push them away where stronger but slower-firing weapons struggle more.

** The Magnetic Manipulator boss in ''Universe'' is a chicken {{Expy}} of [[Franchise/XMen Magneto]].

* TurnsRed: The middle waves for the Earth stage in ''2'' feature chickens that move erratically after getting hit. ''Universe'' reintroduces these berserk enemies in the form of

* ''Chicken Invaders 3: Revenge of the Yolk'': After being pushed into a black hole by the Yolk-Star and ending up in the other side of the galaxy, you must traverse the entire galaxy to clear of chickens as you try to get back home to Earth in time to stop the Yolk-Star from mobilizing to destroy Earth.

* ''Chicken Invaders 5: Cluck of the Dark Side'': A titanic chicken-made ship called the CK-01 Henterprise has dispersed giant black feathers blocking off the sun, with the intent to freeze the Earth to death. After consulting the oracle Madam Madámme on a solution to the feathered problem, you seek out three alien artifacts scattered throughout the galaxy to construct Humanity's Greatest Fan, the only hope to the feathered problem, all while the Henterprise sends its chicken minions stop you from retrieving the artifacts.

** [[PlasmaCannon Plasma Rifle]] unleashes a stream of plasma that OneHitKill pretty much anything, but overheats very fast.

** [[WaveMotionGun Positron Stream]] attacks fast and has a wicked cool-looking bending purple laser reminiscent of the Plasma Laser from {{VideoGame/Raiden}}, but its damage pales compared to the stronger weapons.

* {{BFG}}: The Satellites are fairly large compared to the ship which would make them gigantic compared to a human.
* BigEater: The hero, ready to devour a universe of chickens. Every game ends with them stopping by Space Burger.

* FeatherFlechettes: The Henterprise's key gimmick is dispersing giant black feathers that forces you to push away. When the Feathered Field levels from ''4'' are reintroduced in ''Universe'', the game adds the Feather Brain boss, an oversized chick whose entire arsenal consists of giant feathers.

* GiantEnemyCrab: The Space Crabs in ''4''. A completely redesigned Space Crab also appears in ''5''!

** The Utensil Poker weapon is basically just a bunch of forks poking chickens until they die. [[spoiler: In game 3 the menu is a ForeShadowing of the final boss fight where you get to use it]] and it's an unlockable in the fourth along with 3's Vulcan Chaingun and Plasma Rifle.

* MoneySpider: Interstellar chickens [[ImpossibleItemDrop drop not only power-ups in the form of presents for your ship to use]] and chicken meat for you to eat, but also coins.

* ShieldedCoreBoss: The Mother-hen Ship in ''4'' requires you to dismantle its egg shell to shoot its yolk core. Ditto for the Supernova Core, where you have to destroy its turrets to attack its... [[ItMakesSenseInContext apple core center]].

** One of the stages in ''4'' has you shooting enemies made out of pixels (and move like as if they are in an 8-bit arcade game!) that are expies of the aliens in VideoGame/SpaceInvaders, and one of its wave variants have you shooting ships that resemble the player ship from {{VideoGame/Galaga}}.

* SupermanSubstitute: Super Chicken, the first boss of the fourth game. As the "Show Them Who's Boss!" wave title in ''4'' was already taken by the Big Chickens in ''Universe'', the new wave title for it gives a ShoutOut in the form of "It's a bird! It's a plane!".[[note]]...No, it's definitely a bird[[/note]]
* SupportPartyMember: ''Universe'' introduces enemies which attacks won't destroy your ship, instead making your life harder and more susceptible to other enemies' attacks, such as Alchemist Chickens hurling potions that leave behind a cloud that slows your ship's movement and Phoenix Chickens which fireballs causes your ship to overheat.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: TheHero and their love of chicken foods. Nothing motivates them than the thought of chicken foods disappearing from the universe.

* AdorableEvilMinions: The chickens.

*** Exaggerated with Chicken Exponentiality, which uses bosses and EliteMooks from ''5''.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The [[WidgetSeries whole game]], but the Utensil Poker in particular, which is ''subverted'' gameplay-wise as one of the [[InfinityPlusOneSword strongest weapons]] in the series. Some weapons play it straight and made much worse on ''Universe'':

** The [[BigBad Henterprise]] in serves as the boss for the first stage, and final boss for ''5''.

** The Chickens use eggs to kill you as well. ''Eggs''. Perhaps justified in that the protagonist seems fairly proud, but that wouldn't explain the kaboom. The fourth game attempts to justify how eggs could be so lethal by saying they congeal to and fry whatever they hit when exposed to solar radiation.

* RefusedTheCall: The hero tries this a bit, but to no use.

** ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Rapid-firing weapons such as [[MagneticWeapon Boron Railgun]], [[DeathOfAThousandCuts Photon Swarm]] and [[GatlingGood Riddler]] aren't too useful due to their low damage per shot, but their rapid firing rate means that the supernova debris will be pushed back like crazy, allowing you to his the boss's core pretty easily. Same applies with the Henterprise's feather attack, with those weapons able to easily knock them away where stronger but less rapid weapons struggle more.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: TheHero and their love of chicken.

* In the first game it's planet Earth that's constantly getting attacked.
* ''The Next Wave'': In the second you need to clear out the entire solar system
* ''Revenge of the Yolk'': And in the third game there's an entire galaxy to clear of evil chickens as you try to get back home to Earth in time to save the day once more.
* ''Ultimate Omelette'': And ''then'' once you're through doing that you can go and do it a fourth time, in a similar premise to three.
* ''Cluck of the Dark Side'': The fifth has you trying to stop the chickens from blocking off the sun and freezing the Earth to death.

* BaitAndSwitchBoss: One boss in the fourth game seems pretty easy to beat... until the progress bar suddenly drops down to 3%. Lo and behold, when you defeat the boss, the camera pans back - revealing a much bigger boss. Combined with VictoryFakeout, as the victory music plays afterward but then comes to a screeching halt where an chicken's roar is then heard.

* ChargeMeter: Absolver Beam introduced in ''Universe'' requires you to hold the fire button to release a charged laser, and when charged to max, deals devastating damage and removes enemy bullets.

** [[ChargeMeter Absolver Beam]]: Indigo-orange

* DoomsdayDevice: In the second game the "Mother Hen Ship", in the third game the Yolk-star, in the fourth game the Egg Cannon, and in the fifth game the Henterprise.

* EdibleAmmunition: The eggs dropped by chickens (and anything else that throws eggs) crack into yolks when they hit the bottom of the screen. The Iron Chef in the Space Burger galaxy from ''4'' throws fruit at you.
** The fifth game lets ''you'' do this by the virture of the Corn Shotgun weapon, which shoots out corn pellets from your ship.

* ImprobableWeaponUser:

* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: The fourth game onward ditches the formulaic waves for its stages, and every wave has you fighting chickens in various movement and placement patterns. Asteroid waves are noticeably absent (with the exception of supernova debris in ''4'' and the ice crystals in ''5'') [[TheBusCameBack until]] ''Universe''.

* MechaMooks: The fourth game introduces chicks and chickens in [=UFOs=], and the fifth game introduces chickens encased in spaceships called Armored Chickens.

** The Yolk Star in ''3''. No prizes for [[Franchise/StarWars what it is based on]]. If you don't get the clue, say "Hen Solo" from ''4'' out loud. In case you don't get the picture, there's the Henperor's Apprentice in ''5''.

* ArbitraryMaximumRange: For whatever reason, the [[RayGun Laser Cannon]] from ''4'' onwards has limited reach.

* ''Universe'': A spin-off where you (''not'' the same Hero from the previous five games), a fresh recruit for the United Heroes Force, travel throughout the galaxy to liberate wherever star system you stop by from chickens. And you get to fight waves and bosses of the third to fifth games, as well as brand new ones!
The first game is available for free at [[https://www.interactionstudios.com/chickeninvaders.php the official site]], while the second to fifth games and ''Universe'' are available on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.

* ''Universe'': A spin-off where you (''not'' the same Hero from the previous five games), a fresh recruit for the United Heroes Force, travel throughout the galaxy to liberate wherever star system you stop by from chickens. And you get to fight waves and bosses of the third to fifth games, as well as brand new ones! Currently in Early Access.

*** Taken UpToEleven with Chicken Exponentiality, which uses bosses and EliteMooks from ''5''.

* GiantMook: The Big Chickens. You get to fight up to [[WolfpackBoss three]] in the second game, ''[[SerialEscalation four]]'' in the third game (which are reused for [[AsteroidsMonster Chicken]] [[DegradedBoss Multiplicity]] in the fourth game), and up to '''[[UpToEleven six]]''' in ''Universe''.

* SuddenlyVoiced: After only having a few lines in the intro of first game and being completely silent in the second game, this trope is applied to the hero in the third game onward. UpToEleven in the fourth game onwards, where they start speaking ''in-game''.[[note]]They did this only once in the third game, where they say they want their money back, in response to a wave in the first stage [[ItMakesSenseInContext being closed for renovations]].[[/note]]

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: The Chicken Leotard unlockable from ''Ultimte Omelette''.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The player character in ''Universe'' is not the same one from the previous five games.

* DarthVaderClone: A rather [[CaptainErsatz literal]] version, unsubtly titled as the Henperor's Apprentice, appears as a boss in the fifth game, complete with VaderBreath and force powers.

** The Yolk Star in ''3''. No prizes for [[Franchise/StarWars what it is based on]]. If you don't get the clue, say "Hen Solo" from ''4'' out loud. In case you don't get the picture, there's the [[DarthVaderClone Henperor's Apprentice]] in ''5''.

* RealityEnsues: If the Corn Shotgun in ''Universe'' overheats, instead of stopping, it will instead shoot out ''popcorn.'' The popcorn can still kill chickens, though less efficiently than usual.

* SelfImposedChallenge: You can start missions with only one life, with no satellites or secondary weapons, and with customizable skill levels for missions, you can play missions with a 90-100% difficulty rating and a high skill modifier to [[BrokeTheRatingScale play missions with a difficulty exceeding 100%]].

* WidgetSeries: This is a shmup series where you [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer shoot chickens in space]] (and a literal turkey shoot in the fourthgame's [[HolidayMode Thanksgiving edition]]), which drop roasted chickens and burgers as well as weapon PowerUps in the form of presents, alongside the typical space shooter tropes of shooting down asteroids and random [=UFOs=].

* RealityEnsues: If the Corn Shotgun in ''Universe'' overheats, instead of stopping, it will instead shoot out ''popcorn.''

** The Big Chickens and UCOs in ''3'', as well as a Big Chicken that looks like it is dressed for winter.

** ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Rapid-firing weapons such as [[MagneticWeapon Boron Railgun]], [[DeathOfAThousandCuts Photon Swarm]] and [[GatlingGood Riddler]] aren't too useful due to their low damage per shot, but their rapid firing rate means that the supernova debris will be pushed back like crazy, allowing you to his the boss's core pretty easily.

** While the player character in ''Universe'' was initially silent, the 43.2 patch now has them comment during missions, and even appears to be more talkative than the hero from the episodic games, such as saying "Mission Control: Joining the fray!" when a mission begins, and saying "Ouch! That hurt!" or "I'm Back!" when losing a life.[[note]]but not when they lose their last life, for obvious reasons.[[/note]]

The first game is available for free at [[https://www.interactionstudios.com/chickeninvaders.php the official site]], while the second to fifth games are available on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.