History Videogame / Worms

* LiesToChildren: The origin of the Concrete Donkey. Andy Dennis as a child was led to believe by his parents that the concrete donkey in their garden was a real donkey encased in concrete and held at their leisure.

* CharacterCustomization: ''Worms 2'' and ''Armageddon'' allowed the player to create their own sound schemes using .wav files. A massive amount of fan made schemes abound, ranging from ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' one liners to ''Film/SilentNightDeadlyNightPart2'' quotes.

** A number of weapons, but perhaps the poster child for this is the Super Sheep, which while finicky, can fly to any place on the map and explodes upon contact.

* HolyHandGrenade: Straight from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', and hits hard as hell with its huge blast radius.

* LargeHam: The Thespian voice set, which is basically worms trained in classical acting. Has gems such as "FEEL THE POINT OF MY RAPIER, YOU SCOUNDREL!" for damaging an enemy worm, "'ZOUNDS! I AM UNDONE!" after killing an enemy and the randomly said "A DONKEY, A DONKEY, MY KINGDOM FOR A DONKEY!" , a Theatre/RichardIII quote rendered in-context.

* KamehameHadoken: The Dragon Ball weapon[[note]][[NonindicativeName Despite its name]], it's not a reference to ''Manga/DragonBall'', but to ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', as in many sound banks, Worms say "Hadoken" when using it[[/note]], introduced in ''Worms 2'', involves the user throwing an energy ball at the target, knocking them a decent distance away.

* NonDamagingStatusInflictionAttack: ''Armageddon'' has the "Shove!" attack, which does no damage but moves the enemy 10 feet away. Ideally, off a ledge or into a booby trap.

* PricelessMingVase: Like everything else, the vase explodes. More specifically, it is a dynamite-like weapon which yields a very large explosion after 5 seconds and sends shrapnel everywhere. Then the shrapnel explodes too.

** The Holy Hand Grenade ("Haaaa-llelujah!") comes straight from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''.

* SpotlightStealingTitle: The spin-off ''Worms Pinball'' was originally named ''Addiction Pinball'' on its PC release before being renamed for the [=PlayStation=] port.

* WhoopeeCushion: ''Clan Wars'' introduces the [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Whoopsie]] Cushion, which bounces around the battlefield while emitting poison gas when used.

** ''Flockers'' proves to be the darkest game developed, even topping the first-generation ''Worms'' tonewise. To clarify: despite using the third-generation designs for the worms, the landscapes and the environment are downright dark, gritty, and nightmarish. It puts into perspective as to how the sheeps (the titular ''Flockers'') are treated by the worms themselves (read: as disposable weapons) and the aim is to lead them to freedom while avoiding death traps (and later the worms). It is also Bloodier and Gorier, a jarring departure to the general norm of Bloodless Carnage style of cartoon violence.

** ''Worms (1995)'' (originally for Platform/{{Amiga}} computers. [[PortOverdosed Was ported to just about every contemporary game system of its era]]. [[labelnote:A list of ports]]Platform/{{Playstation}}, [[Platform/MegaDrive Sega Mega Drive/Genesis]], [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]], [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows DOS]], Platform/{{Macintosh}}, Platform/GameBoy, Platform/SegaSaturn, Platform/AtariJaguar[[/labelnote]]

*** ''Worms (2007)'' (Platform/XboxLiveArcade and PSN port of ''Open Warfare'')

In the early 90s, bedroom coder and UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} fan Andy Davidson decided to make an ''Artillery''-style TurnBasedStrategy game with a large arsenal of outlandish comedy weapons and - for reasons known only to himself - warring annelids. Showing his game idea -- ''Total Wormage'' -- at a games fair, he caught the eye and imagination of games company Creator/Team17, who offered to develop the game. The result was ''Worms''. With weapons ranging from the relatively sane Bazooka, Grenade and Shotgun to the bizarre [[BaaBomb Sheep]], Banana Bomb, and the devastating [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Holy Hand Grenade]].

** ''Worms (1995)'' (originally for UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} computers. [[PortOverdosed Was ported to just about every contemporary game system of its era]]. [[labelnote:A list of ports]]UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}}, [[UsefulNotes/MegaDrive Sega Mega Drive/Genesis]], [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]], [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows DOS]], UsefulNotes/{{Macintosh}}, UsefulNotes/GameBoy, UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar[[/labelnote]]

** ''Worms: The Director's Cut'' (a limited edition sequel released only for AGA UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} computers: can be thought of as "''Worms 2'' for the Amiga". Brought in a lot of weapons made popular by ''Worms 2'')

** ''Worms Armageddon'' (PC, with ports to UsefulNotes/{{Dreamcast}}, UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}}, UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 and UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor)
** ''Worms World Party'' (Intended as a console exclusive to the Dreamcast and [=PS1=] by Titus Interactive but it did receive a PC port, brought in the Wormpot for randomizing gameplay. Also released for UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance and mobile devices)

** ''Worms Forts: Under Siege'' (PC, [[UsefulNotes/Playstation2 PS2]] & UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}. More focus on constructing buildings than worm-on-worm warfare)

*** ''Worms (2007)'' (UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade and PSN port of ''Open Warfare'')

** ''Worms: A Space Oddity'' (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}})

** ''Worms Revolution'' (Computers, [[UsefulNotes/Playstation3 PS3]], UsefulNotes/Xbox360 & UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita)

** ''Worms WMD'' (UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/Playstation4, [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 10]] and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch)

The most popular game is probably ''Worms Armageddon'', which is still being patched and modded to this day to keep compatibility with modern machines despite its age, and is even available on the UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} service.

* AprilFoolsDay: Several hoaxes and jokes were laid out in the early days by [=Team17=] to fool players, ranging from a ''Worms'' game on the UsefulNotes/Commodore64 and UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum, A UFO Weapon in ''Worms 2'', an expansion for ''Worms 2'' that consists of baby worms dressed up for bedtime called ''Night Fight'', etc.

* UsefulNotes/BritishAccents: Several voicebanks in ''Armageddon'' and ''World Party'': Scouser, Yorkshire Tykes, Cockney Wideboy, Geezer (also Cockney), Brummie (Birmingham), Stiff Upper Lip, Cad (both upper class accents), Geordie, Angry Scots, Jock (also Scottish)... ''Worms 3D'' then brought Welsh and Madchester to the party.

[[quoteright:297:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wormsteam17_4809.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:297:"Oi, nutta!"]]

* RocksFallEveryoneDies: Quite literally with the Armageddon weapon.

* ShortRangeShotgun: Inverted - in all of the Worms games, the shotgun is your primary ''sniping'' weapon.
** Played straight in Worms Rumble though in that it fires a spray of shots that is more likely to kill quickly if you're up in your target's face.