An game from the height of the NES' popularity, WURM details the exploits of a team of explorers sent to investigate the source of mysterious tectonic activity (not to mention the fate of four previous expeditions that have gone missing). They travel in a tunneling vehicle called the VZR, nicknamed the "WURM" by the manual.
As the team ventures deeper underground they find their predecessors were ambushed by monstrous members of the Nonmalta empire which is fighting the beleaguered kingdom of Dinamur for control of the underworld.
Not to be confused with Journey to the Center of the Earth.
WURM provides examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: We've got characters like Dan, Allan and Sylvia alongside Moby (a female character), Locke and Ziggy.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: The "good" subterranean empire, Dinamur, has human-like inhabitants (assuming the royal family is any indication), while the evil empire, Nonmalta, is made up of hideous monsters.
- Beneath the Earth: The whole game, with the usual caves dotted with the occasional Lethal Lava Land, to the advanced buildings of the underground cities you run through on foot.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The story has a lot of typos and misspellings, the result of ite development in Japan. Even "Helen Keller" is misspelled.
- Drill Tank: Your VZR can drill through certain walls when activated. When set to Hover Tank mode, the drill is always on.
- Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: The story of the various underground civilizations is revealed a bit at a time, but it's easy to get lost unless you're paying really close attention.
- Kick the Dog: Throughout the early missions, Moby mentions her hopes of finding her boyfriend Ziggy, who went missing along with one of the previous expeditions. She does eventually find him, but it turns out his brain was removed and put in a robotic monster she had to kill.
- Number of the Beast: As the team makes their way deeper into the earth, Dan notes their current depth, and as they reach 666 miles underground, Moby notes that she has a bad feeling about that. The US version changes this to 696 miles underground for censorship reasons, but since the next time Dan notes their depth they're at 680 miles underground which the US version didn't remember to change to a larger number, this makes it seem like they somehow managed to rise 16 miles towards the surface while constantly moving deeper underground.
- Power Source: One of the game's more annoying aspects is that while the VZR automatically repairs damage, if the player doesn't find a steady supply of randomly-appearing fuel crystals they die.
- Send in the Search Team: The crew you play as is sent into the depths looking for the previous expeditions that lost contact with the surface.
- Tragic Monster: The VZR-5, piloted by the survivors of the previous expeditions and forced to fight against you, as well as a robotic monster using Ziggy's brain as a power source.
- Transforming Mecha: The VZR can change into a hovercraft or a plane as the crew salvages parts from other VZR's. The plane mode is the fastest, but it also consumes energy at a faster rate and is the most susceptible to Collision Damage when bumping into walls.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: WURM jumps between genres. Each chapter starts out with Moby inside the VZR for a side-scrolling Platform Game, and then switching to an RPG/First-Person Shooter hybrid where you talk to your crew members for advice on how to defeat a boss, and usually ending with a side-scrolling segment with Moby exploring outside of the VZR. A few chapters also have vertically-scrolling Shoot 'Em Up stages.
