WORMS 25th Anniversary: The best moments from the last 25 years

This year has seen many landmarks of games celebrating certain anniversaries, and today is no different.

The WORMS series, created by Team17, is celebrating its 25th anniversary today, marking the very first release of WORMS on the Amiga.

Since then its seen sequels, prods into the 3D category and soon the battle-royale genre.

With that, we thought to highlight the best of the series in its quarter-century anniversary.

The Weapons

From the 'Banana Bomb' to the 'Super Sheep', every weapons had its own temptation to be used in the first round.

Whether to obliterate the opposing team or just the landscape, every direct hit felt satisfying, even when the 'Donkey' would be dropped onto an unsuspecting worm.

Ever since the first WORMS game, there's been so many weapons to choose from, and while some would keep using 'AirStrike' or 'Kamikaze' to fast-track a win, some would use the 'Blowtorch' or 'Girder' to make their own mini-base at a section in the map.

Every single WORMS game brings with it new weapons and new takes on existing ones, and a big part of the appeal are the weapons that you can't wait to use in the next match.

Armageddon

Originally developed as an expansion to WORMS 2, it was fleshed out as a standalone game in 1999, bringing great acclaim to its fast-pace, it's graphics, and well-refined gameplay.

Even now, the game is still being updated for modern systems. One can simply go to Steam, buy it and play a match in 4K if they so wish.

There's so much to praise here; from the custom matches, to the single-player missions, and the online multiplayer.

It's a game that, considering there's been more than six entries released since that refine the gameplay even further, this game is near-perfect on the WORMS formula.

FMV Movies

There can't be an appreciation of WORMS without mentioning the mini-movies.

This writer had WORMS as one of the first games for the PlayStation console back in July of 1997. Playing the matches mixed with these Looney Tunes-esque movies opened my eyes to what could be possible on a console.

Even watching these now are fun to watch; the expressions of the worms while they're juggling a grenade, or when one shrugs when he realises he can't switch off the Uzi from firing at many worms in a tree.

Every one of these added to the charm of the game, and if a new 2D entry is in development, it would be great to see these return again. Either remade clips or new ones, would be a great throwback to the originals.

Battle Royale

As we head into the next 25 years of WORMS, it's apt then that we have a new entry being released on the 1st December, in the form of 'WORMS Rumble'.

Here, you control just one worm, trying to survive in a battle-royale match, but you can still use all the existing weapons that the series is known for.

You can also customise your worm with headgear, accessories, emotes and much more, while cross-play has also been confirmed.

It looks to be an interesting take on the Worms formula, and as we're only two weeks away from realise, it remains to be seen whether it can hold up in the ever-saturated battle-royale genre.