Moorhuhn

Moorhuhn is a German casual game franchise for PCs and various other platforms. It consists of more than 30 games, the first of which – a shoot 'em up – was Germany's most popular computer game in the early 2000s.[1] Since 2001, most games have been released under the name Crazy Chicken in English, however some of the PC games and the first DS game were marketed in North America by Encore (MumboJumbo for the DS game) under the name Chicken Hunter.

History

The game (now distributed as Die Original Moorhuhn Jagd) was developed by the Dutch Witan studios and the Art Department advertising agency as an advertisement for Johnnie Walker whisky in 1999.[2] Imitating the Glorious Twelfth, the game's objective was to shoot down, through a point-and-click interface, as many cartoonish "swamp chickens" (German: Moorhühner; literally "moorhens", i.e. willow ptarmigans) as possible in 90 seconds. The game was originally known as KippenSchieten and won third place at the Bizarre 98 programmer's meeting.

The game was originally not intended for distribution, but was made available to play on laptops in bars by promoters dressed up as hunters.[2] It was soon illicitly copied, however, and became widely available for download on private websites.[2] The publisher's initial irritation at this subsided after the game received favorable mentions in popular media and demand for it grew. From 1999 onwards the game was officially made available for download by Art Department.[2] It became wildly popular in German-speaking Europe, to the point of being denounced in the media as a threat to the bottom line of businesses, on account of the number of hours wasted by employees playing the game.

The game's success spawned a great deal of merchandise, a comic book series, an animated TV series,[3] several motion picture scripts (although no movie was ever made) and a BMG-produced single (Gimme more Huhn by comedian Wigald Boning).[3] It also caused Germany's authoritative Duden dictionary to include the word "Moorhuhn".[1]

Corporate history

Propelled by the game's popularity, its Bochum-based publisher Phenomedia AG, who had acquired Art Department,[2] went public in late 1999 at the height of the dot-com bubble and attained a market value of up to one billion Euro.[4]

In 2002, the stock value rapidly collapsed after it became known that the company's leaders were under investigation for falsifying balance sheets.[1] Chairman of the Vorstand Markus Scheer and CFO (Finanzvorstand) Björn Denhard, who confessed to the falsifications,[5] were fired.[1] In 2009, they were sentenced by a German court to 46 and 36 months' imprisonment, respectively, for securities fraud and other infractions.[4]

Phenomedia AG underwent insolvency proceedings. Its assets, including the Moorhuhn series, were bought by a successor company, phenomedia publishing GmbH, which continues to publish Moorhuhn games. But now the series is owned by the company AK tronic due to phenomedia going bankrupt. [4]

List of Moorhuhn games
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

PC
  • Die Original Moorhuhnjagd (1999)
  • Moorhuhn 2 - Die Jagd geht weiter (2000)
  • Moorhuhn Winter-Edition (2001, released in English as Crazy Chicken Winter-Edition)
  • Moorhuhn 3 - Es gibt Huhn! (2001, released in English as Crazy Chicken 3, also released by Encore in North America as Country Varmint Hunter)
  • Moorhuhn Kart (2002, released in English as Crazy Chicken Kart)
  • Moorhuhn X (2003, released in English as Crazy Chicken X, also released by Encore in North America as Chicken Hunter, listed on Steam as Crazy Chicken)
  • Moorhuhn Kart Extra (2003, updated version of Moorhuhn Kart)
  • Moorhuhn Adventure - Der Schatz des Pharao (2003)
  • Moorhuhn Kart 2 (2004, released in English as Crazy Chicken Kart 2, also released by Encore in North America as Chicken Hunter: License to Grill, also available on WildTangent)
  • Krot (2004, spinoff based on a character from Moorhuhn 3)
  • Moorfrosch (2004, spinoff based on a character from Moorhuhn 2)
  • Moorhuhn Wanted (2004, released in English as Crazy Chicken: Wanted, also released by Encore in North America as Chicken Hunter: Wanted)
  • Moorhuhn Pinball Vol. 1 (2004, released in English as Crazy Chicken Pinball Vol. 1, also available on WildTangent as Crazy Chicken Pinball)
  • Moorhuhn Adventure - Der Fluch des Goldes (2005)
  • Hank (2005, spinoff based on a character from Moorhuhn Winter-Edition)
  • Moorhuhn Remake (2005, released in English as Crazy Chicken Remake)
  • Moorhuhn Invasion (2005, released in English as Crazy Chicken Invasion, also available on Steam and WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn Schatzjäger (2005, released in English as Crazy Chicken: The Good, The Egg, and the Ugly)
  • Moorhuhn im Anflug (2005, released in English as Crazy Chicken Skybotz, also available on WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn Mah-Jongg (2006, released in English as Crazy Chicken Mah-Jongg)
  • Moorhuhn Soccer (2006, released in English as Crazy Chicken Soccer, also released by MumboJumbo in North America, also available on WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn Piraten (2006, released in English as Crazy Chicken: Pirates, also available on WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn Schatzjäger 2 (2006, released in English as Crazy Chicken: Heart of Tibet, also available on WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn Kart 3 (2007, released in English as Crazy Chicken Kart 3)
  • Moorhuhn Juwel der Finsternis (2007, released in English as Crazy Chicken: Jewel of Darkness)
  • Moorhuhn Schatzjäger 3 (2007, released in English as Crazy Chicken: The Winged Pharaoh, also available on WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn Director's Cut (2007, released in English as Crazy Chicken: Director's Cut, also available on WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn Kart Thunder (2008, released in English as Crazy Chicken Kart: Thunder)
  • Moorhuhn Atlantis (2008, released in English as Crazy Chicken: Atlantis)
  • Moorhuhn in Südafrika (2010, alternate version of Moorhuhn Soccer, only released in Germany as a download on the website gamesload.de)
  • Moorhuhn - Das verbotene Schloss (2010, released in English as Crazy Chicken Tales, also available on Steam and WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn Tiger & Chicken (2013, also available on Steam and WildTangent)
  • Moorhuhn schlägt zurück (2016, released in English as Crazy Chicken Strikes Back, mistakenly listed on Steam with the German name)

Mobile
  • Moorhuhn Blackjack (2001)
  • My Moorhuhn (2002)
  • Moorhuhn Battle Arena (2002)
  • Moorhuhn Classic (2002)
  • Moorhuhn Kart (2002)
  • Moorhuhn Playsuit (2002)
  • Moorhuhn Kart 2004 (2003)
  • Moorhuhn Seasons (2003)
  • Moorhuhn X (2004)
  • Moorhuhn Camera X (2004)
  • Moorhuhn Invasion (2005)
  • Moorhuhn Schatzjäger (2006)
  • Moorhuhn Spacemission (2006)
  • Moorhuhn Deluxe (2006)
  • Moorhuhn schlägt zurück (2016, released in English as Crazy Chicken Strikes Back)

Game Boy Color
  • Die Original Moorhuhnjagd (2000)
  • Moorhuhn 2 - Die Jagd geht weiter (2001)
  • Moorhuhn 3 - Es gibt Huhn! (2002, released in English as Moorhen 3: Chicken Chase)

PlayStation
  • Moorhuhn 2 - Die Jagd geht weiter (2000)
  • Moorhuhn 3 - Es gibt Huhn! (2002, released in English as Moorhen 3: Chicken Chase)
  • Moorhuhn Kart (2003)
  • Moorhuhn X (2005)

Game Boy Advance
  • Moorhuhn 3 - Es gibt Huhn! (2002, released in English as Moorhen 3: Chicken Chase)

PlayStation 2
  • Moorhuhn X (2006, released in English as Crazy Chicken X)
  • Moorhuhn Fun Kart 2008 (2008)

Nintendo DS
  • Moorhuhn DS (2007, also released by MumboJumbo in North America as Chicken Hunter)
  • Moorhuhn Juwel der Finsternis (2008, also planned to be released by Conspiracy Entertainment in North America as Crazy Chicken: Jewel of Darkness, but later cancelled before release)
  • Moorhuhn Star Karts (2008, also released by MumboJumbo in North America as Crazy Chicken: Star Karts)
  • Moorhuhn Adventure - Der Schatz des Pharao (2008, also released by MumboJumbo in North America as Crazy Chicken Adventure: The Pharaoh's Treasure)
  • Moorhuhn Atlantis (2008, also released by MumboJumbo in North America as Crazy Chicken: Atlantis Quest)
  • Moorhuhn Jahrmarkt-Party (2010)

DSiWare
  • Moorhuhn Piraten (2012, also released in English as Crazy Chicken: Pirates)

Nintendo Wii
  • Moorhuhn - Das verbotene Schloss (2010, also released by Conspiracy Entertainment in North America as Crazy Chicken Tales)
  • Moorhuhn Jahrmarkt-Party (2010)

Nintendo 3DS
  • Moorhuhn Piraten 3D (2012, also released in English as Crazy Chicken: Pirates 3D)
gollark: Oh. Hmm.
gollark: It's not my fault that I don't run the required tests of code changes half the time.
gollark: Anyway, it was a minor beeoidality criticality event.
gollark: ++magic reload_ext heavserver
gollark: You need to quote it, apioform 11595, and also it's timezoned.

References
  1. "Moorhuhn im Sturzflug" (in German). Deutsche Welle. 24 April 2002. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  2. Stirn, Alexander (19 January 2000). "Geschichte eines Spiels: Moorhuhns Mutter plant Nachwuchs" (in German). Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  3. "Moorhuhnmania - nun auch TV-Serie mit dem Federvieh" (in German). Golem.de. 11 April 2000. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  4. "Bilanzfälschung: Moorhuhn-Manager müssen in den Knast" (in German). Die Zeit Online. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  5. "Phenomedia: Erste Geständnisse" (in German). Manager-Magazin. 13 May 2002. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
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