History VideoGame / MortTheChicken

* WhenDimensionsCollide: The basic premise is that two dimensions collide, one Earth-like and inhabited by sentient chickens, the other abstract and inhabited by sentient cubes. The cubes mistake the chickens' hay bales for captured members of their own kind, and kidnap the chickens' chicks as ransom.

''Mort the Chicken'' is a 3D PlatformGame released on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation in 2000, developed by [=AndNow=] and published by Crave Entertainment. One of its developers, Ed Annunziata, previously created ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'', with this game being a ''very'' different take on an animal-based game.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Carl Cockerel, despite being billed as a general expert, makes wild and inaccurate claims, such as Mort betraying chicken-kind by not being cowardly, and the cubes taking away the chicks to have a sleepover. He then [[HypocriticalHumor berates Henny Penny]] for correcting him with the facts, despite openly admitting that "baseless speculation" is his job.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Doctor Cockerel dismisses Henny Penny's theory that the cubes are from an alternate dimension, saying that if she's going to engage in baseless speculation, she may as well say that they're all images on a screen being manipulated by featherless bipeds in some kind of video game.

* SistineSteal: The loading screens feature famous works of art with Mort and other chickens in place of humans, one of them being Michelangelo's ''Creation of Adam''.

* ApatheticCitizens: At the start of the game, most chickens treat the kidnapping of their young as mildly as their would treat bad weather, to the point of finding Mort's heroism suspicious. When Colonel Cubicles gives them a 24-hour warning to "free the cubes", BAWC reports on it 23 hours and 50 minutes later.

* {{Cap}}: Mort can only carry up to twelve chicks at a time. This only comes up in the one level that has more than twelve chicks to save, "Chicks".

The gameplay is incredibly simple: Mort moves around levels searching for baby chicks, who follow behind him when they touch him and fly away when he takes damage. To finish a level, Mort has to bring the baby chicks to a well that acts as an exit portal, while fending off the cubes with his long comb-whip and various power-ups.

In a world where chickens are the dominant lifeform on Earth, a parallel dimension populated by cubes known as the Boolyon has just discovered its existence. They do not come in peace, as they have mistaken the native hay bales of the planet as kidnapped members of their kind. Their leader, Colonel Cubicles, instigates an invasion, capturing the the chickens' baby chicks as hostages. Most chickens are far too, well, chicken to retaliate, with one exception: Mort, a television star who heroically (or stupidly) dives into the nearest well the chicks are being sucked into and begins his quest to save them from the Boolyon dimension.

* SigningOffCatchphrase: Chicken Little and Henny Penny both have their own unique sign-offs, usually involving references to nursery rhymes or common sayings featuring chickens.

* HeroicMime: Despite the other chickens being capable of speech, Mort only communicates through clucking.

* KentBrockmanNews: The game regularly cuts to news reports from [[FunWithAcronyms BAWC]], the news channel of the chicken universe, as newscasters Chicken Little and Henny Penny provide ongoing coverage of Mort's mission, with occasional feedback from expert Carl Cockerel.

** [[spoiler:During the ending, we see a report from the cube dimension's own news channel, CUBE, in which newscaster [[[PunnyName Perry Lellogram]] announces that the misunderstanding between the chickens and the cubes has been cleared up.]]

In a world where chickens are the dominant lifeform on Earth, a parallel dimension populated by a species of cubes (yes, the geometric shapes) known as the Boolyon has just discovered its existence. They do not come in peace, as they have mistaken the native hay bales of the planet as kidnapped members of their kind. Their leader, Colonel Cubicles, instigates an invasion, capturing the the chickens' baby chicks as hostages. Most chickens are far too, well, chicken to retaliate, with one exception: Mort, a television star who heroically (or stupidly) dives into the nearest well the chicks are being sucked into and begins his quest to save them from the Boolyon dimension.

The gameplay is incredibly simple: Mort moves around levels searching for baby chicks, who follow behind him when they touch him and fly away when he takes damage. To finish a level, Mort has to bring the baby chicks to a well that acts as an exit portal, while fending off the cubes with his long comb-whip and various power-ups. Between levels, commercials play and the news station B.A.W.C. commentates on the ongoing events.

* HeroicMime: Despite the chickens being capable of speech, Mort only communicates through clucking.

''Mort the Chicken'' is a 3D PlatformGame released on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation in 2000, developed by [=AndNow=] and published by Crave Entertainment.

The game was a critical and commercial failure and quickly fell into obscurity after release, but did manage to get some attention decades later for its bizarre, surreal nature and deadpan cutscenes. In particular, Mort makes an appearance as a power-up character in the 2023 indie game ''VideoGame/PizzaTower'', as a royalty-free cameo permitted by his original creator, Ed Annunziata.