Mother-Hen Ship is the final boss in The Next Wave and a recurring boss in its sequels, except for Cluck of the Dark Side.
It looks mostly the same in every appearance, but it behaves differently. Upon defeat in The Next Wave and Ultimate Omelette, it will explode. In Revenge of the Yolk, it blows up with the yolk being splattered on the screen.
The Next Wave
Appearance
It's a huge egg. In the Christmas edition, it gets a ribbon.
Attacks
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Description
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Four Omni Neutrons In this attack, the Mother-Hen Ship shoots four omni neutrons. It's performed every ~2 seconds in phases 1 & 2.
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Eight Omni Neutrons In this attack, the Mother-Hen Ship shoots eight omni neutrons. It's performed every ~2 seconds in phases 3 & 4.
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Sixteen Omni Neutrons In this attack, the Mother-Hen Ship shoots four omni neutrons. It's performed every ~2 seconds in phase 5.
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Chicken Call The Mother-Hen Ship summons 5 Chickens for help. It's performed at the beginning of phase 2.
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Chicken Call MK II An upgraded version of the previous Chicken Call. The Mother-Hen Ship summons 14 Chickens for help. It's performed at the beginning of phase 4.
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Chicken Call MK III An upgraded version of the previous Chicken Call MK II. The Mother-Hen Ship summons 21 Chickens for help. It's performed at the beginning of phase 6.
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Direct Neutrons The Mother-Hen Ship shoots between 5 and 7 neutrons directly at the player. It's performed every ~2 seconds in the final two phases.
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Strategy
First Encounter
The Mother-Hen Ship makes its first appearance at the end of Saturn. Every phase, it drops an Atomic Powerup. For every hit it receives, it gives 100 points. It's divided into two phases, both having 10000 health, making it have 20000 health in total. In phase 1, it will use the Four Omni Neutrons attack. Once its health is depleted, it will go to the next phase. Phase 2 is identical to the first one, except that it will use Chicken Call once at the beginning of it. Once that phase is over, it will retreat, and use the Eight Omni Neutrons attack.
Second Encounter
The Mother-Hen Ship appears yet again at the end of Mars. It's divided into four phases. Every phase drops an Atomic Powerup. For every hit it receives, it gives 100 points. The first two have 10000 health, the third one 15000 health, and the fourth one 20000 health, making it have 55000 health in total. In phase 1, it will use the Four Omni Neutrons attack. Once its health is depleted, it will go to the next phase. Phase 2 is identical to the first one, except that it will use Chicken Call once at the beginning of it. Once that phase is over, it will go into phase 3, where it will replace the Four Omni Neutrons attack with the Eight Omni Neutrons attack. Phase 4 has it use Chicken Call MK II when it starts. Once phase 4 is done, it will retreat, and use the Sixteen Omni Neutrons attack.
Final Encounter
The Mother-Hen Ship appears for the last time at the end of The Sun. It's divided into seven phases. Every phase drops an Atomic Powerup. For every hit it receives, it gives 100 points. The first two have 10000 health, the third one 15000 health, the fourth one 20000 health, the fifth one 25000 health, the sixth one 30000 health, and the last one 35000 health, making it have 145000 health in total. In phase 1, it will use the Four Omni Neutrons attack. Once its health is depleted, it will go to the next phase. Phase 2 is identical to the first one, except for that it will use Chicken Call once at the beginning of it. Once that phase is over, it will go into phase 3, where it will replace the Four Omni Neutrons attack with the Eight Omni Neutrons attack. Phase 4 has it use Chicken Call MK II when it starts. Once phase 4 is done, it will go into phase 5, where it replaces the Eight Omni Neutrons attack with Sixteen Omni Neutrons. Phase 6 has it use Chicken Call MK III at the beginning. It also replaces the Sixteen Omni Neutrons attack with Direct Neutrons, which it will use for the remainder of the fight. Once phase 7 is reached, its shell gets destroyed, exposing the metal interior. It will also allow it to move around the screen. Once this phase is over, the Mother-Hen Ship explodes and is finally gone for good. You then receive 250000 points + 25000 * remaining lives + 10000 * remaining Missiles. Unlike the other games, the remaining life/missile bonus is not given when cheats are enabled.
Revenge of the Yolk
Appearance
Its appearance is identical to the one in The Next Wave.
In the Easter edition, it gets decorated, and in the Christmas edition, it does not get affected.
Attacks
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Description
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Omnidirectional Neutrons The Mother-Hen Ship's only attack in this incarnation is shooting omnidirectional neutrons. It does it every ~2 seconds. At first, it can only shoot one. With each cracking of the Mother-Hen Ship, it can shoot more of them, for up to nine omnidirectional before it explodes.
In Universe, depends on the difficulty, the neutrons can be fired even faster to the point that the Mother-Hen Ship can spam fire it. In addition, it's can also have even more neutrons shoot for every crack on it.
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Strategy
The Mother-Hen Ship first appears with 500 health and shoots one omnidirectional neutron. Every crack, its health increases from the last one by 1000, and it shoots one more omnidirectional neutron. This happens 8 times until it's destroyed. It has 40500 health in total, with 9 phases - 500, 1500, 2500, 3500, 4500, 5500, 6500, 7500, and 8500 health. Once it's destroyed, the metal interior doesn't get exposed, and instead, the yolk inside it splats on the screen. You then receive 50000 points and a Gift. Its weakness in this version is the Neutron Gun. It's also weak to Plasma Rifle and strong against Lightning Fryer, but those weapons can't be obtained before encountering it without hacking.
Ultimate Omelette
Appearance
The Mother-Hen Ship has sized up considerably from the last encounter, so much so, that it became as big as The Yolk-Star™. The shell pieces are placed on huge metal bars which try to keep the egg together. Inside of the construction is the yolk and the egg white that surrounds it.
In the Christmas edition and the Easter edition, the shell pieces become decorated, and in the Thanksgiving edition, the shell pieces together resemble a pumpkin, and the egg white is now orange.
Attacks
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Description
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Three Red Neutrons The Mother-Hen Ship's only attack in this incarnation is shooting three red neutrons to the left from the yolk.
In Universe, on higher difficulty, the red neutrons will travel much faster compared to regular. In addition, the yolk can now shoot up to 7 neutrons compared to 3 neutrons, however, the neutron is spaced out so that you will have an escape room to go through it gaps.
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Strategy
The Mother-Hen Ship itself has 40000 health, but it is also surrounded by 102 shell pieces, each having 500 health. To destroy it, you'll need to tear through enough shell pieces to reach its yolk and attack it. Shell pieces have a splash damage limit of 125, so Missiles won't destroy them all right away. Each shell piece gives 800 points after being destroyed. Once the yolk's health is depleted, the entire structure explodes, and you receive 50000 points and an Atomic Powerup. You may also receive three Satellites if no shell pieces were left. The yolk itself doesn't have any weaknesses and strengths, but the shell is weak to Ion Blaster, Laser Cannon, Vulcan Chaingun, Barbequer, and ICBM.
Gallery
Mother-Hen Ship in The Next Wave, with its metal interior fully exposed.
Mother-Hen Ship with its yolk exposed in Ultimate Omelette.
Mother-Hen Ship in Ultimate Omelette, shellless.
Mother-Hen Ship's appearance in the Thanksgiving edition.
Trivia
- The sound that plays when the Mother-Hen Ship enters the screen in The Next Wave is taken from the Dragnet theme.
V • E
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Items
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Powerups
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Ion Blaster Gift • Neutron Gun Gift • Laser Cannon Gift • Vulcan Chaingun Gift • Lightning Fryer Gift • Plasma Rifle Gift • Utensil Poker Gift • Boron Railgun Gift • Photon Swarm Gift • Positron Stream Gift • Atomic Powerup
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Food
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Drumstick • Twin Legs • Roast • Single Burger • Double Burger • Triple Burger • Quad Burger
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Other
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Coin • Key
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V • E
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Characters
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Playable
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The Hero
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NPCs
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Narrator
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Items
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Powerups
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Ion Blaster Gift • Neutron Gun Gift • Laser Cannon Gift • Vulcan Chaingun Gift • Lightning Fryer Gift • Plasma Rifle Gift • Utensil Poker Gift • Atomic Powerup
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Food
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Drumstick • Roast • Single Burger • Double Burger • Triple Burger • Quad Burger
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Other
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Coin
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