Food, when collected, will give you a certain amount of points and food units, depending on the variant collected. When you collect 50 food units in Revenge of the Yolk, Ultimate Omelette and Cluck of the Dark Side, (100 with one of the Scoring unlockables), or 25 in the first two games, you gain a Missile, and the food counter resets to zero. In the flashversions, they're used as a way to get extra lives. There, you obtain them every 100 food units collected.
Universe
In Universe, food still gives points and food units, but it's no longer used to obtain Missiles. Instead, it can be sold at Space Burger stores in exchange for Keys.
Obtaining
Food is dropped most of the time when Chickens are killed. Ordinary Chicks are only able to drop twin legs. Another way to obtain food is from destroying Space Burger Corporation's convoys in Ultimate Omelette.
In certain waves in Cluck of the Dark Side, another type of food appears - popcorn. It can be obtained from cooking Corncobs (Wave 18) or shooting them (Wave 48 and Hen House boss fight).
Types of Food
Drumstick
Most common type of food, appearing in all Chicken Invaders games. Gives 1 food unit and 200 points (in Chicken Invaders (DX Version)), 250 points (in The Next Wave), or 100 points (in the games following it). In Chicken Invaders (DOS Version), it's purely cosmetic, as it can't be collected.
Four variants of it exist, and they don't differ in the amount of points/food units they give. Those variants are:
Introduced in The Next Wave, this food item drops less often. Gives 10 food units (12 in The Next Wave before version 2.30), which is the highest amount you can get from the food items. In the game it debuted in, it gave the Appetite bonus. In its sequels, it gives 1000 points. It has two variants, and those are:
Regular (every edition/game it appeared in other than The Next Wave Christmas)
Mistletoe (The Next Wave Christmas)
Twin Legs
Uncommon, exclusive to Chicks. Gives 3 food units and 1000 points. Introduced in Ultimate Omelette.
Single Chicken Burger
Common, gives a different amount of points and food units depending on the variant collected. Introduced in Revenge of the Yolk. It has four variants:
Plain - 1 food unit and 200 points
Cheese - 1 food unit and 400 points
Cheese and Tomato - 1 food unit and 800 points
Cheese, Tomato, Lettuce and Olive - 2 food units and 1600 points
Double Chicken Burger with Olive
Uncommon, gives 3 food units and 3200 points. Introduced in Revenge of the Yolk.
Triple Chicken Burger with two Olives
Uncommon, gives 4 food units and 6400 points. Introduced in Revenge of the Yolk.
Quad Chicken Burger with three Olives
Rare, gives 5 food units, 12800 points and the Super Size Me bonus. Introduced in Revenge of the Yolk.
Popcorn
Obtainable from Corncobs. It's unique in that it doesn't bounce around the bottom of the screen, like other food types do. Gives 1 food unit and either 1000 points (in regular waves) or no food units and 1 point (in boss waves), regardless of the variant. Introduced in Cluck of the Dark Side.
There are three variants:
Popcorn (Cluck of the Dark Side regular)
Raw corn (Cluck of the Dark Side Halloween)
Candy (Cluck of the Dark Side Christmas)
Gallery
The design of the Roast used in The Next Wave.
The design of the Drumstick used in The Next Wave and Chicken Invaders.
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 • Hypergun Gift • Riddler Gift • Corn Shotgun Gift • Atomic Powerup
Food
Drumstick • Twin Legs • Roast • Single Burger • Double Burger • Triple Burger • Quad Burger • Popcorn
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
Food
Drumstick • Twin Legs • Roast • Single Burger • Double Burger • Triple Burger • Quad Burger
Ion Blaster Gift • Neutron Gun Gift • Laser Cannon Gift • Vulcan Chaingun Gift • Lightning Fryer Gift • Plasma Rifle Gift • Utensil Poker Gift • Atomic Powerup