It's as shrimple as that.
(For the full Shrimp-OS shrimpsperience, listen to this
while perusing this article.)
Shrimp-OS is an interactive fictional desktop Point-and-Click Game created by Milkbar Lads in collaboration with around 30 other Newgrounds creators for Pico Day 2022.
It's 1999. You are now the proud new owner of your very own Shrimp-OS operating system! Use Shrimp-OS to surf the internet, download various programs and then run them! You can even use it to talk about shrimp with other shrimp enthusiasts!
The game contains a number of programs which serve as minigames, including:
- Shrimpcoin Miner, a very basic Idle Game with four tiers of production. Shrimpcoin is going through the roof! Hurry and collect as much Shrimpcoin as you can!
- BimsyMart: Shrimp-OS Edition(Shortened to BMSE): A WarioWare clone that serves as a follow-up to the Newgrounds game BIMSY DREAMS, which has an identical concept.
- Jack's game, an incredibly obvious computer worm that activates SHRIMP DEFENDER if you open it. SHRIMP DEFENDER is a shoot-em-up where you must purge your operating system of computer worms.
- Shrimp Paint, functionally the same thing as MS Paint.
- Shrimposer, a music creation software that functions similarly to Mario Paint.
- A ground up remake of Ugby Mumba. Since this game is mostly self-contained within Shrimp-OS outside of a bonus level called "Shrimpy Shrimp", check out that page for tropes relating to it.
What are you waiting for? Get shrimpin'!
Shrimp Tropes
- Anachronism Stew: The operating system's internal clock gives the year as 1999 (and you can find several period-appropriate personal websites on the shrimpernet), but the game also has stand-ins for Mozilla Firefox, Spotify, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Google, Steam and Newgrounds, all of which wouldn't exist until much later in the internet's life.
- Company Cross-References:
- There are a number of references to Dead Estate. For example, one of the minigames in BMSE involves Jules Halili having to kill three wormies with her shotgun within a time limit and another requires you to purchase the correct object from Cordelia Valentine.
- A Krillit post exists expressing confusion about where Ugby Mumba 2 is available to play, the joke being that it's an Un-Installment.
- Minigame Game:
- The entire game itself is essentially a collection of amusing minigames in a Framing Device.
- BMSE is a more literal example, requiring you to play WarioWare-style microgames at an increasingly escalating speed.
- Mundane Made Awesome: SHRIMP DEFENDER turns running virus protection software on your operating system into an over-the-top and engaging shoot-em-up.
- Schmuck Bait: Before you even download Shrimpcord, you'll likely see a Shritter post from Jack saying his Shrimpcord account was hacked and is sending people computer worms. If you still decide to talk to Jack on Shrimpcord, he'll send you a downloadable file in broken English that even Shrimpy warns you not to open, and if you open the program—surprise—it's a computer worm!"Jack": The Hello
You need to download my game
This is not a worm You You will not the receive worm from this
Hpold on while I am the upload the game you to download
This is not a worm
You will benefit from a worm;
a worm.
Ok the upload is complete, please click to download the worm. - Shout-Out:
- The game's cover art is parody of Doom.
- One of the BMSE microgames is a reference to the flash game Pico vs. Peter the Ant, where you have to squash Peter the Ant with a hammer.
- One of the unlockable selectable music tracks in BMSE is "I love Beijing Tianenmen", the endlessly looped song from Hong Kong '97.
- Stock Scream: Selecting Peter the Ant as the voiceover in BMSE replaces all character voicelines with the Howie Scream.
- Stylistic Suck: All over the place, but one of the highlights is the personal website of a guy called Jerrod Sorrelli. He claims to have unlocked some sort of woo about Psychic Powers or something (it's not exactly clear thanks to the poorly-translated English and Papyrus font), and downloading the program the site offers gives you an executable that doesn't do anything except make a loud buzzing noise when you press the spacebar despite the claim that it will improve your mental state or something.
- Unexpected Shmup Level: Of all the things that could happen after downloading a computer worm, having to play a shmup called SHRIMP DEFENDER to purge your PC of the bad files is most unexpected.
- Welcome to Hell: Beamsy greets you with a jocular "Welcome to Hell!" each time you boot up the "Beamsy Hell" mode in BSME.
