Chimera Beast
"Far away on a planet similar to Earth a new life form emerges. A life form that ingests other creatures, absorbs their DNA, and then somehow is able to assume the characteristics of their prey. These greedy, merciless creatures are without conscience. They are the most purely evil and dangerous of all known life forms in the universe. What fate awaits these amoral predators, which soon will come to be known simply as...

EATERS!"

   ....So goes the opening to the little-known 2-d shooter, Chimera Beast. Horrifying alien monsters are nothing unique to this genre, but Chimera Beast does something different: YOU play an "eater!" Yes, it's you versus an entire planet, clawing and gnashing your way up the food chain.
Your most basic form. Launching your jaws.
Waiting for your jaws to come back... When you charge your weapon with the insect tail, it creates a ravenous homing "bug!"
Your jaws.
Blue eyes shoot fireballs straight in all directions. The spiny arms damage anything thing touch.
These fire along with you!
These fire along with you!
The horned bodies all shoot waves of energy in three directions. With the spiked body, you'll scatter homing needles.
A horned body with the insect-tail.
These fire along with you!
The bug created with the insect tail.
Firing from your mouth, with the longer tail and a horned body.
A horned body with the clawed tail.
The bug created with the insect tail.
The "bumpy" body fires extra shots straight up and down.
With multiple yellow eyes, your charged-up weapon is a swarm of homing yellow "fireballs" (eyes)
Your Eater's basic weapon is a nondescript energy blast that can be charged to fry everything on-screen at once, but its most important asset are its jaws; they can be launched like a boomerang, to chomp down on whatever they hit and drag it back in a shower of blood. Your body, tail, and energy weapon change according to the things you eat, and all three cause damage to your enemies. This is one of the most imaginative shooters I've ever played, and just a damn cool game all around. Sadly, it was never officially "released" and is only available online in prototype form. It certainly seems finished, though, even featuring two alternate endings!
Stage 1 - Microorganisms
A neat giant copepod, swims side to side firing at you.
A neat giant copepod, swims side to side firing at you.
It shrinks when it's nearly defeated! You only fight one of these guys, incidentally.
Jellyfish follow you around and take a few hits to defeat. Jellyfish follow you around and take a few hits to defeat. Jellyfish follow you around and take a few hits to defeat.
Jellyfish follow you around and take a few hits to defeat.
Green, spinning germs that swarm above and below you. These yellow ones fire spines in all directions when killed. Neat little swimming, biting things!
Neat little swimming, biting things!
Daphnia (water flies) are small and plentiful.
Daphnia (water fleas) are small and plentiful.
These divide into two when shot.
Neat little swimming, biting things!
Stage 1 Boss:
Giant agnathans that suck you in towards their mouths!
  Neither a lamprey nor a hagfish, but definitely some sort of Agnathan. You don't see a lot of those in video games! You'll fight against two of these at once. When their heads are exposed, they suck you in like a vacuum.
Stage 2 - Fish
These cling to rocks and spit at you.
Almost a mini-boss. It withdraws into its shell to fire a powerful blue beam!
Clams that leap out of the water and spit pellets.
Clams that leap out of the water and spit pellets.
The basic enemy of this stage.
Stage 2 Boss:
  A comical pink cephalopod that spits ink-clouds, it will occasionally extend its head on a gooey, pulsating "neck", which fires small red shots from its segments. When the head retracts, the segments of the neck break apart and fly off.
Stage 3 - Birds
Big, mean birds that come at you from the background.
Big, mean birds that come at you from the background.
Flying squirrel sort of things that latch onto you. Aaaaiiiieeee!!!
These come at you from below while the squirrels slow you down.
Wasps that shoot at ya.
Rocket-beetles!
This stage's tiny, common enemies are seagulls. Rocket-beetles!
Stage 3 Boss:
  A very interesting, super-evolved looking bird that keeps itself aligned with you as it floats around the screen, periodically opening its mouth to fire orange rings of energy.
Stage 4 - Reptiles
Big, tortoiselike beasts that can take a LOT of hits.
Giant leeches that fall from the treetops!
Giant leeches that fall from the treetops!
These swing from silk strands and shoot at you.
These swing from silk strands and shoot at you.
Disturbing, flying mushrooms. Disturbing, flying mushrooms.
Little, leaping lizards!
Disturbing, flying mushrooms. Yes, they have teeth.
Little, leaping lizards!
Stage 4 Boss:
  The big baddie of this jungle level is a massive crocodile-like water reptile with a vicious fanged tongue that spits needles from its mouth and back (which arcs out of the water when the head submerges)
Stage 5 - Mammals
Other moles fall from above.
Hopping, toadlike mammals.
These odd things leap and spin around shooting at you.
Moles pop out from the walls and shoot. Moles pop out from the walls and shoot.
Hopping, toadlike mammals.
Hopping, toadlike mammals.
These odd things leap and spin around shooting at you. These odd things leap and spin around shooting at you.
Tiny armadillo-thingies!
Stage 5 Boss:
  The boss of mammals is one mean-looking beastie that you'll fight in an underground chamber half-filled with magma. The beast leaps from wall, to ceiling, to wall, to floor and tosses fireballs.
Stage 6 - Mankind
Puny flying blade thingamajig.
Puny robo-armor.
Puny robo-armor.
Puny truck.
Puny tank.
Puny bomber.
Puny humans.
Puny human falling from downed plane.
Puny jet.
  Woo, that's right! The final level has you demolishing a city! My, how you've grown since the first stage. Buildings crumble as you fly through them and tiny (EDIBLE) humans fall from the vehicles you trash! Mid-way through the level you'll face a tower of assorted cannons and later end the stage - and pretty much everything else - by attacking their nuclear reactor.
Stage 7 - Catastrophe
Some sort of puny human weapon that hovers and fires a beam downwards.
Shrimp-like eaters.
Shrimp-like eaters.
Fish-like eaters.
Fish-like eaters.
Bird-like eaters. Wasplike eaters.
Bird-like eaters. Wasplike eaters.
  Destroying the reactor takes you to your final battle, where you'll fend off swarms of your fellow eaters in what appears to be the center of a raging mushroom cloud! In the midst of it all is an immense human space-shuttle (think you can escape, huh!?) and a flurry of missles coming at you from below! The final boss, a king-sized eater, attacks with green fireballs and his own homing bug thingies. When the boss flies off screen, you'll have to dodge energy beams from all sides.
-The endings-
  Chimera Beast features both a "good" and "bad" ending. I'm not entirely sure how they're chosen. While both are just text beneath the same three backdrops, they're rewardingly inventive and the "bad" ending is clearly the most desirable of the two. Below are the exact transcripts. Don't read any farther if you ever intend to play this game!
  "Good" ending text (highlight to read)
   EATERS have destroyed the entire ecosystem of the planet, which is now in ruin. Now the EATERS will roam the universe in search of more victims. Repeating their pattern of destruction on each planet they find. Eventually, they'll undoubtedly reach the Earth. And you'll have to live with the knowledge that what led them there was...you.
  "Bad" ending text (highlight to read)
   The EATER is defeated. The remaining EATERS now prey on each other. Soon they will cause their own extinction, returning peace to the planet. Gradually, the damaged ecosystem will restore itself. And the creature that has created chaos by eating every living thing in its path has finally perished at eating itself!
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