is a

life simulation Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation ...

video game released for the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

Gameplay

The player plays as a bird and can either play the normal game or the single level practice game. The player must feed

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

to the baby birds so that they can grow big and eventually leave the

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

. It is suggested that they eventually become the "new mother birds" that take care of their offspring in the subsequent levels. Finishing all 999 levels of ''Bird Week'' actually results in the beginning of an endless loop that only ends when the players loses all of his lives. Each level represents a season in the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

of a bird. The game starts out in early spring. As the virtual year progresses, the season evolves into summer and eventually into autumn. After autumn, the game repeats itself by portraying the following spring. If the proper number of butterflies are not fed to the babies, then the babies end up starving to death, becoming unconscious. The player will automatically lose a life if any of the baby birds die. In addition to this, the player also loses a life when a

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

catches the player trying to deliver butterflies to a baby.

Legacy

In 2010, ''Healthy Option Dane'', a jazz-influenced band from

Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...

, released a ''Bird Week''-themed live performance music video. Footage from the game is included in the video."Bird Week" music video

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

References

{{reflist

External links

''Bird Week'' promotional flyer
at

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' mag ...

''Bird Week'' Music Video
- Healthy Option Dane's "Bird Week" Music Video 1986 video games Biological simulation video games Japan-exclusive video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Platform games Single-player video games Toshiba EMI games Video games about birds Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists