Pretty soon after the first level, things get pretty weird. The levels themselves are inspired, although EWJ2's levels are just a tad better than 1's. The latter is unfeasibly large, and when used, clears the screen of baddies, and most of the foliage, too. Yuk! Plus, there's even more weapons, with a homing gun, a big laser, a completely useless bubble gun, and the awesome barn gun. Jim now has a backpack companion, Snott, who can be used either as a parachute, or as a swing to swing himself across mucus encrusted ledges. But do you really want to be stuck in the middle of a load of baddies, waiting for your gun to work again?Įarthworm Jim 2 adds a little more to the formula. Jim's gun does drain energy, and recharges, given half a chance. There are the usual power ups to grab, such as plasma, or power ups. Or should the worst come to the worst, he can use his head like a helicopter to guide himself away from a particularly nasty fall. Then, there's his body, which can be used to whip monsters out of the way, or can be used to swing across hooks and ravines. Jim comes equipped with a big red gun, which he can fire in a number of directions, to dispatch any foe that comes his way. Instead of taking its cure from Super Mario, or Sonic, EWJ is suitably original.įor a start, there's none of this monster squishing, or spin attacking in this game. Like The Simpsons, Earthworm Jim (who was a lowly earthworm until he was one day accidentally given superhero powers) deftly walks the line between slapstick humor and social commentary-you could even call it subversive.Ĭhris McMullen's very thorough review for Games Domain describes what makes it a must-have: ' EWJ gives a breath of fresh air to the whole platform genre. What makes Earthworm Jim games a lot of fun is the excellent characterization of the hero.

The game was so successful that it inspired a whole range of toys, as well as its own TV cartoon series. After successfully updating classic Atari cartridge game Pitfall! to the '90s with Pitfall: A Mayan Adventure, the first platform game for Windows 95, Activision next turned their excellent game engine to Earthworm Jim, a cult classic on the SNES and Megadrive console systems.Įarthworm Jim was the brainchild of talented folks who created Aladdin for Disney, and later formed Shiny Entertainment (who would later be much more famous for MDK).

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