Earthworm Jim Special Edition
Sega CD
Nostalgia Factor:
Earthworm Jim came out for the Sega Genesis when I was in the 7th grade. At the time, video games weren’t really “funny.” Look at stuff like Mario, Sonic, Mortal Kombat, Kirby, Street Fighter, etc – all the big titles coming out in the mid to early 90s. Fun games, but nothing you'd call funny. Earthworm Jim is the first game I can ever recall making me laugh out loud as I played it. The moment I launched that cow into outer space I knew I had something different on my hands.
I never owned the game – I only rented it for one weekend. But what a weekend. I played the absolute crap out of Earthworm Jim, eventually beating the game after sinking about 20 hours into it over a 3-day span. It was a struggle though! The underwater stage in particular kept me up the entire night the first night I had this game. It was SO difficult to me, and I didn’t think I’d ever be able to pass it.
About six or seven years ago, shortly before starting this blog, I purchased the Earthworm Jim HD Remaster for the PS3 and had a really fun time with that game as well. In the ensuing years, I haven’t given much thought to Earthworm Jim. That is, until I saw all the different versions of the game on my RetroPie. I was tempted to play the Genesis version, since that’s the one I’m most familiar with. But then I thought maybe I’d check out the SNES version to see if it was any different at all. But THEN I realized why should I bother with those versions of the game when I could play the Special Edition for the Sega CD? From what I’d read, this was the definitive version of the game. Some of the stages were made bigger, there was a new level, and the soundtrack had been revamped.
Sold. I was going to play this game and see if the magic of Earthworm Jim still held up after nearly 30 years. Keep reading to see if it did!
Story:
I don’t have the instruction manual to this game, and the game itself doesn’t do a great job of explaining what is happening as you play. In fact, it doesn’t do ANYTHING to explain the game’s story. But that’s fine. I don’t need a good story to enjoy a 2D platformer. Just keep me entertained, that’s all I ask.
If you’re interested, however, the premise of the game is that Jim has recovered this special suit which morphs him from a simple worm into walking and talking Earthworm Jim. The suit’s creator pursues Jim through the stages of the game in an attempt to get his suit back.
There’s also something going on with a… princess? That Jim is trying to, uh, rescue from something? I don’t really know. All I can say is that it doesn’t end well for her or Jim as at the end of the game she is crushed to death by a cow falling from the sky. The same cow you launched at the very beginning of the game.
Oops.
Gameplay:
Gameplay for the most part follows the same formula as your standard 2D 90s platformers. The game is divided into stages. You start each stage at a fixed starting point. Your goal is to reach the end of the stage, where sometimes you fight a boss and sometimes you don’t. Beat the stage and you move onto the next one. Rinse and repeat.
The D-pad controls Jim. You’ve got your standard jump button. There are two buttons used for attacking. Your first attack consists of Jim pulling his long worm body out of his suit and whipping enemies with it. This attack can also be used as a grappling hook when you jump in the air, helping you swing over long gaps that you need to traverse. The other attack consists of Jim firing his gun at enemies.
As you play through each stage, you’ll collect many power ups. This is a challenging game where you get hit a lot by enemies, but I do have to say the game is generous with giving you health items. There’s also extra ammo, extra lives, and special ammo that launches powerful rockets at your opponents
Stages are huge and they often give you multiple paths to take for you to get to the end. Most of the joy of this game for me came from exploring each stage to its fullest and discovering everything Earthworm Jim has to offer – while attempting to stay alive in the process. That’s the hardest part. As I said, this is a very challenging game. Luckily the Sega CD version gives you stage passwords that you can use to pick up playing where you left off. I don’t remember if the Genesis version had this feature, but I don’t think it did? I vaguely remember having to beat this game in one playthrough.
There are a few stages with wrinkles added to them to keep things fresh. The first that comes to mind are the “racing” stages where you have to outrun the dude that is chasing you. It is pretty standard half-pipe racing fare. Just collect as much stuff as you can and don’t get hit and you should be fine. Other stages have you bungee jumping and attempting to knock your enemies into the wall (while bungeeing) to kill them. Another stage has you escorting a small dog through a series of tough obstacles. That’s a blood pressure raising stage right there! And then there’s the underwater levels where you guide submersibles through the ocean. Bump into anything and the glass starts to crack. Take too many hits, and it’s Coffey time for you! That’s an Abyss reference, in case you were wondering. Bet you didn’t think you’d be reading an Abyss reference in an Earthworm Jim review, did you?
The game is also funny as hell. There’s so much humor and so many small jokes built into this game. Without the humor, I’m not sure Earthworm Jim would have taken off like it did. Because at its heart, this is really just a frustrating, average platform game. Okay, maybe I’m being too tough on the game. It has a lot of great moments, but a lot of flat out annoying ones too. Like when you have to run on those rotating green gem things? Ugh. When you have to use your head as a helicopter to fly through the spike gauntlets? Ugh. Some of the later stages when you have to swing from hook to hook using your head? Ugh. I haven’t even mentioned the submersibles yet. This game is filled with all kinds of challenges – some of them a lot of fun and others that make you just want to smash your fist through the wall like the Kyle that you are.
This is one of those games where when you die, it’s not always your fault. The game begins to feel cheap, and fast. I hate that. The sloppy jumping mechanic and imprecise controls don’t help matters either. This is a tough game made even tougher by some questionable programming choices.
Graphics:
For its time, Earthworm Jim was way ahead of the game. I remember loving the character design and the fun animations from Jim when you’d put the controller down. The stages I always thought were bright and colorful. In the early 90s, playing this game was like playing a cartoon come to life.
I don’t know if it is the Sega CD version or just my memory failing me, but I didn’t think the game looked as good in present day as it did in the past. The colors were a bit muted. You could see horizontal lines running through things sometimes. The animations weren’t as smooth. Some of the backgrounds just seemed grainy to me for some reason. I don’t know. Maybe it’s all in my head, but I remember this game looking a lot better than it actually turned out to be. Maybe it is because the last time I played Earthworm Jim, it was the HD remake. Now THAT is a good looking game. This one, however: eh. I mean it’s not bad and it is certainly better than a lot of other things I’ve played recently *cough* Beetlejuice *cough cough*. It’s just not as good looking as I remembered it being, which is a little bit a of a disappointment to be honest with you.
Sound:
On the flip side, I thought the game’s sound was fantastic. Right off the bat, the belching “Earthworm Jim!” you hear at the title screen brought a smile to my face. The stage music is good, the sound effects are appropriate. I just think the soundtrack on the whole really brings the game to life. The crown jewel of the game’s soundtrack absolutely has to be the “Night on Bald Mountain” riff from the stage titled What the Heck. It’s so good. So good.
Overall:
Earthworm Jim is a fun game with a fantastic sense of humor and an even better soundtrack. That’s not to say it’s a flawless game, however. As I said, the difficulty can be quite extreme and you are going to find yourself suffering very many cheap deaths as you play. This is a game that will make you want to chuck your controller across the room, it can be so brutal at times. If you persevere, however, this game is ultimately beatable. It’s tough, but I wouldn’t say it’s 100 percenting Celeste tough or anything like that.
The thing about this game is that its fun meter rises and falls depending on the level. At its peak, this is an A game when everything is clicking and you’re progressing smoothly from level to level. At its lowest, this game can be a chore to play, filled with cheap deaths and “what the hell do I do now???” types of moments. This makes it a little hard for me to grade.
I’m going to have to let nostalgia affect my score a little bit here. I want to give this game a C something based on my recent playthrough, but I don’t think that score justifies the sense of wide-eyed awe I felt the first time I fired this up as a kid. This was an absolutely brilliant game upon its release. Nearly 30 years later, I’ve seen and played a countless number of side-scrollers like this before, and Earthworm Jim doesn’t do a whole lot to separate itself from the crowd. But for those of us who were there when this game first came out, we all know that Earthworm Jim is so much more than that.
Can’t wait to play this game’s sequel – a title I am FAR less familiar with – and see if my opinion has changed on that one at all. Hope you keep following along!
Final Score:
B-
If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:
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