Earthworm Jim 2
Genesis and Super Nintendo
Nostalgia Factor:
I remember renting the Genesis version of this game when I was a kid. I don't remember much about the game. I remember a level where you are underground and you have to shoot the dirt to carve out tunnels. I remember an isometric flying level. I remember the game being tough, but still being able to beat it in one weekend. Aside from that, I really didn't remember much about the game at all.
I finally decided, about 30 years after playing the game the first time, that I'd come back and play through it again. I love playing games that I haven't played in decades and reviewing them for my blog. In fact, I enjoyed my time with the game so much that I immediately turned around and played the Super Nintendo version as well.
Since the versions are so similar, I decided to do a dual review where I review them both as one game. It doesn't make sense to review them separately when they are essentially the exact same game.
Now that I've got that out of the way, let's dive into my review.
Story:
Nothing new to see here. You are Jim. You must rescue the Princess from Psy-Crow. Pretty much the same as the last game.
While the story of the game may not be very interesting, the game itself is injected with a lot of humor. Evil goldfish, grannies falling from the sky, alien ships abducting cows. The usual Earthworm Jim wackiness. I especially like the ending where (spoiler alert) all the characters turn out to be just cows in disguise.
Gameplay:
This game is an interesting mix of platform stages that are faithful to the original Earthworm Jim, and brand new stages filled with different forms of gameplay. Examples of these unique stages include: a level where you control a salamander that seems to be floating through an intestinal tract, an isometric flying shooter stage, and a series of stages where you have to rescue dogs by bouncing them off a trampoline (or in the case of this game: a giant marshmallow) as they are thrown from a window.
The variety in the stages keeps this game fresh. It felt like I was having more fun with this game than I did with the original Earthworm Jim. I reviewed the Sega CD version of that game, and I gave it a B-. While this game's final score may not reflect a huge improvement over the original, it still just felt organically a lot more fun as I was playing through it.
When I played through this game the first time, it was for the Genesis. I used save states and was very cautious making my way through the game. Part of it may have been the save states, but I found the game to be a lot easier than my memory served. That's part of why I played through it again on the Super Nintendo. I wanted to play it without save states and see how far I made it. Turns out, I absolutely cruised my way through the game.
Once you get the hang of this game, it really is not that difficult. The 2D shooter stages are fine, as long as you are taking your time and firing your weapon ahead of you. This game is so generous with its ammunition and health items, it makes things much more manageable for the player. One particular weapon I liked was the homing missile. This weapon takes down those annoying, hard to hit enemies in one shot.
By far the hardest parts of the game are the marshmallow bouncing levels. When Jim is running, he holds the marshmallow out in front of him. When he stops, he tucks it in close to his body. This led to all kinds of problems for me. I'd run to go get a dog, and when I'd get under it I'd stop. Jim would reposition the marshmallow and I'd inexplicably miss what should have been an easy bounce. I splatted so many innocent doggies on this stage. Thankfully, the game is pretty good at saving your progress. If you die on phase 3, you don't have to go back and start from phase 1 again when you die. You pick up right where you left off.
I also found the final stage to be quite difficult. It is a foot race through an obstacle course against Psy-Crow. Trial and error is the name of the game. You have to run this course (and die) a large number of times before you are able to memorize it and make your way through. Easy with save states. But when you have a finite number of lives and continues, it really starts to stress you out after a while. I guess it is a testament to how good of a gamer I was when I was a kid, that I was able to beat this in one weekend with no save states.
Are there any difference in gameplay between the two versions of this game? No. It's legitimately the exact same game. The only area where I noticed any real difference is in the graphics, which I guess I'll get to next.
Graphics:
This game looks terrific. It is like a Saturday morning cartoon come to life. The backgrounds are colorful and creative. Jim and the game's characters are brilliantly designed. There is humor and a ton of fun little jokes injected everywhere you look.
I think Earthworm Jim 2 looks slightly better on the Genesis. It seems sharper and more focused, whereas the SNES version has a little less definition in its characters. SNES games often have a cropped display as well in comparison to the full screen of the Genesis. I didn't pay attention to see if it happened with this game too. But I think it did.
Sound:
There are no real standout tracks, but the game's soundtrack is upbeat and quirky. It fits the tone of the game perfectly. My favorite was probably the Moonlight Sonata based theme from the salamander stage. I remember thinking "hey this is pretty cool" when the music started up.
Sound effects are good too. But again, nothing really stands out. Earthworm Jim doesn't seem to have a "signature sound" like a Sonic or Mario game (or even smaller titles like Banjo-Kazooie and Crash Bandicoot). Maybe the crack of the whip, or the sound of your default gun firing? You could blindfold me and start playing the game, and it would take me a while to figure out what it was that you were playing.
Overall:
I came into this game with relatively low expectations, yet I came away from it impressed. It is fun from start to finish. It is not overly difficult. It offers a lot of variety in the level design. There's humor. There's good music. There's good graphics. What's not to like? In fact, I like it more than the original Earthworm Jim, and I really enjoyed that game, too.
I'm sure if you wanted to nitpick you could really pick the game apart. Some of the levels have very obscure or unclear objectives. For example, it took me forever before I figured out you could pick up the hamster balls in the office stage. Likewise at the end of this stage, where you have to move a cabinet over in order to knock over a door that has legs and can run. It's freaking weird. I also think there are too many "bounce the puppies off the marshmallow" stages. They get old, fast. I'm surprised I did not remember these stages from my first time with the game. I feel like I'll walk away from this game remembering them forever.
Small annoyances aside, I had a fun time with this. You can tell I had a fun time because I went out and played the SNES version of the game as soon as I was done with the Genesis version. That's not something I normally do. I would have been totally content to review this as a Genesis game. But now I am reviewing it as both.
Should you play Earthworm Jim 2? If you liked the first game: definitely. If you have never played an Earthworm Jim game, I think you could jump into this one and have no problems with it at all. If for whatever reason you are reading this and you don't care about 2D platformers, you can probably safely skip this one. But I'd recommend giving it a try.
THE GRADE:
B
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