Earthworm Jim (Genesis)

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Description

A crow is chasing a worm named Jim, while in outer space Psy-Crow is chasing a renegade ship. The ship's captain has stolen an ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit and Queen Slug-for-a-Butt has ordered Psy-Crow to get it, since it can make her more beautiful than Princess-What's-Her-Name. Psy-Crow blasts the captain and the suit falls to Planet Earth.

Back on Earth, Jim wonders if he is finally safe when an ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit lands on him. Luckily Jim rests in the neck ring of the suit. The space particles then begin interacting with Jim, causing a light-speed evolution. Jim soon realizes he is in control of the suit.

Jim overhears the Queen's plans for the suit and decides to meet this Princess...

Earthworm Jim is a 2D side-scrolling platformer with action elements where the player takes control of Jim, a worm wearing a spacesuit. Jim can shoot enemies with his gun or use his body (the spacesuit's "head") in a variety of ways to overcome obstacles, such as whipping it at enemies, grappling hooks to swing from them, or making it spin very fast like a rotor to hover for a short time.

While most of the game is made of standard platforming levels with a boss waiting at the end, some of the levels introduce different conditions than just reaching the end to complete them, like escorting a computer-controlled character and making sure they don't get hurt. Platforming levels are interspersed with some variations in gameplay as well, such as several space racing sequences or a bungie-jumping competition.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "EWJ" -- Common abbreviation
• "アースワームジム" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Animals: Worms
• Earthworm Jim series
• Games made into comics
• Games made into TV series
• Sound engine: GAX

User Reviews

The original and undoubtedly the best version of Earthworm Jim.

AkibaTechno (254)

Critic Reviews

SEGA-Mag (Objectif-SEGA)	Mar 22, 2013	10 out of 10	100
Gamers (Germany)	Dec, 1994	1 out of 16	100
Electric Playground	Jun 01, 1995	10 out of 10	100
Player One	Dec, 1994	98 out of 100	98
Video Games	Oct, 1994	95 out of 100	95
Video Games & Computer Entertainment	Dec, 1994	9 out of 10	90
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Nov, 1994	88 out of 100	88
Mega Fun	Nov, 1994	87 out of 100	87
GameTrip.net	Jun 24, 2009	8 out of 10	80
IGN	Oct 27, 2008	7 out of 10	70

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Mega Drive version of Earthworm Jim appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Ending

Finishing the game in the easy difficulty setting shows you a different ending that consists of a rather verbose scientific description of earthworms, as well as their habitats, mating customs, etc.

Reception

Earthworm Jim was the first game ever to receive a perfect score of 100% from the European gaming magazine Games Master.

References

The between-level races against Psycrow, called "Andy Asteroids", are most likely a reference to one of the game's programmers, Andy Astor.

TV series

Earthworm Jim inspired an animated TV series by the same name.

Version differences

The PC and Sega CD versions add among other things, a new weapon not included on the original 16-bit console versions: the seeker missile.

Awards

• Electronic Gaming Monthly
• March 1997 (Issue 92) - Side-Scrolling Game of the Year runner-up (multiplatform) (Readers' Choice)
• FLUX
  • Issue #4 - #7 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
• GameFan
  • 1994 (Vol.4, Iss.1) - Best Game of the Year
  • 1994 (Vol.4, Iss.1) - Best Overall Action/Platform Game of the Year
  • 1994 (Vol.4, Iss.1) - Best Genesis Action/Platform Game of the Year
  • 1994 (Vol.4, Iss.1) - Best Genesis Soundtrack
  • 1994 (Vol.4, Iss.1) - Best New Genesis Character
  • 1994 (Vol.4, Iss.1) - Best New SNES Character
• Game Players
  • January 1995 - Best SNES Action Game in 1994
• VideoGames
  • March 1995 - Best Genesis Game
  • March 1995 - Best Sound Effects

Information also contributed by Ben K, Big John WV, CaptainCanuck and Zovni

Related Web Sites

• Earthworm Jim Fan Page (Game history, cast, pictures, sounds, fonts, and more.)
• Earthworm Jim : TGSMA (Contains various guides, history and information about Earthworm Jim and team behind the game.)
• Lemm's Earthworm Jim Fansite (This site is an artistic tribute dedicated to the 1994 and 1996 original Earthworm Jim video games by Shiny Entertainment and the creator of the character, Doug TenNapel.)
• Robert's EWJ Site (Fansite full of info. Probably the most complete site about the game)