Earthworm Jim 1+2

[dr_st]

#3691

Earthworm Jim 1+2 are rather unique, bizarre, hilarious and fun platformers of the nineties. I recently had the knack to replay them, and found lots of things in them and about them that I had not previously known.

For PC you have the option of playing the DOS version of EWJ1, or the Windows Special Edition. The Windows version is more complete and the controls/physics are better, but the DOS version has its charm too. Just don’t try it with a gamepad, or you’ll go nuts.

EWJ2 only has a DOS version, strangely, but it is more polished than EWJ1. Both games have great CD music.

[rnlf]

#4017

I’d love to play it! I’ve only played EWJ2 on Mega Drive, but liked it a lot.

[fastwinstondoom]

#8304

Bump for Earthworm Jim, might not be the best platformer of all time… but it sure is the coolest!

[TigerQuoll]

#8307

Earthworm Jim,
The Soil He Did Crawl
Earthworm Jim,
A Super Suit Did Fall.

Jim Was Just A Dirt Eating,
Chewing Length Of Worm Flesh
But All That Came To A Crashing end

Groovy!

[DosDude]

#8334

This is a good one. Not just for ewj, but also to dive a little bit into shiny entertainment. Their games were always weird and awesome in the craziest ways.

[fastwinstondoom]

#8366

I second the previous post, Shiny was/is a criminally overlooked developer! I think they only made 3 games for dos tho, EWJ1+2 and MDK. MDK is definitely in the weird and awesome category!

[Martli]

#8371

That would be cool, half the Shiny team went on to make one of my all time favourite games The Neverhood, a (windows) game made entirely in claymation and with characters very much resembling Earth Worm Jim.

[DosDude]

#8874

One of my shiny favs definitely has to be the 3rd person action RTS hybrid “Sacrifice” (windows). The way you could mix and match units through different gods was quite interesting to say the least. Not to mention the gameplay.

But to get back to EWJ: Please do an episode on it!

[JorgeYYZ]

#8876

The original poster (dr_st) mentioned something about the physics being different between the DOS and Windows versions. Can anybody (including the OP, of course) elaborate? I have never heard of such a thing before.

I played a lot of EWJ1 on the Sega Genesis. I eventually got stuck in one of those bungee jump versus battle levels. I don’t know how far I had gone, but I remember the Junkyard, Hell, an Underwater base (that had a glass submarine thing), racing a space chicken, and the gooey bungee jumping fights. Reading the above sentence really says a lot about Shiny Entertainment and how interesting their choices for themes and levels are.

I have never actually played any versions of EWJ2, but really loved MDK back in the day. The sense of humor in that game was very appealing to teenage me.

[rnlf]

#9364

This will be our May 2025 game.