That Earthworm cartoon's president joke is still great "I'm one of those generic presidents they use on TV to keep shows from becoming dated"

Earthworm Jim and it's sequel will always be close to my heart. I'll never forget when that cow smiled at me while the other told me "well done."

"I'm just bummed when creativity can't happen." Sums up my feelings on what happened with Metalocalypse.

I think I like earthworm gym for the same reasons as invader zim both are absurd, dark, and hilarious. I dunno why they both just have this looney edginess that self aware yet comfortable with itself

I remember when I first saw gameplay of Earthworm Jim, I was like "I have to play this." Needless to say, it didn't disappoint, and it's always stuck in my mind as a really fun (if somewhat frustrating) game. The second one is good too, but not as appealing to me (I don't think it did the "genre-busting" concept as well as other games). I think EJ hit that "demented cartoon" vibe just right, not feeling forced or try-hard like other attempts. I also very much enjoyed the Neverhood as well, and MDK isn't too bad either (and I'm still looking to try out Aladdin, Vectorman, Cool Spot, Stimpy's Invention, etc), but EJ is still wholly unique to me. I hope that new installment they're working on comes out great.

I tell you what, when I saw that picture of Jim in Heck painted by Michael Koelsh, my life was never the same again.

God, this game series and I have such a relationship. Didn't understand why things were the way they were back then, but all I know is it was crazy enough for me to love it. Two decades later and with a better understanding on its satirical nature, it wasn't just a great series (The 16-Bit games anyways), it was just outright genius.

He totally belongs in Smash Bros!

I really think that level design speaks volumes for this game since it perfectly complemented the personality that the game is going for. Plus I looove games that have that laser focus attention on an overall aesthetic over ones that can seem to just be a work of labor.

As a big fan of Earthworm Jim since the age of seven myself, I gotta say, this is incredibly well researched! Well done! I gotta say though, I've always been rather surprised that Dreamworks of all companies never showed any interest in working with Doug to obtain the Jim rights from Interplay so he could work with them to relaunch the franchise with a new game, comic, and feature film like he's always wanted to do. Especially since Doug already has a really good working relationship with Dreamworks, and Jim has a goldmine's worth of potential to be Dreamworks' next big thing that could be like a combination of the best elements of the Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon movies. That, and it doesn't hurt that, with Dreamworks now being owned by Universal (who still own the TV show rights to Jim last I checked), all of the stars would align for most of the major Jim rights to finally be under one umbrella (except for the action figure rights which are still owned by Playmates). Oh well. One can dream, I suppose. One thing I'm also really surprised by is that you didn't include the bit from The Dick Show podcast where Doug explains what's been going on with the Earthworm Jim rights and how Interplay's been stringing him along, screwing him over, and may be looking into making another cheaply produced Jim game without him. Hearing that was what ultimately convinced me to back Bigfoot Bill on Indiegogo. Not just to support Doug and a lot of the original Jim team who are coming back in to work on Bill, but also out of spite towards Interplay for how badly they've been treating Doug and have little to no idea as to how to properly handle Jim and give him the proper treatment and respect he deserves. “Biggest Earthworm Jim fans” my ass.

Great research and quality editing! Best of your videos to-date imo.

Love the way you integrate the audio/interview clips into the essay. Good shit as always my man

Doug has so many livestreams that it becomes hard to remember which livestream it was where he spoke about Earthworm Jim. Thank you for sourcing almost everyone and putting this great video essay together

Guess what? A few months later from this video, they announced Jim is getting a new game and comic!

Really digging these video essays. I like to watch Doug Tenaple get drunk and yell at comic books.

-going through KZfaq, bored asf -Ghenrey uploads “Finally, some good fucken food”

To add my thoughts as to why Earthworm Jim worked, I think it's the fact that he's a fuckin' worm, so it's instinctively like "What does he have to be happy about?" but he's smiling, having a great time living his best life. And any anguish he felt from whatever situation he got in was fleeting. It's not something I ever thought about as a child but I think that was what made him such a comfy character. That of course combined with what the creator said about the combination of vulnerability with 'invulnerability'. Which I think is actually better put as conveying vulnerability as well as power. Saying that just being vulnerable doesn't automatically make you weak, which is honestly a profound statement for a children's character to LITERALLY embody. Plus thinking about it as an adult now, as far as i know, Earthworm Jim must have worked to get that physique. He's a god damn worm but still managed to sculpt his body into this powerful frame, which is just a whole other layer of cool. Glad you covered this, cuz I honestly forgot what a great and genuinely inspiring character he was.

Coming back to this video is refreshing especially after the announcement of the new 3D animated earthworm jim tv series by interplay

Ooooh god. I just realizes why the villian is a bird... Never thought about it as a kid. just took stuff in as they came... ...Always worth it to revisited stuff you watched and played as child! edit: oh thanks for reminding how much I loved EWJ2

Three years late, but thank you for making this.

So much nostalgia feelings coming from this video. Thank you for this. It reminded me of all the great games I was able to play when I was young. In a similar note on platforms, i remember loving this game and also heart of darkness. Both great games and great art.

90s kids will remember this game till death

Jim could fill a guest spot in Mortal Kombat 11 pretty well, imo.

You make so many insightful comments, definitely one of my favourite channels. Keep up the good work mate

Oh boy a new video, this gonna be good

My fav stage on part 2 is where they play Moonlight Sonata. Man some of these videos you make are like mini documentaries.

11:24: Glad I’m not the only one who noticed Puppy Love being an EWJ styled version of a Game & Watch game.

Great video, man! I absolutely love Earthworm Jim and this video was a delight. Awesome video!

Still my favorite hero to this day.

Earthworm Jim was the first game I ever bought with my own money. I think I was 9 years old, but don't remember how much it cost.

Man i thought the series was forgotten. Thank you for this video.

I had a Earthworm Jim episodes on tape as a kid, and I really liked Evil the Cat and Professor Monkey for a Head. I could never find the whole series though

The funniest thing about the ending is remember that Jim launched the cow it the beginning, so the whole point of launching the cow was to screw himself over at the end, so funny!

Earthworm Jim 3d dog food quote made me lose my shit

Cool spot was actually VERY ahead of it's time. Super metroid could've used that 'character hold' button. Cuphead took a tip from 'cool spot'.

this and B.O.B were the games i most played in snes.

I've heard you mention how EWJ was subversive in terms of design on previous streams, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear you elaborate on it! Well, at least Boogerman had some nice bass synth and drum samples.

I just want the Sega CD/Saturn Special Editions to get a modern release, instead of that shitty Can O' Worms version.

i am intrigued by this game, never played it and i wish i had, seems a lot of fun

Love earthworm Jim , still remember receiving my super Nintendo , and start playing for the first time it , was so crazy , and challenging .

Doug TeNnaple's Earthworm Jim hardbound graphic novel is currently live on kickstarter after making nearly a million dollars on indiegogo. It's the nicest book I've ever recieved and at one point was going for $150 on EBay. Don't miss out noobs! Great video by the way.

Anyone who would want to make a game like Earthworm Jim is someone who I would want to be friends with. It's sort of like the kind of people you should date. Don't go for the Call of dutys or Super Marios, look for the EarthWorm Jims.

Great music off the bat. You know what's up! 🤘

The background music of the Super Nintendo version sounds like a MIDI file played through a telephone speaker.

And now we're getting Earthworm Jim 4, a new cartoon, and Doug working on Earthworm Jim comics. Sometimes life is good.

I feel like I'm certifiably insane whenever I talk about Earthworm Jim. The gameplay was more varied than almost any other 16 bit game, the art style and tone were both gorgeously intricate and full of '90s slacker culture, the gameplay was tight and between the two games there are maybe 3 bad levels (fishbowl, bomb, carnival. Maybe the newspaper level too). The TV show starred Dan Castellaneta and had that weird Nickelodeon/WB grossout humor, and even the action figures were cool. His spaceship is a jet engine that he pulls out of his pocket, his gun is a mini radar dish that shoots bullets, and he has a booger in his backpack that he uses as a grappling hook. The soundtrack includes Night on Bald Mountain and Moonlight Sonata. What the fuck, why aren't more people talking about this? And I feel like the time is over for it to pick up traction again, as people who grew up in the '90s get older and age out of being tastemakers, and the appeal of Earthworm Jim is so rooted in Nickelodeon, MTV, Simpsons, comic books, and subverting 16 bit tropes that you don't get the full experience playing it for the first time today. It's more closely related to Ren and Stimpy than Donkey Kong. Maybe I'm just being a grumpy 30-something but I really feel like this stuff got forgotten by the nostalgia machine. Also, once when I was really little, my family went to a nice restaurant for Easter or something. There was a pianist playing Moonlight Sonata, and I said "dad he's playing a song from Earthworm Jim!". He played games also, so he knew exactly what I was talking about, gave me a dollar and told me to go see if he knows any other songs from the game. An absolutely brutal prank to play on an 8 year old but I respect the bit in hindsight. EDIT: The ferocity of that "wow, nice fucking jpeg" got a sub from me. You can't fake the anger of a hurt child.

i remember playing this game... and enjoying the Bizarre Goofyness, even if i never went pass Stage 3.

Well good news, Earthworm Jim is getting a new show call "Earthworm Jim beyond the groovy"

Hey man, I was wondering if you would ever do a video on Resident Evil 6? Or maybe even other Silent Hill games since I loved your video on 4!

Jungle Book on the Genesis is top tier. Even my mom played it. It’s the only thing she’s ever played outside of an arcade.

does anyone know the song that plays in the beginning of the video? ive heard it before but i cant remember a name

Awesome video! Made me sub. Hope you talk about The Neverhood in the future, have you played it? I find it even more creative than Jim.

Oh cool, I've always liked Earthworm Jim as a character, however the first of his games I played was 3D... I would later play the first one thanks to the HD port which I really liked, was kind of a shock to hear how harsh you were to it, but it's been years since I've played it, and I wasn't able to compare it to the original. I did try 2 on an emulator at one point and I didn't really care for it, I liked the first 2 levels but after that it just annoyed me with all the different gameplay styles, I stopped at The Flyin' King since I really wasn't having much fun with it and that level in particular was really frustrating. But I can at least say it's better than 3D, that game was the bane of my childhood, and I'd still say it's the worst game I've played, at least I would have if I hadn't since played both Superman 64 and Bubsy 3D. Earthworm Jim 3D had potential, it had some good ideas and the first couple levels aren't bad, but as the game goes on the level design gets worse, and it has some really frustrating parts. Each world gets worse, and the boss fights are horrible. The controls during the bosses are so bad, and they're all the same thing. They are some of the worst bosses I've seen.

just a quick heads up for anyone wanting to replay these games: The Playstation port of Earthworm Jim 2 is the best version to try out, it's essentially a remaster of the genesis version with additional levels and beautiful redbook CD audio soundtrack. The PC port of the 1st game is the best version: it's a direct port of the genesis version but the colour palette has been expanded from 16 colors to 256 oh and the music is way better. Note: It needs tweaking to run on DOSBox at 60fps like it did on oldschool PCs (get it from GOG to avoid headaches, they have it pre-configured to run out of the box at 60fps with a 360 pad)

Looking forward to Bigfoot Bill

Port wise, Sega CD for the first game and Saturn for EWJ2

I'm looking forward to the new one on the Amico.

I rented this game, Bubsy, and Boogerman repeatedly from Blockbuster back in the day. I’ve played them all since then and I have no idea how the fuck I beat them as a kid but I definitely see why it took multiple rentals to do so.

Have seen Doug Tenaple's Earthworm Jim graphic novel that just came out?

Earthworm Jim needs to be in Smash.

Cept now he got him back

Good video and I really admire the art direction of this series. But, what a pity: Tennaple really does sound grumpy and full of it.

I would love a new Earthworm Jim game even if Nintendo had bought the full rights to the series

5:25 you should have probably said “a cockfight to the death... with a crow”. Golden opportunity lost. Other than that, this is a GREAT review! One final thing to bring up: The Sega CD version of Earthworm Jim is actually the best version of them all. Also, the Sega Saturn version of Earthworm Jim 2 is the best version.

That part towards the end makes me think you'll really like the Oddworld games (1, 2, and 4. Strange there was never a third.) Also after this video I think I'm starting to see why MDK is the way it is.

How do I buy the rights to earthworm Jim?

Does anyone know version shown in video?

Earthworm Jim is great in the Sonic for hire series.

I'm not here to pick sides. But EWJ2 is underrated.... I honestly think it's a better game. 'Andy asteroids' gets tiring after every single level. 'Puppy love' is more challenging and far more satisfying to beat. And 'run Jim run' is one of the most clever boss battles I've played, and it's WAY harder than the first game, 🤘

When's the ''Killer Is Dead'' video?

Girthworm Jim

I used to play the shit outta the first 2 games as a kid. I loved the cartoon, had the toys...But man, I remember renting Earthworm Jim 3D...and I HATED it. It so bad and doesn't even remotely feel like an earthworm jim game.

ナイス

Hold up, Ninja Turtles flourished because of the cartoon, the game came out after the first cartoon, definitely after season 1

Nobody ever told you you sound like BluShades?

Drop the 🐄

The hate and hurt in ted's voice is palpable, and normally I would support the creator, but given his general toxicity? He did/said something behind the scenes that pissed someone off. People don't just get removed from their ips like that back then.

blow up already

OK the start of this video just made me confused. Putting G1 Transformers in with 90s nostalgia is odd IMO... Transformers [cartoon wise at least] officially ended before the 90s rolled in, and the toys waned in popularity before fizzling out in 92 over there in the US... but like, alright.

Is it weird that I want Nintendo to buy the rights to earthworm Jim?

Doug is kinda hypocritical with his statements or lets say they didnt age well at all.

Boogerman has an amazing overrated soundtrack :)

Pizza tower

Huh Doug talking being comfortable in one skin, and championing vulnerability, just make him seem hypocritical. How can someone be so creative weido yet be such prejudice jerk.

Too bad it turned out Doug Tennapel is kind of a jerk.

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