Earthworm Jim 1 & 2: The Whole Can 'O Worms

Earthworm Jim is a weird run and gun platformer where you play as… well… an earthworm in a robotic suit. The whole deal is that a super suit fell from space, turned a regular worm into a hero named Jim, and now he's fighting a bunch of bizarre villains who want it back. 

Earthworm Jim 1 & 2: The Whole Can 'O Worms

The gameplay is a mix of shooting, whipping enemies with your own worm head and swinging from hooks but it never settles into just one thing. One minute you're platforming through a junkyard, the next you're in a behind the back race against a villain named Psy-Crow and then you're shepherding a nervous puppy named Peter Puppy who will attack you if he gets scared. It keeps throwing new ideas at you so it never gets boring. The levels are packed with secret areas and weird details, but honestly, some are tough. The controls are mostly great for running and gunning, but some of those precision platforming sections, especially where you have to helicopter down slowly can be a real thumb workout.

The animations are incredibly fluid and full of personality, Jim's movements are goofy and expressive and every enemy has kinda funny idle animations. The art style is a cool cartoon look that just oozes style and the music and sound effects are neat too, each track fits the level perfectly. It all adds to that surreal '90s cartoon vibe.

Special Edition

Now, about which version to play, this is where it gets interesting. The game came out on Genesis and SNES, but the definitive edition is the SEGA CD version, the Special Edition. This one is the best because it takes the already solid Genesis game and adds a ton. You get a whole new exclusive level, the existing levels are longer with more secrets and there's a new weapon, the homing missiles. The biggest upgrade is the soundtrack: it's a full redbook audio CD score that absolutely rocks and blows the cartridge music away. The PC version is also great as it's basically the SEGA CD Special Edition with even nicer colors.

Remake

Also, d'ya know the DSi port is actually a full remake? Gameloft rebuilt it from the ground up and it's pretty much the same version as the later Earthworm Jim HD that hit Xbox 360 and PS3.

Earthworm Jim 2

The game was a huge hit, praised for its humor, style and solid gameplay. It spawned a whole franchise: a sequel, another sequel, a cartoon, action figures, you name it. Earthworm Jim 2 rockets off from there, tossing our wormy hero into a fresh mess where the villain Psy-Crow tries to forcibly marry Princess What's-Her-Name to become king of the galaxy.

The gameplay takes the foundation of the first title: running, gunning, whipping, and then gleefully throws most of it out the window every other level. You still have a few classic platforming stages like Anything but Tangerines and Level Ate, which feel like refined versions of the original action with a cooler arsenal of weapons like autoaim guns and screen clearing blasters. Your new buddy, Snott, replaces the helicopter head with a sticky swing and a snot parachute, which is gross but useful.   This game is mostly a collection of minigames and genre shifts. One minute you're digging vertically through dirt before you suffocate, the next you're bouncing puppies off a pillow in a fire homage. You'll inflate Jim's head like a balloon to float upwards, guide a blind salamander through an intestine maze set to Moonlight Sonata, and then suddenly be on a game show answering questions with no right answers, it's a glorious unpredictable mess.

Graphically, it's a step up. The animation is even more fluid and exaggerated, Jim constantly jogs in place, full of hyper energy. The backgrounds are incredibly detailed and creative and the sound is awesome with diverse soundtrack that mixes original rock and techno with classical rearrangements, and all the goofy voice clips and sound effects you could want. The personality oozes from every pixel.

Yes, this is actually part of the game.

Now, about which version to play. The core experience is the same across the 16-bit releases, but the Genesis and SNES versions are the originals. The SNES has slightly different background art and the handy ability to switch weapons, which is nice. However, the definitive editions are actually the 32-bit ports for the SEGA Saturn and PlayStation. They have all the levels, remixed CD quality audio, extra voice samples and some redrawn graphics that look fantastic. Between the two, the Saturn version often gets the nod for being slightly sharper but the PlayStation version is essentially the same. Also, everyone should avoid the Game Boy Advance port at all costs.

Genesis

For players diving into the Genesis version, a standout romhack is the 6 Buttons Edition, which cleverly addresses the original's lack of a weapon select feature, something the SNES port had. It maps the extra buttons on a six-button Genesis controller to cycle through Jim's entire arsenal, letting you instantly switch between the standard Red Gun, Plasma Blasts or the screen clearing Barn Blaster.

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PlayStation

On the PlayStation side, enthusiasts have crafted an NTSC conversion hack that unlocks the game's framerate to 60 FPS, moving it from the slower PAL timing to match the speed of the North American and Japanese Genesis and Saturn releases. As a curiosity, this patch was worked on by Sakitoshi, the same guy who made the PlayStation and arcade injectors for 3DS, and also changes the disc's region code and includes an updated cover, essentially providing the definitive way to play the PlayStation version without any sluggishness.