Earthworm Jim 3D is the third game in the Earthworm Jim series. It is a sequel to Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2, but is the first game in the series to not be developed by Shiny Entertainment, as the rights had been sold to Interplay Entertainment, who handed the franchise off to VIS Entertainment. The game suffered a difficult, prolonged development cycle that was repeatedly delayed until it was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 and Microsoft Windows. The game was not received well, with critics claiming that the charm of the originals was lost, and that despite the long development period, the game still felt sloppy and lacked previously promoted features.
Gameplay
Earthworm Jim 3D borrows much of its gameplay from other platformers of the era, notably competing with Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Donkey Kong 64. New locations in Jim's brain are opened up by collecting Golden Udders, and new levels in each location are opened by collecting Jim's marbles. Like previous Earthworm Jim games, despite many platforming elements, Jim's primary method of combat comes from shooting his blaster.
The game plays as a 2Dsidescrollingplatformer with elements of a run and gun game as well. The player controls Jim and must maneuver him through the level while avoiding obstacles and enemies. The player can use Jim's gun as a method of shooting enemies, or his head as a whip for whipping enemies. The whip move also allows the player to grab hold of, and swing from, certain hooks in the game. Some levels have additional requirements beyond merely getting to the end of the level. For example, the level "For Pete's Sake", involves making sure the computer-controlled Peter Puppy character gets through the level unharmed, which is accomplished by whipping him to make him jump over pits, and defeating enemies before they can damage him. Failure to do so results in Peter lashing out at Jim, taking away from his health.
Playmates Toys, finding success with the license for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wanted to start their own franchise. Inspired by the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog series with Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, they decided that they wanted to start the franchise as a video game, a rare approach at the time. From there, the game's design actually started with creator Doug TenNapel's simple sketch of an earthworm that he presented to Shiny Entertainment. Impressed, David Perry and the rest of Shiny bought the rights to Earthworm Jim from TenNapel, and started developing the game. From there, TenNapel would work on doing the game design, creating level ideas, and voicing Jim's character, while Perry and the other programmers created other characters and game mechanics.
earthworm jim, the soil he did crawl earthworm jim, a super suit did fall. jim was just a dirt eating, chewing length of worm, flash but all that came to a crash and gave him lots of power earthworm jim, he's such a groovy guy earthworm jim, he rocket's through the sky cruising through the universe having lot's of fun, here comes earthworm jim you know that he's the mighty one --- look out --- la la la la, la la la la, la la la.... despite his great big muscles and his really big ray gun, jim is still an earthworm but then he's the only one, with a super suit to make him really super strong, jim can be a winner if we only sing along... (alright) earthworm jim, we think he's mighty fine earthworm jim, a hero for all time earthworm, earthworm, earthworm, earthworm, jim hooray for jimmmmmmmm -groovy.
Of course, not every video game is lucky with this approach ... This was a regular problem when 2D games like Bomberman, Earthworm Jim, and Mega Man transitioned to 3D, since it showcased that certain gaming brands work better in two dimensions ... 10 ... Next.
Of course, Mario and Spyro have notably thrived in glorious 3D while some other well-known 2D platformer mascots of the era - Earthworm Jim and Bubsy, for example - struggled to make the leap.
... are still enjoying regular success, Sonic The Hedgehog has seen a significant decline in credibility and Earthworm Jim has barely seen the light of day after its disastrous foray into 3D in 1999.
Case in point... CCOffEnglish ... As spotted by Eurogamer, games industry veteran KirkEwing (a friend of the Houser brothers and Earthworm Jim 3D game director) revealed the news in the second episode of the BBC Sounds podcast Bugzy Malone’s Grandest Game.
