Back in the early '90s a little side-scrolling platform game called "Earthworm Jim" came out and it was the talk of the school yard. I must've played this game HUNDREDS of times and remember ever little detail that game had in spades and the wonderful game play mechanics that made the series so damn special. It is so uniquely bizarre, it's hard to put into words just how amazingly AWESOME this game really is. You've got a superhero who battles unconventional video game villains in unconventional ways, navigating stages using his "head" as a "whip" as well as a "helicopter", fighting sub-bosses and tackling bonus stages complete with psychedelic colors whizzing about on a what could best be described as a "space crotch rocket". On top of that, the game oozes with style in the level design and the trippy and equally bizarre soundtrack. With all this, "Earthworm Jim" is easily one of the best 2-D platform games of the world; even coming close to rivaling Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario, for its' time and it's still a blast to play, even today. Now int the 21'st century, Earthworm Jim returns with an High Definition face-lift, courtesy of XBoxLive Arcade and Gameloft and also on PS3 and Wii(albeit Virtual Console). This version packs never-before-seen stages, boss characters, and bonus stages which has also seen a face lift. So if you never had the pleasure of playing EWJ, you can pick this up for SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, PS1, Sega Saturn, PC, or Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii; doesn't matter which version you get(although the Sega CD version has several new stages ALSO never before seen).
Simply put, EWJ is one of the grooviest and quirky, inventive 2-D platform games ever created. It' be a crime to pass this up this beloved, legendary classic.
