What Earthworm Jim lacks in core mechanics, it makes up for in willingness to experiment. There is bungee-jumping combat against snot monsters, interstellar chase sequences, labyrinthine underwater mazes, and long descents down spike caverns using Jim’s head as a propeller. The wild chase sequence “Andy Asteroids?” recalls the difficult speeder bike sequence from Battletoads’ third level, while the laborious underwater travel in “Down the Tubes” calls to mind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ notorious water dam. The variety is admirable and fits with the game’s wacky tone.

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These levels are also frustrating, exaggerating the failures of prior games at the expense of the player. “Down the Tubes” might highlight how annoying water levels are but it does this by forcing to player to endure a terrible water level. “Andy Asteroids?” punishes the player with a boss fight should they fail. In seeking to satirize bad platformer design, Earthworm Jim creates a far worse game than the source material.

Earthworm Jim is a game with a vision: be cruel. The game’s irreverence backfires in the end, with Princess What’s-Her-Name suddenly being crushed by a cow. Earthworm Jim attempts to mock the conventions of the time, but what it attempts to satirize ultimately proves more resilient. Mario’s still kicking, but, as the years pass, it even more clear that Earthworm Jim’s dazzling experiment failed for good reason.