Early Bird Gets The Earthworm Jim
If you've ever saved the princess only to have a fridge fall out of the sky onto your head, then chances are you played the original Earthworm Jim that came out over 14 years ago, or one of the many ports it had to other consoles. While the original game was pretty much a standard platform shooter in most reguards, it had very zany gameplay features in each level such as dodging cows or bungee jumping using snot, which set the game creatively apart from other games at the time. Shiny Entertainment tried to revisit the franchise last year with a game slated for the PSP that never came to fruition.
The character of Earthworm Jim is the brainchild of Douglas TenNapel and has starred in video game and cartoon alike; however, looks like you can soon add 'film' to that list as well. Apparently Interplay has signed a partnership with Douglas to serve as creative consultant on the Earthworm Jim 4 video game, a new animated series, and a feature film. Hopefully that means we can expect to get more of the quirky and humorous action that is our favorite hermaphroditic animal in three forms of media coming soon.
Full press release after the jump.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., April 22, 2008 -- Interplay Entertainment Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: IPLY) announced today that the company signed a partnership arrangement with Earthworm Jim creator Douglas TenNapel to relaunch the videogame icon.TenNapel will serve as a creative consultant on Earthworm Jim 4, and will simultaneously develop an animated series and feature film to expand the well known brand.
TenNapel created the original Earthworm Jim character, which Interplay developed into a video game with Shiny Studios for the Sega Genesis console in 1994. The game became an immediate hit, and later spawned sequels on various computer and video game platforms, including Earthworm Jim 2, Earthworm Jim 3D, and Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy.
The iconic character became a virtual hero whose popularity took him far beyond video games into TV and toys. An animated Earthworm Jim television series, produced by TenNapel, aired for two seasons from 1995 to 1996, on The Kids WB! with Dan Castellaneta of "The Simpsons" providing the voice for the title character.
PixelPoet
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 23 April 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: earthworm jim, interplay
"Shiny Entertainment tried to revisit the franchise last year with a game slated for the PSP that never came to fruition"
I played a version of this... I think. If it's the one that I thinking of, it was a blessing that it got canned. It wasn't that good and would have tanked on release.
Dude!!!! I was just thinking how much I miss that li'l worm the other day! Fantastic ;)
yay!
damn that SNES game was difficult. I don't remember ever getting too far in it.
its been 14 years since the first game came out... damn i feel old
Too bad Doug Tenaple is a misogynist of Dave Sims level proportions.