Retro Gaming Australia

Earthworm Jim was a launch title for the Game Boy Advance, but the port wasn’t particularly great – nor was this advert, which lacked the delightful double entendres and silly jokes of the original ad campaign.

Earthworm Jim: Special Edition is an expanded version of the first game in the series which features an extra level, Big Bruty, 1,000 extra frames of animation, alternate endings and a remixed CD soundtrack. It was originally released for the Mega CD, with a Windows 95-based PC version released some months later.

I thought I had seen all of the advertisements for Earthworm Jim, but it seems one had eluded me. It’s kind of cruel that I laughed at it though.

Earthworm Jim was pretty heavily advertised, but it was well worth the money. Not only was the campaign clever, but the game was actually good. Shiny’s debut marked them as a force to be reckoned with, at least until their unmitigated failure with Enter the Matrix.

Today’s ad is a little bit naughty

Earthworm Jim 2 came out about a year after the first game. It takes the quirky humour a step further with some truly weird sequences – riding up stairs on a granny chair, dressing up as a salamander, and duking it out with condiments on a barbecue. This ad originates from the UK.

Search for Earthworm Jim 2 on eBay

The first of many ads we’ll feature on this game, given its heavy marketing campaign;

Click on the image for the full size ad

Earthworm Jim was the first game developed by Shiny Entertainment, which was formed after David Perry and a number of other talented individuals struck out from Virgin Interactive onto their own. Perry was the driving force behind several bigs hits at Virgin, most notably Disney’s Aladdin for the Mega Drive. This advertisement originates from the US, but I believe it was used across the world.