Fascinating to see how the Mega Drive version used dithering to create better shades and transparency on a CRT, and while the SNES doesn't use it so much due to better colour and being able to do actual transparencies, the ports for more "advanced" hardware STILL have the dithering, suggesting they really couldn't be bothered to port it properly (or didn't have better assets to use). That was a long sentence. :)
The transparencies on the Sega Saturn is a mess. Many games cheated. But its dont meant its has bad ports when compare to ps1 at all. Im did do newer seen a Sega Saturn here in Denmark at all.
@@SomeOrangeCat Not sure who r&s is but EWJ was only good when Doug was involved. Not sure what your issue is with the guy, he's a prolific creator. He created a lot of iconic stuff.
Great BOTP video Mark, personally I was never the biggest fangirl of Earthworm Jim 1/2, that all changed when I played the Mega-CD version of Special Edition, that version for me is still amazing even just for the Audio! :)
I think it's a real shame that the Earthworm Jim series immediately went downhill right after the second game because both of the original games are still quite fun and enjoyable while also being cartoonishly silly and hilarious, and Jim also happens to be one of my all-time favorite video game heroes that I remember when I was a kid.
Only really played the Megadrive serion but my god the Redbook audio is the best- the arrangements are stunning! Anything but Tangerines is a full banger! :D
I agree. I'd love to use that in full but it has been known that Tommy T, is a tit who will copyright strike this video if I used the CD audio version.
@@zanegandini5350 The redbook audio versions are on Tallarico's official youtube channel- they were put on some of his greatest hits CDs back in the day!
Being on a JRPG kick this year I’d love to see you do a Battle of the Ports for Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished. Although doing one for a RPG would probably be a lot of work…
WHAT THE GBA REPRESENTED: - a chance to get a do-over on the 16-bit generation and correct the mistakes made there WHAT THE GBA BECAME FOR MANY PUBLISHERS: - a full repetition of all the mistakes of the 16-bit generation except dumber and worse
It could handle Doom 2 with minimal compromises and run fully polygonal games, but a lot of developers were happy to do dumpy crap like this with the hardware.
Biggest mistake with porting EW2 to 32-bit platforms - basing the assets off the Mega Drive version; you can clearly see this in action with the explosions and light bulbs. Second biggest mistake - changing the Puppy Love stage's background on the Saturn and PlayStation versions. The vignette and reflection effects on the PlayStation version are _horrible_ and the PC version, though higher in colour depth and a little more faithful to the 16-bit versions, has half the frame rate. Also, and I've only just noticed this, and it's not an issue, but the green planet moves in the way of the sun on the Saturn version of Anything but Tangerines, whereas it moves out of its way on the PlayStation version, so it wasn't just the line-scrolling that was messed about with. Graphically at least, the SNES and Saturn versions look the best to me for their respective generations, however the 32-bit console ports were lazy - Astal or Rayman they aren't.
If no optimisation is in place, then yes. Everything is slowed down. Not only the games are 17% slower (and letterboxed) but they are laggier. Now, how significant and perceptible this is it's debatable but it's objectively there in most cases.
I have never played or wanted to pllay these games .... i do remeber the cartoon that tried too hard to be anamiancs/freakazoid tho were they still making ms-dos games in 95? id thought we went full windows by then
Earthworm Jim doesn't really hold up for me playing it nowadays. I enjoyed the first one a bit back in 1995, though and it was well made in a lot of ways. I don't know what the hell was going on with the GBA port of EWJ2 shown here. That looks absolutely awful. It gives me Sonic 1 GBA vibes as that is known to be one of the worst ports of anything on the GBA. Yet, this looks like it may be worse than that.
EWJ never really did it for me. Never saw the appeal of it. I do remember playing a Demo of the PC version, that was in a bonus folder of some game CD. Also had a demo of Powerslave/Exhumed.
@@RetroCore I'll happily join you good people 😊 Never did anything for me on the Megadrive, picked it up years later on PSN for the PS3, to see if I had been wrong, nope, it left me stone cold.
The original games were great and all, but I'll always be a bigger fan of the cartoon series. Shame it only lasted like one and a half seasons and even the DVD release was screwed up.
i got earthworm jim one and two for ms dos still thank god but there is PlayStation and saturn version as well since the first earth worm jim got a sega cd mega cd port too. but alas there is no earthworm jim 2 hd / 4k digitally
wow I'm so used to old MS-DOS ports being kinda crap. at least the ones I tried when I was young. this one looks amazing actually, good pallete on a lot of the sprites (from the looks of the comparision at the end)
hey, this game used GEMS :-), but one of the games, that has nice uses of it and does not sound tiny or like that. So it is possible to do a good soundtrack out of GEMS when done right.
Also SNES also have the same issue when used default samples used by the SDK or from a library and often sound "tiny" as well. Its mightbeen more hided, but its a issue on SNES too. On the Amiga some games also just used the default ST-01 samples. More the early one.... But its does not matter if they used them nice and good for whatever reason. Im have heard much worser than this.
The Mean Machines Ahem, 'Review' booklet in full: Mean Machines Sega gave away an Earthworm 2 Exclusive, Review 16 page booklet, which ended a single reviewer, Gus looking at the game (and the opening line was 'Since when does a Mean Machines review only have a single comment? since the game that's reviewed is hogged by 1 person is the answer'-Yeah, right Gus, that'll be exactly why.... :roll:) Overall score 95%.Fair to say i lost a lot of respect for Mean Machines after that....
Unless you're comparing PAL versions specifically you'd need to use a 60hz hacked version to do any sort of fair comparison for the Playstation version.
Genesis is great later period offering. SNES is a step up from Genesis and original. Saturn is amazing. PC is mostly great. PS1 is a step down from Saturn. GBA is broken. NES isn't all too hot the first time but better the second time.
Never understood what all the fuzz was all about the Earthworm Jim games. I find the gameplay sub-par. I'll take any Capcom/Taito/SNK platformer over this.
I agree but the general public do love them. I can play them and I do understand why people enjoy the games but on a pure gaming level they offer nothing new and in some cases a very basic game.
I'm with you there, though I did find some enjoyment from the first game back in the day, but it didn't have staying power for me. Going back to it, I found it didn't hold up in terms of game play. I think what a lot of people like most about it is the presentation, with its fluid sprites, the creativity, and the humor. Of course, some people will like how it plays and the level design too, but I think those things took a back seat to silly gimmicks, especially when looking at this second game. But no game can appeal to everyone.
I don't love neither hate the EJ games, but gameplay never clicked with me. But it looks like a lot effort went into making them as graphics and sound are concerned. If you ask me, everything in this game (colors, music, speech samples, animations, the humour, the main character itself) seem tailored to the American youth of the 90's and their popular culture tropes. They were and still are the biggest fans of Earthworm Jim, while Europe not as much and I suppose Japan even less.
@@RetroCore I think you've hit the nail firmly on the head there. The press got caught up in the technical excellence of everything Perry put out for years:Mick Abd Mack, Aladdin, both EWJ titles, Wild 9 etc and once you started playing the games, it soon dawned on you, you'd been here countless times before and boredom set in. Perry's best work was Sacrifice on the PC, but it's too obscure for many.
For how much Sega Channel did last in Japan? Because if EJ2 was released in 1996-09, then, Madou Monogatari I is not the true last MD game in Japan at all (it was released in 1996-03).
I'm most familiar with the Genesis version of this game, and it's my favorite. Yeah the SNES version looks better and has more sound effects, but the physics just don't feel right to me. Still though, you really can't go wrong with either of them. While I've never played the Saturn or PS1 ports, I have to admit the backgrounds really clash with the 16-bit sprites, and I still prefer the overall look of the Genesis/SNES versions. At least the Saturn port plays the same as the original 16-bit counterparts, but sadly the PS1 port was botched. The MS-DOS port isn't too bad, it looks better than the Genesis original in parts, but it also is missing Lorenzen's Soil and seems to be at a lower framerate, but still better than a lot of console-to-DOS ports. And the less said about the GBA shitfest, the better. I'd even take the unlicensed Famiclone ports over that mess, at least they tried.
SNES vs Genesis: only weapon change mechanics was good point on SNES. Sound and looks - matter of taste. Genesis always looked better for me, but SNES, not only this game, sounded better.
Would you ever do boogerman? Here are like the ports I know of: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive SNES/Super Famicom Famicom (Super Game) Famicom (Rex Soft) Also you forgot super biqi: world fighter which is a port of earthworm jim 2 that changes all the sprites to be more generic and missing the level ate and IQ 9000
I never knew there were knock off Famicom ports of Boogerman. What an odd choice to rip off. I was also unaware of Super Buqi. The world of Famicom pirate games is indeed a strange one.
@@RetroCore Also I see you pronounced mucous weirdly it is normally pronounced like "Mu-kis" but maybe because your pronunciation and english is slowly getting worse because you currently live in a country that does not use the latin alphabet like how most languages use.
Never touched this one thinking as I did, the first was a technical marvel, but vastly overrated as an actual game.. My lasting memory of it, is of the very suspect review booklet given away by Mean Machines magazine at the time. The only title I am aware of to receive such (paid for?) treatment in the magazines history and one which raised a few questions at the time.
So...I absolutely love the first Earthworm Jim; however, I just did not like Earthworm Jim 2 nearly as much. I've never put my finger on why, since it looks better, it plays well, and it has another amazing soundtrack from Tommy Tallarico, both in cart form and on CD. It's just not as fun for me as the first game though. I quite like the game, but I also definitely like it less than EJ1. At points I've thought that I don't like it as much because the first version I had was for MS-DOS, and I had to play the game with a Gravis Gamepad that I had at the time. It was probably better than playing with a PC joystick or the keyboard, but the Gamepad was certainly a step below any of the console controllers for playing platformers. Still, over the years, I bought the Genesis, SNES, GBA, and Saturn versions (all used except the GBA version, which I got new when it came out...yay...), and I have played the PSX version some, and none of them really changed my opinion (except that the SNES version of EJ2 is quite a bit improved over the EJ1 port). I don't hate the game-and prefer the Saturn version; however, this is a game that I want to love, but something about it knocks it down to middle-of-the-road for me.
@@RetroCore It certainly wasn't good, yet still better than that atrocious Sonic 1 port to the system, which I also paid full price for because I was always pre-ordering anything that sounded like it would be cool at the time without waiting for any reviews...
Oh man, that's got to hurt paying for something so bad. It's amazing how that Sonic port and Earthworm Jim 2 were even allowed to be released. I recent memory, the worst game bought was some Truck racing game on the Wii by Jaleco. Oh man, the frame rate was horrendous. It ran at 15fps or something. Made the original Daytona on the Saturn look silky smooth.
I have the same feelings as you about EWJ2. For me it was the overuse of gimmick levels and the fact that some of them were terrible (Flyin' King, the quiz show, and the memory game that takes way, way too long). You get introduced to an expanded weapon arsenal in the first level and then you don't get to use them again until the next vanilla level, Udderly Abducted, which is more than halfway through the game. And even then, you spend most of that level fetching cows. My favorite level in EWJ2 was Level Ate just because it wasn't tied down with weird gimmicks and focused on classic EWJ gameplay.
I still own the Saturn port and i think it's easier than the 16 bit versions. Or the controls are better, i don't know. I do like the first one more. This is too short and easy.
Though I like this game, own both 16 bit versions, the both have something I hate, Peter Puppy levels, and The Flying King, ugh. In the words of someone's voice in the game, FUUUNNNNKY!
He said final by the original staff creators. 3D was done by another development company and it somehow tied into the cartoon series with the cartoon's voice actors.
@@RetroCore The less said about "Menace 2 the Galaxy" the better. At least 3D tried and failed at bringing the game and cartoon's style of wackiness. You could have slapped any license on Menace and it would have been the same, boring, waste of space of a game.
@@RetroCore David (game designer) Perry is from Northern Ireland. (Sources: Grand Thieves & Tomb Raiders by Anderson and Levine, plus a few magazines I've got here.) I always call him David Perry so as not to get him mixed up with Dave (magazines) Perry.
The SNES version is still tops in my book, much better controls and audio than its Sega counterpart. Definitely one of my favorite games of all time. I wasn't a fan of the visual tweaks in the Saturn version, though the CD soundtrack was great. Yeah, that PS1 port was definitely phoned in (drunk-dialed).
The Playstation version could be the best version but alas it wasn't due to problems that were present for the PS1 version due to being a bit unfinished besides running on PAL 50hz and the difficulty blanacing is a little harder for PAL players. The Puppy Love levels seems to be unfinished, were Jim isn't aligned properly on the platforms and there small black things here at the bottom. The GBA version might as well be a russian bootleg and a godawful one at that. Using the password will lose your one life!
The SNES version is easily the best one, best controls, ability to switch weapons, best audio imo and backgrounds that don't clash into the foreground environment, why do people automatically assume the Saturn / PS1 is the best because its on a 32-bit system, it controls like crap, same with the MS-DOS and P.C ports
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Fascinating to see how the Mega Drive version used dithering to create better shades and transparency on a CRT, and while the SNES doesn't use it so much due to better colour and being able to do actual transparencies, the ports for more "advanced" hardware STILL have the dithering, suggesting they really couldn't be bothered to port it properly (or didn't have better assets to use). That was a long sentence. :)
Funnily enough the Saturn port has more transparencies than the PS1.
A few Saturn games do. Check out Thunder Force 5 on the Saturn. It has way more transparency effect and it was release first.
@Benjamin Owuye Jagun Saturn can do transparencies on certain conditions, but it was very limited.
@Benjamin Owuye Jagun the programmers were not able to create transparencies on the saturn
The transparencies on the Sega Saturn is a mess. Many games cheated. But its dont meant its has bad ports when compare to ps1 at all. Im did do newer seen a Sega Saturn here in Denmark at all.
A very fitting episode with the announcement of the new Show coming out
Will it be better than the 1995 one though? Only time will tell. It does look nice though.
@@solarflare9078 Thankfully Doug Tenappel is being allowed nowhere near it. The dude turned out to be an even more deranged John K.
@@SomeOrangeCat Probably gonna he crap without him, he is EWJ
@@Fahrenheit38 Nah. It'll be R&S all over again, where the best stuff came after the sleazeball was cut loose.
@@SomeOrangeCat Not sure who r&s is but EWJ was only good when Doug was involved. Not sure what your issue is with the guy, he's a prolific creator. He created a lot of iconic stuff.
This day couldn't get better! Battle of the ports made a new video!
Great coverage as always!
Hope you like the addition of the two Famicom bootlegs 👍
@@RetroCore I am really into bootlegs, so I rejoice when you put some in your videos for kicks haha
Great BOTP video Mark, personally I was never the biggest fangirl of Earthworm Jim 1/2, that all changed when I played the Mega-CD version of Special Edition, that version for me is still amazing even just for the Audio! :)
I think in this game the audio adds a lot. The games themselves are quite simple for the most part.
Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 are really underrated best games to see both sega and Nintendo systems run awesome graphics and music
I think it's a real shame that the Earthworm Jim series immediately went downhill right after the second game because both of the original games are still quite fun and enjoyable while also being cartoonishly silly and hilarious, and Jim also happens to be one of my all-time favorite video game heroes that I remember when I was a kid.
I have the saturn Japanese version. Very nice. Didn't realize it was the best version.
:)
like your work
Thank you.
I grew up with the Whole can of worms MSDOS game... and loved it!
Yep, Rainbow Arts did a good job with that port.
Awesome, I’m now ready for the Maui mallard in cold shadow battle ports
Hmm....... Some day.
@@RetroCore I’d be there with bells on. That would be interesting to see if the PC port that is sold on GOG is okay
You mean Donald in Maui Mallard ? Or Donald in Cold Shadow ?
@@dse763 yeah, but I live in America so… it’s Maui mallard in cold shadow for me
@@dse763 Depended on the region. For us US folk, it was Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow.
Only really played the Megadrive serion but my god the Redbook audio is the best- the arrangements are stunning! Anything but Tangerines is a full banger! :D
I agree. I'd love to use that in full but it has been known that Tommy T, is a tit who will copyright strike this video if I used the CD audio version.
@@RetroCore How come the CD version would get you a copyright strike but the 16-bit versions wouldn't?
@@zanegandini5350 The redbook audio versions are on Tallarico's official youtube channel- they were put on some of his greatest hits CDs back in the day!
@@FuzzballRenakitty Makes sense. Still though, for Anything but Tangerines, I still prefer the Genesis music. I just love the bass of it!
@@RetroCore Tommy "I created everything" Tallarico lol
I LIKE -> ALL VERSIONS COMPARISON !
Being on a JRPG kick this year I’d love to see you do a Battle of the Ports for Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished. Although doing one for a RPG would probably be a lot of work…
Ys is on the to do list. They would be tough to cover though.
In the Japanese version of the Saturn port, when you get to the game show portion of Villi People, you automatically get the items
I never knew that. Thanks for sharing.
Groovy!
WHAT THE GBA REPRESENTED:
- a chance to get a do-over on the 16-bit generation and correct the mistakes made there
WHAT THE GBA BECAME FOR MANY PUBLISHERS:
- a full repetition of all the mistakes of the 16-bit generation except dumber and worse
It could handle Doom 2 with minimal compromises and run fully polygonal games, but a lot of developers were happy to do dumpy crap like this with the hardware.
Biggest mistake with porting EW2 to 32-bit platforms - basing the assets off the Mega Drive version; you can clearly see this in action with the explosions and light bulbs. Second biggest mistake - changing the Puppy Love stage's background on the Saturn and PlayStation versions. The vignette and reflection effects on the PlayStation version are _horrible_ and the PC version, though higher in colour depth and a little more faithful to the 16-bit versions, has half the frame rate. Also, and I've only just noticed this, and it's not an issue, but the green planet moves in the way of the sun on the Saturn version of Anything but Tangerines, whereas it moves out of its way on the PlayStation version, so it wasn't just the line-scrolling that was messed about with. Graphically at least, the SNES and Saturn versions look the best to me for their respective generations, however the 32-bit console ports were lazy - Astal or Rayman they aren't.
I wonder if the PS1 version being a PAL release would effect the controls. I know it runs slower for sure. 50Hz compared to the NTSC 60Hz.
If no optimisation is in place, then yes. Everything is slowed down. Not only the games are 17% slower (and letterboxed) but they are laggier. Now, how significant and perceptible this is it's debatable but it's objectively there in most cases.
I was playing a hacked 60htz version. It's just a bad port.
I would say the Genesis and Saturn ports are the best. Sometimes Sega did superior ports back then.
Battle of the Ports - Command & Conquer, when?
Probably never. I've never been in to RTS games.
@@RetroCore It's regrettable
Why is the Saturn screen so small during the final presentation? I thought that was the best version?
Because of the Saturn's resolution. I used a real Saturn for the footage not emulation.
@@RetroCore it was higher res than the PlayStation right?
I think you are missing a release: the windows one although I think it is pretty much the same as the dos one
I think you are thinking about the original. Earthworm Jim 2 was only released as a Dos double set.
@@RetroCore you know what? You are right sir!
Still miss playing all the Earthworm Jim games Mark. Too bad I recently sold them to someone that wanted them more than me. Oh well. 8^)
Anthony..
Well, there's always the Amico version on the way 😋
What next battle tof the ports do you working on?
I've not decided yet.
I have never played or wanted to pllay these games .... i do remeber the cartoon that tried too hard to be anamiancs/freakazoid tho were they still making ms-dos games in 95? id thought we went full windows by then
Nah, they were still making Dos games up to win 98 age.
7:41 I'm playing the GOG release here.
I'm playing the GOG release here...
Would you please do Gauntlet III The Final Quest? Cheers!
Gauntlet III. Hmmmm. I'll see.
Earthworm Jim just wasn't meant for the gba apparently.
Earthworm Jim doesn't really hold up for me playing it nowadays. I enjoyed the first one a bit back in 1995, though and it was well made in a lot of ways. I don't know what the hell was going on with the GBA port of EWJ2 shown here. That looks absolutely awful. It gives me Sonic 1 GBA vibes as that is known to be one of the worst ports of anything on the GBA. Yet, this looks like it may be worse than that.
It is worse. At least Sonic 1 GBA resembles the original.
Nice to see you. I hope you will make "Dragon Quest" battle of the ports. This RPG is pretty short, although archaic.
Any RPG would be a tough call. I mean I could just play the first 20 minutes of each version but is that enough to get a feel for the game?
@@RetroCore OK. For better experience, half an hour.
EWJ never really did it for me. Never saw the appeal of it. I do remember playing a Demo of the PC version, that was in a bonus folder of some game CD. Also had a demo of Powerslave/Exhumed.
I hear you about Earthworm Jim. But clearly we are in the minority on this.
Personally, I can't stand Mario games either or the character 😁
@@RetroCore Mario hasn't done it for me for a long time. Right around the time I discovered FPS games in the early 90s.
@@RetroCore Yeah me neither!
@@RetroCore I'll happily join you good people 😊
Never did anything for me on the Megadrive, picked it up years later on PSN for the PS3, to see if I had been wrong, nope, it left me stone cold.
The original games were great and all, but I'll always be a bigger fan of the cartoon series. Shame it only lasted like one and a half seasons and even the DVD release was screwed up.
i got earthworm jim one and two for ms dos still thank god but there is PlayStation and saturn version as well since the first earth worm jim got a sega cd mega cd port too. but alas there is no earthworm jim 2 hd / 4k digitally
Did earth worm Jim 2 come out for sega cd as well right? Or just 1?
Just the first game only.
I find this game hard as hell... can barely get passed first level or 2.
Try it on the easy level. It's more accessible then.
I have a question. Did you play PS version on real PS1 or emulated on PS2 or 3?
On a PS2 but it was the 60htz hack.
@@RetroCore Ok. I'm not sure about PS2 but PS3 emulation is very laggy and would make the game sluggish as you described. Could be the same with PS2.
Tiger Heli BOTP when?
Sure I did that years ago.
@@RetroCore nO yOu DiDnT.
btw, I could have sworn you did one for The Ninja Warriors(1987) is it gone or does it even exist?
The Chad Worm
wow I'm so used to old MS-DOS ports being kinda crap. at least the ones I tried when I was young.
this one looks amazing actually, good pallete on a lot of the sprites (from the looks of the comparision at the end)
That's because Rainbow Arts did it. They were a very talented studio who went on to become Factor 5.
Did you try Mortal Kombat series on MS-DOS? They are almost arcade perfect. Same can be said of Super Street Fighter 2 turbo.
hey, this game used GEMS :-), but one of the games, that has nice uses of it and does not sound tiny or like that. So it is possible to do a good soundtrack out of GEMS when done right.
regaardless both games used GEMS. But still not bad uses of it at all, even SNES might sound better.....
Also SNES also have the same issue when used default samples used by the SDK or from a library and often sound "tiny" as well. Its mightbeen more hided, but its a issue on SNES too. On the Amiga some games also just used the default ST-01 samples. More the early one....
But its does not matter if they used them nice and good for whatever reason. Im have heard much worser than this.
so.... those two games is two of them that did used GEMS correctly.
The Mean Machines Ahem, 'Review' booklet in full:
Mean Machines Sega gave away an Earthworm 2 Exclusive, Review 16 page booklet, which ended a single reviewer, Gus looking at the game (and the opening line was 'Since when does a Mean Machines review only have a single comment? since the game that's reviewed is hogged by 1 person is the answer'-Yeah, right Gus, that'll be exactly why.... :roll:)
Overall score 95%.Fair to say i lost a lot of respect for Mean Machines after that....
Mean Machines was basically CVG. It was always full of BS reviews. I did like it though just to see what was coming out.
Iirc the GBA port also had messed up pass words that don't work correctly.
That wouldn't surprise me at all. The game is awful. Even the background tiles are messed up.
Yes man! Finally!
So which one do you recommend? The Saturn version?
Saturn version will cost you a bit of money, last time I saw it in the wild at a Play N Trade locally, they wanted $32 for it, and that was years ago.
I have the Saturn version. I would only recommend that one if you can afford it. The 16 bit versions still play well enough.
I'd go with the Super Nintendo version for the graphics but the Saturn for the music and sound.
What a horrible port, again, for a GBC. It happens so many times. This time the award goes to... Saturn!
Thanks for another BotP.
Unless you're comparing PAL versions specifically you'd need to use a 60hz hacked version to do any sort of fair comparison for the Playstation version.
I was using a 60htz version. It's just not good on the PlayStation.
Genesis is great later period offering. SNES is a step up from Genesis and original. Saturn is amazing. PC is mostly great. PS1 is a step down from Saturn. GBA is broken. NES isn't all too hot the first time but better the second time.
Never understood what all the fuzz was all about the Earthworm Jim games. I find the gameplay sub-par. I'll take any Capcom/Taito/SNK platformer over this.
I agree but the general public do love them. I can play them and I do understand why people enjoy the games but on a pure gaming level they offer nothing new and in some cases a very basic game.
I'm with you there, though I did find some enjoyment from the first game back in the day, but it didn't have staying power for me. Going back to it, I found it didn't hold up in terms of game play. I think what a lot of people like most about it is the presentation, with its fluid sprites, the creativity, and the humor. Of course, some people will like how it plays and the level design too, but I think those things took a back seat to silly gimmicks, especially when looking at this second game. But no game can appeal to everyone.
I don't love neither hate the EJ games, but gameplay never clicked with me. But it looks like a lot effort went into making them as graphics and sound are concerned. If you ask me, everything in this game (colors, music, speech samples, animations, the humour, the main character itself) seem tailored to the American youth of the 90's and their popular culture tropes. They were and still are the biggest fans of Earthworm Jim, while Europe not as much and I suppose Japan even less.
@@RetroCore I think you've hit the nail firmly on the head there.
The press got caught up in the technical excellence of everything Perry put out for years:Mick Abd Mack, Aladdin, both EWJ titles, Wild 9 etc and once you started playing the games, it soon dawned on you, you'd been here countless times before and boredom set in.
Perry's best work was Sacrifice on the PC, but it's too obscure for many.
It was a standout because of the style it of animation it used. You just didn't see anything like it back then.
For how much Sega Channel did last in Japan? Because if EJ2 was released in 1996-09, then, Madou Monogatari I is not the true last MD game in Japan at all (it was released in 1996-03).
Madou would be the last physical release.
I don't really know much about the Sega Channel in Japan. It lasted a fair bit but until when I couldn't say
I'm most familiar with the Genesis version of this game, and it's my favorite. Yeah the SNES version looks better and has more sound effects, but the physics just don't feel right to me. Still though, you really can't go wrong with either of them. While I've never played the Saturn or PS1 ports, I have to admit the backgrounds really clash with the 16-bit sprites, and I still prefer the overall look of the Genesis/SNES versions. At least the Saturn port plays the same as the original 16-bit counterparts, but sadly the PS1 port was botched. The MS-DOS port isn't too bad, it looks better than the Genesis original in parts, but it also is missing Lorenzen's Soil and seems to be at a lower framerate, but still better than a lot of console-to-DOS ports.
And the less said about the GBA shitfest, the better. I'd even take the unlicensed Famiclone ports over that mess, at least they tried.
At least the Famicom ports have an interest factor to them. The GBA is just straight up, no! 😁
SNES vs Genesis: only weapon change mechanics was good point on SNES. Sound and looks - matter of taste. Genesis always looked better for me, but SNES, not only this game, sounded better.
@Benjamin Owuye Jagun IMO, For Pete's Sake bops better on the SNES.
request Hydro Thunder
Oh yeah! Those got a few differences too!
Its on the to do list. 👍
Would you ever do boogerman? Here are like the ports I know of:
Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
SNES/Super Famicom
Famicom (Super Game)
Famicom (Rex Soft)
Also you forgot super biqi: world fighter which is a port of earthworm jim 2 that changes all the sprites to be more generic and missing the level ate and IQ 9000
I never knew there were knock off Famicom ports of Boogerman. What an odd choice to rip off.
I was also unaware of Super Buqi. The world of Famicom pirate games is indeed a strange one.
@@RetroCore Also I see you pronounced mucous weirdly it is normally pronounced like "Mu-kis" but maybe because your pronunciation and english is slowly getting worse because you currently live in a country that does not use the latin alphabet like how most languages use.
@@RetroCore Also where did you get the rom of the super game version I can't seem to find one.
Never touched this one thinking as I did, the first was a technical marvel, but vastly overrated as an actual game..
My lasting memory of it, is of the very suspect review booklet given away by Mean Machines magazine at the time.
The only title I am aware of to receive such (paid for?) treatment in the magazines history and one which raised a few questions at the time.
Another great BOTP. That GBA port certainly sucked!
So...I absolutely love the first Earthworm Jim; however, I just did not like Earthworm Jim 2 nearly as much. I've never put my finger on why, since it looks better, it plays well, and it has another amazing soundtrack from Tommy Tallarico, both in cart form and on CD. It's just not as fun for me as the first game though. I quite like the game, but I also definitely like it less than EJ1.
At points I've thought that I don't like it as much because the first version I had was for MS-DOS, and I had to play the game with a Gravis Gamepad that I had at the time. It was probably better than playing with a PC joystick or the keyboard, but the Gamepad was certainly a step below any of the console controllers for playing platformers.
Still, over the years, I bought the Genesis, SNES, GBA, and Saturn versions (all used except the GBA version, which I got new when it came out...yay...), and I have played the PSX version some, and none of them really changed my opinion (except that the SNES version of EJ2 is quite a bit improved over the EJ1 port). I don't hate the game-and prefer the Saturn version; however, this is a game that I want to love, but something about it knocks it down to middle-of-the-road for me.
I feel sorry for you buying the GBA version. I bet must have been a shock when you first booted it up.
@@RetroCore It certainly wasn't good, yet still better than that atrocious Sonic 1 port to the system, which I also paid full price for because I was always pre-ordering anything that sounded like it would be cool at the time without waiting for any reviews...
Oh man, that's got to hurt paying for something so bad. It's amazing how that Sonic port and Earthworm Jim 2 were even allowed to be released.
I recent memory, the worst game bought was some Truck racing game on the Wii by Jaleco. Oh man, the frame rate was horrendous. It ran at 15fps or something. Made the original Daytona on the Saturn look silky smooth.
@@RetroCore haha ouch
I have the same feelings as you about EWJ2. For me it was the overuse of gimmick levels and the fact that some of them were terrible (Flyin' King, the quiz show, and the memory game that takes way, way too long). You get introduced to an expanded weapon arsenal in the first level and then you don't get to use them again until the next vanilla level, Udderly Abducted, which is more than halfway through the game. And even then, you spend most of that level fetching cows.
My favorite level in EWJ2 was Level Ate just because it wasn't tied down with weird gimmicks and focused on classic EWJ gameplay.
7:40. Yeah, i liked take 2 better also :)
I still own the Saturn port and i think it's easier than the 16 bit versions. Or the controls are better, i don't know.
I do like the first one more. This is too short and easy.
The first was better because a lot of the new areas are too simple in the 2nd game.
Hahaha dude, it isn't pronounced "Flying King". It's a pun on Lion King. Flyin' King.
Oh, I see. 😅
Wait the GBA port was developed by a Russian Team?
Can We Call it SlavJank?
I'm guessing that isn't racist so sure, why not.
@@RetroCore It's not racist, it's a term we say when a game made by russian devs is bad and buggy we call it SlavJank
The Famicom Is A Surprising Port. Too Bad It’s A Bootleg. It Looks Like A Good Game For The NES.
The Famicom version that looks the best actually plays terribly (the Super Games version) but the other one plays reasonably.
@@RetroCore So The Shin Shin Version Is Better?
Never got into this series myself. Mind you I never liked SF2 or Sonic either. I will get my coat then.
Sf2 and sonic is a little odd but I can understand not liking earthworm Jim.
eh not Doom ? I thought its Doom from the background flame.
Sadly not.
Though I like this game, own both 16 bit versions, the both have something I hate, Peter Puppy levels, and The Flying King, ugh.
In the words of someone's voice in the game, FUUUNNNNKY!
The flying King level is so dull I think.
@@RetroCore It is dull as watching grass grow, and tedious as well.
i mean i know earthworm jim 3d wasn't a good game, but calling the 2nd game the final game was a bit harsh...
He said final by the original staff creators. 3D was done by another development company and it somehow tied into the cartoon series with the cartoon's voice actors.
Correct 👍
@@mightyfilm "SUIT SHUTTING DOWN!" -Earthworm "Homer" Jim
@@RetroCore The less said about "Menace 2 the Galaxy" the better. At least 3D tried and failed at bringing the game and cartoon's style of wackiness. You could have slapped any license on Menace and it would have been the same, boring, waste of space of a game.
not the final game
I said it was the final game by the original creators.
It's not the final game.. the final game is Earthworm Jim 3D.. not a great game.. but it's the actual final one.
Final 2D game I mean.
I was recently in the process of modding my SNES classic mini and loaded the GBA version of EWJ2 on it...god they butchered it.
Dave Perry modelling himself on that guy from fatal fury....
Very salty too on games master. Talented tho.
Ah, that's a different Dave Perry. That the twat from the UK mags. The Earthworm Jim Dave Perry is American.
@@RetroCore ahhh didn't realise they were different people
@@RetroCore David (game designer) Perry is from Northern Ireland. (Sources: Grand Thieves & Tomb Raiders by Anderson and Levine, plus a few magazines I've got here.)
I always call him David Perry so as not to get him mixed up with Dave (magazines) Perry.
The SNES version is still tops in my book, much better controls and audio than its Sega counterpart. Definitely one of my favorite games of all time. I wasn't a fan of the visual tweaks in the Saturn version, though the CD soundtrack was great. Yeah, that PS1 port was definitely phoned in (drunk-dialed).
Dafuq with the GBA version? That might be the ultimate cash grab GBA port alongside Sonic 1.
EWJ1 GBA = crappy port
EWJ2 GBA = unlicensed bootleg
Lol, correct 👍
The Playstation version could be the best version but alas it wasn't due to problems that were present for the PS1 version due to being a bit unfinished besides running on PAL 50hz and the difficulty blanacing is a little harder for PAL players. The Puppy Love levels seems to be unfinished, were Jim isn't aligned properly on the platforms and there small black things here at the bottom. The GBA version might as well be a russian bootleg and a godawful one at that. Using the password will lose your one life!
I reckon the GBA version is a Russian bootleg that they just licensed 😂
The SNES version is easily the best one, best controls, ability to switch weapons, best audio imo and backgrounds that don't clash into the foreground environment, why do people automatically assume the Saturn / PS1 is the best because its on a 32-bit system, it controls like crap, same with the MS-DOS and P.C ports