Earthworm Jim (Gameboy Advance)

• Crazy enemies
• classic characters
• tongue-in-cheek humor
• 32-bit graphics
• awesome sound

This is a good thing: Earthworm Jim has been lovingly ported and primed, and is now ready for action on the Game Boy Advance. The game is a fairly straightforward port of the old Super Nintendo version, only with the exclusive Sega Genesis Intestine level added for good measure. It provides weird, wicked, and hilarious 2-D action that's perfect for handheld gaming.

The story concerns the titular annelid, Jim, and his discovery of a super-special space suit that lets him walk, jump, run, climb, and fight like a man. He's also got a machine pistol, and can grab his own wormy body and whip himself around to reach high places. Decidedly wacky stuff. His enemies consist of psycho hamsters, crows (naturally), cats, and creatures made of garbage. His ultimate enemy is the evil Psy-Crow; he wants the suit from Jim and will stop at nothing to get it for his evil queen.

Earthworm Jim remains one of the weirdest 2-D side-scrolling games you'll ever play, mainly because of the sheer amount of innovation packed into each level. Jim will bounce on tire stacks, use zip lines, propel himself using machine-gun fire, and utter an emphatic "Dang" whenever struck by the enemy. Power-ups include special weapons and health, as well as free lives, which you'll need because Earthworm Jim is also one of the hardest games you'll find on the handheld.

In terms of innovation, creativity, graphics, and sound, Earthworm Jim is head, stomach, and tail above most titles, but it does suffer more than most from the Game Boy Advance's well-documented lighting and screen problems. Because the enemies in EJ tend to be small and fast, they can be hard to see without some lighting help. Regardless, this one remains a classic despite the intervening years. --Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Odd and hilarious!
• Great graphics and characters
• Classic gameplay

• Small, fast enemies can be hard to see without proper lighting
• Will be too challenging for some

Product Description
Players who believe that variety is the spice of good games will be in nirvana here: one minute our hero is bungee jumping by a thread of mucus, the next he's riding a space-rocket through an asteroid belt. The game leans heavily on cockeyed humor, so steer clear if you've had it up to here with jokes about intestines, corporate lawyers and power-mad goldfish. Jim's arsenal is a bit on the skimpy side, although in the annals of video games the sight of an oversized annelid cracking his own head like a bullwhip is surely unique. The play control could use more polish, especially since most of the action involves running and jumping. On the whole, though, EWJ's legions of fans are far more interested in 'tude than gameplay mechanics.

Earthworm Jim Is The BEST Game Boy Game EVER!!!