To top all of this off, there is almost never anything of true consequence to do in the levels. Movement is not precise, jumps are extremely difficult to navigate appropriately, and the camera makes you wonder whether it is the on-screen character who is in a coma instead of Jim. The mechanics are sluggish as well, and special moves such as high jumps are unresponsive and finicky.

The gameplay is the real problem with this entry. They are linear and often devoid of things to do. Levels are not the open playgrounds we get in Mario and Banjo. You need to collect different items to open new levels and sections of the hub world. In this way, the game has a similar premise to other collection based games like Banjo Kazooie and Super Mario 64. Playing not as the actual Jim, but as a projection of Jim’s super-ego in his head, you must collect marbles from the varying realms of Jim’s mind.

Jim has had a terrible accident and is in a coma of sorts. The beginning of EWJ3D is similar to the classic first two installments in that it has an admittedly fun premise. He is, after all, a superhero worm is in a humanoid body who does some pretty crazy stuff to save the day. The arguable best parts of the Earthworm Jim games are their whacked-out sense of humor and the insane concepts. The only decent things here are concept and humor The tight gameplay the series was known for would be lost to the annals of history, it seems. The series’ wacky sense of humor would be replicated in games by Rare through titles like Banjo and Conker.

One of those failures was Earthworm Jim 3D. For every Super Mario 64, there was a Bubsy 3D casualty. Sure, some series made the dimensional leap, but others struggled. The beginning of the three-dimensional age for videogames was the beginning of the end for a few long running and well loved franchises.

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