Earthworm Jim (Windows 95) Walkthrough

Look, they're meatballs!

This is a walkthrough I've wanted to make for a really long time, of the somewhat forgotten yet very well-made PC port of Earthworm Jim: Special Edition. People often argue over which version really is the best, and...sorry, it's no contest, this one easily bests them all. In fact I would argue the only thing you miss out on is the slightly more detailed backgrounds on the SNES version. Otherwise, this has the edge in almost every case -- CD audio music, every level ever featured across all versions (including Intestinal Distress and Who Turned Out the Lights?), no dithering in the backgrounds like the Sega CD or Genesis version, the ability to skip to any level you want without the use of passwords, and better audio quality than its Sega CD counterpart. Yes, this one really does have it all.

...unfortunately, it loses out in one pretty important area -- it's really hard to run on any OS past Windows 98. It can be done, but don't expect it to be hassle-free. That has sadly doomed this port to being rather obscure in the modern world. Hopefully this video helps put it back into the spotlight!

You'll notice I actually had already gotten halfway through the game before recording this video, hence why up to Level 5 was unlocked. I don't know how to clear the game data so I was stuck with it. Sorry.

This was played on a Pentium 3 computer running Windows 98SE. I also didn't run the game in full screen mode for two reasons -- one, because extra UI elements like the loading message and the level name at the bottom aren't visible in full screen, and also because the wormhole in Andy Asteroids doesn't animate in full screen mode for some reason.

New Junk City: Chose to go the "stud" path for the second part of the level because I'm a show-off like that.

Andy Asteroids: For some reason, Jim was extremely fond of saying nothing except "I'm a rocket, man" for most of these stages. I swear he usually has more variety than this. Also not much to say about these, I won all except one (which I'll get to in a minute).

What the Heck?: Went near flawlessly, save for getting mauled by Evil the Cat a couple of times.

Down the Tubes/Tube Race: I had a few close calls in the water, almost shattering the glass on several cases, but fortunately I made it through.

Big Bruty: I am not fond of this level. It's very slow-moving, there's no music (only droning ambiance), the flies are a pain to take out if you don't have missiles, and you pretty much have to tiptoe in order not to get eaten by Bruty (not to mention he's a one-hit kill, even at full health). This level is actually exclusive to the Special Edition, but I wouldn't say you're missing much if you skip it.

Level 5: This level actually originally didn't live up to its name, but thanks to the Special Edition adding a level, it now does (unless you count Tube Race as a separate level, which I don't). This is where I'm a little less practiced, by the way. I normally don't get past the cage section of the level, but I had so much extra ammo this time that it was no issue.

Who Turned Out the Lights?: A very simple, straightforward level with a very unique premise. Definitely a fun little bonus for those who manage to find it.

Snot a Problem: Heck yes, beat all three rounds on my first try! The third round is rough, but somehow I managed to pull through after almost not making it.

For Pete's Sake!: Oof, this was rough. I got chewed up by Peter several times in this level, and had to retread ground quite a bit (I sped up two instances of me having to retread ground a third time). What can I say? It's no walk in the (dog) park. And no, there was no chance I was going to try the hard path after all I went through.

I actually failed the Andy Asteroids stage before the next level, and ended up in a situation I didn't even know was possible -- if you tie with Psycrow, you still have to face him off (and there's even a unique voice clip for this situation!). It had been quite some time since I had to do this so pardon if my fighting is a bit rusty.

Intestinal Distress: Everything went fine up until the boss, which took me several tries before beating. His attacks are close to impossible to avoid even when you know what to do.

Buttville: So, I actually Game Overed on my first attempt, twice. Thus, the recording you see here was done on a different game spliced together with this recording. I did really good on this particular run...and then the bug at the very end snipped me. Agh. Thankfully, I just barely managed to get the zapper gun (which kills Queen Slug-for-a-Butt's first form in only one hit) that hangs next to the penultimate checkpoint, which got me through the part I was having so much trouble with.

And that's the game. Hope you enjoy the walkthrough! Yes, this port also includes the other two endings for beating it on Easy and Hard as well, though you'll be seeing the normal ending here.