Earthworm Jim HD - Release it on steam!

[Torhrolfr]

We want Earthworm Jim HD on Steam! Would be great play online, and with better controls than consoles.

[dfaugust2k]

Originally posted by Lennart Stek:

We want Earthworm Jim HD on Steam! Would be great play online, and with better controls than consoles.

!!!oh yeah!!!~ -best console game EVER !! Unfortunately, they broke it when they posrted it over to the PC

[AzureDragoon]

+1

[rick_bires]

I paid for the game. It gave me 3 versions of Earthworm Jim and none of them will work

[The Spectacular Batman]

Originally posted by rick_bires:

I paid for the game. It gave me 3 versions of Earthworm Jim and none of them will work

What do you mean?

[Ashley BY]

+

[Mushi-Shah]

yeah earthworm jim hd on steam will be great

[Mushi-Shah]

what about - Max: The Curse of Brotherhood will be great too

["El Chino"]

I to would love to see EWJ HD on Steam.

[Morgoth]

+1 Please bring Earthworm Jim HD on Steam. The game has better graphics on modern PCs than the 90s version and isn't available anymore anywhere!

[☣Patient Zero☣]

You can no longer buy the HD version on xbox as of Feb 2018 as it was delisted.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/earthworm-jim-hd/bt0zpg6h6096
People who already own it can redownload it but I personally am backing it up on a usb stick incase that service ever stops.

The developer of the HD version was gameloft and the founder is Michel Guillemot, co founder of ubisoft so I don't have high hopes for a steam release and who even owns Earthworm Jim now? Maybe the license ended so that is why it was removed from xbox or maybe the IP has been sold again?

The most recent news I could find was from Sep 2016 where Interplay were selling the IP to Earthworm Jim.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/09/08/interplay-games/



... it makes me think of that hacker who called himself Barabus that ported 'The dishwasher- vampire smile' from XBLA to work on PC which then prompted the developer to offically release it on PC.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-06-04-the-dishwasher-vampire-smile-unofficially-ported-to-pc-but-the-original-dev-doesnt-mind-much

https://venturebeat.com/2013/06/04/the-dishwasher-2-hacked-for-pc-and-the-developers-mostly-ok-with-it/

[Torhrolfr]

It's so sad to see interplay sell their IP to someone not interested in keeping it alive.

[The Spectacular Batman]

Well, the thing about Earthworm Jim is that the original 1995 PC version is superior to HD in numerous ways, and is very easy to find on eBay for insanely cheap, and runs perfectly on modern Windows, so while the graphics aren't all nice and HD-ified, it's a great version, and a good choice if you want to play it on PC.

[☣Patient Zero☣]

Originally posted by Robo4900:

Well, the thing about Earthworm Jim is that the original 1995 PC version is superior to HD in numerous ways, and is very easy to find on eBay for insanely cheap, and runs perfectly on modern Windows, so while the graphics aren't all nice and HD-ified, it's a great version, and a good choice if you want to play it on PC.

They are on gog https://www.gog.com/game/earthworm_jim_1_2

I like both and don't want to see HD version vanish as it has. Maybe one day it can be played in a emu. Its the only way to preserve games sometimes.

[The Spectacular Batman]

Originally posted by ☣Patient Zero☣:

Originally posted by Robo4900:

Well, the thing about Earthworm Jim is that the original 1995 PC version is superior to HD in numerous ways, and is very easy to find on eBay for insanely cheap, and runs perfectly on modern Windows, so while the graphics aren't all nice and HD-ified, it's a great version, and a good choice if you want to play it on PC.

They are on gog https://www.gog.com/game/earthworm_jim_1_2

I like both and don't want to see HD version vanish as it has. Maybe one day it can be played in a emu. Its the only way to preserve games sometimes.

The one on GOG and Steam isn't the right one. It's the DOS version from, I believe, '96. Graphically, it's slightly better than the 1995 Windows version, but gameplay-wise, it's significantly slower, buggier, and glitchier. It's honestly not that great a port. Plus, it's only the standard edition of the game. The Windows one is the Special Edition, which has the extra levels(One of which was in HD, the other wasn't). It also has better sound, a level select system that allows you to start the game at any level you've previously reached(Thus doing away with the annoying password system), and the game runs much more smoothly.
Also, because it's a Windows thing and interacts directly with your drivers, it has much better controller support.

But, really, I must stress that HD is not that great. They significantly lowered the difficulty, they left out the Who Turned Out The Lights bonus level, the graphics were redrawn by cheap outsourced artists instead of re-scanning the original art assets drawn by Tennapel and co.(Which still exist), the voicework was redone by an impressionist instead of getting the original guys in, and at least one piece of artwork in the game was stolen from someone without permission(Jim's head in the scoreboard at the end of every level is ripped from a Deviantart image).
You've much better off picking up one of various other versions; it's been on the Nintendo Virtual Console platforms for years, the Windows 95 version is really cheap to get on eBay and the like and runs perfectly on modern windows, etc...

Naturally, I think HD should be preserved, and it's a shame to see it disappear; I'm sure a lot of work went into it, and for me at least, it was my introduction into Earthworm Jim, but a proper port of the Special Edition, or a revised HD version using the original art assets, and with creative input from the original team would be so much better than what we got, and I think at the very least, I'm happy that this new generation of consoles isn't back-compatible with it anyway, so people can discover the superior original versions instead.

[☣Patient Zero☣]

Originally posted by Robo4900:

Originally posted by ☣Patient Zero☣:

They are on gog https://www.gog.com/game/earthworm_jim_1_2

I like both and don't want to see HD version vanish as it has. Maybe one day it can be played in a emu. Its the only way to preserve games sometimes.

The one on GOG and Steam isn't the right one. It's the DOS version from, I believe, '96. Graphically, it's slightly better than the 1995 Windows version, but gameplay-wise, it's significantly slower, buggier, and glitchier. It's honestly not that great a port. Plus, it's only the standard edition of the game. The Windows one is the Special Edition, which has the extra levels(One of which was in HD, the other wasn't). It also has better sound, a level select system that allows you to start the game at any level you've previously reached(Thus doing away with the annoying password system), and the game runs much more smoothly.
Also, because it's a Windows thing and interacts directly with your drivers, it has much better controller support.

But, really, I must stress that HD is not that great. They significantly lowered the difficulty, they left out the Who Turned Out The Lights bonus level, the graphics were redrawn by cheap outsourced artists instead of re-scanning the original art assets drawn by Tennapel and co.(Which still exist), the voicework was redone by an impressionist instead of getting the original guys in, and at least one piece of artwork in the game was stolen from someone without permission(Jim's head in the scoreboard at the end of every level is ripped from a Deviantart image).
You've much better off picking up one of various other versions; it's been on the Nintendo Virtual Console platforms for years, the Windows 95 version is really cheap to get on eBay and the like and runs perfectly on modern windows, etc...

Naturally, I think HD should be preserved, and it's a shame to see it disappear; I'm sure a lot of work went into it, and for me at least, it was my introduction into Earthworm Jim, but a proper port of the Special Edition, or a revised HD version using the original art assets, and with creative input from the original team would be so much better than what we got, and I think at the very least, I'm happy that this new generation of consoles isn't back-compatible with it anyway, so people can discover the superior original versions instead.

Good to know about the Gog version is not the special version, I was unaware.
I've read that the version you speak of is a port of the Sega CD version but with some extra bells and whilstles. I've been meaning to play Sega CD version for a long time to see the differences from the Megadrive version., now I'll have to play PC special edition to, which should also be on steam :)

You are right in that its not the best version and I would recommend anyone that hasn't played EWJ plays the original first or at least afterwards but I think its still a nice edition although not perfect. I remember at the time I was just happy to see a 16year old game show its face again.

I had also forgotten about the stolen art, shady.

A new remake would also be good.

edit: PS. The HD version does have an original mode which says its as hard as the original but I can't confirm if it actually is as I haven't played in a while.