Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Earthworm Jim HD feels immediately more unruly than most platformers of its era. You are not simply hopping between neat rows of enemies: Jim runs, jumps, fires his blaster, floats briefly in midair, grabs objects, and uses his own body as a weapon. That mixture gives the action a playful looseness. In the opening stretch, it is easy to understand why the original stuck with people: every new screen seems eager to toss a bizarre enemy, obstacle, or joke into your path.

What starts to click is Jim’s movement. The float gives you a little extra room to correct a jump, and the grab and blaster moves keep the game from feeling like a one-button dash through familiar platforming beats. At the same time, this is still an old-school run-and-gun platformer built to test your execution. The difficulty settings are useful here: easy and normal make the remake more welcoming, while hard and original let you take on the game with less cushioning.

The Andy Asteroids race sequences break up the side-scrolling stages with a semi-3D detour, and they fit the game’s refusal to settle into one routine. Online four-player co-op is a meaningful extra rather than a simple add-on, since its levels have been reworked with larger layouts and altered boss behavior for group play. The three separate computer-themed bonus stages also give returning fans fresh environments, enemies, and bosses. Still, the original’s demanding design can turn that lively unpredictability into irritation when a challenge stops feeling funny and starts feeling like a repeated obstacle course.

Graphics

The HD redraw gives Jim, his enemies, and the original stages a much cleaner, higher-resolution look. Everything has been re-animated and re-drawn rather than merely filtered, with a slightly different style from the earlier versions. The new comic-book-based intro cinematic is a fitting match for a game whose hero is a worm in an absurd super-suit.

Story

The story is nonsense in exactly the right way. A stolen super-space-cyber-suit falls onto an ordinary earthworm, turning Jim into a superhero and placing him in the path of Psy-Crow and the spectacularly named Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed, Slug-for-a-Butt.

Jim then heads out to save Princess What’s-Her-Name, but the plot is mainly a delivery system for the game’s cartoon gross-out humor. That is not a criticism. The names alone tell you whether this wavelength works for you, and the game commits to it rather than trying to make the premise sensible.

This version adds dialogue recorded by a new Jim voice actor alongside existing lines from the original concept designer. It is an unusual blend, but it suits a remake that preserves the original game’s shape while giving parts of it a new coat of paint. Come for the jokes and strange villain names, not for a story with emotional weight or elaborate twists.

Overall Experience

Earthworm Jim HD is at its best when you let it be messy, difficult, and stupid on purpose. Its action remains energetic because Jim has a satisfying little toolbox, while the stage-to-stage oddness prevents the game from becoming just another retro shooting platformer. The remake’s extra difficulty options and level select also make it easier to enjoy on your own terms than a straight re-release would be.

There is a caveat for longtime fans: this is not the all-in-one edition. It includes Intestinal Distress from the Genesis version and New Junk City II from the Special Edition, but leaves out Big Bruty’s and the hidden “Who Turned Out the Lights” bonus stage. That prevents HD from being the unquestioned preservation pick, even though it adds its own co-op content and bonus stages.

For you, the decision is simple. Give it a chance if you want a sharply redrawn version of a demanding, irreverent platformer whose humor is as important as its action. The payoff is a memorable dose of 16-bit weirdness, especially with friends, but it asks you to tolerate the friction that came with its original design. Earthworm Jim HD is a worthwhile remake, just not the complete Earthworm Jim package.

Retro Replay Score

7.5/10