Earthworm Jim 2

"Nothing is More Painful than a Bad Port of a Great Game"

Opening Remarks: Earthworm Jim 2 is one of my five favorite games, ever. It's simply an extraordinary platformer, and now here it is, gracing the GBA with its presence. The GBA port of the first Earthworm Jim game was disappointing at best. Don't you agree that a GBA port of an SNES game should look, sound, and play just as well as the original, if not better? Well, sadly, that didn't happen for poor old Earthworm Jim, and it certainly didn't happen for its sequel, either.

Gameplay: The original game is here, all levels intact, and it plays more or less exactly the same. If you're reading this review, you already know how the game plays, so I'm not going to waste time explaining it. The biggest flaw in the GBA port of the first Earthworm Jim was the complete lack of a save feature, and that's also the biggest flaw in this game. They did keep the password feature, but it's completely useless due to a glitch. The level passwords you're given never work, and if you want to beat the game, you have to do it in one sitting.

Pros: Same gameplay as original.
Cons: Password feature is useless due to a glitch.

Graphics: The SNES, Genesis, and Saturn versions of this game were gorgeous. Now, we can't expect a GBA game to look as good as a Saturn game, but why does it have to look worse than the 16-bit versions? Oh, that's right. Because it's a bad port job.

Pros: Looks worse than 16-bit versions.
Cons: Still looks good.

Sound/Music: Like the graphics, the music sounds worse than the 16-bit versions. I'd like to say the sound effects sound worse as well, but most of the sound effects are missing. Lame.

Pros: Music sounds worse than 16-bit versions, a lot of sound effects are missing.
Cons: Music still sounds decent.

Play Control/Game Design: Control is a bit slippery compared to the original versions of EWJ2. Having to use a shoulder button for whipping is awkward, and controlling your "snot pack" is almost impossible. Shooting is also very sloppy.

Pros: Very little.
Cons: Awkward whipping and shooting, overall slippery control.

Improve: A password feature that actually works, better graphics, sound, and control.

Recommended if you like: Earthworm Jim.

Final Words: I'm not sure if I can recommend this or not. If you're like me and think Earthworm Jim 2 is one of the best platformers ever and you would love to have it to play on the go, by all means pick it up. Just beware that it's a sloppy port job, and the password feature doesn't work at all.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/04