Level 46 - A Groovy 3D Ego Boost

Welcome to Remember 64, where
this week we get Groovy and 3D.

Welcome to the show everyone.
My name is David Pitrangelo and

I'm just a worm.
A worm who likes to ride pigs, shoot weird guns, whip my head
at weird cows with rocket launchers and super annoying
alien creatures.

Or at least I think that's what
I'm doing.

I think so because this camera
that seems to be following me around won't let me see what the
hell is happening.

This time, of course, I am
joined by Jiggy.

Look back, Sir.
Hello.

There's only one ego for this
job and it's jiggy.

Look back.
Let's go.

Love it, man.
Love it.

If any of that makes sense to
you and there's any kind of clue in your head sort of mulling
around here, you may have guessed that we are playing
Earthworm Jim 3D.

If you are the myth, the the
myth, the legend, the OR I don't know, the the man, the myth, the
legend Earthworm Jim and now in 3D on the Nintendo 64.
If you are watching, if you're watching this version on
YouTube, you'll see that the that the logo has been popped up
beside us.

But Berta, anyone that's
listening?

Yes, Earthworm Jim 3D is what
was next on the docket.

One of the reasons why is
because jiggy yourself.

You went back and took a pretty
deep look at the original 2 games.
Let's talk a little bit about that first, 'cause it kind of
set up the set the stage for things.
And yeah, go for it, man.

What's what was that experience?
So pleasantly awesome.

So I I had limited interaction
with the Earthworm Gym series before this.
I did play.

I remember playing Earthworm Gym
one.

I don't think I ever actually
played two.

Excuse me, but I played one as a
kid on the Genesis and then I had an I had Earthworm Gym on
the Gameboy.

I think it was called A Menace
to the Galaxy.

And that was, that was pretty
cool.

And then I also had Earthworm
Gym 3D.

Now, the thing about every
single one of those games, I did not beat any of them because
they are insanely hard, and I'm happy to say that that tradition
has lived on since the beginning, and Earth Room Gym 3D
succeeds in that regard.

OK, Earth Room Gym One is
probably one of the hardest 2D platformers I have ever played.
It it's wild, man.

It's wild.
I remember as a kid I didn't have it for Super Nintendo, but
I knew or maybe with the maybe they had it for it was out for
Genesis as well, right?

Oh yeah, that's.
What I played it on.

Yeah, OK, so either I played at
a friend's house, I had it on one of the two consoles.
I don't remember.

I definitely rented it because I
was like, this is goofy.

It's a cartoon come to light.
I love this.

You know all that stuff is very
kid friendly with the just the way it looks, whether the
gameplay itself.

It's another story.
But there's no way as a kid, I mean, I don't even remember.
I mean I watched your video and and and when you're, you know,
playing through the games and I was like, I don't even recognize
some of these areas because I don't think I ever reached them.
Ever.

Yeah.
You know, because there's no way

I would have been able to even
now.

I don't like, how did you do it?
How'd you how'd you do it, man?

Like I.
Don't I?

Trial and error.
I literally like this game.

The game's probably about two
hours, I would say.

I don't know, you could probably
look it up.

It's probably somewhere.
In the public right.

Yeah, but it's so Earth from
Jim.

One trial and error, just
literally going through things in the environment.
There's only one thing I had to look up because I was absolutely
just ticked off.

And for my video I did the
Switch Online version.

So that is the Genesis version
for the original and then the

Super Nintendo for the sequel.
OK, OK.

And the Genesis version, on the,
the level down, the tubes, you have to get into like these
submarine things.

And what they don't tell you is
there's this little port that has, like, if you line up
perfectly with it, it shoots oxygen into your tank and it
gives you a lot more time to navigate down these things.
Otherwise, it gives you like 2030 seconds, right.
But it doesn't tell you that.

And it's, it's one of those
things I went past.

I'm like, oh, that looks like
something that could put air in it.
But I tried to, like, maneuver around it and didn't work.
So I was like, OK, so I was using the switch rewind function
over and over and over to try to perfectly run this as fast as
possible to get through the path.
But The thing is, if you hit any wall, it bounces.
It like, ricochets you and it cracks at the same time.
So if you bounce like five or six times, it blows up and you
lose.

So that I finally got to the
point I'm like, I need to look, how do people beat this?
This is impossible.

And then they're like, oh, you
have to oxygenate it with this thing.
I'm like, I tried that and it was like, line it up here.
And I went, lined it up and it did it.
So that's my experience with

Earthworm Jim one.
It's like that the whole game you find just like you have to
pay attention to the background, you have to pay attention to
what's there, and that's what you utilize in some way.
Like, I got stuck in the what the heck level, because there's
a jewel sitting there and it looks like something you can
interact with, but you have to land on it and run and it like,
makes it move and then it like teleports you.
Oh, I know that.

I kind of remember that, yeah.
How would you?

If that hasn't been a mechanic
that was introduced to you in any way whatsoever, or explained
that that's what these gems do, that seems like a ridiculous
thing to even assume like it really does, it's.
Just it's just that it's that whole trial and error and you're
exploring, which I like.

I do like it.
It was really fun.

Overall, I think I gave the
game, oh gosh, what did they give it?
I gave it like a nine out of 10 or an 8 out of 10 or something.
It was pretty high, which is fantastic.
Really.

Like it was hard, but it was
really fun.

I really enjoyed it.
The vibe, the characters, the art, like everything is great.
Doug to Naple did great.

Yeah, I think it's tenapoli.
I don't know what.

Tenap Tenapoli.
I wrote it down I couldn't pronounce.
It.

I had to look it up before I
made my video, so I pronounced it right and now I forgot how to
pronounce it.

But I think it is tenapol
actually.

But moving from earth from gym
one to earth from gym two.

Earth from gym two is much more
balanced much there.

There's a variety of weapons.
The game plays a little bit better overall.
I think the experience in two is everything I liked about the
first one.

Less hard and more fun.
That's so I put it as great.

Step up from that, yeah.
And it's still, it's still challenging.
It's not like it's not challenging.
It's just not stupid hard like the first one was.
Right, right.

So.
It was it was cool.

That's good so.
That one I highly recommend

Earthworm Gym too.
For people that want to dabble in Earthworm gym do too.
Just do too, and so.

Yeah.
Did you have as much trouble go back to one?
Yeah.

Did you have as much trouble
getting through some like segments like I know you said it
wasn't quite as challenging but it was there was still a
challenge there because when I'm looking up like you're saying
that like the gem thing is perfect example of that all this
trial, was there as much trial and error into or is that one of
the reasons why it was like more fun?
No, there wasn't.

I mean there's like, there's an
element of puzzle solving, OK, but not not like we're you're
unclear of where to go.

Like in Earth from Gym one, you
know, you never you might have had those moments where you had
to explore a little bit more, you had to really think outside
the box, but you never had those moments in one where you're just
like, frustrated.

Like, where what am I missing?
You're running in circles and yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

And I had that constantly in one
and two.

I I don't think I had it at all.
But I I love two.

Like two was so much fun.
And then coming off that, I was like, man, I'm going to make a
video 3.

And I really want to play this.
Like, I never beat this as a child.
I never beat this.

And I want to do it.
I want to do it.

And so when you're like, what
game should we play?

I'm like, I know what we should
play.

I'm on an earth from Jim high.
Let's do three and let's do it.

And you know.
What I said this is one of the games that I have 0 experience
with.

I just know it exists.
That's it.

I've seen the two different or
three different covers that they released in Europe and North
America and I was like, I know what this game is, but I never
put any hands on it.

So if anyone wants it, yeah.
And then as a kid I can imagine it would.
It would be difficult, which we'll get into.
I never got.

Past the second boss.
Second boss.

Yeah, that's fair.
That's totally fair.

I I would probably remember that
too.

What We'll talk about the boss.
The bosses will be a a decent part of this discussion.
I I assure you everyone.

So if anyone wants to play those
those two and wants to watch your video first, if you want to
play through them first

Earthworm Jim on how long to
beat Completionist which is I guess getting everything five
hours.

So that's the extreme level of
it.

So you know four probably on
average and then for two it's about 4 1/2.
So they're not hugely long games, which for games that were
on Genesis and SNES kind of makes sense that that that's
sort of the average earth room gym 3D.
If anyone wants to get into it and wants to get the sort of
middle of the line main plus extras, which is also like well,
again we'll get into it soon pretty much completing the
entire game every last little bit of it is about 12 hours.
So that's the average what people have have put in how long
to beat to say this is what it took me to do this so
significant difference three times different across of which
it's the N64, it's a new console, it's a new type of
game.

It's really not the same type of
game at all I would say, at least from my memory anyway.
So that's just to see where we are as far as how things are
going here with with these games, but.
I want to say something, and I want to say this Right now,
Earthworm Jim 3D has a fatal flaw.
A fatal sin, if you will.

A sin that is unforgivable.
OK, but it's not what you think.

It's probably not what you hear
and I will save it till the end.

Oh, wow.
So.

Stay tuned.
All of that is to say that you'll save it to the end.
Yes.

Oh my God.
All right.

I will not say it until the end.
Wow.

OK.
Tease.

Tease ahead or what?
My God.

OK.
So I'm going to do a little bit of history with the game.
And that means we will pull up the sound board because of
course we will.

And that is.
I'm learning.

Yeah, that's right, everybody.
We're going back.

We're busting out the history
books.

I'm going to do this again
because I just want to hear it again and do it properly.
Let's bust out the history books, everyone.
I'm learning.

We're going to November of 1999,
all right?

And we're going to and we're
also going to Eat Cow, which is funny.
I think I heard that once or twice in this game.
Or maybe it was just in the trailer, but the Eat Cow was
actually from from the.

I think it was from Sculptor's
cut from Clay Fighter.

I think it was from Sculptor's
Cut.

I can't remember which one's
which one's he in again, I don't know.
I kind of kind of blanked it out in my mind.
He's in both.

He's in.
Both.

He was in both.
That's right.

Yes.
Oh my God, that game.

This game is just my mind is.
Too much?

Too much, too much Earthworm
Jim.

Especially for you?
Okay so.

I love Earthworm Jim.
Earthworm Jim 3D began shortly after Earthworm Jim 2.
The development for it and what

I wrote here, was that the game
had a drawn out development cycle.
So much though that at times it was believed it would become
vaporware.

Which anyone, if anyone doesn't
know what that is in the sort of development cycle and gaming
world, it basically means it would just disappear.
Poof, poof.

Everyone would stop working on
it.

The assets would pretty much be
erased or however that would happen at that time and it would
just basically be never heard of or seen again.
So little would have been worked on it.
At some points that maybe, you know, there's nothing to even
save anyway other than a few code lines or something.
It was initially going to be coming out for the PlayStation
as well, but in early 991997, which I think was just a few
months into development, that went by the wayside and they
said this is strictly going to be a Nintendo 64 game now.
One of the things that I want to definitely make sure we're we're
talking about here is that the original two were made by is it
shiny entertainment?

Is that?
The right shiny entertainment.

Shiny Entertainment made the 1st
2:00 and they were purchased by

Interplay.
Interplay was a pretty big company in the mid to late 90s
as far as you know, purchasing studios and developers and
mostly a publisher.

I would say if you look up their
games, we definitely played a few of them and will continue to
do that.

But they they purchased Shiny
within that process.

Interestingly enough, Shiny said
I don't want to make any more sequels.
They were just not in the mood to make sequels anymore.
So that on top of now being owned by someone else, someone
new came in and created it.

Now my question to you is we'll
get into the details obviously.

Do you think if Shiny made this
game it would at least feel different?
I don't know what it would play like.
It's hard to say.

But like with the tone, with the
characters, things like that, 'cause that's like you said, the
look of things in the first two, that's a big draw to Earth Room
Jim.

Just the the the sort of
attitude of it, the humor of it.

That's one of the reasons why
Earth Room Jim is so popular, I think.
I don't know.

Hey, let me tell you I I think
this game has a lot of those elements.
I actually that's one of the redeeming qualities.
I actually think they got the character of Earth Room Jim.
The animations like some of the things, like even the way he
climbs on the ropes and the way he like pulls himself up.
It's straight up ripped from the other two games.
They translated it pretty well.

I think maybe the world's aren't
as.

Well realized.
They they they aren't.

They aren't all equal.
I think there's some worlds that do a pretty good job of
capturing an earthworm Jim cartoony, esque feel.
But then there's some worlds that are really big and just
empty, and even though they're not inherently bad, they're just
they're just empty, right?

Right.
There's not much to them, right?

But I it's one of those things I
was pleased with and I think the

TV show might have come out
before this.

Yes, it did.
It came out two years before this because this the
development of this.

One of the reasons why I wanted
to really make sure I mentioned the development of is because it
started to to be developed just before the show.
It was like the the sort of character aesthetics and and the
voice lines and and sort of some of the some of the enemies and
stuff we're supposed to be coming from the cartoon.
But it took so long and it was such a disaster to create this
game that it came out two years when from when the show began
and the show didn't run that long anyways.
So it was kind of like kind of felt like a not an afterthought.
But they the development did not go well enough for it to be, you
know, a sort of shoulder to shoulder release or even close
to that to the show.

What's?
It's interesting because I I put out a little tweet that we were
playing this game and I was excited about it and I was like,
yeah, yeah, you know, Earthworm

Jim 3D and.
People's work.

Is that what your tweets are?
Blah blah blah.

Blah blah.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah earthworm Jim.
Yeah, and people were kind of surprisingly.
I expected everybody to be kind of just negative because this
game has a reputation for being bad.
But everybody was kind of mixed, like some people were like, oh,
I really got, I want to go back and finish this game.
It's just really hard, which is a sentiment I heard over and
over and over.

But a lot, like some people said
that it took too much inspiration from the cartoon,
which I thought was interesting because I like the cartoon.
And I I mean, as a kid, I'm not,

I haven't watched it recently.
I don't know how well it holds up, but I like the cartoon and I
liked the aesthetic of it and I thought it was pretty Earthworm
Jim.

And the voice of Earthworm Jim
is the same guy that voices

Homer Simpson.
Right.

Right.
So you get a lot of oil or whatever, Whatever.
It is.

But it's it's good.
I mean I think the overall like aesthetic animations, especially
if Jim himself were right on, right on for the money, like
even his movement, the way he runs, the way he jumps the roll,
it's just it's very it feels

Earthworm Jim.
So I'm I'm happy to say that's a that's a good thing they nailed.
Yeah, I I think that's part of it too.
I asked that question previously just because I was like do you
think that would matter?

I I I think if the developers
which was VIS entertainment did anything correctly or did you
know not anything correctly because it's not all terrible.
But if they did end up doing something right or or top of the
list of what they did right was most of of that characterization
of of Jim himself.

I would say I think that's
that's fair to say and I.

Mean playing right now?
This is straight up from Earth from Jim Two.
There's segments where you inflate your head and fly up,
and that's ripped right from that.
And it It's Earth.

It's there.
It's Earth Room Gym.

It is.
It is the creepiest representation of him in this
entire game.

It looks so weird.
It looks his head the way that they animate his head.
Look, there's only so much you can do.
I understand that, you know, But

Oh my God, does it look like,
like a like a clown?

Like it looks like if you're
scared of clowns, you'll be scared of this.
It's that kind of feel.

It's some sort of like this
underlying creep to it.

I don't really understand it,
but yeah, so VIS Entertainment made this game.
They did a decent job with that part.
Like we're saying, they also have an N64 game as well.
It is the Tom and Jerry in Fists of Fury, so that's a game that
we'll hit at some point.

So they also made that game,
which is sort of like a mini fighting game of Tom and Jerry
from what it's.

Like that Powerpuffs game, too,
Powerpuff Girls.

Oh, is it OK?
It's OK, yeah.

It's like AI don't know how you
like a 3D beat em up.

It's not quite a fighting game,
but it's like a OK you're in a room and you throw stuff at each
other and.

I've I've seen a couple of
videos on the screen, it's like, oh you're in the kitchen and
you're like throwing pots and pans at each other and stuff
which, you know, it sounds like a charming idea.
So I I you know I'm interested at.
Least.

So there's some charm.
The Powerpuff Girls one was pretty fun, actually.
OK, if I remember it, yeah.

I mean, it's not good, but it's
not like, you know, it's just it's such a goofy concept.
You're like, yeah, OK.

Yeah, right.
It it like you can do something with it, right?
Yeah.

Multiplayer.
Yeah.

So what else was I going to say?
Oh, so before we get into like the game itself, more
specifically, I want to say that the series designer David Perry.
And what was the other guy's name?
It was Doug 10.

Doug Tenapple.
Tenapple Tenapel.

What?
Yeah.

I'm pretty sure it's tenapple.
Tenapple.

Yeah, that's.
Either tenaple or tenapple.

It's one of the two.
Pick your poison.

Caramel.
Caramel.

I don't know.
Yeah, right.

Tomato, tomato.
Yeah.

OK, so David Perry was the
series designer.

He sold the rights to to the
company or to the to the the rights of her throne gym and
then they were sort of able to do whatever they wanted to hear,
which is why some of the reasons why the cartoon looks a little
different and why the game looks a little different.
It just is what it is.

In an interview from 2005, the
two of them both said that they went to VIS to talk to the
company and sort of like almost like, I don't know if they were
consultants didn't say that, but they spoke to them and they said
they were very disappointed with the way things looked in this.
So I think that, yeah, that sets the stage for the rest of our
discussion with Earthworm Gym 3D

Jiggy, I'll go to you first,
overall thoughts without going into sort of like major details
and then we'll sort of breakdown aspects of the game.
What did you think of Earthworm

Gym 3D?
So better than I thought I would.
OK.

So I I went in with this,
remembering it was stupid, hard remembering sort of the the base
gameplay and everything.

And I expected it to be bad, I
guess.

Like, not horrible.
Like, it's playable, But I expected it to be really bad,
and maybe it's because that's.

Also, what you heard too, right?
You've been hearing that since you were younger, too, Yeah?
Yeah, but maybe it's because I was playing the other Earthworm
gym games that I was playing this and underneath, like, I
acknowledged that things got frustrating right there.
There's a lot of stuff that are that is wrong with this game.
But underneath I was having fun.

There was something about this
game that I was like, there's there's some solid gameplay
going on here when things are working right, you know?
Which makes me sad because I wanted it to feel like that the
whole, you know, I wanted to enjoy every moment.
But it's it's hard sometimes.

So it's like, I want to love you
and you show me these little glimmers, but then you just, you
know, it's like.

It's not all there.
It's not all there.

It's not all there.
I I I think I'm on the same page.
I honestly, I think the overall broad feeling for me is that I
think most of the time the personality of Earthworm Gym
works.

Or you could have times like
this when I'm playing and I'm trying to shoot this guy in a
ledge and I'm just like, why is this impossible?
Like stupid little.

It's probably just me, probably
just me, not really reading what the physics are supposed to be,
whatever.

But when I say I also think this
game feels almost like a beta run or like it's it's not
finished.

It feels like it's maybe 80%
complete and they still had to do things like add some things
to the world, fine tune some gameplay mechanics, but they
were like forced to push it out.

It's giving that vibe.
Even though they were not forced because it took forever for them
to make it.

Yeah, I.
Hear you.

It's the vibe.
It gets it.

You're right.
It just feels unfinished, yeah.

It does, it does.
And and you know what, there's a many aspects as to why it feels
that way.

I think unfortunately a lot of
the gameplay feels annoying because of, I I don't know, it's
not the weapons.

The weapons in Earther and Jim
are always kind of charming and fun and goofy.
I I don't mind that.

But there's aspects like this
moment that I'm playing if you're watching the YouTube
version, where like little things like the bullets are so
small that some of the enemies are shooting at you that you
can't even see them.

So how am I supposed to avoid
it?

Like, I just can tell you
biggest.

Like, one of the biggest
problems with this game is the enemy AI.
When it shoots at you, it's nearly impossible to dodge.
You can dodge, in fact, it you you naturally feel like you want
to run, or you want to jump, or you want to do something.
No, that doesn't work.

The enemy bullet will home in on
you no matter what you do.

The only way to dodge it is to
tap B and duck.

The The worst.
The worst, yeah.

And and and some of the bullets
don't home in on you.

Like there are definitely a few
that do.

And those are obviously the
worst culprits for sure.

But yeah, even the one that ones
that don't, you're just like, wait, how did that thing even
hit me?

Where did that thing come from?
You have to press B in order to dodge under them or to dodge to
the side of.

It's the only way you can do it.
And it's just it doesn't it doesn't make sense.
It needs to be said the bats in the horror worlds are the worst
culprit of this.

That's exactly what I was going
to say.

They are.
It's it's, I don't know that I I don't think I have a video of
it.

I don't think I was recording
when I played that level, but I don't know if I ever dodged
those at all because.

It's very hard I.
Don't.

Do you have to, like, make them
run into a wall or something?

It's.
No, you have to literally just time your duck at the precise
time because they will shoot at you and it homes in so fast and
it's it almost will like so if you run and it shoots at you and
you somehow get by, it will literally turn coarse and come
back and hit you.

It's like that level of home.
Or you jump off a you jump off a a a a a set of stairs.
You you sort of jump off like a

Cliff kind of thing it.
Follows you down, Yeah, it follows you.
It goes faster.

It like and the and the worst
part is those enemies, you can beat them.
Yeah, right.

They're not hard to beat, but
when you beat them, they spawn back really fast.
Yeah, yeah, you.

Walk back in that same area like
2 like a minute later and they're back.
They're back.

They're back fully.
There's a couple points to where, or at least one point
where you have to defeat all of them in order to like open a
door and stuff, which is a common mechanic.
Totally fine.

I'm OK with that part.
But then there's like two or three of them coming at you and
they take off like, you know, 10% each time you get hit.
And it's like, this is ridiculous and you have only a
certain amount of lives.

It's just those parts of the
game are why I think it's still fails.
But it's I I didn't completely dislike my time at the game
either.

Like I don't think that it is
the worst game.

I don't think it is a absolutely
terrible 3D experience.

It is just there's aspects of it
that just don't really make sense.
The AI of it is kind of ridiculous.
It's.

Unforgiving.
It's so unforgiving, but then there's aspects.
There's some aspects where I I can't remember which stage it
was specifically where it's a lot of traversal it was, it was
pretty simple traversal where you're going through like
bookcases and stuff that's in like a haunted house or
something like.

That, Oh yeah, poltergeist
poltergeist.

Yeah, the poltergeist one.
I thought that was kind of fun because like, oh, this is a cool
environment.

You're you're going, you're
travelling through like this giant library essentially.
The traversal is not amazing but

I was like, there's no annoying
enemies that are swarming at me.

I'm able to sort of figure out
what I need to do defeat a couple enemies on my way up to
the up the tower sort of speak and that that's what this game
should have been is is more of that and less of these stupid
annoying aliens that don't shut up and home in on you with their
bullets and have these stages.

Like, I hated this level, this
stage, which I think was one of the first few.
Anyways, I couldn't stand it.

It was just like there's a
trapped Elvis.

That makes no fucking sense.
There's.

OK, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, Put the Elvis.

I don't like what they did with
him, but he himself is pretty funny.
He literally, when he's walking down the hallway, all he says is
I'm the king.

I'm the king, yeah, I'm the
King.

And it made me laugh like I have
a.

Video Yeah.
This is the video I have of it too.
Yeah.

So he's just like, he kind of
walks like he looks, he looks fun, like he looks funny, he's,
he's got, you know, the voice and stuff.
I I can't remember when you start the level he's like.
So I bet you hated this.

This this part what this is my
my my first and only playthrough of this part I was I did it in
two shots.

I think maybe 3.
Yeah.

It wasn't, did you?
It wasn't great, but I didn't hate it.
I actually didn't hate it because I knew what I needed to
do.

This this particularly reminded
me it's it's it's a call back to a level in earth from gym one
for Pete's sake.

OK where you have he goes along
the pathway and you have to whip him so he jumps jumps and you
have to protect him from other things.
Right.

So this was a very earth from
gym thing I didn't think it was very fun but I was like yeah OK
it makes sense that it's there right.
Right.

I that's OK would get.
I'm one of those people that gets antsy I could not be
patient So I'm like I hit him too soon several times even
though I acknowledge that I know

I'm hitting him too soon.
I'm like Oh no why did I do that like before like as I'm hitting
the button But it's yeah it's really not that hard.
It's not very long either, and it's kind of funny the end
result so.

Yeah, the end result is kind of
it.

So I think, I think the reason
why I made it through if you're if if you see this video and as
you're watching it jiggy as as I play it here, the enemy AI did
not respond to me going around the corner so I could shoot them
without them having to shoot him.
So I was able to move ahead a few steps, shoot them without
them really causing any problems, and then just focus on
just whipping him over the corners that you need to make
him jump.

And because I was playing with
headphones, so I would, I don't know if it's just because of
headphones, but I could hear that they were just around the
corner.

Oh nice.
So I would just shoot.

I didn't expect them to be
there.

I would shoot around the corner
and hope my bullets bounce off the wall to hit them.
And sometimes it did and then I would clear the enemies, and I
think that's why.

So not only the enemies annoying
sometimes, there's sometimes very stupid.
So it's yeah, it's weird.

Yeah, very inconsistent.
It didn't.

Really depends on what you're
doing.

Depends on the level, Depends on
what you're doing.

I I I don't know I I think that
like largely I think I was OK with this game but but I think
there's a lot of elements that like we said I just don't I
don't quite understand So let let's talk about the sort of
it's it's sort of a collect a thon I guess you could call it
like there are a lot of things you need to collect.
So if we want to compare it to a series that we really enjoy,
Banjo Kazooie, for example, there are the Jiggies that you
collect, which are sort of like the quote UN quote main items
that you collect that allow you to.
In this, it's a cow.

Utter.
Golden Cow uter.

Golden Cow utters.
It's funny, you know.

I get it.
It's Earth from Jam.

It's goofy.
And then there are there is the setting of this game, which is
Earth from Jam has lost his marbles.
So he's gone crazy.

He's.
Lost in a coma I think, right?

He's in a coma and you are in
his head as Earthworm Jim collecting his marbles.
Comparatively to to Banjo

Kazooie and Banjo Tooie it is
instead of the musical notes you are getting his marbles, there
are 100 a hundred per stage.

You need to get a certain amount
of them in order to get to a certain like status, which are
all goofy names that they that they come up with, which I I
appreciated that part.

Of it?
You're as smart as a spoon or something stupid like that.
I don't.

I don't know if that's an
actual.

One, but yeah, just random
stuff, which I thought was fun.

It's like, oh this it pops up
and oh, you need to be as smart as a spoon or whatever it was in
order to unlock this area.

I was like, OK, I get that.
So yeah, so there's a hundred in each area and those are the
things you're collecting and and that's it.
Certain amount of them to get to the next stage or next area of
stages, yeah, and there are a number of different worlds that
you end up going.

Through as well I just want to
say so the thing the thing about

Earthworm Jim is he has four
brains.

OK right so he has four brains.
Being an earthworm he you play as his super ego is what it
says.

So you're his ego inside his
head, and you're going into each one of his brains and defeating
a boss within that brain.

That's causing an issue.
And so each one, the first one is memory, the second one is
happiness, the third one is fear, and the last one is
fantasy.

So there's sort of emotions, but
then they throw memory and fantasies, so they throw that
out the window.

So it's a little confusing, but
I guess that's what each one of his brains handles, and there's
not room for anything else.

And no room for anything else.
So I like, I I like that set up.

I, you know as as ridiculous as
it is.

So what.
It's Earth Room gym.

It's supposed to be funny.
It's supposed to be ridiculous.

So I like that you know and and
it also gives you an excuse to go into different areas and
worlds if you want to call them that and do something goofy with
what happiness is or what fear is.
You know fear has like a horror type theme to it and stuff makes
sense.

Yeah, it seems kind of simple,
but I think it makes sense.

At least you're going to an area
that feels different.

So I like that.
Yeah, there's there's a There's a certain It sucks because.
Yeah, it's great, but it sucks.

Well, is it not?
It sucks because these worlds, like, they have so much charm to
them.

Yes, they really draw you in
with every individual world.

It's like wow, I love what
they're going for, but they just have some way that they they
they muck it up.

It's just like the so the first
the first world, it's it's themed like military and it's
the chickens, it's the chickens versus the bovines, which are
cows.

And it's pretty funny.
I mean, the first the first

World is definitely, probably my
least favorite in the whole game.
Maybe, maybe not my least favorite, but it's it's just
really UN like I was going to say unforgettable, unmemorable.
It's very forgettable.

Like once you're past it, I
didn't think about it at all until just now.
And I'm like, yeah, it was just kind of like green boxes and
empty and bland and boring.

It was definitely the most bland
one for sure.

Yeah, you're going room to room
and it's like they tried to give you an element of like you're in
the hen house kind of a deal and it it's like once you meet a
character like oh cool, there's something here, but otherwise
it's kind of boring.

The second level I think is a
little bit better.

It definitely has more
character.

You're outside, you have to go
into the cows like facility and get the cleaver, which is the
best weapon in the game and you slice them up and that is dope.
That's I love that.

I didn't expect, like I I I used
it like usually when I picked up a new weapon or or whatever.
You know got a new weapon out of the vending machine thing.
I was I I pressed it a couple times just to try it and see
what it did.

I was like oh cool.
It kind of you know does the spin and and boomerangs back to
you.

Oh there you go.
As smart as a spleen.

That's one of the early ones.
So like does it make any sense?

No.
But who cares.

So that's an example of what it
is.

So I did the the cleaver thing
is was interested.

I was like oh cool.
I kind of like boomerangs back.

I like that idea.
That's kind of fun.

And then, yeah.
And then you go up to the the bovines of the cows and it just
slices their head off.

And I was like, whoa, I did not
expect that.

It's very satisfying, very.
It's it's one of those moments you're like, yeah, that's fun.
Yeah, like, I like that.

It was good, Yeah, that.
Was I think the the thing about

Earth from Jim, he has so he has
his base weapon, his ray gun, right.
Yeah.

And it it functions just like it
would in the other Earth from

Jim's.
It just shoots really fast.

It's like kind of a short range,
hits fast.

It's it's mid range.
I'd say not short range, but mid range.
Yeah, but.

It's very, it's very weak, just
like it.

Like some enemies will die in in
in two hits of a whip of your head, other ones and and those
those same ones will take 100 bullets or something.
It's it's kind of weird.

I don't know.
That's just me.

But anyway, sorry, continue.
Yeah, well, I was just going to say you have the whip too, which
is you take your head out and use it as a whip, just like
classic or through gym.

So it's very faithful to that.
You have a a Crouch and a super jump and you have a new role
mechanic, which I almost like people that hear me talk
compulsive form of movement in a game.
Oh yeah, I really wanted it to be the role, but it just, it
wasn't quite nailing it.

It wasn't it.
It's kind of slow.

It's like sometimes it would be
my form of movement, my preferred one.
But I found myself just jumping a lot and like doing the little
helicopter, which doesn't work like it does in the old Earth
from gym games.

The old Earth from gym games.
Well, I guess one, because in two you don't have the copter,
but in the first one you use your head as a copter and you
could keep tapping the button and it would keep coptering as
you fall.

And this is just a single jump
with with a brief copter.

It's a it's a very simple or
small double jump it.

It doesn't elevate you any
higher, but it's it does help you a little bit on some of the
the jumping stuff and sometimes it's completely necessary.
So it could save you 100%, and it definitely did for me
sometimes, but it's not, it's not enough.
I feel like it should last a little bit longer.
I think they're trying to give him a little bit of weight.
I think is what they're trying to do with that, where it's
like, oh, don't rely on it too much or anything like that, but
I I think it needed a little bit more.
Yeah, so you're traversing all these with just that, those
basic moves?

Yeah, yeah, That's.
That's it.

And you don't really, do you?
I don't.

You don't learn anything else,
do you?

I don't think.
Nope.

You don't learn anything else
other than you get different weapons in pretty much every
stage, and some of the weapons are created, but I mean at the
end of the day they just kind of do the same thing.
For the most part, The Cleaver is really the only one that
feels truly unique.

Yeah, that one.
And the one in the alien level, where bounces off walls is, you
know, it's fun.

Yeah, it feels like gives you a
little something.

It's a little the chicken.
The chicken one is just it's kind of a sniper mode and it
shoots, it's funny, it shoots an egg, but they go quick.
And then I guess they do home in an enemies too, but there's a
mushroom that functions pretty much the same way, right?
First level, right, There's a the groovy gun in the horror
ones.

That's like a she she she's
musical notes.

Yeah.
At like speakers for some I I don't know.
Whatever.

I guess speakers are not immune
to music.

I don't know what that.
I don't know why.

Yeah, I oh, there's rocket
missiles that are they just look like rockets, but they're pretty
much the same as the eggs.

Yeah, they don't, they don't do
anything special.

They just they put they, I think
maybe they're stronger, maybe against some enemies, but that's
about it.

Again, I think the personality
of these weapons of these areas and stuff, it's there.
It just still feels a little bit not fully cooked, if that's the
right way to say it.

You know, like there's something
about it where I get I see the idea, it's a fun idea.
The execution doesn't feel like it's fully there.
Unfortunately, and I think, I think the main thing, it's the
levels for me, 'cause they're just so they're so bland.
Like the one that you're playing right now, which is the cheese
world.

Yeah, it's early.
It's the second or third place you can go into.
I'd actually say it's arguably one of the better ones because
it's it's got a lot to do like the other half that you were
just in where with Elvis is not good.
Yeah, that's the one I didn't like.
Yeah.

That's that's the one that's
bad, This one the other half where you're exploring Lord of
the Fries, that's.

Oh, that's what it is.
And it's just got.

It's got charm.
It's got kind of a lot of stuff to do and the thing I noticed
why I think I like this one better.
I won't say it's inherently much smaller, but it feels smaller
and denser, OK, which I think would probably help a lot of the
other levels because there's a there's a lot of levels.
The the worst levels, in my opinion, are the last two.
I agree.

Total.
I totally agree.

The the last two are western
themed.

In the fantasy world they are so
big and so empty.

You have to go one section to
another section to another section to another section to
another section and there's not much in between.
And they constantly make you slow with rope climbing
constantly.

And rope climbing in itself
isn't bad.

It's just every single section
has its own rope climbing segment.
And you have to fight these stupid guys that pop out of
Porta potty that are a funny enemy.
You want to like them, but they make you fight the same enemy
like 15 times and you it's just the same rinse and repeat thing.
It's not hard, it's not difficult.
It's just tedious and.

I that that doesn't, that
doesn't.

It's not a recipe.
Yeah it's not recipe for fun.

It's just an excuse to do
something.

Yeah, I'm like that, doesn't
it's?

That's not how.
That's not what fun is like.

Just 'cause you're doing
something doesn't mean it's fun.

Yeah, it's so disappointing
because you get these glimpses of, wow, this game play is
actually pretty fun.

It's simple, but it's fun.
And like you get a bunch.

Like you get the cleaver, you
get a bunch of the cow enemies coming at you and you're
rolling, you're ducking, you're you're shooting them out.
I'm like, that was great, That was great.
And then they just can't.

They can't capture that again.
It's it's weird, right?

Because what you're saying is
absolutely true.

I'm, I'm on, I'm on the same
page.

There's something about like
when there's an open space and there's not much to do sort of
in any game really.

It's almost like, oh, it's too
simple, right?

But there's something about the
simplicity of the areas that are a little bit more dense that
makes this the these areas like we're watching right now in the
first, like I would say third of the game that make those stages
better like.

Yeah.
Like it doesn't have to be overly complex, but it but even
if it's just there's this really strange balance that they just
don't quite hit.

And I think that's the from
start to finish it's there.

There's a couple levels, like
you said, like we both, we agree the glimpses are there, but as
far as all the way through, I think maybe you get that about
half or a third of the way through this game or or in a
third or half of this game, you get that the rest of the way.
It just feels annoying sometimes.
And you know, I I got a handle on some of the mechanics in the
game.

I got a handle on how to
traverse a little bit better, but then it'll throw an element
at you like a traversal section or a bunch of enemies where it's
like, well, so how do I how do I use what I've learned and
perfected in this way?

This level, this stage or this
area of this stage feels completely ridiculous.
I'm at a part part right now that I this is doesn't make any
sense to me where you have to defeat a couple of enemies.
Maybe I did something wrong.

I don't know.
You have to defeat a couple of enemies that's holding a key
card to get into the next area.

Great.
I defeated those robots.

I got the key card, but to get
to the door of that area I I needed to do what I did in a
very specific order that I didn't know I needed to do.
Yes, yes, and I think I had to look it up.
I don't recall exactly if this is a particular area that I have
to look it up, but it made no sense.
It made no sense.

It I agree, I did the exact same
thing.

The only difference is I did not
look it up.

I came up with a creative
solution.

OK.
So.

And my creative solution was the
gap from the one area that you can stand on to the other was
smaller than the gap between that little can and the area
you're standing on.

So I went in, just took a hit
tank to hit and it bounced me out over to the other side.
So I I did that in some elements too.
So I think we were probably had a similar similar idea.
I just couldn't quite pull it off.
Maybe is what it was.

So and this and and another area
that does a very similar thing is this one stage where again,
if you're watching the video version, you can see it.
You pick up these cans that make

Jim fart funny.
Like, I mean, it's funny for the first, like it's awesome four
times and then after that I'm like, OK, I'm done here in
farts.

But I I could listen to the
farts.

They didn't bother me.
I I actually I enjoyed this part.
I I I think I did this.

Challenging.
It was I think I did this like 8 * I it I fucking lost it at one
point.

I'm like I I don't understand.
I know I have to do this and I think I think if this video that
I'm playing right now it gets it.
I don't even know if this was a successful run to me but I think
I ended up this was the last one

I needed in this area.
So I'm like I need to get it.

Like I know I need this I I know
I can do.

I've done everything else I can
do this and then at one point I try and do a shortcut.
It's like this really long traversal section.
I do a shortcut and I make the jump and again if you're
watching right now, the camera gets stuck and I cannot move the
camera so I could see where I am.
It would not let me move from this area unless I went to a
first person view and I was not able to take that shortcut.
The camera in the game got completely confused.
Second biggest sin?

The camera.
The camera is absolutely what we have to talk about because you
can control it with the C buttons left and right.
I there's only one part of it that that worked for me.
It didn't always work, which is why it's frustrating.
But the camera gets stuck so much on the on the environment.
And not only does it get stuck on the environment, but it gets
in the way of Earthworm Jim.

If you are in a tight space and
the camera's in front of his face, he will literally walk
into the camera and the camera as is, as as if it's a wall.
Like there's an actual physical camera in front of him.
And you have to find a way to turn the camera around him,
which sometimes in those spots is not possible.
And it's just like.

Bro, this exact stage.
I also had a major camera issue.

It was thankfully at the bottom,
but I was trying to get marbles on one of the lower platforms.
Yep.

And I shot up.
The camera swooped under so I could see Earthworm Jim, like,
through the grates.

I can move them around.
It refused to let me collect the marbles like I was on them.
It wouldn't let me collect them.

And I was like, what the heck?
What is going on?

It just wouldn't let me.
And then I felt I, like, ran off the platform, purposely redid
it, The camera was fine.

And then I collected them.
I was like, wow, that was so dumb.
But this camera, because it it's so it's so annoying because
there's moments where it works.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

And then you for every moment it
works, you get 2 that don't.

And then you get really
frustrated and then it's like, well, hey, I'm going to work now
and then you're happy.

And then it it it does it again.
It's just so it it constantly wants to get close to Jim, OK?
And they give you the option of a close zoom, a medium zoom, a a
long like far away zoom.

And I'm like fantastic.
I'm never going to use any of the zooms except for the long
one. 100% it's like there's no reason.
By default, I'm always pressing down C in order to make it the
furthest away.

And it feels like every room it
wants to push it back in by you.

Yeah I think well I think when
you enter a new area that the game quote UN quote has to load
it goes back to the default which I think is the medium
range one which in some levels

OK maybe if you forget or what I
OK it's manageable.

But yeah, you need, you pretty
much need to, to do the furthest away it is.
Again, at times it works.

And the only thing that I think
that this game does smart, which not every 3D game of this era
does, is if you I think it's when you hold on to the R
button, the camera will be behind gym constantly.
I like that because that feels like, yeah, 'cause it feels like
a 3D action game as close as it can to a more modern feel.
And sometimes it works and it's great, but it doesn't always let
you do it.

And it's not perfect because the
camera still gets stuck on a bunch of stuff, so.
It's almost like when you get to about 3/4 into the game, like
the Third world, you really kind of master the camera and it's
it's a combination of switching your views and hitting the R
button.

It's it's you've naturally feel
this like way to maneuver it.

You're like, OK, I know I'm
going to need a little bit more.

I'm going to zoom out a bit.
Oh, I know it's going to be wonky around this corner, so I'm
going to hold R while it so it locks in.
You know, it's personality.

Yeah, you figure it out and it
becomes its own character you have to control.
Yeah.

Like, but yeah.
It's just I I think a camera in this era is difficult.
It it was for a very long time.

It's not perfect in most 3D
action games and and platformers and collect the thongs and
stuff.

I I totally get it.
You know some work, some don't but it doesn't need to be its
own mechanic.

It just should just be like it's
lit like you're saying.

The way you're describing it
sounds like a gameplay mechanic, and it shouldn't be right.
It should just be A at least mostly functional part of how
you traverse, and most of the time it doesn't feel like that's
what it is.

So.
Nobody would say in Mario 64, oh, I can't control the camera.
Oh, it's being weird here, like it's just natural.
And they did such a good job of the way you feel it.
Same with Banjo Kazooie.

You just feel it right.
You feel it and it and it and it works the way that you assume it
would, you know, yeah.

And that is, that's good.
That's just good design.

That's what that is, right?
That's just good design.

So.
And it's like Jim sometimes feels good.
Yeah.

And then it frustrates you,
Yeah.

And then it frustrates you.
And I think the Segway, the most frustrating parts, No, this is
not the fatal sin.

Not yet.
We're getting there.

OK, I'm so I thought this was.
I thought this was what it was going to be.
But I thought you.

I knew you thought it was going
to be the boss fights.

OK, it's not the boss fights.
That's not the fatal sin.

I'm literally OK.
I'm shifting to my seat.

I'm literally at the edge of my
seat now, so let's.

Let's talk about the boss.
Fights.

We're going to talk about the
boss fights.

So the boss fights are one in
each world or each part of Jim's mind, and they're all enemies.
Some, well, some of them are enemies that you've seen before,
like like the one I'm showing right now.
He is.

What's his name?
I was.

I was.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

OK, so here I'm going to bail
you out here.

Please.
So all of the enemies are classic earthworm gym enemies
you have.

Psycho is the first one,
surprisingly not the main one.

I know when he came up first I
was like are we facing him like 7 times like?
Yeah, I thought.

I thought he was going to be a
repeat.

But no, it's him.
And then you get Fatty Roswell, the alien.
You get Professor Monkey for a head.
Yep.

And.
And.

Bob the goldfish and #4, which
is his cat.

He literally rides the cat in
the mud.

And then there's a a final boss.
Have you gotten this?

Did you get this?
Nope.

OK, I didn't either.
I know what it is.

I knew what it was before, OK?
And I didn't get it for a very particular reason that is going
off of the fatal sin.

But the final boss is actually
Earthworm Kim, which is Jim's feminine side trying to take
over the body.

And so you have, Yeah, it's
really funny.

It, Oh my God, I don't know,
comes out on a pig and it's just

Earthworm Jim with like, a
blonde wig.

OK, I so again I I'm going to,
I'm going to pull up.

I found a video earlier that had
all the boss fights on it.

So I'm going to pull that up and
I'm definitely going to watch that while we talk about it.
We're definitely going to pull it up.
So the the OK, so just to describe very briefly what the
mechanic of the boss fights is, is that you are riding around on
a pig for example, on some of them at least, and using it
basically as a skateboard.

You're on a you're on a pig in
all of them.

Is it all?
Is it a pig in all of them?

Oh, I don't know why I.
Thought Yeah, you're literally, you're literally riding a pig in
mud on all of them.

Yeah, And it's very slippery.
It's very awkward.

It moves forward on its own.
You don't have to press anything to move forward.
It's it's a horrible boss design

I like.
If this was a mini game it would have been fine, but they
literally rinse and repeat this for every single boss and it's
it actually gets easier.

I'm not going to lie.
Oh, I thought the second one was the worst.
I thought the.

Second boss is the hardest.
It gets easier.

The third boss, Professor Monkey
for a head, I think his his level layout, it's it's
different, right?

And so the first two are very
similar, yeah.

But the third level is different
and it just feels easier to connect and get the marbles.
And I think a lot of that has to do with there's hills on the 1st
2 and when you hit those hills, you go flying up in the air.
It's it's very frustrating.

You're trying to collect 100
marbles that are the enemy is also trying to collect 100
marbles.

And they're shooting missiles at
you constantly.

And those missiles are just like
every other projectile in the game that gets thrown at you.
They home in on.

They're very hard to dodge.
Your only way to dodge is to you jump at the precise time, which
is very hard.

With the camera, it gets very
difficult.

You think you're going to, like,
avoid it because I played tons of trust me, I played tons of
N64 games, tons of platformers, and you think you're going to
dodge this missile and it still hits you.
It's almost like it's your pig.

It hits you.
Where I was trying to just avoid it as gems.
So I don't know, maybe that's the hitbox is messed up.
I don't know.

I I think I think you're
absolutely right.

I think you're you're on to
something and also what adds to the annoyance of it is that like
really what I think the mechanic should be instead of you having
100 marbles and then having zero, which makes some of these
battles last way too long.

Like I I think honestly even
like the first one or the second, I think I did it for
like 20 minutes.

I'm sorry, but that's just too
long, especially with the mechanic that it is.
I think what it should have been my my suggestion, in case
they're listening, my suggestion is like, is, is make the marbles
your health bar so that if you end up hitting them enough times
with the missiles or they hit you enough times with the
missiles, then you know, maybe you can chip down the life down
to zero.

And then it's done because
you've gotten the your enemy down to 0 or you're down to 0.
Because every time you collect the marble it it, it adds to
your health.

Or give every, give everybody
50, give both of you 50 and whoever gets down to 0 loses and
boom, you've beat the boss.

That's all.
And every rocket here, every rocket hit is worth 10 or 15 and
just sort of do the math that way.
I just, I hate the fact that these things lasted so long
because like you said, the way it controls on top of the camera
just creates an honesty at like a pretty disastrous experience
most of the time I would say.

Yeah, you have to you.
It constantly puts you in the situation, like if you hit them
they drop a big bundle of marbles.
And so do you in front of them.

Yeah, And you have to do these
really tight little turns to collect all of them.
And as you're doing that, they're shooting missiles at
you.

Yeah, because the AI is insane.
Yeah.

So it's just it's it's overly
difficult.

It didn't need to be that hard.
It does get easier after the second boss.
The second boss was peak.

I didn't really have a problem
with Bob the Goldfish, but his level is a little different.
Again, with hills.

Yeah, maybe I just got lucky
with that.

But.
Well, sometimes I think it's.

Just not good.
And it it doesn't relate at all to any other part of the game.
You're never riding this pig other than that.
He only shows up.

I don't get it.
He only shows up at this point and then it's like, OK, like
when it first happened I was like, oh, that's funny, that's
cool.

And then I just lost like
probably three or four times.

The first time I tried the first
boss, 'cause I just could not get a handle on the way things
control.

And I know that there's there's
other games like this where like you know your your projection
your your forward momentum just happens with or without you and
then you can slow down just slightly by pulling back on the
joystick.

That's not new.
But there's something about the way that it's.
Yes, I think it's also a combination of the of the
camera, but something about the way that the momentum works and
the speed that you're at and the and the the lack of tight turns
that you can make.

Like, it's just, it's not.
It's just not good.

And I hate that they did it over
and over and over again, like one or two times.
I can forgive it.

But it's just this.
Like I dreaded doing the bosses, 'cause I I didn't know that they
were all like that.

When I when I beat the second
one, I was like, God, I hope that's the last one.
No, it happened again and again.

And I was like this is.
Just stupid.

I really wish they did something
different for every boss, like if they did this one time, which
I think it makes actually the most sense with the one that's
the hardest, Fatty Roswell I think slipping and sliding
because his level has the cheese.
It's it's got food related like he and he he shoots ketchup at
you like.

Yeah, I think his made the most
sense.

Plus he's riding the burger,
which you know he's an alien.

It's a ship like it makes it
just makes total sense.

Right now we're watching a
goldfish in a bowl ride a cat on mud.
Why couldn't they give us something funny like in the
oldest from gym games?

To beat, you do usually have to
fight #4, but to beat Bob the

Goldfish, you literally push him
off a table and he just.

Oh my God, I remember that.
Oh my God, it's funny.

So even this, even this video
I'm watching when I'm talking about, like, we're talking about
the repetitive Ness of it and everything.
So this is supposed to be like a a video of first try this person
on YouTube beats every boss the first try, right?
That's what it is, right?

This one, the Bob the Goldfish
one, goes from 14 1/2 minutes to 22 minutes and that's that's
like not a speed run per SE but it's a run that is pretty
successful and and not and close as close to quote UN quote
flawless as you can get.

And that's I'm sorry, it's
insane that it's that long, you know?
And there's no way I did it in that time.
It's way too long.

Yeah, they all overstay their
welcome.

Yeah, for sure.
So I think we've reached the point.
Oh wait, Earthworm Kim.

I'm pulling up Earthworm Kim.
OK, Earthworm Kim.

Earthworm Kim shows up.
Just watch it.

Watch the intro.
Everybody find us on YouTube.

Watch.
Watch the the intro.

It's hilarious.
Jim's coming out, He's on, he's in the water.
He's coming out on a pig.

He's riding that pig.
He's looking around for the enemy and what approaches from
the shadows.

What is this supposed to be?
It is a dark version of

Earthworm Jim.
Oh dark no.

It's Earthworm Kim.
Oh no, it's Kim.

It's just it's so ridiculous.
Like he's sort of like purple, pink color.
He's got a wig on and earrings.

It pretty much looks exactly
like Earth from Jim, muscles and all, just with a big wig on and
slight color difference.

Yeah, and and a huge, like and
like huge eyelashes.

Like, it's just it's it's
ridiculous.

OK.
The ultimate sin, Sir, I am.

I'm still on the edge of my seat
and as is everybody else that's listening and watching.
What?

What is it?
We've covered so much that annoys the hell out of us.
What could it possibly be?

The ultimate sin that made me it
made me do something stupid, OK?

And that ultimate sin is
something we've actually experienced together before, and
we both had the same reaction.

And that ultimate sin is you
beat the game, you beat all the bosses, you get the majority of
collectibles and you don't have a credits roll.
And you go, what's going on?

You go to the main area and you
see Pete the puppy, Peter, Peter the puppy.
And you talk to him and he says, collect all of the utters and
come back to me, the unforgivable sin, the same as
Jet Force Gemini.

Collect all the tribals, collect
all the utters.

OK, the utters.
There's there's 70, three I think, and a 74th, 1:00, but it
requires you to collect all of the utters.
Think thank the Lord.

You don't have to collect all
the marbles, but the marbles would be easier than the utters
to be honest.

I think so too.
So I I did my due diligence.

I did.
I said my mantra.

I said I don't quit.
I don't run.

I will be Hokage.
And I collected every utter and

I was on the grandma level and I
needed two utters.

And this.
I mean this is when they say 12 hours they probably mean bosses
like to beat the 4th boss and don't count the true ending.
I don't know because I had to go back and I just, I I was
defeated man.

I was like man, I really want to
finish this.

And granted, I could, you know,
we could have extended it.

I was like, I already gave
myself the extra day.

I was like, Dave, can we do it?
Can we do it a day later so I can have time to finish this,
You know, I really gave it the old college try.
But I I just couldn't.

I couldn't.
I had two utters and they were just lingering over me and I was
trying to do it.

So I tried to enter some, you
know, just some game shark stuff on my on my everdrive, right.
And just for that last of them, like, just give me those last
two utters.

Yeah, I know I did that and now
it seems I can't finish the game on my save.
It it just it says I have seven of six utters on the last level
and will not trigger this last boss fight.
So I'm going to have to either do it again, which is not
happening.

Figure out an ever drive thing
that'll get me at least to the point where I can just finish
it, which is probably most likely what's going to happen.
I know what happens, but I just

I was just so I was so defeated
man, because I just games.

Games requiring you to collect
100% tick me off.

I love collecting things.
DK 64 is one of my favorite favorite games.
The biggest collected THON.

The King of Collected.
Thons.

Literally the king of collected
Thons.

Yeah, yeah.
And you don't have to collect.

Everything, right?
It's the game, right?

It's man, it's totally fine.
If if there are elements of, you know, get the majority, get the
vast majority, get get a certain, get just enough to get
you to the next World, the next boss, whatever.
And if you want to be a completionist, go for it.
You know, that's totally fine.

You know it.
Just even if it's 95% of the stuff, you don't hold back an
ending.

Not that there's some deep story
at play here, but you don't hold back an ending to a story just
because it just it just feels like a sad excuse.
That's really all it is.

I say give a 7070% collection
rate.

Give a 30% buffer right?
And if you want to entice people to finish and collect
everything, give them some special bonus at the end.
Yeah, another ending or or some other item or character or
something, Yeah.

Something different, like maybe
you maybe if you get all the

Utters, you could play as
Earthworm Kim throughout the game.
Yes, that would be funny, that. 'D be great.
You know, that'd be great.

Maybe some of the dialogue
changes because you're Kim instead of Jim.
I don't know.

You know what I mean?
Like just something like something something I I'm with
I'm with you that so that's completely dumb.
I didn't get anywhere close to being 100%, so I didn't even
think I was gonna try.

I was.
I was at 98%, man.

I had.
Insane.

I had almost all the marbles as
well.

I had one level.
I think I had 97 marbles.

And that's all you had left.
Go back and finish and that's all I had left, but the marbles
were easy to collect.

They're they're not as bad.
No.

Yeah, they're not as bad.
I mean, there's a few that I didn't finish for sure.
But like, they're not as bad because they're kind of like
they're kind of like the the musical notes in Banjo Kazooie.
I I would say because like.

I'd say they're they might even
be easier.

They're just kind of everywhere.
They're kind of everywhere.

There's a hundred.
I mean, there are also in other games, but they're not in like
outrageous places.

The the problem with the Utters
is that there's a lot of jumping through hoops in order to get
just one.

And sometimes jumping through
those hoops takes also takes forever and because of all the
elements that we've talked about, tends to take a bunch of
tries.

And it's like, well, this is
just taking me 20 minutes to get one thing when it should take
me, you know, I don't know, five, so.
It's not.

It's not clear.
Utters are not clear.

Like you.
You do get to figure out the.

Stupidest things.
Oh, and you stumble upon it.

There's another really bad sin
this game does, which is I beat it, OK, but it was very
annoying.

There is a game like it's a mini
game, sort of where you have to herd grandmas into a gate, and
they have, they watch television, but you have to herd
all of them at once.

OK, And for viewers that know me
and viewers that have played

Donkey Kong 64, it's it's Beaver
bother.

Oh, OK, yeah.
Yeah.

Yeah, it's basically Beaver
bother, right?

But you need to beat it.
It forces you to beat it because you need to get another.
And not only does it do it once, you have to do it twice.
You have to do it in the 1/2 of the Western world, and then you
have to do it in the second-half of the Western world.
And just and just like the bosses, It makes no sense to do
it that way.

It doesn't make any sense.
Like, come on, Earth Room Gym is ridiculous.
Come up with another ridiculous idea.
No one's going to care if it doesn't make a whole lot of
sense.

Nothing in this game makes
sense.

That's part of the charm of what
this character is.

Just do something stupid.
Yeah.

The world's stupid.
The character's stupid?

Great.
Do it.

It's it's a like to be fair,
it's a funny idea.

You have to herd grandmas into a
gate and watch TV, but there's so many missed opportunities
too.

Like Earthworm Jim has a whip
attack.

You could whip them to make them
move.

You don't.
You run behind them and then they move at awkward angles and
you have to somehow get them all to be in one area and then you
run forward and push them in.

But you always, inevitably get
one that just like last second goes like this and goes around
the gate and then you have to walk around and then they all
move and it's like you can't just get them in the gate.
It's like you get one in the gate and you go get another,
that one will come out of the gate and start walking around
again.

It was very frustrating and I
did it twice and that was the what killed me.
I beat both of those grandma moments, and when I beat the
second one, I was like, I I just, I want to be done.
Yeah, yeah, unfortunately like that's.
There's a lot of unfortunate moments like that in this game,
and I think that's what we're running into, right?
So the ideas are there, they're not executed very well and
there's a lot of repeat ideas that shouldn't be there because
like we just said, have fun with it.
It's Earthworm Jim, You know, like come on, just just do it.
Before we give our final sort of like mini review type thoughts
on it.

I'm going to pull up.
I'm going to close this video and I'm going to pull up the
issue of Nintendo Power that had a breakdown of the first couple
of stages, had a overview map of some of the stages as well, and
also had coincidentally enough

Donkey Kong 64 on the cover.
So it is a very jam packed issue here.
This is issue 126, November of 1999.
So the month that this game came out, I'm going to go to the back
of Nintendo Power of this and

I'm going to read a little
snippet from Earthworm Jim 3D rating and grading that they
gave it.

Now I think overall Nintendo
Power is you know pretty much like raw, raw, Nintendo's the
best.

It's kind of like a little bit
of a advertisement for Nintendo but but Earth Room Gym 3D has an
overall rating of 6.8 and you know this is that's probably
high but we'll we'll get to that and these are some of the points
that they have.

So play control.
Big part of what we've been talking about in play control.
It says it's loose, but most players should feel comfortable
performing Jim's wide array of fun moves in short order.
Wide is also very generous.

The real trouble is the poor
camera control that will leave players feeling disoriented and
out of position.

So.
That's fair.

It's fair.
And also I think, I think the reason why something like that
is noteworthy is because like I mentioned, Nintendo Power is for
the most part, really props up their products, right?
It wasn't necessarily a 100% true like rating system.
It was very much like this is

Nintendo, this is our stuff, buy
our stuff.

In some ways that's sort of the
vibe that it gets.

It's fun.
It's fun to have and read.

I have a bunch of issues.
I love it.

I think it's it's great memory
and nostalgia and everything, but the fact that it points it
out in that way is pretty clear that it it was an issue even
then, and then finally some of the comments from Scott.
The camera doesn't always do what it should, but overall it
was fun to play.

Kyle says the camera ruins the
whole experience and Sonia says it's fun and wacky.
I think that's that's fair.

Those comments are fair, so they
give it a 6.8 jiggy if you wanted to give it a score.
If you wanted to give it a recommend or not, where would
you stand with Earthworm Gym

Three DI?
I'd recommend it.

I I feel like people hate on it
a lot, and it's one of those that I see a lot of the flaws,
OK?

And it's not great.
Don't get me wrong, it's it's

OK, it's OK.
A 6.8 is a little high, but I wasn't dramatically far from
that.

I mean I guess in my scale I I
would probably say like a 5 1/2

I I I think A5 being a solid
like middle route.

I think the charm and the
characters bring it up to that little half point for me, right?
I could see why someone wouldn't like it as much, but it it
honestly, it plays fine.

There's just, there's things
that you see that you're like, man, this is great.
I think it could be something special and then it just doesn't
deliver, right, OK.

And it just kind of stays mid,
the whole thing and it's playable.
You can get through it.

It's hard, but you can get
through it.

But yeah.
So that's something.

Pretty mid game.
Yeah, I I'm going to give it a little bit lower than that.
It's probably going to be just below A5, maybe a 4 1/2 or A5.
I think.

And I I just think that like all
the stuff we talked about with how frustrating a lot of the
elements would be, how much time it took to sometimes do the most
simplest things.

Yeah, just really irks me.
Like I just, I want to get through this.
I want to play this whole game.

I want to experience the charm
and the goofiness of what

Earthworm Jim is, and it feels
like you're constantly running into a wall against that.
They're almost like trying to prevent you from experiencing
that in a way which is so shitty.
And the the camera at times.

Like like you said, you get a
handle on it a little bit, but it's just the fact that it is
constantly a worry and constantly a mechanic when it
doesn't need to be really knocks it down a lot.
I I appreciate that.

Hold on to our go behind gym
stuff only works really in open areas or works well in open
areas which only happens halfway, you know, half of the
game I would say.

And some of the unforgiving
aspects of it are traversal and some of it are enemies or what
the enemies shoot out at you and

I just think that really did not
need to be there.

So it's good.
I think it's worth a try, but I think if you get to a point
where you start feeling frustrated with it, I think it's
OK to just stop.

I think that I think you've got
the gist of what the game is going to be.
So I think what I what I would say and it was funny as you were
talking like I think it's one of those games just don't finish
it.

And I I I hate that, I hate
that.

I hate to say it, but you need
to make the effort though to get past Fatty Roswell and play the
horror levels.

Yes, because the horror levels
are fun and Professor Monkey

Monkey for a Head is pretty fun.
Once you get to the western world's, that's where I'd cut
it.

I I agree.
And that and that's you don't.

Need to play anything?
And along the way you'll probably hit some some
frustrating spots for sure.

You know, you can skip over some
and go to the next World and maybe pick a pick, pick and
choose sort of where the order you do things in, which I think
is is kind of good too.

But like, yeah, which is what
maybe rough 60% of the way through the game I would say is
that.

Yeah, probably more like 70.
Yeah, that's pretty.

You got you got two worlds after
that and another boss, and then you'd have to collect all the
utters.

Yeah, so.
And the horror worlds, there's actually there's there's like a
secret world within that.

So there's early, I think
there's two secret worlds.

There's like 4 horror worlds.
Isn't that like disco one?

Sort of like a secret thing in a
way.

And then also.
Also, Boogie Nights, Poltergeist

Poltergeist 2.
And then there's like, it's like

Death Worm or dead warmed up or
something like that.

That one's the worst one.
Yeah, yeah, the others,

Poltergeist 1, Poltergeist 2,
and Boogie Nights are all fun.

They're all three of those.
I loved all of them.

Yeah, the the boogie one.
I was like, so, so on but but I

I agree that they're worth
short.

They're worth playing.
And it is all of those are actually probably short because
they're all like worlds within a world kind of thing.
So I so here's a.

Secret bonus world, by the way.
Oh snap.

I did not.
Know, but you have to collect all the marbles to get it.
Oh, so it's not happening, OK.

But but it plays back.
They did do what we said.

They gave you a reward for
collecting 100%, but they just didn't cap you out at finishing
the game for the Utters.

Oh, I see.
They require you to get all the utters.
They don't require you to get all the marbles, but they do
give you a reward.

If you get all the marbles and I
don't know what that reward is,

I'm going to have to look it up.
It's a it's in the horror world, there's a door and it says you
have to get all the marbles to open that door.
Oh, and.

It's a.
It's some sort of bonus level.

All marbles, earthworm, gem, 3D
reward, question mark, question mark and I'll tell you when a
special mission is completed marbles, blah blah blah blah
blah.

I don't know I can't find it
exactly.

But you know I I think yeah, the
game bumps into all these all these things.
Yeah there's ideas.

The execution is is not great in
a lot of ways.

Again worth a try if you have
the time put in two 2/3 of the game.
But you're right, I think that's the cut off point.
You've got the gist of the game.

You've run into enough
annoyances at that point.

It's OK to call it quits.
That's totally fine.

So OK that we played it, not
ecstatic about the final product, but hey, now you could
say that you've completed all of the earthworm gym world or or as
close as you could in this one and you.
You've gone get it.

I'll finish it.
You'll get there.

OK.
All right.

We'll have to get a report back
or something or or watch you on online on on Twitter and stuff
to sort of.

I did it.
Yeah, you just just your face going.
I did it in like Earth Room gym in the corner and that's it.
Like nothing else.

Like 3 seconds.
Yeah, you'll know if you know.

You know if you know, you know
one of those.

OK, so.
Earth Room Gym 3D.

Earth Room, Gym 3D, everybody.
With that said, we have a couple of games coming up that we will
be letting everybody know what they are coming across in social
media over the next couple of months.
We're going to try and plan ahead and get a couple things at
least you know, in line of what we're going to play next.
So stay tuned for that.

That'll be at Remember 64 Show
or yourself at Jiggy.

Look back, we talked about Earth
Room, Jim.

We talked about that you play
through them and he did a video.

You have a lot of really big and
awesome videos out right now, including The Earth Room, Jim
One.

What else is out there, Man,
'cause there's at least one, there's at least one major one
out there that I feel like we should probably talk about or at
least mention.

Two things happened.
OK, so First off, I put out a video I I was actually talking
about Donkey Kong 64 on Twitter.

So I I I made a thing and I was
like, oh, and our buddy from the

Still Loading podcast saw that
tweet and he contacted me and was like, hey, I'm going to
write an article about.

Donkey Kong 64 and the collected
on genre I'm like that's cool.

I was like I I love that and
then I started talking about it and then I'm like man I need to
make another video about Donkey

Kong 64.
And and I'm just like I just need to defend it a little bit
because I just see you know and so I did and little did I know
20,000 views later that kind of went mini viral and I was.
I was and it's still growing.

I mean it literally like at the
time of this recording it hasn't even been out a week.
It's been out a couple days, three days or four days or
whatever.

Beautiful.
But I I kind of got pressured in.
I don't know if you've seen this one.
I got pressured in.

I've been planning this video
for a long time and I've mentioned it on the podcast, But
Mapping the Rare Universe, this was my most ambitious video.
It was scheduled to release on

Friday.
Kind of let Donkey Kong sit and milk it out a little bit.
But we had a Nintendo Direct today and that ends, this is
Wednesday the 21st.

We're recording this of
February.

And so you see how fast Dave
gets these out.

Yeah, some of them.
Not all of them, but some of them, yeah.
We we had an Nintendo Direct and a bunch of rare stuff was
announced and people on my

Discord were like, hey.
Where's the rare?

Really, just put this video out
because rare is a hot topic right now.
And when is it ever a hot topic like this?
You know, it's like people are going to be searching for it.
Put it out.

So I'm like, I'm at work and I'm
like, ah, I need to put it out.

So I went on my lunch and I set
it as a premiere.

And yeah, it's been a day.
Not I'm not even a day.

It's been out a couple hours and
we're sitting at about 3, some 3 something thousand.
Yeah.

So it's it's on track to be even
more popular than the Donkey

Kong video, which I'm super
stoked about.

It's starting a bit of a war on
the comments, but I love that it's super cool.
It's I I'm super excited about it.
It's growing fast and I'm just blown away.
It's great, man.

Honestly, it's great.
Like like I've said before in the past, you know, this isn't
just because because we're buds and because you're on the show
and all that.

Like it's it's good content.
It is.

It is an in depth look at a lot
of these games and an interesting look at it a way
that probably either hasn't been looked at before or hasn't for a
very long time.

Revisiting things is always
great and it's not just these two, You got a bunch of that
stuff right.

It's all across the board, so.
You know, I had you on, I had you on.
We did a a really cool versus video where we compared Mario
Kart 64 to Diddy Kong Racing.

Kind of decided which one was
better.

I think you probably know but we
did it and because of these videos that I've been putting
out that video shot up like an extra like 500 views so far and
it's going to everything's going to climb like it's super cool.
I'm.

I'm seeing a a jump in
everything and going to have you back on my stuff.
Pretty soon I'm going to have to do another another.
Follow up Yeah, we we we'll pick another big couple of titles and
and I'll I'll I'll try to piss more people off if I can.
That's I'm fine.

Yeah.
Perfect.

Yeah, I love it.
Perfect.

Love it.
That's jiggy.

Look back on YouTube also the
same name across social media and for here remember 64
remember 64 show also on

Patreon.
I just want to say if you've made it this far into the
episode, I want to say I'm going to try and do a couple of new
things on Patreon.

I'm going to put out free
content on that.

I'm going to put out sub stack
and things like that are sort of like mini blog newsletter type
things.

Every once in a while I'm going
to write something down and just do it either in a really short
video or I'm going to do it in a text form where I'm just going
to talk about something within the gaming world.
Doesn't necessarily always have to be retro that I'm playing.
Have played a thought that I have.
It could be both like the

Nintendo Direct for example,
things like that and it's going to be something that's a little
bit more bite sized and I'm going to have it free so that
everybody can see it and then also have an easier access and
connection to the stuff that is behind the 1-2 or three dollar
or five dollar paywall.

Small paywalls anyways, but
episodes early on patreon.com/remember 64 show
videos that are out that you won't find on the YouTube
channel and and some extra content as well.
So that's going to keep growing and keep doing some more stuff.
And also I've been trying to put out some pre episode chats on
that as well.

We had a little bit of one in
this episode.

I put up one about the robot on
Rocket robot on Wheels as well.

That's Patreon exclusive.
So you can find that there.

But other than that, that is
what's going to end us off here, this time on Remember 64 Jiggy?
Thanks for coming on this adventure once again, the
earthworm J3D.

This was an interesting an
interesting journey.

I will say that the the pre show
chats, I didn't know he was doing that so you get a little
bit of unfilteredness.

That's the idea, man.
That's the.

Idea I'm pretty calm.
I'm pretty calm and collective when we're doing this podcast,
but you know, you get passionate about stuff.
Hey man, that's all part of it.

And that's one of the reasons
why I want to do that other stuff to the sort of like mini
text or short video stuff too, is because I I will do those
completely unfiltered and just record it, put it up, write it,
put it up, you know, you'll just get the stream of consciousness
type of thing so well.

You know what?
I need to do one thing before we go.
Please do.

And that thing is Earthworm Jim,
a superhero worm.

OK, I don't know the rest of the
song, but I just know that's the way the cartoon goes.
And I sing in like every single one of the podcast episodes that
I'm in.

So I had to do something.
It's a must.

It's a must.
I had to do it.

You had to.
Do it.

You had to do it.
All right, Jiggy and everybody thank you so much for joining us
once again.

This will do it for Remember 64.
Thanks everyone.

We will talk to you next time.
Goodbye.