'''Earthworm Jim 2''' is a
platform video game released in 1995. It is a sequel to the original ''
Earthworm Jim''.
''Earthworm Jim 2'' follows the exploits of
annelid superhero
Jim and his new sidekick
Snott as they try to rescue Jim's beloved
Princess What's-Her-Name from a forced marriage to the nefarious
Psy-Crow. While chasing them across the universe, Jim comes across the summer homes of a number of villains from the first game, including
Evil the Cat and
Bob the Killer Goldfish.
The game originally appeared on the
Mega Drive/Genesis,
Super NES and
PC, with enhanced versions later released on the
PlayStation and
Sega Saturn. It was also ported to the
Game Boy Advance.
Like the original game, ''Earthworm Jim 2'' contains a lot of irreverent, random humor. It also features more diverse gameplay than the original, with each stage having a different style and mission, as well as various new weapons.
Stages
★ 'Anything but Tangerines' - Jim begins his quest here. He must deal with flying octopodes, dodge falling grannies and carry heavy pigs before facing Bob the Killer Goldfish for the second time.
★
★ 'Granny Chair' - A bonus area that centres on avoiding falling grannies as Jim rides upwards on a stair lift.
★ 'Lorenzen's Soil' - Jim has to dig his way through an excavation site to meet Pedro Pupa, who is searching for the lost temple of "The Psy-Crow". The stage name is a pun on
Lorenzo's oil. The
MS-DOS version in the ''Whole Can 'O Worms'' set is missing this stage.
★ 'Puppy Love' - Psy-Crow takes Peter Puppy's 600 puppies hostage and, after being cornered in an abandoned spaceport tower, tosses them out the window. Jim must save the puppies by bouncing them back to Peter using the "giant marshmallow o' love". If Jim lets too many puppies hit the ground, Peter will transform and attack Jim. If Psycrow tosses a bomb and Jim bounces it into the doghouse, Peter will yank it back out and throw it back at Psycrow, ending the round. This stage is divided into 3 to 5 rounds depending on what difficulty setting you are playing the game and comes after every 2 stages, with the exception of Part 3, which comes after 'ISO 9000'. These mini-stages bear strong similarities to the classic ''
Game & Watch'' game ''
Fire''. The instruction manuals tag the end of the stage name with the sentence "(with music by 'Peter's Pound and Mary')", a pun on
Peter, Paul and Mary.
★ 'The Villi People' - Jim has to navigate through a maze of
villi disguised as Sally, the blind cave salamander, while avoiding the
exploding sheep. Near the end of the stage, Jim must participate in a game show and play a short memory game involving pinball bumpers. The Mega Drive/Genesis versions refer to this stage as both "'Jim's now a Blind Cave Salamander!'" and "'Villi People'" in-game, while the instruction manuals give the alternate name "'Blind Sally'". This stage name is a pun on
The Village People. Throughout the level,
Beethoven's
Moonlight Sonata plays. (Movement one.)
★ 'The Flyin' King' - Jim, on his trusty rocket pack, must take a balloon carrying explosives to the end of the stage, where Major Mucus lies waiting, while avoiding hazards such as catapulted
pigs and
Roman Centurions. The instruction manual refers to this stage as "'The Flyin' King & Peter Pain'." The stage names are puns on
The Lion King and
Peter Pan.
★ 'Udderly Abducted' - Here, Jim must avoid mutant superpowered penguins as he carries cows back to their barns in order to save them from being abducted by alien "udder ships".
★ 'Inflated Head' - Jim inhales
helium and floats to the top of the stage, trying to avoid the pea-shooting cat carnies and Evil the Cat's attempts to make him fall. The instruction manuals refer to this stage as "'Circus of the Scars'", a play on the television show named ''
Circus of the Stars''.
★
★ 'Hammer Head' - In this short area, Jim can win prizes through a test of strength before heading to the next stage.
★ 'ISO 9000' - Jim winds up on a world of paperwork and must contend with its many dangers. The stage and its name are puns of the time-consuming paperwork that must be filled out when complying with quality standards set by procedures such as
ISO 9000.
★
★ 'Door Chase' - Jim must avoid a large jumping filing cabinet and escape the paperwork world by pursuing the exit door which has legs and runs away from him.
★ 'Level Ate' - On a world composed entirely out of giant comfort food, Jim must run away from a giant salt shaker while dodging straws and cutlery. As this is the eighth stage, not counting the ''Puppy Love'' segments, it was named ''Level Ate''.
★
★ 'Totally Forked' - This secret area is found somewhere in this food section stage. As the name implies, Jim will has to avoid moving forks. This stage is referred to in-game as "'Secret Room #39'" and "'Forked'".
★
★ 'Flamin' Yawn' - At the end of "'Section Ate'", Jim faces off with a fire-breathing steak named Flamin' Yawn (a pun on "fillet mignon") while sinking in a huge pizza.
★ 'See Jim Run, Run Jim Run' - In this final racing stage, Jim races against Psy-Crow through the largest quickie 24-hour church and deli in the Lost Vegas system in order to rescue Princess What's-Her-Name just in time before Psy-Crow does and prevents their unlawful wedding.

Jim firing his gun in the
SNES version of ''Earthworm Jim 2''
Soundtrack
''(Note: The order of the tracks is based on the Sega Saturn version; the names in parentheses are the names of the stages they play in)''
★ 01 - 'Tangerine' (Anything but Tangerines; Flamin' Yawn)
★ 02 - 'Granny Bag' (Granny Chair)
★ 03 - 'Italian Medley' (Puppy Love Parts 1 through 3/Puppy Love (with music by Peter's Pound and Mary)), a medley with the themes from
Funiculì Funiculà and
Tarantella Napoletana
★ 04 - 'Dad's Tune' (Totally Forked/Secret Room #39)
★ 05 - '"
Moonlight Sonata" 1st movement' (The Villi People/Jim's now a Blind Cave Salamander!/Blind Sally)
★ 06 - '"
Moonlight Sonata" 3rd movement' (See Jim Run, Run Jim Run; Door Chase)
★ 07 - 'The Moo Tango' (Udderly Abducted) - In fact, it's a very famous tango called ''El Choclo''
★ 08 - 'The Big Top Polka' (Inflated Head/Circus of the Scars), a medley including the
Lichtensteiner Polka, the
Clarinet Polka and possibly a third
★ 09 - 'Tropical Paradise' (The Flyin' King/The Flyin' King & Peter Pain; Level Ate)
★ 10 - 'Subterranean' (Lorenzen's Soil; ISO 9000)
★ 11 - 'Dixieland Finale' (game ending)
★ 12 - 'Continue to Rock' (continue screen)
★ 13 - 'Doobeedowapbop' (title screen)
Unlike the first game's soundtrack, which was credited to Mark Miller for legal reasons, ''Earthworm Jim 2''
's was credited to
Tommy Tallarico, except for the track 'Dad's Tune', which was composed by his father.
External links
★
Zany ''Earthworm Jim 2'' quotations
★