Earthworm Jim Timeline

Events by Year

1991

They Called Him Evil

Doug TenNapel creates Evil The Cat Character, who starred in his first published short comic book "They Called Him Evil". Evil The Cat would later go on to be a character in the Earthworm Jim universe.
Publisher - Mocking Bird Press 1991.

1993

Earthworm Jim character Created

Doug TenNapel creates Earthworm Jim Character while working at the newly formed Shiny Entertainment by David Perry. The first two Earthworm Jim video games were developed by the development team who worked there from 1994 - 1997.

1994

Release dates: June the 9th, June the 22nd

Earthworm Jim Video Game

Several versions of Earthworm Jim were simultaneously made for multiple game consoles/platforms from 1994 to 1995:
Sega Genesis (Mega Drive), Super Nintendo, PC CD-ROM, Sega CD and Game Gear.

Earthworm Jim for Sega Genesis (Mega Drive)

Developer: Shiny Entertainment
Publisher(s) - virgin Interactive, Playmates

1995

Earthworm Jim Special Edition (Sega CD)

Developer: Shiny Entertainment
Publisher(s) - Interplay, Playmates

Earthworm Jim (Game Gear)

Developer: Shiny Entertainment
Publisher(s) - Interplay, Playmates

Earthworm Jim (SNES)

Developer: Shiny Entertainment
Publisher(s) - Interplay, Playmates

Earthworm Jim (Game Boy)

Developer: Eurocom Entertainment
Publisher(s) - Interplay, Playmates

Earthworm Jim (PC Win 95)

Developer: Kinesoft
Publisher - Activision

TV, Comics and Action Toys

1995 also saw the release of the Earthworm Jim TV Show which was made at Universal Cartoon Studios and aired on the Warner Brothers TV network. It ran for two seasons until 1996.

An Earthworm Jim Action Figure toyline was released by Playmates and short (three issue) Comic Book series published by Marvel Absurd in the USA.
A Comic Book based on the TV Show was also produced by Arcadia in the UK.

1996

Earthworm Jim 2

Made for multiple game consoles/platforms:
Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis (Mega Drive), Sega Saturn, PC CD-ROM, Playstation (UK).
Shiny Entertainment
Publisher - Interplay

Sega Saturn and Playstation version (1996)

Developer: Screaming Pink
Publisher - Virgin Interactive

The whole can o' Worms (1996)

Earthworm Jim 1 & 2 for PC - Developer: Shiny Entertainment / Rainbow Arts
Publisher - Playmates

Doug TenNapel, Edward Schofield, Mike Dietz, Mark Lorenzen, Eric Ciccone and Steve Crow left Shiny Entertainment to form independent game studio The Neverhood.

Shiny Entertainment released MDK in 1997.

Nick Bruty and Bob Stevenson left Shiny Entertainment to form the independent game studio Planet Moon.

Earthworm Jim Cameos

These were secret or unlockable appearances of the character in un-related video games, made through licencing deals with Playmates and Interplay. They had no direct involvement from the original team who created EWJ 1 & 2.

Earthworm Jim was a secret playable character in Battle Arena Toshinden which was developed by Digital Dialect for the PC version of that game in 1995. It used sound effects from Shiny, but was basically an extra skin over a character called "Rungo Iron".

Clay Fighter 63 1/3: Sculptor's Cut Released Oct 21, 1997. Developer / publisher: Interplay. This game had Earthworm Jim as a playable character in it.
Made for the Nintendo 64

1998

Shiny Entertainment released Wild 9.

1999

Shiny Entertainment released R/C Stunt Copter 1999

Earthworm Jim Menace 2 The Galaxy

Made for the Game Boy Color
Developer: IMS Productions
Publisher - Crave Entertainment

Earthworm Jim 3D

Made for the N64
Publisher - Rockstar games
Developer: Vis Entertainment
Release date: Dec 17th 1999

2000

Shiny Entertainment release Messiah and Sacrifice.

The PC version of Earthworm Jim 3D released
Developer: Vis Entertainment
Publisher - Interplay

2001

Earthworm Jim GBA port

Developer: Game Titan

Earthworm Jim 2 GBA port

(Nov the 29th 2002) Developer: Super Empire
Both games were published by Majesco.

2002

Shiny were sold to Infrogrames by Interplay. Later Infrogrames bought Atari and took on their brand as their identity, so the "new" Atari held the licence to make games based on Earthworm Jim for a time, and took ownership of Shiny Entertainment.

2003

Shiny Entertainment released Enter The Matrix.

Development started on a new Earthworm Jim game by an undisclosed development studio which was cancelled in early development by Interplay.

2005

Shiny Entertainment released The Path of Neo.

2006

Earthworm Jim PSP

Development started on a new Earthworm Jim game by Shiny Entertainment for the Play Station Portable console. Development stopped short around the autumn of 2006.
Publisher - Atari - (cancelled).

David Perry Left Shiny Entertainment.

2007

Shiny Entertainment sold to Foundation 9.

2008

Shiny Entertainment ceased to exist. It was merged with The Collective and Foundation 9 to become Double Helix Games.

Interplay Deal / Relaunch

April 22nd.
Interplay stated in a press release that they intended to work on a new Earthworm Jim game. Also to develop Earthworm Jim for Film and TV.

September 22nd.
Interplay "relauched" with several of their old Intellectual Properties including Earthworm Jim.

Earthworm Jim 1 Wii Virtual Console

Earthworm Jim 1 ported to the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console.
Europe release date, October the 3rd. USA Release date, October the 27th.

Good Old Games

Good Old Games (Gog.com) provide Earthworm Jim 1 & 2 (The Whole can o' Worms, PC version) and Earthworm Jim 3D (PC) for download.

2009

October 21st.
Earthworm Jim 1 port for the Apple IPhone Touch. Developer: Gameloft.
The Iphone version is based off of the original Mega Drive/Genesis version of Earthworm Jim, but with graphical changes and an interface intended for the IPhone Touch.

November 4th.
Earthworm Jim Collection released on the Steam PC Engine. Earthworm Jim 1, 2 & Earthworm Jim 3D PC Windows version.

Earthworm Jim 2 Wii Virtual Console

December 4th.
Earthworm Jim 2 released for the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console (Mega Drive/Genesis version).

2010

Earthworm Jim for Palm Pre

February 17th.
Earthworm Jim released for Palm Pre by Gameloft.

Earthworm Jim for Nintendo DSIWare

Release dates: April 23rd Europe, May 10th North America.
Developer Gameloft.

Earthworm Jim HD port for Xbox Live Arcade / Playstation Network

The original Earthworm Jim game ported again. Called "HD" because of digital overpainting to graphics and "extra levels" added to the game. The extra levels were designed for a multiplayer mode where four players could play at the same time. Release dates: XBLA version June 9th, PSN version August 3rd.
Developer Gameloft.

2011

Earthworm Jim released on DVD

The entire series of the 1995 TV Show released on DVD by Madman / ViaVision on June 1st in Australia and New Zealand.

Rogue Rocket Games

Nick Bruty and Richard Sun form a new independent games studio: Rogue Rocket Games after leaving Planet Moon.