History YMMV / EarthwormJim

* CrticalBacklash: While ''Earthworm Jim 3D'' still isn't considered the most amazing game by a long shot, a growing number of fans who decided to play it for themselves feel that, at the very least, it isn't as bad as its reputation made it out to be.

* FanonDiscontinuity: ''Earthworm Jim 3D'' and ''Menace 2 the Galaxy'' are subject to this, due to being made without the involvement of the original team.

** The UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance version of ''Earthworm Jim 1'', by Majesco. The game's graphics basically still look as good as they should, but many of its animations are either extremely too slow or missing altogether, many of its sound effects (especially the "Jim firing his machine gun" sound effect) are either laughably bad or missing altogether, Andy Asteroids looks awful, and the game itself becomes a glitchy mess at the drop of a hat. Also, its soundtrack is a horribly distorted version of an already weak version of itself (the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo SNES]] version).

* ContestedSequel: While on its own people widely agree the second game is still first-rate and absolutely worth a play, there doesn't seem to be agreement on whether it's better than the first. The SequelDifficultyDrop was generally agreed as much-needed and the ramping up of the comedy is widely praised, but the shift into GameplayRoulette (only four of the game's nine stages are traditional platforming fare) and the more frustrating Psycrow interlude stage are often points of contention.Y

* ContestedSequel: While on its own people widely agree the second game is still first-rate and absolutely worth a play, there doesn't seem to be agreement on whether it's better than the first. The SequelDifficultyDrop was generally agreed as much-needed and the ramping up of the comedy is widely praised, but the shift into GameplayRoulette (only four of the game's nine stages are traditional platforming fare) and the more frustrating Psycrow interlude stage are often points of contention. Averted entirely with the third game, which everyone agrees was a complete flop.

!! ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'': The VideoGame series

** In the [=SNES=] version of ''Earthworm Jim 2'', you can destroy Psy-Crow in the final level by using the Barn Blaster on him and finish the level at your own leisure. Of course, the challenge is keeping the Barn Blaster by not dying throughout the whole game (as doing so resets your entire arsenal to the default Plasma Blaster).

** Which version of the first game is better, the Super Nintendo or Genesis version? The problem with this divide is each version has things the other doesn't. While the Genesis has smoother animation, fewer slowdowns, and a few animations and sound effects the Super Nintendo doesn't, those sound effects are often cut off mid-play as the Genesis isn't as good at playing multiple sounds at once and some of the animation effects look a little janky. Meanwhile, the [=SNES=] version has better sounding music and sound effects due to having a more powerful sound chip, as well as cleaner looking, if somewhat slower moving, graphics and animation. But it's missing the "Intestinal Distress" level, which is often the deciding factor in the argument. [[TakeAThirdOption And then the Sega CD owners enter into the discussion,]] but see PolishedPort for that.

** Listen to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK7CVqbtW0A the tune that Fatso, the real Keyboard Cat, plays]]. Now listen to [[http://youtu.be/OkUUESDYHu4?t=12s the one his lawyer-friendly counterpart plays]].

!! ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'': The Cartoon Series

---> '''Jim''': "I regret that I have but one life to give for my universe." ([[HeroicSacrifice Pushes self-destruction button on his suit]], stands there with a [[FaceDeathWithDignity smile on his face as it counts down]])

!! ''ComicBook/EarthwormJim'': The Comics

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: At the end of the first issue of the 1995 mini-series, Jim has just learned that his beloved Princess What's-Her-Name is going to be wed to Bob the Killer Goldfish. He races out of Professor Monkey-For-A-Head's lab to go to her rescue...and then screeches to a halt and goes back. Because he just remembered that he made a promise to a heartbroken Peter Puppy earlier that he'd save Peter and the other victims in the Professor's dungeon, and Jim ''keeps'' his promises! He tears the doors to the prison down with his bare hands and sets all of the Professor's victims free, inspiring Peter so much that he immediately volunteers to come along with Jim and help him rescue the Princess.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Just try to read the story of this game and make sense of it.
* WidgetSeries: And how. Whether it's launching a cow into the air, saving falling puppies using a giant marshmallow, fighting against snowmen and lawyers in hell, protecting cows from getting abducted by [=UFOs=] (some of which can self-destruct), or racing against Psycrow in an obstacle course while the Third Movement of [[Music/LudwigVanBeethoven Beethoven]]'s ''Moonlight Sonata'' plays, it definitely stood out as one of the zaniest series of the mid-90s.

* NightmareFuel:
** The music for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww2Lxwhux2o Intestinal Distress]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTKFEq9UEz4 Big Bruty]] stages are infamously creepy, especially compared to the upbeat music from the rest of the game. Even the gameplay is slower and tenser, with Jim needing to outmaneuver and outsmart the titular unstoppable dinosaur.
** Queen-Slug-For-A-Butt's death after you defeat her in the first game - instead of simply [[NoBodyLeftBehind cartoonish exploding like the other bosses]], she [[PopGoesTheHuman swells up like a grotesque balloon before graphically exploding, leaving behind a set of alien organs]].
** The background during the boss battle with Evil the Cat features a legion of creepy, malicious stone faces. In some versions of the game, however, there's just [[NothingIsScarier a regular pitch black background.]]
** The HUGE pair of eyes that chases Jim at the end of "Who Turned Out the Lights?" Just what the hell could those things be ''attached'' to?!
** Peter Puppy's monster transformation animation milks the process for all the creepy BodyHorror it's worth.
** Jim's FamilyUnfriendlyDeath after being [[OneHitKill bitten in half]] by the snot monster from "Snot A Problem" or the [[DemonicSpiders giant pincer worms]] from "[[ThatOneLevel Buttville]]". He screams in pain as his body halves fall off the bottom of the screen in both cases.
** At the end of every level in the second game, a cow tells the player "Well done". But this is a rather realistic image of a cow, which could be quite frightening. The [[NothingIsScarier eerily quiet scenery]] during the cutscene and the other realistic cow slowly giving a cartoony smile does not help any matters.

** Similarly, most of the tracks for ''Earthworm Jim 2'' were composed by Tony Bernetich; the exceptions being "Anything but Tangerines" by Christophe Beck, the continue theme by Tommy Tallarico, and Moonlight Sonata taken from internet [=MIDI=]s. Tallarico again did re-arrange the tracks for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation versions.

* CommonKnowledge: Contrary to popular belief, Music/TommyTallarico didn't compose the music for the first ''Earthworm Jim'' game; that was done by Mark Miller of Nu Romantic Productions. However, Tallarico did re-arrange tracks and create a few new ones for the Special Edition re-release on Sega CD.

* OlderThanTheyThink: The recurring level "Puppy Love" in ''Earthworm Jim 2'' where Jim has to rescue Pete's puppies thrown from a window on a bouncing stretcher, was already concieved back in 1984, as ''Bouncing Babies'' for [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows MS-DOS]].

* CommonKnowledge: Contrary to popular belief, Music/TommyTallarico didn't compose the music for the first ''Earthworm Jim'' game; that was done by Mark Miller of Nu Romantic Productions. However, Tallarico did re-arrange tracks and create a few new ones for the Special Edition re-release on Sega CD and composed nearly all the tracks for the second game.

** ''SwordOfRighteousness'': After being bossed around by the [[PowerfulButIncompetent titular sword]] and losing a fight he could have won on his own, Jim learns nobody ever won a fight wielding the blade. He rejects the sword, throwing it to ''another planet'', then uses his old fighting style and humiliates Psycrow, in spite of the latter having adapted from the previous fight.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: Compared to the first game, ''Earthworm Jim 2'' has a lot fewer instant death traps (generally just bottomless pits, and even those are rare in ''2''), easier bosses, and generally less frustrating levels.

*** ''Down the Tubes''. It involves having to avoid [[InvincibleMinorMinion bouncers that are impervious to conventional fire]] in tight spaces, to say nothing of having to navigate in a glass submarine that's fragile and has limited air.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: In the episode featuring Hyper Psycrow, Jim and Peter retreat to the room of the elderly superhero The Puce Dynamo. Amongst the Dynamo's paraphernalia is a framed letter from US president Harry Truman, which Peter reads aloud: "Thank you for offering to end UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, but we have a bomb we wanna try out."

** It's possible to kill the FinalBoss in one hit in most versions with the whip. The HD version even encourages this! And even if you don't, it's still easy to stun-lock her to death with your gun if you have enough bullets (which the level provides ''more'' than enough of just before.)

*** Being unable to tilt the camera up and down. When rotating already is the source of a ton of CameraScrew, it doesn't help at ''all'' that you can't even get a decent view of a platform you need to land on. This becomes especially obvious in one level that has an entire section dedicated to ''vertically ascending jumps!''

--> '''Jim''': "I regret that I have but one life to give for my universe." ([[HeroicSacrifice Pushes self-destruction button on his suit]], stands there with a [[FaceDeathWithDignity smile on his face as it counts down]])