Earthworm Jim is one of those series that just stay with you. The snot-slinging, head-whipping, hero has outlived most of his platformer mascot contemporaries in the public consciousness, and the first two games (not so much Earthworm Jim 3D) in the franchise are still much beloved. The games can be expensive to pick up now for anyone that wants to play them on original hardware. Fortunately, if you didn’t get a chance to pick up the games during their initial release, or if you just want an awesome collectible, iam8bit is releasing a limited reprint of Earthworm Jim 1&2 on SNES in celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary.
The combo cart from iam8bit will contain both Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2 and will be a limited edition of 2,000 copies. They’ll be in packaging reminiscent of the original SNES box, but it’ll feature new art by Jango Snow Art & Design, a new manual with a “mystery foreword,” and some retro surprises.
The Earthworm Jim repro cart will come in two variations: Udder Pink and Cow Print. Of the run of 2,000, 1,900 will be pink, and the remaining 100 will be Cow Print. These will be sent out at random, around 1 out of 20 customers will get the cow pattern bedecked cartridges. The carts will be manufactured by Retrotainment Games, who did the Street Fighter 2: 30th Anniversary Legacy Cartridge Collection for iam8bit and Infinite NES Lives who created the hardware for NESmaker.
However, the price puts it strictly in collectible territory. At $134.99 you could likely find original copies of Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2 boxed with manuals if you were patient and have a few bucks left over. Pre-orders for the Earthworm Jim 1&2 reprint cart will start on May 21, and they’ll begin shipping in November 2019.
