Timeline
Tuesday, December 4th, 20071991
A young Doug TenNapel creates the first ever Earthworm Jim character Evil the Cat and publishes a short story with Evil.
David Perry moves to the US and begins to set-up Shiny Entertainment which later develops the series.
1993
Doug creates additional characters including Earthworm Jim and takes them to an interview with Shiny, the characters are then developed into the first Earthworm Jim game.
1994
Earthworm Jim the Video game is developed by Shiny and published by PIE interactive and Virgin in Europe, with at the time groundbreaking animation and artwork. The Gameplay is of a high quality also and the game receives several accolades.
1995
Earthworm Jim 2 is now developed by Shiny again published by PIE interactive and Virgin in Europe.
Eurocom do a port of the original onto the Nintendo Gameboy, Sega Game Gear & Master System, it has less frames and of course a lower graphics pallete but it still good for the systems it was ported to.
Earthworm Jim is posted to the Sega Mega CD by Shiny and published by Interplay. Eventually Interplay will own Shiny as a development studio for a number of years.
Earthworm Jim Special Edition ported to PC by Kinasoft. This version has some extra levels and bonus material including some wallpaper for Windows 95.
1996
Earthworm Jim 2 is ported to the Saturn and Playstation by Shiny again published by PIE interactive and Virgin in Europe. This version has some extra levels and bonus material.
Earthworm Jim & Earthworm Jim is ported to the PC as a DOS only version by Shiny & Rainbow Arts again published by PIE interactive and Virgin in Europe. And also has some extra levels and bonus material.
Battle Arena Toshinden contains Earthworm Jim as hidden character (PC)
1997
Shiny is bought by Interplay and Develops MDK.
Earthworm Jim has a cameo role in Clayfighters 63 1/3 on the Nintendo 64.
Earthworm Jim 3D starts development by an unknown company VIS plc from Scotland.
1999
Earthworm Jim 3D after many changes is finally finished for the N64 and published by Interplay entertainment and Rockstar Games in Europe. The choice to go with an unknown doesn’t pay off and a lot of quality, gameplay and stylization is lost.
Earthworm Jim : Menace to the Galaxy is developed for the Gameboy Color by David A. Palmer Productions and Published by Crave Entertainment. Again due to being developed by an unknown and not even using the same fluid animation as the original the game is recived as average at best.
2000
The PC version of Earthworm Jim 3D is released.
2001
Earthworm Jim is ported to the Gameboy Advanced by Game Titan and Published by Majesco but contains many bugs due to a sloppy port.
Earthworm Jim 2 is also ported by Super Empire and again released by Majesco but again is ported badly.
2002
Shiny is sold by Interplay to cover debts, they finally are declared bankrupt later that year. Infogrammes who later become Atari publish Enter the Matrix and later The Path of Neo.
2004
Infogrammes/Atari mention the idea of picking up the Earthworm Jim license in a financial statement.
2005
The Path of Neo is released, Shiny mention they are developing the Earthworm Jim franchise for the PSP. At first it looks like Doug TenNapelwith the help of some of the original team will be on hand to advise with the project. In the end Atari severe these ties and the game continues for ‘better’ or worse without the original team.
2006
Atari begin to hit heavy losses and sell Shiny to Foundation 9. The PSP version of Earthworm Jim gets mothballed.
2007
Interplay start trading again in full after selling the Fallout IP to Bethesda softworks publisher of the Elder scroll series, in Interplay’s first serious financial statement mention looking into old franchises such as Earthworm Jim and MDK.
2008
Interplay re-release classic Earthworm Jim late 2008 on the Wii ‘Virtual Console’. The version released was originally designed for the Genesis/Megadrive.
2009
Interplay and mobile phone developer Gamesloft plan to release a HD version of the original Earthworm Jim, with improved graphics and sound for the I-Phone, PSN (PS3),Arcade (X360) and Wiiware. Bethesda softworks sue Interplay over the rights to Fallout 3, due to a stipulation in the deal saying Interplay must start work on its planned MMO to keep all the Fallout IP, this was not met by the deadline in April of 2009. However Interplay are still claiming ownership of the original games and selling them via their website.
