Prerelease:Earthworm Jim 3D
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Earthworm Jim 3D.
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Earthworm Jim 3D started development in 1996, not too long after the completion of Earthworm Jim 2. It was initially meant to be a PC exclusive with a more open-world style, but after Interplay saw the success of Banjo-Kazooie in 1998 the focus changed to being a collectathon platformer with Nintendo 64 and PlayStation ports as well. Not only were VIS Interactive tasked with making all three versions themselves, but they had no experience developing for the N64 or PS1.
The game's scope was severely scaled back, with the open-world idea and several other features being axed. The N64 version was released in October 1999 to mostly negative reception, and the PC version's release in June 2000 wasn't much better. The PS1 version ended up being scrapped.
Most of this info comes from a developer interview.
Mid-1998 Trailer
At this point, the game looked quite different and was still going to be a PC exclusive. The mention of "Coming Fall '98" suggests the game was well on its way to being complete, only for Interplay to step in...
- Jim's model looks considerably higher-quality than the final game. It was changed to increase performance when the game was getting ported over to the N64 due to a lower framerate.
Unincorporated Info
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYRUgjvJu20XW55PirbWaZLvrpv85FDu
