Ruffin & Co. visited this past weekend, and he brought along his SegaCD so he could play several games he'd just snagged off of eBay and the Earthworm Jim: Special Edition that I'd found locally for him. At first, I thought we were going to be stuck just reading the manuals since he didn't have two power supplies (required for any Sega Genesis add-on, with the possible exception of the Power Base Converter) and I can't find my Jaguar power supply. (ARGH!) Luckily, I found the nearly-regulation power supply that I had bought from Wal-Mart to use on the Jaguar this past summer. It's nearly-regulation because the Jag and the Genesis both want 1.2 amps while most power supplies out there supply (at most) 1 amp. Fortunately, the hardware isn't that picky and I had recalled using a Master System power supply a while back, which I think uses only 1 amp.

Finally powered up, Ruffin went through several games and suffered through a few false starts from ornery hardware, probably from the out-of-spec power supply. By far, however, Earthworm Jim: Special Edition was the best looking game I saw. After he played for a bit, I got a chance to give it a run.

Right off the bat, there is a very cool intro that has Jim posing in various ways, as in the other EWJ games, but this time it's clearly not the kind of thing that could have been done easily on a cartridge without frivolously burning a whole lot of space on the ROM. It's rendered using a form that reminds me the pencil drawing style of NPRQuake (Non-PhotoRealistic, not Carl Kassel with a rocket launcher, natch). After that, it looks a lot like normal EWJ until you get to the loading screen, which the cartridge versions of course didn't need. Happily, the load times are short enough that I barely noticed them between levels.

Once into the game proper, it's just like the original. Well, at least it looks just like it, from the bits I could see. I haven't actually played EWJ on a TV since 1998 or so and I'm loathe to compare the cart version on my Nomad's 3" screen to the SegaCD version on my 25" TV. If there are graphical differences, I'll have to find them later, since they weren't obvious to me. Supposedly the soundtrack is spooled off the CD, and in fact I could play the tracks on my computer when I popped the disc in the CD drive. This should make it sound better, but again I'm wasn't able to say definitively that the difference was huge. Let me avoid looking like a complete tool and say that there might be a difference in the music, and if there isn't any difference then it's a real shame they wasted that opportunity.

Having been told that there was a unique level on this version, I was eager to see it for myself, if possible. Fortunately, not only is there a new level but they've also expanded the levels from the original. In New Junk City there is a new section between the mini-boss (the trashcan-tires-anvil guy) and the real boss (the guy that throws, or perhaps vomits, fish at you). In What the Heck? the mini-boss (snowman) is handled a bit differently and the real boss (cat guy) not only shoots fireballs as in the Genesis version but also rocks. These are coherent additions that, unlike some Director's Cut added scenes on DVDs, expanded the levels in ways that I found enjoyable. It really does feel like they had edited EWJ down to a good game, realized it didn't fit on a cart, ended up cutting some of the good stuff out to make it fit on a cart, and then had the opportunity to put it all back together on this CD version.

I got to play a little bit of the new level, which comes after What the Heck?, and it has some new play mechanics as well as new creatures. It looked like fun, but I relented and gave up the spot in front of the TV after getting smacked around quickly and losing all my worms. I don't recall what I thought about the music, except that it seemed a bit subdued.

I really like the SegaCD version of EWJ at this point. Eventually I'd like to play through the whole thing and see how all of the levels have been expanded. Also, as I recall, the SNES and Genesis each had a unique level. (Probably should check GameFAQs before making a fool of myself, but I'll let someone else call me on this, if I'm wrong.) If I'm remembering correctly, then I'd like to see if the SNES-specific level has been included on the SegaCD version. While watching the attract mode of EWJ:SE I did see that the Genesis-specific level is in the SegaCD version.

The real question, of course, is whether it's worth owning the system for this one game, since it doesn't seem to be available any other way (short of buying the Windows version, a complete cop-out). For most people, I'm thinking "no". For myself, I'm thinking "maybe, probably yes". I'm already eyeing the auctions on eBay and I'm going to wait until after the Xmas rush to see if prices drop a bit; if things are looking good, I'll probably drop around $50 getting a system and that one game. Anyone with suggestions for other fun games that I need to potentially grab at the same time?