Game:

Earthworm Jim (1994)

Duration: 7:45

544 views

9

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR46YOmLagRD8We64o_vpX6oV

Earthworm Jim! Through the soil he did crawl!
Earthworm Jim! A super suit did fall!

Hey, there! This is a series that'll be featuring the Sega Genesis at 60 frames per second captured on the original system! Why? Well... have you ever watched an older game on YouTube and noticed the main character turn invisible when hit, or some other such nonsense? That's because some older games use some ridiculously high speed flicker effects to achieve those crazy hitflashes on bosses or that "ouch I'm hurt!" flicker! These are not displayed properly at 30 fps, but now that we're able to upload at 60 fps we can see all the special effects that older games would use! (They'll be smoother, too!)
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Earthworm Jim's a worm! In a super suit! With a ray gun! The first thing he did in it was accidentally destroy his one time nemesis, a crow, by leaning up against a tree and knocking it over on him! Freed from his earthy confines, Jim now rockets across the universe to save the now-love-of-his-life, Princess What's-Her-Name from the clutches of The Evil Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed, Slug-for-a-Butt! (Yeah, I had to Google that to get it right!)

That's the story in a nutshell, but basically you're a super-buff worm guy who makes his way across a bunch of nutty planets shooting and whipping anything that gets in his way! I guess you could call this a platformer? But it's main draw is the absurdest humor and animation. This extra attention made the game look extra-cool back in the day, and I think it still shows even now.

Earthworm Jim was one of many attempts for a company to create a "Sonic", a mascot that would figurehead their company and be ultra lucrative! Jim was probably one of the most successful of these attempts. He even got a couple seasons in a TV series and an action figure line! He didn't seem to have lasting power in the end, though, as goes for most of these guys. But your time with us was groovy, Jim!
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New Junk City is where Jim starts out - it's kinda like a big bounce-castle of tires! I take a few secret paths through some toilets, but you get the general tour, here! At the end you fight Chuck as he ups his namesake! Don't bother shooting him, you'll just upset his stomach! Best to think of a crate idea, or something!
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Some additional notes for those technically inclined:

This was captured from an original Sega Genesis system via composite output along with stereo sound to get as authentic a recording as possible. The Genesis used is one of the "good" models with proper sound and video output. Genesis can also output an RGB signal which is clearer, but I vetoed the idea because it breaks the dithering effect (color blending and transparencies) as seen here:
http://retro-sanctuary.com/comparisons%20-%20differing.html
Also, the vast majority of people could not use the RGB signal even if they wanted to, so the experience they remember would be the composite signal as shown in this video.

There are a couple things to note about the quality of the video, however. Sega Genesis has a very dirty video signal that often "breaks" attempts to capture it with a capture device. The capture device I use is considered one of the most capable when it comes to older systems, but the Genesis' video signal still introduces some inconsistencies. These usually manifest where there are extremely thin lines in game, mostly the text, and in some other places as well. As a whole, it is more than manageable, but it is worth noting.

Also, the original sega genesis resolution is, in essence, 240p at 60 frames per second. To take advantage of YouTube's higher bitrate offerings and to enable 60 fps I need to upscale that resolution to 1080p. There is also a step of video deinterlacing before that to create crisp video. That is a significant amount of video processing to the image, so I want to note that here as well.

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