In an announcement Wednesday morning, Tommy Tallarico, President of Intellivision, has announced that Earthworm Jim will be returning to video games in a new adventure exclusively on the upcoming family-friendly console, the Intellivision Amico.
Tallarico, whose credits include the original Earthworm Jim games, has gathered ten of the original programmers, artists, audio team, and level designers to “[bring] back the uniqueness and humor of the Earthworm Jim series.”
Few details are known about the upcoming title so far, and with the Amico console announced last year not set to launch until October 2020, we have some time before we’ll learn more about the game.
On Saturday, May 4th, however, Tallarico will be hosting a 20-minute livestream of the first internal design meeting with the team.
“As part of the live simulcast, the team will engage with fans to hear their new vision firsthand, multiple original art pieces will be hand-drawn by the artists, signed by the entire team and given away to people viewing the live stream. In addition, 50 brand new posters will be signed and numbered for live chat prizes.”
“We have been talking about this moment for many years, it’s a dream come true to finally get the entire team back together. We’re looking forward to sharing a small part of our reunion and initial design meeting with fans from around the world,” said Tommy Tallarico, Intellivision Entertainment CEO/President and original Earthworm Jim 1 & 2 composer and sound designer. “Intellivision Amico is designed to bring friends and families together and we are excited for fans and those just being introduced to the series to get a first look as we kick-off the design of the game.”
Voted Game of the Year in 1994, the last time the original Earthworm Jim team worked together was the game’s sequel in 1995, appropriately titled Earthworm Jim 2.
Intellivision is promising to bring a lineup of entirely exclusive games to its console, and while that is technically possible by coming up with new IP and not offering it anywhere else, being able to bring a beloved character such as Earthworm Jim back from the 90s and into a modern era could very well be the key to seeing success with this family-friendly console.