He might not be quite as famous today, but once upon a time, Earthworm Jim had considerable commercial pulling power and became one of the most popular characters to emerge during the latter part of the 16-bit era.
Four games have been released in the franchise – Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2, Earthworm Jim 3D, and Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy – but the series has been dormant for a while now, despite an attempt to resurrect it for the ill-fated Intellivision Amico console.
Video game historian Taigen Moon has uncovered an interesting origin story relating to the character, with former GameFan Art Director Rob Duenas revealing that Jim was based on the personality of the magazine's legendary editor, Dave Halverson.
Duenas mentions that Halverson had "initial level designs from Earthworm Jim" and other artwork pinned up in his office, and that he was told by the editor that he had been given them because he was close friends with Jim's creator, Doug TenNaple.
Duenas says Halverson told him that "Jim's personality is based off me," leading him to ask TenNaple many years later if this was true. The artist – who has become a figure of controversy in recent years due to his stance on LGBTQ issues and (more recently) his views on the use of Generative AI in the realm of art – confirmed the story to be true.
You can skip to the relevant part of the interview via this link.
In addition to launching GameFan magazine, Halverson would also publish Gamers' Republic and Play. He relaunched GameFan in 2010, but the publication struggled to maintain a regular release schedule, with many staff members leaving due to unrealistic workloads.
Since then, Halverson has largely kept himself to himself and rarely gives interviews (if you're reading this, Dave, please drop us a line – we'd love to celebrate your remarkable career).