Random spawns absolutely ruin this game.

But it is adorable, and the fishing rod is pretty addictive for each 4 minute burst that you're allowed to play with it (praying that an eel isn't going to snipe you all the while) so I'm sure I'm going to come back to this in the future, get back up to field 40, watch the big tadpole drop his babies down the tube, and then I'll die violently in a frothing sea of frogs.

Why is the hud all so close to the center of the screen?

This version of the game is really interesting to me for historical purposes only.
The extra level Big Bruty is kind of neat and brings more of the strange horror aspect that you find in Intestinal Distress, the extra section of New Junk City is serviceable, the CD quality BGM is yet another interesting take on these really solid tracks, and the extra frames of animation are neat when you notice them.

What I think makes this worth playing in addition to the SNES or Genesis versions is the alternate history perspective you can find in it. Considering that this game is released about a year later and with tons of extra storage space you can make some (bold) assumptions about what the boys at Shiny really valued. This is an unintentional developer commentary on the original Earthworm Jim.

The fact that there's only one all-new level makes that single level speak to the developers ideas about what the original game should have had more of, and their answer is... Puzzle-oriented platforming with an invincible pursuer that forces you into hiding. They wanted EWJ to have more survival horror. That's wacky to me, and makes Intestinal Distress way less of an anomaly.

The new hummingbird enemy's alien appearance and slightly shifted art style would look more at home in EWJ2's more surreal, high-contrast creature design and it makes me think that the artists were already making a mental shift towards that aesthetic. The new humina humina awooga animation during the ending depicts Jim in a slightly different line weight than he has for the rest of the game, which once again makes it look like the artist's sensibilities have already started to shift to the EWJ2 style.

But what's most interesting to me is the extra quips that they included for Jim. He talks WAY more in this version and his little references and observations make him feel way less like the serious and incompetent buffoon that you see in the cartoon show and more... Bubsy, Gex, Deadpool. It makes me wonder if the extra quips are something they just decided on when they saw what extra disc space they had left over or if they always wanted Jim to talk this much. Imagine if EWJ was first released on DVD, would he be just as inane as the cast in Sonic Boom? I shudder to think.

Do yourself a favor and play the game in Easy or Difficult, not Normal. Either one rewards you with an extended ending sequence where Douglas TenNaple rambles in a weirdly personable way and cracks a bunch of jokes you feel like only him and Shiny would get. It goes on just long enough to develop a parasocial relationship with the guy.
Yeah, Doug. I am the best. Thanks man.

Broke: Marina Liteyears should be playable in Smash Bros.
Woke: Marina Liteyears should be playable in Megaman Xtreme 2.

This was my most anticipated release of the year but it didn't totally click with me. The limitations of the grappling hook are kind of unclear and I feel like many parts of the level were harder than the X or Zero series platforming to an unfair degree. Sure the penalties for death and pits/spikes have been reduced, but it shouldn't be anywhere near this hard to clear a stage without taking damage.

The OST and writing make up for it a bit though. I really adore the character dialogue.

Also the Switch port lags in some really unfortunate spots. It even happens when you are asked to confirm your purchase in the chip shop or when you're being told the mission for a stage, and it audibly breaks the kickass drum and guitar loop that plays there.

It's kinda like if Bubsy 2 was good.

I tried to set limits for myself like "don't go for any P Ranks" but I kept replaying levels to find all the secrets and then once I had memorized it I'd think "maybe I'll just try for a P Rank on this one".

Edit: 20 extra hours later, I'm out of levels to P Rank. I just couldn't stop coming back.

Played entirely on the unofficial Switch port. I do own the PC release, I but an unofficial console port of a PC game made in less than a year was way too anomalous to pass up.

The camera is weird as hell. It tracks around really lazily and twists a lot as if its first priority is to set up nauseating shots. It absolutely accomplishes that goal and I'm convinced that it's an artistic choice. Surprisingly this doesn't interfere with gameplay almost at all, but some of the platforming in the final levels is pretty unforgiving and eventually the seasickness got to me. Which is a shame because this game definitely has a neat personality.

Has that charming thing where the voice actors talk over each other slightly during the cutscenes as if they're dubbing over some really fast Japanese and they couldn't fit all the words into their allotted time.

滑稽！
楽しい！
ややこしい！

時々、正しい推理まで辿ったなのに事件の背景を晒す機会がでないこともありますけど、そういうことは仕方ないでしょう。

駄洒落好きにおすすめ

For language learners, this is the most fun comprehension test of all time.

It's like they read my mind and made all the changes I wanted them to make from BoTW. I didn't think Nintendo has the balls for most of this. They even stuck in a bunch of neat little character interactions to find which give you no reward and aren't tracked in the quest log, I love that.
But the new ways to fight enemies don't scale up very well, so the combat goes back to boring BoTW style after the silver variants start appearing. Also stealth just doesn't work on enemies that share a health bar, and it's really uncool of them not to at least warn you about that.