Earthworm Jim is an action platforming video game developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Playmates Interactive Entertainment for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive home console.  The development studio used the Sega Genesis as the lead platform for the development of the game with all other ports stemming from the Genesis version.

The conception of the game began when Playmates Toys wanted to start their own franchise based off the success, they had with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license.  In 1989, Playmate Toys created and distributed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures, which became massively successful for the company.  Playmates Toys wanted to recreate the success they had using the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license but with their own licenses allowing them to capitalize on all aspects of a successful franchise such as cartoons, video games, action figures, merchandise, etc.

Inspired by the recent success of Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise Playmates Toys felt that the video game medium was the best way to introduce a new franchise to their demographic.  Playmates Toys created a subsidiary known as Playmates Interactive Entertainment Inc. that focused on video game publishing.  The newly founded subsidiary was co-located with Playmates Toys’ US branch office in La Mirada, California and they immediately started to search for a developer to hire to create a video game based on a new intellectual property.

Playmates Interactive Entertainment Inc. began conversations with David Perry, a video game programmer who recently left Virgin Games after creating Terminator, Cool Spot and Disney’s Aladdin for the Sega Genesis.  Perry worked out an agreement with Playmates Interactive Entertainment that would see Playmates fund an independent studio with several million dollars in exchange for the publishing rights to the first three games developed by that studio.  This deal allowed David Perry to create his own video game development studio, founding Shiny Entertainment in October 1993.

Several former Virgin Games developers followed Perry and where hired by the newly formed studio to start working on the first games in the newly signed agreement with Playmate Interactive Entertainment.  The game’s development began when Shiny Entertainment was interviewing Doug TenNapel, a former DreamWorks animator for a position within the company.  During the interview process TenNapel demonstrated his skills by providing a simple sketch of an earthworm which impressed David Perry.  After TenNapel’s presentation the studio was set on using his earthworm sketch as a base for their new intellectual property.  TenNapel began working on the game design and creating level ideas while Perry and the rest of Shiny Entertainment created other characters and game mechanics.  With most of Shiny Entertainment originating from Virgin Interactive Entertainment the development studio implemented similar techniques which were used to create Disney’s Aladdin where animations were drawn by hand and digitised into the game.