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Wild 9 controls psx7/31/2023 ![]() It was the first ever sniper weapon in games. "The original pitch of shooting someone in the eye from a mile away solved a massive problem in games at that time, by offering the ability to zoom into distant objects and target them. ![]() "Designer Nick Bruty and I were a two-person team for many years, and for MDK he finally got to lead his own team with incredible talent like Bob Stevenson (art) and Andy Astor (programming)," explains Dave. The gliding mechanic was a novelty at the time, but later appeared in games like the classic Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. It was a revelation, and even the likes of id Software's iconic Quake, released one year earlier, had nothing in its arsenal to rival it. The sniping allowed players to zoom at incredible distances across the game's then-impressive vistas in first-person via an HR Giger-like helmet HUD that showed off Kurt's ammo feed, which could be switched on the fly with six interchangeable bullet types. Similarly to Jim's super suit, Kurt was emboldened by an anatomic "coil suit," granting him special powers that included, among other things, a pterodactyl-like helmet with an in-built sniper rifle, becoming one of the first 3D shooters to feature such a weapon, and the ability to glide using a parachute. Released in the summer of 1997 for PC and Mac, and later for the Sony PlayStation, MDK was the story of a humble space janitor named Kurt Hectic who found himself tasked with saving Earth from reptilian alien miners. Translating Earthworm Jim's chaotic run and gun platforming into a 3D arena, MDK was ahead of the curve in several respects. ![]() When Jim was in it, he was incredibly tough and when he was out of it, he was just a squidgy, naked worm."Įarthworm Jim is probably Shiny's most famous creation, but MDK is their enduring masterpiece, standing tall as one of the greatest games of the 1990s. So, that's why I personally loved the super suit. One moment you are kicking butt, the next you're in massive trouble. "I think that in game design there's a great value in contrasting abilities, meaning if you're strong all the time it's not as fun as going from very strong to very weak. This was a deliberate move by David and his team at Shiny. So Earthworm Jim not only scored him a job, but it also got us excited enough to build our first game."Ĭrucially, and in contrast to his platform competitors, Jim was relatively weak on his own, and reliant on a technologically advanced "super suit" that granted him strength. ![]() As a result he showed up with Earthworm Jim and we loved it. "I didn't know Doug but he was highly recommended," says Dave. Jim was designed by Doug TenNapel, an animator from California who would achieve further success post-Jim with his bizarre designs for the cult 1998 claymation adventure game The Neverhood (which has recently seen the release of a spiritual successor, Armikrog) and its platforming sequel Skullmonkeys. Even the villains had an anarchic streak to them: Evil the Cat, Psy-Crow, Queen Slug-For-A-Butt, Bob the Killer Goldfish. The notion of designing an earthworm as a platforming hero came off as a hilarious dig at the rife platform mascot culture of the time, which tried so hard to inject attitude into various animals, be they hedgehogs (Sonic), bobcats (Bubsy), or miscellaneous (Zool). ![]() The game that launched Shiny as a brand and David's personal favorite amongst his own output, Earthworm Jim was an instant classic, and became one of the first games to successfully capture that indescribable Saturday morning kookiness of 1990s Nickelodeon. ![]()
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