The other major change between the prototypes shown here and the final is the background for Level Ate- it’s completely different than the one in the final game: The first picture is the earlier prototype, and uses the same display as the first Earthworm Jim game (and also shows a completely different Inflated Head sprite) the second is a later version and uses one with the number of lives and health percentage on the same line (and also shows an idle animation from the first game that was cut for EWJ2) the third is a picture from the final for comparison. The earliest versions are in Sega Power- a magazine notorious for using extremely poor quality screenshots- and two different prototypes appear in the same article! The only difference between them is the health and lives display Each of them have some minor yet interesting changes compared to the final product, including a lot of material cut from the game.

In the August issues of British publications Sega Power and Mean Machines Sega, three different prototype versions of Earthworm Jim 2 for the Mega Drive were previewed.

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