Check out how snarky they are! Making fun of John Denver? Can you smell that punk rock DIY attitude? A tough-looking asian wearing sunglasses indoors! Drinking beer? AT WORK?!
Ah the go-go 90s, when the ultimate expression of Gen-X rebellion was wearing black denim shorts to work, all video effects looked like a crappy Winamp visualization, and the fist-pumping "Sabatoge" provided the soundtrack to disaffected white twenty-somethings in cubicles across California. Despite all the slacker imagery, some cool stuff was going down at Shiny Studios back then. Nothing before or since looks like Earthworm Jim. This design philosophy helped to create a vivid world, one strong enough to support a cartoon series and line of merchandise. How many other indie studios can claim that?
This video illustrates why Earthworm Jim and subsequent releases like MDK, were such insane (but excellent) jumbles of ideas, design-wise. Their rollicking, everything AND the kitchen sink design aesthetic displayed here explains why their games showcased cows falling out of the sky, farting bad guys, and, well...Queen Slug-for-a-Butt. It's all just so 90s! Let's go watch the Loser video.
And while I'm just creeping around the internet finding awesome stuff, here's a fun fact from Wikipedia: "The name Shiny was accidentally conceived while listening to the R.E.M. track Shiny Happy People on loop during the development of Aladdin for the Sega Genesis."
Who knew?.
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