10 Worst No. 3's In Gaming History

Even now, some 25 years removed from Earthworm Jim's fall from grace, the speed of the franchise's decline is staggering.

Back in the mid-90s, Earthworm Jim was giving the likes of Sonic and Mario a run for their money as gaming's most recognizable mascot. A brace of excellent MegaDrive/Genesis games led to a delightfully surreal cartoon, of which Earthworm Jim 3D was supposed to tie-in to.

The problem? Due to being trapped in development hell, Earthworm Jim 3D didn't come out until 1999 - three years after the cartoon had stopped airing. This meant the game had to stand on its own merits, of which there were precious few.

As well as containing nearly every irritant common to 3D platformers - murderously unhelpful camera, cumbersome controls and pointless collectables - Earthworm Jim 3D suffers from a criminal lack of imagination.

Previous games in the series kept you interested by transporting Jim from one bizarre scenario to the next. One second you were piloting a rocket to fight a snot monster, the next you were guiding a blind salamander through a cave while Moonlight Sonata played in the background. Earthworm Jim 3D's bland, ugly levels - that all culminated in the same godawful boss fight - were poor fare for dedicated Jimheads (the totally-not-made-up name for Earthworm Jim fans).

Still, it wasn't the worst game to make the jump to 3D...