The Atari Jaguar version of Team 17‘s Worms was developed by Ocean Software and first published by Telegames in 1998. It was the final Atari-licensed title to be released for the Jaguar. This port is based on the PlayStation version of Worms, which is a good thing because the PS1 version is arguably the best version of the game ever made.

The graphics, sound effects, gameplay, and most of the game’s details and features are pretty much identical to the PlayStation version, although it is missing the ability to save team names, statistics and high scores. And, while you might think that is a minor thing, I’d have to disagree… Editing team and player names is a fundamental part of what makes this game great, and if you can’t save them (and have to re-enter them every time you switch the Jaguar on), then players just aren’t going to bother with it. Which is a shame.

A couple of other minor differences between this and the PlayStation version are: the cartoony cut scenes are missing (which is no big deal), and the hilarious Ninja Rope is slightly different, being made up of tiny ‘balls’ instead of a plotted line. The Ninja Rope still works the same, though, which is good.

Otherwise, this is the Worms that we all know and love. There’s little to fault with this conversion and Ocean did a great job of porting it. I’d maybe even go as far as to say that this deserves a place in the Jaguar ‘top ten best games of all-time’ list. It’s beautifully-produced; is an excellent party game for up to four players (with simple ‘pass the gamepad’-style controls); is easy to play and is maddeningly addictive.

More: Worms on Wikipedia
Steam: Worms on Steam
GOG: Worms on GOG.com