There are several ROM images of Earthworm Jim 2 (Super Game version) out there, something that confused and bothered me greatly. Here are the findings from my analysis:
First, no known ROM image comes from an actual single-game cartridge version of the game. All cartridges that claim to have only this game on them are actually multicarts with the menu disabled via a solder pad on the circuit board. It is possible that no actual single-game cartridge version, that is not a bastardized multicart, ever existed. If there is one, then it has not been dumped.
The earliest ROM image (
from 2005) of the game was on the SPC009 "Golden Card 6-in-1" multicart, where Earthworm Jim 2 was one of six games. Extracting the game from that multicart was difficult since the multicart's menu was placed inside the Earthworm Jim 2 part, so that even when the game is extracted, it would still show the menu, but all choices would lead to the same game.
Mazhou88 was the first to attempt such an extraction in 2008, disabling the menu by changing two bytes in the PRG-ROM part. It still played the "game selected" sound effect before the Super Game logo was shown, though. This first hack of the SPC009 extract was included in GoodNES 3.23b as "EarthWorm Jim 2 (SuperGame) [h1].nes", and is included in the attached archive as "Earthworm Jim 2 (SPC009 extract)[h menu removed by mazhou88].nes". An unknown person took this hack and further improved it by removing the "game selected" sound effect, resulting in the ROM image included in GoodNES 3.23b under the misleading name "EarthWorm Jim 2 (SuperGame).nes", and is included in the attached archive as "Earthworm Jim 2 (SPC009 extract)[h menu removed by mazhou88][h menu sound effect removed].nes".
The second ROM image was
dumped by MLX and myself from what seemed like a single-game cartridge with the code E-W2. Because the PRG-ROM part contained menu code and the game names "The Earth Worm" and "The Booger Man", and the CHR-ROM also contained the Boogerman graphics data, it became apparent that the cartridge was actually a 2-in-1 multicart that merely had its menu disabled. Based on the selection of games, that multicart could only have been the king002 "2-in-1 Super Golden Card". king002 had already been dumped by Sanchez
in 2011, but had mistakenly included "J-M2" as the cartridge ID in its filename, even though "J-M2" actually was merely a cover variant of our E-W2 cartridge and so did not truly refer to the menu-enabled variant of the multicart. The king002 multicart ROM image is in GoodNES 3.23b as "2-in-1 J-M2 (Unl) [!].nes". The menu-disabled version found on the E-W2 and actual J-M2 cartridges is not in GoodNES, but is included in the attached archive as "Earthworm Jim 2 (king002 with menu disabled -- E-W2&J-M2).nes" (without the Boogerman CHR data).
A third ROM image can be extracted from the "Super 808 2-in-1" multicart (together with Super Aladdin) that was dumped by Sanchez
in 2012 and included in GoodNES 3.23b as "2-in-1 Super 808 (Unl) [p1][!].nes". Since that multicart's menu had been placed in the Super Aladdin part, this particular extract is the most interesting for being the only ROM image of the game that does not have a (disabled) multicart menu in it. It is therefore the version of the game that would most likely be found on any genuine single-game cartridge version, i.e. a single-game cartridge that is not just a multicart with its menu disabled. It is not included in GoodNES 3.23b, but included in the attached archive as "Earthworm Jim 2 (Super 808 extract).nes".
Finally, Mazhou88 also posted an early development build of the game, which starts at a different level than the normal version. This early build is in GoodNES 3.23b as "EarthWorm Jim 2 (Unl) (Test Version).nes", and is included in the attached archive as "Earthworm Jim 2 (Test build by mazhou88).nes".
