There are certain icons in the gaming industry that are immediately recognizable by the general public, and so many of these famous faces even got their own Saturday morning cartoon at one point. Earthworm Jim is one such figure that has fallen into the abyss for many years, but now it seems that Atari has grabbed the rights to the squiggly guy, dropped him in a big robotic suit and is going to release a new generation of games featuring his likeness.

Earthworm Jim games were fun because they had vibrant graphics, fun gameplay, and, perhaps most of all, “wacky absurdist humor.” Atari is working with original developers Shiny Entertainment on the followup(s), which should feel quite familiar to fans of the series. They’ve kept with the side-scrolling action motif, but jazzed it up with slicker animations and three-dimension graphics. A two-player competition mode is being added as well.

Word on the street is that Earthworm Jim is destined for the Sony PlayStation Portable at a date yet to be determined.

Note: the picture provided is from the old Super Nintendo title and is not from the new game in development.