Earthworm Jim
The ROMANOV Archive looks at Earthworm Jim (1994) for the Sega Genesis, where the infamous “What the Heck?” level is scored with Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, turning slapstick into something operatic.
As Heck’s lava bubbles and Evil the Cat preens, Mussorgsky’s witches’ sabbath blares in a snarling 16-bit arrangement, only to collapse into syrupy lounge muzak before snapping back to Russian bombast. The result is pure tonal whiplash: apocalypse stitched together with parody, a miniature opera hidden inside a cartoon hellscape. It’s a perfect example of how 16-bit composers borrowed from the Russian canon to give even gag levels unexpected theatrical weight.