In 1988, Playmates Toys VP of marketing Richard Sallis watched as Teenage Mutant Turtles went from underground comic-book cult favorites to a full-fledged phenomenon. Playmates manufactured Turtles action figures, reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in the process.

Sallis, now president of the company, is waiting to see whether another quirky character will go from zero to hero.

Earthworm Jim, featuring a character Playmates calls an "annelid with an attitude," will be released on Super NES and Sega Genesis Oct. 27. It's the first videogame from Playmates, which has been producing toys since 1975.

According to Sallis, the company, wanting to reach beyond the preteen toy audience, formed Playmates Interactive Entertainment about two years ago to concentrate on multimedia. "Once kids are 8 years old," he said, "they want to buy a videogame, not a toy."

Playmates chose Earthworm Jim as its first project because, Sallis said, "it looked great. It was fresh and had a sense of humor that will make kids laugh. I hadn't seen anything like it."

Earthworm Jim is described by the company as "an ordinary earthworm, who, upon fleeing from a predator crow, suddenly finds himself the wearer of an all-powerful, indestrutible cybernetic suit." His mission: rescue Princess What's-Her-Name.

In entering the videogame industry, Playmates gave itself a leg up by making a deal with software developer Shiny Entertainment. The Laguna...