Checking out Toejam & Earl for Sega
One of the most memorable Sega franchises set for revival
With the Kickstarter for Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove just days away from finishing, I wanted to pull out one of my favourite franchises for the Sega Mega Drive. I have wanted to review the original Toejam & Earl since I started the show but I’ve always been a bit nervous about what I can really add to such a classic game.
Instead of a review, I’ve decided to treat this as a more of a light ‘impressions’ video. No deep analysis, no intricate history, just me sharing my thoughts on the original Toejam & Earl as well as the sequel; Panic on Funktron.
The biggest take away really is, you’ve got to play these games for yourself (hopefully with a friend).
Both the original Toejam and Earl games were developed by essentially the same group of creatives at Johnson Voorsanger productions, though the original Toejam & Earl is likely to be better remembered (and frankly, more fun to play).
The original game can be described as a ‘rouge-like’ with randomised stages and powerups. It really is a ‘pick-up and play’ two-player game (with an optional single player mode), so I really recommend finding (at least one) friend to play with.
The sequel, Panic on Funkotron, was a lot safer in its approach. At the time of release, it was confusing and disappointing but frankly in 1993 when the game was released, Platformers were king. Wedged between games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) and Sonic 3 (1994), the excitement for a great platformer was there. Earthworm Jim (1994) is a great comparison; very similar animation quality, attention to detail, quirky gameplay and focus on humour but for fans of the original, Panic on Funkotron missed the mark.
I do recommend going back to check out the sequel however. The game was still developed by the original creators, a lot of the charm is there along with some imaginative alien stages. I really had fun going back to this title when I knew what to expect (instead of focusing on how different it was).
As for Toejam and Earl 3, I have never owned an Xbox. I’ve been somewhat kicking myself for missing out on the Xbox with a slew of great Sega games appearing there exclusively; Panzer Dragoon Orta, Shenmue 2, Jet Set Radio Future and of course, Toejam & Earl 3: Mission to Earth. In hindsight, the relationship between Microsoft and Sega does make sense. The Dreamcast did run a Windows OS and there were even (early) discussions around the possibility of backward compatibility between the Dreamcast and Xbox systems.
To put it bluntly, Toejam & Earl: Mission to Earth wasn’t a successful game. A lot of critics labeled it “Fair” but watching the footage, it feels like both Greg Johnson and Mark Voorsanger were able to bring that charm from the original games into 3D, though it wasn’t exactly an easy process.
Toejam & Earl 3 has a long development history, initially scoped for systems like the 64, PS2 and Dreamcast. I had the chance to download and play the beta build for Dreamcast to share my thoughts on the 3D approach. (You can download the build yourself from AssemblerGames)
I enjoyed the mechanics in 3D but the game still didn’t really do anything exciting with it. It looked great but it was just so unnecessary for a Toejam & Earl game.
With console games, there has always been this stigma around using the systems potential. Toejam & Earl went 3D because it ‘had to’ in order to have a console release…. Just like how Panic on Funktron became a Platformer…
It’s one of the reasons I’ve been so excited about the new Back in the Groove game; Greg Johnson has taken on the project and by sourcing the funding and handling the release in-house, we can get a much more accurate representation of what Toejam and Earl should have been.
Sprite graphics mixed with 3D, the original camera angles with the possibility of moving it around and a really funky soundtrack.