"Yo, wha'sup!"
In Toejam & Earl you are in control of either Toejam or Earl. Toejam being a three-legged red alien wearing a medallion and baseball cap, Earl is a pear shaped, overweight buffoon who wears super cool sunglasses. If you have a friend there is also a two player cooperative mode where you control both characters. Toejam and Earl are both aliens from the planet Funkotron, a planet where all inhabitants seem to be highly funky aliens. The story being that Toejam and Earl were happily driving around in their spacecraft, thumping out a funky beat when Toejam let Earl have a turn as the driver. Earl then crashed into the planet Earth where pieces of their rocket were scattered all over the place. Your mission then is to travel across the lands searching for these rocket pieces so Toejam and Earl can go back home to Funkotron.
The gameplay is really simple, like supermodel simple. Each level is a randomized area of land (assuming you on the random world mode), which you walk around searching for the rocket pieces and an elevator. The elevator takes you to the next level, which is just like a floor in a tall building, as in if you walk off the side you fall down to the previous level. You will also find presents on the floor around the level. You then open the presents to receive things like a slingshot that fires tomatoes, a door that takes to a random spot on that stage or even the feared rocket skates. Of course there are things that are trying to stop you at what you are doing. On Toejam and Earl those things are earthlings. You encounter earthlings like a Mad Scientist who jabs you with a needle and a giant hamster in a ball that squashes you flat.
The entire game has this cartoon feel. One thing that I really like about Toejam & Earl is the sound effects, they are really funny and will keep you amused forever. The one that sticks in my head is the “Boogey boogey boogey” sound that comes from the really annoying bogeyman. The graphics in Toejam & Earl are really nice and fun; they’re nothing special for the Megadrive/Genesis but they suit the style and humour for this game. Added with the sound effects of Toejam and Earl it creates this whole new crazy world. The music is fantastic in this game, sometimes I am just walking around with music in my head not thinking about what it is, then I realise that its Toejam and Earl.
This game has aged really well with time, I think if you play it for the first time you will still really enjoy the play of the game and the music. I can still play this for a long time today being amused by what I’m playing. Maybe I am just simple. I think it is probably one of the best Megadrive/Genesis games. It did inspire 2 sequels, but they just dont touch this game. Another thing: I never realised how weird this game is until I found my copy recently, I must have been a messed up kid. So get your tomato slingshot ready to kick some earthling butt as you try to get back home to Funkotron.
A must buy for all genesis owners!