ToeJam & Earl is an action game developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega for the Mega Drive / Genesis in 1991. With a comical and irreverent style, it was one of the first to popularize the roguelike genre, with randomly generated levels on each new game.
Gameplay
Players control either ToeJam or Earl, exploring levels to collect parts of their broken spaceship. Levels are procedurally generated, with items, enemies, and obstacles randomly placed in each new game.
Each map is an island, with several stacked islands accessible via an elevator. If the player falls off the edge or into holes on the island they are on, they will be returned to the previous level/island, having to find the elevator again.
Players can collect items such as food – watermelon, pizza, etc – to replenish their energy. They can also shake hands (when the game involves 2 players) to share their remaining energy. Money found throughout the levels can be used to purchase items from a specific NPC. Co-op mode causes the screen to be split horizontally.
Development history
ToeJam & Earl began to be conceived by designer Greg Johnson. According to Johnson1The GameCola Interview: Greg Johnson, the idea born from his subconscious; he says he woke up at 3 a.m. and wrote: "Greetings and various apropos felicitations. My name is ToeJam and this here is my homeboy, Big Earl. We are aliens from outer space".
This was the basis for the future game, developed in a little over a year, mostly working together with his business partner, Mark Voorsanger. Johnson described the work as a "garage shop type thing." Sega took an interest in the project and obtained the rights to publish it on the Mega Drive.
Plot
ToeJam and Earl are aliens from the planet Funkotron, where everyone loves funk and is full of rhythm. During a space trip, their spaceship suffers an accident and falls to Earth, being broken into pieces. The duo must find each part to reassemble the ship and escape the dangerous planet, full of strange and threatening earthlings.
Plot accordign to the cartridge shell:
CHECK IT OUT... We're ToeJam and Earl. And we ran into a small problem. More specifically, a large planet (I shoulda never let Earl drive...). Help us hunt down the pieces to our rocket ship and we'll let you jam out some tunes on our megawatt rapmaster. Deal?
WHOAH!!! We're bumpin' into some of the weirdest creatures in the universe: Earthlings. Boogie down with bewitching hula girls. Block a nerd herd. Or hurl tomatoes at a crazed dentist with a drill.
SPLIT UP and scope things out. Or hang together to share your stuff. Pick up presents you can use – like wings, rocket skates and inner tubes. Or ones you'll wish you hadn't opened – like bees, tomato rain and school books. So grab a friend – or join the jamminest party you'll ever play.
Soundtrack
Soundtrack composed by John Baker, with elements of jazz-funk, funk and hip-hop. Baker cited Herbie Hancock and more specifically The Headhunters as main influence in his work for ToeJam&Earl.
- ToeJam Jammin'
- Big Earl Bump
- Rapmaster Rocket Racket
- Funkotronic Beat
- Alien Break Down
- ToeJam Slowjam
- Elevator Beats
Images
X-ray
- Development
- Johnson Voorsanger Productions
- Players
- 2 (single-player, co-op, multi-player)
- Genre
- Roguelike, Action
- Characters
- ToeJam, Earl
Releases
See also franchise page ToeJam & EarlMega Drive
See deals on Amazon
See deals on eBay
| Art | Title | Region | Date | Class. | UPC/EAN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ToeJam & Earl |  | 15th Oct, 1991 | - | - |
| ToeJam & Earl |  | 13th Mar, 1992 | - | - |
| ToeJam & Earl |  | 1991 | - | - |
| ToeJam & Earl1 |  | 1991 | - | - |
| 1 Publisher: Tectoy. | |||||
