ToeJam & Earl

ToeJam & Earl
Developer(s)	Johnson Voorsanger Productions
Publisher(s)	Sega
Producer(s)	Scott Berfield
Designer(s)	Greg Johnson
Platform(s)	Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console
Release	1991 (Mega Drive) December 22, 2006 (VC)
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single-player, 2-player co-op

ToeJam & Earl is an action video game created by Johnson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega in 1991 for the Mega Drive, and later re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2006. The game features two aliens, ToeJam and Earl, who have crash landed on Earth. The player guides them in their search for pieces of their spacecraft's wreckage, which they need in order to escape. The gameplay is a treasure hunt inspired by role-playing computer game Rogue, with randomly generated levels and unidentified power-ups in the form of wrapped presents. The player must use these power-ups to succeed, while being careful not to open those with negative effects.

The game was met with strong reviews, which especially praised its originality, humor, soundtrack and two-player cooperative play, though some questioned the game's slow pace. Despite poor initial sales, ToeJam & Earl became a sleeper hit with a cult following. Its protagonists together became one of Sega's mascots, spawning a spin-off mini-game (Ready, Aim, Tomatoes) and a sequel, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. A second sequel, ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth was eventually released for Microsoft's Xbox in 2002. ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkatron garnered positive reviews and sales, but disappointed fans with its more generic design, while the second sequel received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure. Research has suggested ToeJam & Earl is the most popular game among fans of the series.

ToeJam & Earl was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2006. The game received praise from critics who again regarded it as highly unusual while acclaiming the two-player cooperative mode and soundtrack. Opinions of the graphics were mixed, while criticisms of the game's pace were pronounced among some critics. Others felt the game had become less enjoyable over time, while its 1990s idioms had become dated.

The game's protagonists are a "three-legged red alien" and "fat orange alien" respectively.^[1] The player must guide them in their search for parts of their spacecraft's wreckage so that they may escape to their home planet of "Funkotron", all the while avoiding antagonistic Earthlings.^[2] ToeJam wears a large gold medallion and backwards baseball cap, while Earl dons high-tops and oversized sunglasses, both outfits being "over-the-top appropriations" of 1990s urban culture.^[2] The characters' speech features Californian slang.^[3] The game is set to a soundtrack which has been described both as jazz-funk,^[2] and as rap.^[4] It has been called a surreal, comic satire,^[2] and a "daringly misanthropic commentary on Earthly life".^[5]

The action takes place on islands (representing Earth) floating in space viewed from a top-down perspective. Each island is one layer above the last, to which it is connected by an elevator. On some levels a piece of spacecraft wreckage can be found; the game is won by collecting all of these pieces.^[2] Falling from the edge of an island will cause the player's character to fall to the level below, thus forcing them to again find the elevator on that level.^[3] Blocking ToeJam and Earl's path to each elevator is a variety of "Earthlings": these antagonists include hula girls, giant hamsters, "rampaging packs of nerds", "phantom ice-cream trucks", Bogeymen, man-eating mailboxes and "gangs of tomato-hurling police-chickens".^[2][6][3] There is also a handful of helpful Earthlings.^[2] The action is "largely non-violent",^[7] as the protagonists can only attack antagonists with the aid of tomatoes, one of many temporary power-ups.^[2]

ToeJam & Earl's mechanics are inspired by Rogue and thus the game is at its core a Roguelike or dungeon-crawl game.^[8][9] The main game mode's levels are randomly generated, as are power-ups which come in the form of wrapped presents.^[8] These power-ups include hi-top shoes (enabling the characters to run faster), rocket-skates (which give a near-uncontrollable speed boost), a decoy (which distracts enemies) and "Icarus wings" (which allow the characters to fly).^[3][8] The player does not know the contents of presents until they are opened, after which the contents of all presents of that appearance becomes known. Not all presents contain helpful power-ups: the contents of some are harmful, including a present which causes the loss of a "life" and a "randomizer" which revokes the player's knowledge of all presents, randomizing them all over again. Identification of presents' contents is thus central to the game.^[8][9] The more presents the player opens, the closer he gets to accidentally opening the randomizer; this prevents the game from becoming easier as the player identifies more power-ups.^[9]

Also central to the game is its two-player cooperative mode. This uses a camera system (unique at the time of its release) which splits the screen in two when players wander apart, but uses a single screen when both characters are in the same vicinity.^[2] When one player opens a present while in the vicinity of the other, its content will affect both players.^[9] Playing the game with two players reveals additional dialogue and jokes between the characters, which are not heard in the single player game.^[2][3]

ToeJam & Earl's creator Greg Johnson became a fan of Rogue, the main inspiration behind the game, while a university student. After leaving university, he worked on Starflight, released by Electronic Arts (then a small publisher) in 1986, and subsequently several other games for the company.^[10] The concept for ToeJam & Earl called for a lighter version of Starflight's science-fiction themes, combined with the gameplay concepts of Rogue.^[2][10] Johnson met programmer Mark Voorsanger through a mutual friend, while walking on Mount Tam in 1989. He related the concept of ToeJam & Earl to a receptive Voorsanger and the two resolved to make the game together. They formed Johnson Voorsanger Productions soon after, with work on the game beginning in earnest after the completion of Starflight 2 for Electronic Arts.^[10]

The developers were granted a meeting with Sega of America (then a small company of some 20 employees, according to Johnson), as both had experience working on commercial video games. They used cards covered with drawings of terrain to demonstrate their idea for randomly generated levels.^[10] Sega marketing manager Hugh Bowen immediately warmed to the concept, as Sega was interested in innovative games and new mascots to compete with Nintendo.^[10][2] Sega did not believe a two player split-screen mode possible due to hardware issues; nevertheless, Voorsanger succeeded in implementing the feature, which was central to the creators' vision.^[10] The small development team comprised "former collaborators of Johnson's", while John Baker composed the game's music.^[2] Steve Purcell has also stated he contributed character designs to the game.^[11]

The game was met with positive reviews,^[10] "almost unanimous critical acclaim" according to UGO.^[12] A review in Mean Machines noted that while the action was somewhat slow paced for the critics' liking, they appreciated the game's addictive appeal and numerous eccentric features.^[3] One of the reviewers predicted: "Not everyone will like it—it's not normal enough for mass appeal—but I think it's destined to become a massive cult classic".^[3] Entertainment Weekly praised the "absolutely hilarious" sound effects and music.^[13] Boys' Life called it "another hot game" for the Mega Drive, alongside Sonic the Hedgehog.^[14] A review published in both the Chicago Tribune and Rome News-Tribune likened ToeJam and Earl to "an outer-space, rap version of Abbott and Costello". The article gave a positive verdict, praising the soundtrack, graphics and action and calling it "the funniest game we've seen in a long time".^[4][15] Several months after the game's release, Mega placed it as the 13th best Mega Drive game in its All-Time Top 100 feature. The magazine praised the game's "superbly manic and zany action" and deemed it both "original and insane".^[16] Sega Visions praised the game's "no-repetitive action" and said "This is the zaniest game that ever rocked Sega's Genesis system."^[17] Game Informer commended the innovative concept and soundtrack, although the reviewer felt the game was somewhat easy.^[18] The Toronto Star acclaimed the "hilariously designed split-screen two-player mode", claiming "If you've got a Sega-Genesis system, you simply must check out the awesome rap 'n' roll game, ToeJam & Earl."^[19]

Despite critical acclaim, initial sales of the game were poor, leading Sega to deem it a commercial failure. Sales gradually increased over time, however, as the game built a cult following through word of mouth.^[10] Subsequent to the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Mega Drive experienced a sharp increase in sales over Christmas 1991 with ToeJam & Earl benefiting further.^[2] This "slow burn" success ultimately resulted in the game becoming a "cult" success.^[10]

In 2006, ToeJam & Earl was re-released on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console.^[8] Official Nintendo Magazine felt the game's enjoyability had diminished over time, but praised its humor, invention and two-player mode, giving it an 85% overall score.^[20] GameSpot noted that the 1990s idioms used in the game felt dated, but the gameplay was still enjoyable by modern standards, again especially the two-player mode.^[8] 1UP also praised the two-player co-operative mode, though it felt it was less enjoyable when played solo, as well as noting the graphics and sound were "oddly primitive". Despite this and the fact the reviewer found it difficult to pin down the exact reasons for the game's appeal, the online magazine considered it "one of the best games to hit VC to date".^[7] EuroGamer however gave the game a negative review, with only two stars out of five. The reviewer was bored by what he deemed overly slow gameplay and found little satisfaction in the game's aim of hunting for "random tat".^[1] IGN called the game's visuals a "mixed bag" and again complained about the slow-paced action, but praised its unpredictability and felt the game's sound design was "One thing you absolutely can't fault".^[21]

ToeJam and Earl became "one of Sega's second tier mascots, alongside Sonic",^[22] and one of the Mega Drive's "key exclusive franchises".^[23] The duo appeared in a spin-off light gun game, Ready, Aim, Tomatoes, developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions as one of six mini-games to appear on a cartridge released with the Menacer light gun.^[2] The developer then began work on a sequel proper in early 1992 and spent three months building on the original concept by adding more terrain types and indoor areas.^[2] Sega said that it neither understood the sequel, nor saw how it could be marketed. Johnson and Voorsanger thus began developing a more generic platform game, a concept to which Sega had been more receptive.^[2][10] This sequel, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, was released in 1993 to considerable anticipation, positive reviews and commercial success. However, fans of the original were disappointed at the radical departure from the original concept to a more generic type of game.^[2] Sega's subsequent video game console, the Saturn, performed poorly in the North American market and the ToeJam & Earl franchise was neglected. A ToeJam & Earl game planned for the Nintendo 64 was cancelled, but a third instalment, ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth, was eventually released for the Xbox in 2002. The release returned to the concepts of the original game, but generated mixed reviews and poor sales.^[2][10]

ToeJam & Earl has been deemed since its release as a "weird",^[8] "strange",^[3][7] and "thoroughly odd" game.^[1] Critics have difficulty in determining a genre category for the game,^[2] with action,^[8] action-adventure,^[21] platformer,^[3] and Roguelike being suggested labels.^[9] While not as successful as some of the Mega Drive's other popular titles, ToeJam & Earl has been considered a "classic",^[8][5] and a "cult" game in particular.^[10][12] According to an IGN survey, it is the most favored of all three games in the franchise with 65% of respondents citing it as their preference.^[24] Research by the games' developers, prior to the conception of the third game, also found that a majority of fans preferred ToeJam & Earl to its sequel.^[25]

• ToeJam & Earl Productions Developer's official website