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''ToeJam & Earl'' has been called "weird",<ref name="gamespot"/> "strange",<ref name="mm"/><ref name="1up"/> and "thoroughly odd".<ref name="eurogamer"/> Critics have difficulty in determining a genre for the game;<ref name="funkotronics"/> it was been called a platform game and Roguelike,<ref name="mm"/><ref name="gamedesign"/> as well as action and [[action-adventure]].<ref name="gamespot"/><ref name="ignvc"/> While ''ToeJam & Earl'''s success did not match that of the Mega Drive's other popular titles, it has been considered a "classic",<ref name="gamespot"/><ref name="citypages">David Hansen, [http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2009/04/unsung_heroes_t.php Unsung Heroes: ToeJam and Earl], ''[[Minneapolis City Pages]]'', Apr 7, 2009, Accessed Apr 14, 2009</ref> and a "cult" game.<ref name="gamasutrainterview"/><ref name="paris"/> According to an [[IGN]] survey, it is the most favored of the three games in the series; 65% of respondents cited it as their preference.<ref>Levi Buchanan, [http://uk.retro.ign.com/articles/946/946315p1.html ToeJam & Earl Favorites], [[IGN]], Jan 20, 2009, Accessed Apr 14, 2009</ref> Research by the game developers, prior to the conception of the third game, also found that a majority of fans preferred ''ToeJam & Earl'' to its sequel.<ref>Sam Kennedy, [http://uk.gamespot.com/news/2460613.html?tag=result;title;4 ToeJam & Earl Go PlayStation 2], [[GameSpot]], June 2, 1999, Accessed Apr 14, 2009</ref>
''ToeJam & Earl'' has been called "weird",<ref name="gamespot"/> "strange",<ref name="mm"/><ref name="1up"/> and "thoroughly odd".<ref name="eurogamer"/> Critics have difficulty in determining a genre for the game;<ref name="funkotronics"/> it was been called a platform game and Roguelike,<ref name="mm"/><ref name="gamedesign"/> as well as action and [[action-adventure]].<ref name="gamespot"/><ref name="ignvc"/> While ''ToeJam & Earl'''s success did not match that of the Mega Drive's other popular titles, it has been considered a "classic",<ref name="gamespot"/><ref name="citypages">David Hansen, [http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2009/04/unsung_heroes_t.php Unsung Heroes: ToeJam and Earl], ''[[Minneapolis City Pages]]'', Apr 7, 2009, Accessed Apr 14, 2009</ref> and a "cult" game.<ref name="gamasutrainterview"/><ref name="paris"/> According to an [[IGN]] survey, it is the most favored of the three games in the series; 65% of respondents cited it as their preference.<ref>Levi Buchanan, [http://uk.retro.ign.com/articles/946/946315p1.html ToeJam & Earl Favorites], [[IGN]], Jan 20, 2009, Accessed Apr 14, 2009</ref> Research by the game developers, prior to the conception of the third game, also found that a majority of fans preferred ''ToeJam & Earl'' to its sequel.<ref>Sam Kennedy, [http://uk.gamespot.com/news/2460613.html?tag=result;title;4 ToeJam & Earl Go PlayStation 2], [[GameSpot]], June 2, 1999, Accessed Apr 14, 2009</ref>

==Re-release==

ToeJam & Earl will see a re-release on the XBOX 360 Live Aracde after winning a Sega poll to decide which Sega Genesis game should be re-released on the platform. There is no current release date confirmed, only that it will appear "soon".<ref name="xblarerelease"/>


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 10:09, 27 August 2009

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
Release1991 (Mega Drive)
December 22, 2006 (VC)
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player, 2-player co-op

ToeJam & Earl is an action game developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega for the Mega Drive. Released in 1991, it centers on the titular ToeJam and Earl—extraterrestrials who have crash-landed on Earth—as they attempt to escape the planet. Players assume the role of either character and collect pieces of their wrecked spacecraft. The game's designers were heavily inspired by the computer role-playing game Rogue, and many of Rogue's features, such as randomly-generated levels and items, were included in ToeJam & Earl.

The game was critically well-received, with praise directed toward its originality, humor, soundtrack and two-player cooperative play. Certain reviewers questioned the game's slow pace. Despite low initial sales, ToeJam & Earl was a sleeper hit, and its protagonists became mascots of Sega. The game was followed by a sequel, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron; a third game, ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth, was released for Microsoft's Xbox in 2002. While the former sequel attained moderate commercial and critical success, the latter received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure. Research has suggested that fans of the series favor ToeJam & Earl over its sequels.

ToeJam & Earl was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2006. The game received praise from critics, who again praised its two-player cooperative mode, soundtrack and originality. Criticism was directed toward its graphics and pace, while some felt that the game had become dated.

Synopsis

ToeJam & Earl has been called a surreal, comic satire,[1] and a "daringly misanthropic commentary on Earthly life".[2] The game's protagonists, ToeJam and Earl, have been described as a "three-legged red alien" and "fat orange alien", respectively.[3] ToeJam wears a large gold medallion and a backwards baseball cap, while Earl is marked by high-tops and oversized sunglasses; both outfits are "over-the-top appropriations" of 1990s urban culture.[1] Their speech features Californian slang.[4] The player guides the characters as they attempt to escape to their home planet of Funkotron; to do this, they search for their spacecraft's wreckage, while avoiding Earth's antagonistic inhabitants.[1] The game is set to a soundtrack which has been described both as jazz-funk,[1] and as rap.[5]

Gameplay

ToeJam (above) and Earl (below) explore floating islands which represent Earth, while avoiding "Earthlings" such as the devil seen on the top screen.

ToeJam & Earl features a top-down perspective, and includes mechanics inspired by Rogue; thus, it is a Roguelike or dungeon-crawl game.[6][7] The game takes place on randomly-generated islands,[6] which float in space; each island is one layer above the last, to which it is connected by an elevator. These islands represent Earth. Some islands contain pieces of spacecraft wreckage; the game is won by collecting all of these pieces.[1] Falling from the edge of an island causes the player's character to drop to the island below, which necessitates that they again locate an elevator.[4] Each island is populated by antagonistic "Earthlings", which include phantom ice-cream trucks, aggressive packs of "nerds", giant hamsters, Bogeymen, man-eating mailboxes, and police chickens.[1][8][4] Certain Earthlings aid the player.[1] The game has been described as "largely non-violent",[9] as the protagonists can only attack antagonists with thrown tomatoes—one of many temporary power-ups.[1]

Power-ups are randomly-generated, and come in the form of wrapped presents;[6] presents are categorized by appearance. Each power-up has a unique effect; for example, while one increases the player characters' running speed, another distracts enemies.[4][6] Until it is opened, the contents of a present are invisible to the player; afterwards, all presents of that appearance are identified. Certain presents contain harmful power-ups, such as one that causes the loss of a "life", and a "randomizer" which revokes the player's knowledge of all presents. Identification of presents' contents is a central gameplay mechanic.[6][7] The more presents a player opens, the closer they get to accidentally opening the randomizer; this prevents the game from becoming easier as more power-ups are identified.[7]

The game contains a two-player cooperative mode. The mode features a camera system that uses a single screen when both characters are in the same vicinity, but splits the screen in two when players wander apart.[1] When one player opens a present in the vicinity of the other, its contents will affect both players.[7] Playing the game with two players reveals dialogue and jokes between the characters not heard in the single player game.[1][4]

Development

Greg Johnson, creator of ToeJam & Earl, became a fan of Rogue as a university student. After leaving university, he worked on Starflight, which was published by Electronic Arts in 1986; he then worked on other games for the company.[10] The idea for ToeJam & Earl was a combination of Rogue's gameplay concepts and a lighter version of Starflight's science-fiction themes.[1][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 Voorsanger, and the two resolved to make the game together. They soon formed Johnson Voorsanger Productions, and serious work on the game began after the completion of Starflight 2 for Electronic Arts.[10]

The developers were granted a meeting with Sega of America, 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 was immediately interested in the concept, due to Sega's want for innovative games and new mascots to compete with Nintendo.[10][1] 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 was comprised of "former collaborators of Johnson's", while John Baker composed the game's music.[1] Steve Purcell has stated he contributed character designs to the game.[11]

Reception

The game received positive reviews;[10] Bill Paris of UGO described it as "almost unanimous critical acclaim".[12] Despite this, initial sales of the game were poor, which led Sega to deem it a commercial failure. However, sales gradually increased as the game built a cult following through word of mouth.[10] The release of Sonic the Hedgehog caused the Mega Drive to sharply increase in sales over Christmas 1991; this further benefited ToeJam & Earl.[1] The game was later considered a "cult" success.[10]

Mean Machines found the game addictive, and enjoyed its eccentric elements; they found fault with its slow-paced combat.[4] 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".[4] Entertainment Weekly praised the "absolutely hilarious" sound effects and music.[13] Jeff Csatari of 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 reviewers called it "the funniest game we've seen in a long time", and praised its soundtrack, graphics and action.[5][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 [this] awesome rap 'n' roll game".[19]

ToeJam & Earl was re-released on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console in 2006.[6] Official Nintendo Magazine found that the game's enjoyability had diminished, but praised its humor, originality and two-player mode; the final score was 85%.[20] GameSpot noted that the 1990s idioms used in the game felt dated, but that the gameplay—in particular, the two-player mode—was still enjoyable by modern standards.[6] Jeremy Parish of 1UP also praised the two-player co-operative mode, but found the single-player less enjoyable, and described the graphics and sound as "oddly primitive". However, Parish considered it "one of the best games to hit VC to date".[9] EuroGamer gave the game a negative review, with only two stars out of five. The reviewer found the gameplay overly slow, and was unsatisfied by the game's goal of collecting "random tat".[3] IGN called the game's visuals a "mixed bag", and also complained about the slow-paced action, but praised the game's unpredictability and believed that the game's sound design was "one thing you absolutely can't fault".[21]

Legacy

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 characters 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 the Menacer 6-game cartridge.[1] In early 1992, the developers began work on a sequel; they spent three months building on the original concept by adding indoor areas and more terrain types.[1] Sega said that it neither understood the sequel, nor saw how it could be marketed. Johnson and Voorsanger reworked it into a platform game, a concept to which Sega had been more receptive.[1][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 perceived generic style.[1] 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 installment, 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.[1][10]

ToeJam & Earl has been called "weird",[6] "strange",[4][9] and "thoroughly odd".[3] Critics have difficulty in determining a genre for the game;[1] it was been called a platform game and Roguelike,[4][7] as well as action and action-adventure.[6][21] While ToeJam & Earl's success did not match that of the Mega Drive's other popular titles, it has been considered a "classic",[6][2] and a "cult" game.[10][12] According to an IGN survey, it is the most favored of the three games in the series; 65% of respondents cited it as their preference.[24] Research by the game developers, prior to the conception of the third game, also found that a majority of fans preferred ToeJam & Earl to its sequel.[25]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Travis Fahs, Funkotronics 101, IGN, Jan 15, 2009, Accessed Apr 6, 2009
  2. ^ a b David Hansen, Unsung Heroes: ToeJam and Earl, Minneapolis City Pages, Apr 7, 2009, Accessed Apr 14, 2009
  3. ^ a b c Kristan Reed, Virtual Console: SEGA Mega Drive, EuroGamer, Jan 23, 2007, Accessed Apr 8, 2009
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Julian Rignall & Edward "Rad" Laurence, "Mega Drive Review: ToeJam & Earl", Mean Machines, Nov 1991 (issue 14), pp. 106-08
  5. ^ a b Chip & Jonathan Carter, "Inside the Video Games", Rome News-Tribune, Dec 17, 1991, Young Romans Supplement p. 5
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jeff Gerstmann, ToeJam & Earl Review, GameSpot, Jan 23, 2007, Accessed Apr 8, 2009
  7. ^ a b c d e John Harris, Game Design Essentials: 20 Mysterious Games, Gamasutra, Jan 14, 2008, Accessed Apr 8, 2009
  8. ^ UGO's Guide to the Galaxy, UGO, Accessed Apr 8, 2009
  9. ^ a b c Jeremy Parish, Retro Roundup: Saturnalia Edition, 1UP, Dec 29, 2006, Accessed Apr 13, 2009
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Alistair Wallis, Playing Catch Up: ToeJam & Earl's Greg Johnson, Gamasutra, Nov 16, 2006, Accessed Apr 6, 2009
  11. ^ Frank Cifaldi & Simon Carless, Playing Catch-Up: Steve Purcell, Gamasutra, July 25, 2005, Accessed Apr 6, 2009
  12. ^ a b Bill Paris, Funkotronic Alien Invasion?!, UGO, Accessed Apr 10, 2009
  13. ^ Bob Strauss, Is 'Zap' All There Is?, Entertainment Weekly, Nov 22, 1991, Accessed Apr 14, 2009
  14. ^ Jeff Csatari, "New Video Games", Boys' Life, Dec 1991, p. 44
  15. ^ Chip & Jonathan Carter, "2 of the best and the brightest, just in time for Christmas", Chicago Tribune, Dec 20, 1991, p. 62
  16. ^ Stuart Campbell, "Mega All-Time Top 100", Mega, July 1992
  17. ^ "ToeJam & Earl", Sega Visions, Summer 1991 (issue 5), p. 18
  18. ^ Ed Martinez, "Sega's ToeJam & Earl 'Yo! What's up?'", Game Informer, Nov/Dec 1991 (issue 2), p. 4
  19. ^ Kym Adams, "Video Games", The Toronto Star, Dec 28, 1991, p. V6
  20. ^ "Wii Shop Rated", Official Nintendo Magazine, Sept 2008 (issue 33), p. 129
  21. ^ a b Lucas M. Thomas, ToeJam & Earl VC Review, IGN, Jan 24, 2007, Accessed Apr 14, 2009
  22. ^ Chris Johnston, Too Much Funk for GT, GameSpot, Apr 23, 1999, Accessed Apr 13, 2009
  23. ^ Staff, The Wednesday 10: Ill-Fated Franchise Reboots, IGN, Jan 28, 2009, Accessed Apr 13, 2009
  24. ^ Levi Buchanan, ToeJam & Earl Favorites, IGN, Jan 20, 2009, Accessed Apr 14, 2009
  25. ^ Sam Kennedy, ToeJam & Earl Go PlayStation 2, GameSpot, June 2, 1999, Accessed Apr 14, 2009

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ToeJam_%26_Earl&oldid=310337595"