ToeJam & Earl Back in the Groove Review
Everything new is old again. Dumbo, Aladdin and The Lion King are going to be back in theaters soon. Resident Evil 2 is one of the top selling video games on the market and a Final Fantasy 7 Remake is on the way (maybe…) Even Roseanne got a reboot — until Roseanne Barr failed to realize that along with her television show fast-forwarding 20 years — so have American morals.
So it should have come as no surprise to me that one of my favorite video games from the 1990s was getting a reboot. However, there I was back in 2015 gobsmacked when HumaNature Studios announced that development of a new entry in the ToeJam & Earl franchise simultaneously launching a Kickstarter campaign for the game.
For those of you not aware of the original ToeJam and Earl that was released in 1991 for the Sega Genesis, you played as one of the eponymous hip-hop loving alien duo as they search for pieces of their broken spaceship on a version of planet Earth. Imagine Pikmin if Olimar was on his own and didn’t enslave a native species to do all his dirty work. The gameplay is completely unique even to this day. The different levels of “Earth” were separated by elevators. You started on the “ground floor” and must search each level for an elevator to take you up to the next level and, if one was present, a piece of your ship.
Along the way you pick up gift-wrapped presents that contain special power-up tools to help you out. Among these there are hi-top sneakers that make you run faster around the map, a tomato slingshot to fling tomatoes at your foes obviously and root beer that makes you stop and burp around the map. Pretty standard power-ups really. As you search the map you are pursued by enemy earthlings looking to stop you from progressing. You’ll find little red devils with pointy pitchforks, tornados that swoop you up and drag you around the levels and drop you in a new location (often right off the level, dropping you back down to the previous level), and flying cupid babies who, if they hit you with their arrow, reverse your d-pad controls so up is down, left is right and you’re completely frustrated as you walk off the map and again, dropping down to the level below. There are plenty of other fun (and some not-so-fun) power-ups and other dangerous (and some not-so-dangerous) inhabitants of the maps.
There were two sequels to the original game: 1994’s ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, a 2-D, side-scroller for the Sega Genesis and ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth, a 3-D action game for the original Xbox that had similar game mechanics to the original. Both games were received much more poorly than the original both in reviews and sales.
But enough about the past! Let’s get down to this newest iteration: ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove, or BITG as I will be calling it to save me some time. BITG is a return to the success of the original ToeJam & Early game both in sound/visual style and game mechanics. Here are my thoughts:
Audio/Visual: 45/50
The original game was presented in a ¾ birdseye isometric view and that viewpoint and angle return here. This viewstyle pairs perfectly with the exploration mechanic of the game because it provides you with a fairly large view of the current level you’re on. My only slight complaint here is that the mini-map is a bit too mini when played in handheld mode — but it doesn’t take away much from the game.
The original art style was limited by the 16-bit graphics of the time — whatever a bit is — however this latest game takes full advantage of the 28 years of video game evolution to provide a beautiful, colorful cel-shaded art style that fits perfectly with the theme of the game. The ToeJam & Earl series has the feel of a Saturday morning cartoon so the world, character and enemies presented in this style is amazing.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, ToeJam & Earl love hip-hop and their clothing and personalities are based on early-90’s hip-hop culture. Big chains, baggy pants, fly sneakers — all are present here. The music of the game match this vibe with lyricless hip-hop beats and melodies.
On the sound effect side there are all the sound bytes and noises you’d expect from such a silly game. You’ll hear the earthlings taunting and mocking you, tomatoes squishing against the faces off the earthlings among others.
The music and sounds just fit perfectly for the look, feel and setting of the game.
Handles/Feels: 38/50
The controls work well for what they need to do. You could still play this game with just a three button Sega Genesis controller: one button to view your items, one button to use your item, and one button to view the map. Moving around the levels can sometimes feel a little slow to respond which can be an annoyance when you’re surrounded by enemies. Aiming the shooting/throwing weapons can also be frustrating because while you can only aim in 9 directions the enemies can move and chase you from any direction. There are a few times when the gameplay stutters especially if there is too much going on the screen or you are transitioning from one level to another.
The story of BITG isn’t exactly deep or engrossing. Your ship breaks into 10 pieces and you hop from level to level trying to put it back together. After the opening cinematic there really isn’t much plot development or twists to keep you engaged. Even the ending is a bit anticlimactic.
Full disclosure about the original ToeJam & Earl: I never beat it. The difficulty ramped up very quickly and I struggled just to stay alive by the time I reached level 8. However, in BITG’s default difficulty setting the game gets tougher much more slowly. It wasn’t until around the 15th level or so that I even felt challenged. In fact, in my first playthrough on the normal default difficulty I beat the game around level 23. However, the game encourages replays of the game to unlock one of the three additional characters to add to the six that you start with and the unlocking of equippable hat power-ups. After beating the game once I unlocked hard random level mode which obviously was more challenging although I haven’t played much of this new mode yet. The randomness of the levels, the increased difficulty and the unlockables will have me coming back for more plus the pick up and play nature of this game and the Switch’s handheld mode make it easy for brief gaming sessions.
Overall: 83/100
ToeJam & Earl Back in the Groove is a great evolution of the game series and I hope we get more — either in a sequel or DLC. The sights and sounds of ToeJam & Earl Back in the Groove perfectly fit with the style and theme. The bright popping cartoon look and silly music and sound transport you back to a Saturday morning early-90’s hip-hop cartoon that unfortunately never existed. However, overall the game feels a bit like a mini-game rather than a full game. The $20 price tag on the Nintendo eShop reflects this and should make you feel better about this lack of depth though. If you’re looking for a nostalgia trip or just a quick, fun pick-up-and-play game for yourself and your friends you should definitely grab Back in the Groove.
