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Toejam and Earl Should Remain Memories

Toejam and Earl Should Remain Memories

I was a Sega girl. You know what one of my first ringtones was, the second I got a phone that allowed custom ones? Every incoming call was announced with the Sega jingle. The Genesis was the system that introduced me to a number of different genres and was the first to get me into “WTF” games. What could have done that, you ask? Why, ToeJam & Earl , of course.

ToeJam & Earl blew my mind when I was 9. I had never seen or played anything like it. I didn’t even mind when it seemed tedious or confusing, because the random nature kept things interesting. Its other issues, like occasionally unresponsive controls, were forgiven because of the novelty of the situation.

However, now is a different time. Which is why I believe the ToeJam & Earl Kickstarter may not be the brightest idea. I applaud Humanature Studios for taking the risk, especially since the attention brought to this new installment is reminding people how good the original ToeJam & Earl was. But it has been about 24 years since the game was released. It isn’t such a unique property anymore. Plus, its lampooning of 80’s and 90’s culture has been done before, and better, since the original’s inception. Simply put, the series is no longer funky fresh.

Which brings me to another reason ToeJam & Earl would do better to remain a fond part of our childhood memories. The formula has aged too, and I have a feeling it hasn’t aged well. Like the first game, the Kickstarted installment will have ToeJam and Earl attempting to rebuild their Rapmaster Rocketship. That means wandering around randomly generated spaces, searching for parts, hopefully finding presents, and avoiding weirdos. That’s fine for kids with high tolerance levels so long as the source material is silly, but will the nostalgia factor be enough to keep people playing again?

Especially since, well, this new ToeJam & Earl isn’t the best looking game out there. The artistic direction introduced in the Kickstarter suits the characters and lore wonderfully. However, the comic stylings against the 3D worlds make for an odd juxtaposition. It’s jarring and doesn’t flow well together. It’s particularly irksome as everything fit together so well in the original games. You want every element of a game to fit together, like a virtual jigsaw puzzle. The initial screenshots instead made me cringe, as I like both styles separately, but not together.

Toejam and Earl Should Remain Memories

Speaking of the other games, that’s another concern. The original ToeJam & Earl was, in many people’s eyes, the only good one. The sequels, Panic on Funkotron and Mission to Earth , couldn’t compare. Neither captured that thing that made the first game so delightful, even when it was tedious or frustrating. Mission to Earth was the better of the two, as it attempted to do new things with the same kind of spirit, but felt dated and simple compared to its contemporaries. One has to wonder if, all these years later, a game that tries to be almost exactly like the original would succeed.

For all these reasons, I think a ToeJam & Earl resurrection is a questionable prospect. The fact that it has yet to be fully funded quickly, like many other series attempting a Kickstarter comeback, suggests others may feel the same. The idea is pleasant and the original was important, but it might be best if we just relish our cherished memories instead of trying to relive them.

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