Rival Envy Squashed – Funk Brings the Players Together

I was a Nintendo kid. I relied on friends for Genesis game time and buying into the hype of the day I wouldn’t have pursued one myself. But I did enjoy the games, and I wouldn’t be spurned to collect Genesis games of my own for a long time yet.

But there was one game that defined my ‘rival envy’ of the time, Toejam & Earl. If there was one game I was jealous of in those days, it was this one. And the thing is – I didn’t have the opportunity to play. I was going by the GamePRO TV coverage alone.

I’m not too proud to admit that this interest was a product of a time. Toejam & Earl looked funky and rad, my brother was keen on it (so little brothers have to be too), and I was sold on GamePRO TV. But the thing is, I could never convince anyone to pick it up and no one wanted to rent it. I guess I could have rented it myself but the host usually rented games in my crew and there never would have been the interest in the game besides.

So I finally picked up a copy of Toejam & Earl a few months ago. I had waited for it for a very long time. I’d only managed to play it very briefly in the time between release and ownership, but at least it confirmed my suspicions that it was a legit experience. I seems odd, in retrospect to deny myself this game for such a long period of time but I like certain titles to be a very organic experience. Having never found a copy in the wild (only the much different but decent sequel), I finally just ordered a copy (MegaDrive copy, which works well on the Genesis, thankfully!).

I should have done just that years ago, because as it turns out I am as crazy about Toejam & Earl as my childhood interest would have begged.

Toejam & Earl is a hard game to describe. I’ve heard it called a roguelike, even, due to how the random mode worlds generate. But I’d say it is a game unto itself. It moves at a very deliberate pace, has its own flair, and the design is impeccable.

The Earth of Toejam & Earl is like stacked floors, each lined by an elevator. You can fall off the edge to reach a lower floor (you may keep falling multiple). On some of these floors is a ship piece, 10 are needed to beat the game. Along the way you open presents (the contents are based on the wrapping paper, and are randomized each new game) in hopes of finding certain coveted items and deal with vicious Earthlings. Earth is our mundane but it is the alien world here, and we are pret-ty zany.

The game gets progressively harder but as you identify and amass good presents and level up (with map exploration) you scale up to meet the game’s challenge. A friend can join in at any time, and let me tell you the single and multiplayer experiences are far different.

I began to roll my eyes every time the phrase “the multiplayer is where it really shines” would come up in reviews for games. Multiplayer is often an afterthought in games and is quickly forgotten for either an old stand-by or the next new and shiny offering. But a lot of games are built around multiplayer now. Toejam & Earl seems to be grounded in this ethos. To provide as strong of if not stronger multiplayer option as it would the single player experience. I’ll say it about this one: the multiplayer is where it really shines.

Toejam & Earl was a new animal for me. I’ve never had a game that was just all out cooperative. Sure, there are co-op modes in many, many titles but how often do you try to get the most points or the most kills or grab the weapon from the ground before your friend can? Some of my cooperative gaming is far more competitive than cooperative, heh.

But Toejam & Earl is designed in a way that -when you play multiplayer cooperation becomes both critical and enjoyable. Toejam seems to outstrip Earl as he is so much faster, but what if ToeJam draws the enemies away and Earl grabs mission critical items or presents? Or what if Big Earl steps in the way of an enemy and takes a hit for ToeJam? ToeJam would then proceed to use a present to save Earl before he is juggled to death by the enemy.

There are a number of factors that facilitate cooperation. The primary reason is the scope of the game itself. It is not very long in terms of amount of levels or items to collect (10 ship parts, 25 Worlds) but these levels can be quite massive and quite hazardous especially as you ascend. Toejam & Earl must find all of these ship pieces if they hope to return to their home planet of Funkotron. But it’s a much quicker task to find the ship pieces or the end of world elevators if one alien goes north and the other alien goes south.

I was surprised by how utterly smooth the transition from full screen to split screen is in Toejam & Earl. Toejam & Earl can be many worlds apart from one another and the game still runs smooth and silky. The only time I experienced an issue in the multiplayer mode is when we both activated rocket skates simultaneously. We flew down multiple world and eventually the Genesis seized. But I mean… you should be checking your presents carefully, so as not to accidentally rocket your progress away :P.

Cooperation in Toejam & Earl is kind of heavily recommended, but you don’t notice it when you’re in the heat of the game. For instance:
1 – Both aliens need to be in a new elevator to reach a new world.
2 – Using presents on the same screen gives both aliens that present.
3 – Present identification is shared between aliens, so communication when opening an unidentified present is essential – it could be really bogus!
4 – The goal is completely mutual, and one can’t leave Earth without the other. So there’s no real race to the finish. More like helping each other cross that line.
5 – These righteous dudes can high five to equalize their health. Seriously, they are so in tune it brings a tear to your eye!

And so on, but the main factor is that it’s ultimately fun. I’ve cleared the game a few times now and the best experiences I’ve had with it have been multiplayer. Because it’s just so mutual.

You often get the impression at the end of a single player game that you are totally in control of your abilities. That while what is approaching is dire, you have the know-how to handle it and achieve your single line of “Congratulations” against a blank screen. But Toejam & Earl takes this to the multiplayer dynamic.

Essentially, if you make it to the upper echelon of a two-player game you will be totally aware of your partner, their items, and their environment. You will execute your teamwork without question or hesitation, not out of simple rote but out of the need to press forward and get these guys home to Funkotron. Yo will both curse the Dentists and Ice Cream Trucks and Moles and you will both cheer when the rare Promotion present is found and used on both Toejam and Earl at once.

I will admit, in one multiplayer session, on the final world I fell and my partner grabbed the final ship piece. I did not feel dumb for falling or dejected that I didn’t reach it first. The game played its ending sequences and many high fives were had.

If you have the opportunity to play Toejam & Earl, please – take it. If you get the chance to play it with a good bud – you will never slap as much skin or bump as many knuckles as you would when playing a two player round of Toejam & Earl.

This game just appealed to me, and it so incredibly justifying that I have already had as much enjoyment out of it as I have had already. It’s a unique breed, one of those games people say ‘you owe it to yourself to play.’ You will notice a theme with many of the games I talk about here – ‘it’s not for everyone’ – and that’s true, really.  This game is simply too bizarre and unorthodox to appeal to the broadest of audiences.

Even if you categorize it as generally as an ‘action’ game, the pace kind of belies the name, yeah? But it becomes very nerve wracking, sometimes quite difficult depending on your roll of the dice when the worlds generate. So give it a shot! It’s a different world every time and you’ve just gotta become a FUNK LORD. Besides, you may want to congratulate the other player once in a while, rather than curse them out for grabbing that full pizza when they were missing two pellets and you were on your last. 😉

But it makes me wonder, if Toejam & Earl had a dope old school commercial, I wonder if it would have had more widespread appeal in its time?

Um, maybe? Heh.