ToeJam & Earl

It took me nearly 17 years, but I only just finished Toejam and Earl for the first time last night. What a game! And such a simple concept too.

The titular characters (a three-legged eyeball type dude and a fat dude) from the planet Funkotron are jammin' through the cosmos in their space ship when they are marooned on Earth. With their ship in pieces we must guide them through 25 madcap levels avoiding loony Earthlings and the danger of early 90s pop culture.

Set to a series of hip tunes Toejam and Earl is a very colourful, funny, imaginative and addictive experience that might seem a little dated in the 21st century but has certainly lost none of its charm. Two sequels followed but neither were as highly regarded as this one. There might still be room for a new incarnation of the funky aliens but if you believe the original is the best then download this for your Nintendo Wii immediately.

Music and comedy take center stage for ToeJam & Earl as they have this wacky adventure trying to piece together their spaceship. Funky riffs of jazzy bass and percussion is amoung the best in gaming soundtrack history. There are a number of wacko villain encounters, weird power-ups, and surprising pitfalls. Well-crafted ending gives a great sense of accomplishment. 2-Player mode really makes this twice the fun.

For what it is, there's really just too many levels to grind, especially when you're getting swarmed by baddies and literally fall to the previous level. Even without acrophobia, the teetering and bumping knocking the character onto the lower ground can be very frustrating. Pacing feels like it slows to a crawl, encounters harassing, "I just want to be done!" is more of a work related plea rather than a gaming one.

No, I'm not exaggerating. If you have played it you will have to agree with me, or at least, partially agree.

It's an amazing game in all the sense of the word. The characters were groovy and funky enough to keep you entertained and have a good time with them. Heck, I truly felt like they were my buddies! The stages were colorful with plenty of things to investigate and best of all, with many funny situations that always made me chuckle.

Well the stages looked exactly the same but I liked how each of them had different things to dig in. If it weren't for the creative "attacking" methods, this would be a regular adventure game but not, "Toe Jam & Earl" is addictive, fascinating, entertaining, etc.

I can't praise it enough and when I think about it, it makes my skin crawl because it was an important part of my childhood. Ah, sweet memories. I'd give anything to play it again. I guess I need to search for my Genesis and this cartdridge. Now, this is FUN! Forget about new wave platforms.