Retro Review #2: Review of "ToeJam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron" (Sega Megadrive/Genesis)

Back in the 90's it was the Sega era, families had bought the Megadrive/Genesis for their children and Sonic the Hedgehog was pretty much the first mascot we were introduced to. In 1993, the game "ToeJam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron" was released. This game was a sequel to "ToeJam and Earl" which was released in the same year as "Sonic the Hedgehog", 1991.

The title screen. It looks pretty "funk"y to me.

ToeJam and Earl are aliens from the planet Funkotron, the hippest planet in the whole universe. In the first game they crashed to Earth on the way to Funkotron. The idea of the game was like Pikmin, to collect the wreckage of your spaceship and piece back it together to escape Earth. The second game was set on Funkotron and, due to the main protagonists, it was under attack from Earthlings who had stowed away in the cargo hold of ToeJam and Earl's spaceship. To start the game you chose who you wanted to play as, the duo as a team (that's right, Multiplayer!) or either of them separate to the other. Then, you chose the difficulty; Normal, Hard or Kid Easy. Kid Easy was the easiest difficulty you will ever see in a game, as you never died and when you "did", your health bar just popped back up to full.

The duo of Earl (right) and ToeJam (left)

This game was a great platformer. You could jump, walk and push blocks, like you would normally, however, you throw glass jars to capture your enemy. Little girls, black kids and photographers, be aware! Glass jars will end you! To complete a level you had to capture all Earthlings on that part of the planet, throw them in a green sack and launch them back to Earth. The way to get to another stage is just classic, you were launched from a spring and hurdled into space. In which you would fall back to Funkotron and land face first into the next level.

That's what you get for throwing jars at me!

Another fun thing about this game was the fact that you could shake trees by getting "jiggy wiv' it", and sometimes, in revenge, the tree would drop tires and dustbins on your head, knocking you the f*** out. During the game, you would also get a power called Funk, which can make you warp to part to another part of the level. And you get coins that you place in parking meters, which can reveal secret areas, such as a door to "Funk Space". A psychedelic running zone in which you can use your "Funk" to make your self blurry to pass through lasers. The Funk Space was fun but not needed. Another great part of the game was dancing with a dude called Peabo, in which you tapped buttons in response to him dancing. Shaka! Boom! Clap! (A,B,C.)

Tripping balls has never been so awesome.

• GAMEPLAY: A great game, and really funny. Great to play with a friend, but it gets really competitive with a few levels feeling really similar.
  7/10

• CONTROL: Like most older generation games, the controls worked like a gem. But on occasion the game wouldn't respond to the controller, mainly during jumping.
  9/10

• SOUND: The games music was great and so funky I remember every last rhythm and note. The glass jar noise was a little irritating and when the Earthling dogs barked, it went straight through you.
  7/10

• GRAPHICS: For it's time, the graphics were fantastic, but you would get a major eyesore from all the flashing and blurring.
  8/10

• OVERALL: It was a really fun game and only a few problems occurred. It was a great time playing and hours well spent. The game had a great plot and a decent ending. Give it a try sometime.
  8/10

Thanks for reading! Peace out!