ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is the fourth installation in the ToeJam & Earl series. The game is set to launch on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac. It will be published by the studio on March 1, 2019
The original ToeJam & Earl was released way back in 1991 and I loved the game. My buddy and I would play the co-op mode for hours. I always Played as ToeJam and him as Earl. If you played this game you will remember all the funky beats, slang, and sound effects. I can recall spamming the “ToeJam, ToeJam” sound effect and him the “Big Eearrl”.
What about the gameplay of ToeJam & Earl?
Well ToeJam and & Earl are back in there latest adventure entitled “Back in the Groove”. The game play will be pretty similar to the original. You will play as your favorite characters as you set off on an adventure filled with exploration and searching of successive floating islands.
There will, however, be some additions to the game and not just a remake as it can initially appear. There will be “Jam Out” rhythm-based mini-game, nine different playable characters, and four-player cooperative gameplay, both online and locally.
The story goes…
In ToeJam and Earl’s newest adventure they jacked up the Rapmaster Rocket to impress Lewanda and Latisha . Of course they crash land and the Rapmaster Rocket breaks into a multitude of pieces and scatter all over the Earth. This means only one thing, we must to scour the Earth to find all the parts and put it back together. Each level is procedurally-generated, and players can find power-up items that can make each game feel unique. Players can also unlock new characters and hats with special abilities that can be used across each play through as well.
ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove also has nine characters to choose from, multiplayer, and up to four-player co-op! The console versions will support two-player couch co-op as well. Players will encounter mini games along the way, which will help players earn extra cash, and listen to remixes from the earlier games.
A little background
Back in the Groove got started via Kickstarter. Their campaign was able to raise over $500,000 back in 2015. Series creator Greg Johnson told GamesBeat that this gives him the chance to make the ToeJam & Earl sequel that he always wanted to as he states below.
“In Toe Jam & Earl, we got three or four — maybe three months — down the road on a sequel to game one. It was going to look like game one, and then Sega asked us to hold up and do a side-scrolling platformer instead,” Johnson explained. “Sales were slow on game one initially. The marketing department didn’t really get it. We were too different from the other stuff. We were young and naïve and wanted to please, so we said, sure, OK. We scratched our heads and tried to figure out how to stuff the spirit of Toe Jam & Earl into a side-scroller and did our best with Panic on Funkotron, but the fans were just kind of confused. A lot of fans were disappointed, in fact.”
This all makes perfect sense now. You see, my buddy and I loved the original. So when we heard about ToeJam & Earl 2 we hopped on our bicycles and rode to the local Blockbuster to rent it and jam all out all night. We were pretty disappointed in the fact it was a side-scrolling platform. We tried to get into it but it just didn’t feel like the original.
I am glad they they want to go back and give ToeJam & Earl the proper sequel it deserves. I can’t wait to play it as I anticipate a feeling of nostalgia.
