16 days 16 bit: Day 6 - ToeJam & Earl

16 days 16 bit

My name is Chris, I'm an editor at PC Games and I'm taking advantage of the current game doldrums to catch up on or relive pearls from the 16-bit era. Here I share my experiences with you during 16 days of 16 bit.

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Day 6: ToeJam & Earl

Anyone who grew up with video games will have already experienced them, these games that you like, but that you don't really understand until a long time later. Silent Hill 2 is such a title for me. When I played Konami's horror title on PS2, I was too young to understand the great, emotional story. On the Sega Mega Drive, on the other hand, I didn't understand much of the humor in ToeJam & Earl, but still played it over and over. After years of misunderstanding, I am now using this format to play the strange title again.

16 days 16 bit: Day 6 - ToeJam & Earl (5) Source: PC Games That I didn't really understand what was going on back then doesn't surprise me anymore, even with the intro, because the story is just wonderful Nonsense. The two funky alien rappers ToeJam and Earl crash with their spaceship on earth and have to find the individual parts of their vehicle in order to be able to leave the planet again. The earth is divided into platforms and you can only reach the next floor by finding an elevator. However, you can also fall from the edge of a platform and then land back on the floor below.

That can even happen pretty quickly, because nasty Earthlings are everywhere who attack you in a certain way. Hula dancers force you to dance, devils want to poke you with their trident, a flock of geese shoots at the aliens with a tomato thrower, giant hamsters roll around in a ball and mothers want to run over you with the shopping cart. So the three-legged ToeJam and the fat Earl experience exactly the same thing as I do when I go to the Fürth city park.

16 days 16 bit: Day 6 - ToeJam & Earl (10) Source: PC Games A few earth inhabitants however, they are friendly to the aliens. The pimply pseudo-magician nerd heals the protagonists for cash and a guy in a carrot costume reveals the contents of the mysterious gifts that you collect along the way. Right, there are all</a> sorts of presents to be bagged, but they don't always contain a useful item and sometimes you are surprised by the content.

So you can be lucky and unpack new shoes, with which you can run faster, or springs with which you can jump over abysses. Weapons such as tomatoes or a slingshot can also be hidden in the packages. But there are also gifts that make the character fall asleep, which is not particularly beneficial when surrounded by enemies, or rocket shoes that shoot you over the edge of the world. What a great bullshit!

The floors in ToeJam & Earl are all randomly generated, so no doorway feels like the other, although all you really do is run around, avoid enemies and gradually read the map to find a spaceship part or the elevator to the next floor.

You can do this alone or in two-player co-op. Due to the Corona, I play alone here and for reasons of identification I decided on Earl. Then as now I think it's just hilarious how the fat alien swings his hips with the hula dancer and says "Hubba-Bubba".

16 days 16 bit: Day 6 - ToeJam & Earl (11) Source: PC Games Generally: I'm not surprised that I didn't quite understand a lot of the humor in the title as a child, but now I find the absurd nonsense in the game absolutely amusing. The gameplay is pleasantly relaxing and yet the cool funk soundtrack keeps you going.

I can understand if you find ToeJam & Earl boring, but personally I have taken the strange title to my heart again. Where else can I eventually grow a thorn bush that blocks the way for a horde of nerds or a monster mailbox?