History VideoGame / ToeJamAndEarl

The sequels include ''[=ToeJam=] & Earl in Panic on Funkotron'', an extremely different two-dimensional PlatformGame released on the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1993, where the duo has made it back home, only to find that several Earthlings have stowed onboard, and are now causing [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Panic on Funkotron]]. ''[=ToeJam=] & Earl III: Mission to Earth'' was a three-dimensional PlatformGame released on the Microsoft Xbox in 2002. [=ToeJam=] and Earl were also featured in ''Ready, Aim, Tomatoes!'', a pack-in game with the Genesis's Menacer light-gun peripheral. A beta of the third game [[http://www.geek.com/games/dreamcast-just-got-a-new-game-and-its-toejam-earl-3-1580775/ was discovered and released]], bearing many more similarities to the first game than the finished product.

[[TotallyRadical Supremely funky]] alien [[TotallyRadical homeboys]] [=ToeJam=] and "Big" Earl, proud residents of the planet Funkotron, have crashlanded on the decidedly lame and non-funky planet of Earth. The impact, while leaving them unharmed, scattered pieces of their spacecraft all over the planet, and [[GottaCatchEmAll finding all of these pieces]] is the only way to get back home. Sounds simple in principle. The Earth's natives might be a bit of trouble, though...

* StandardStatusEffects: Quite a few. Schoolbooks put you to sleep, which makes you helpless to enemy attacks, forcing you to button mash your way to being awake. Wahini will make you do a dance if you get too close to her, slowing you down. Cupids fire arrows [[InterfaceScrew which make you lovestruck]]. Finally, the Rain Cloud will randomly drain your health with lightning bolts.\

* TotallyRadical: It would be hard to find someone in RealLife who uses the games' peculiar blend of slang without irony. This probably reaches its peak on the back of ''Panic on Funkotron'''s box, proclaiming "The Boyz R back & in worlds of trouble!"

* OneHitKill: The "Total Bummer" present will drain your character's entire life bar in one go.
** TotalPartyKill: And if both characters happen to be together (no SplitScreen), it kills them both.

* PoisonMushroom: Some presents have intentionally bad effects, such as the Schoolbook, Randomizer, and [[OneHitKill Total Bummer]].

* MultipleEndings: Besides the normal ending, there's a secret co-op ending that only unlocks when you beat the game as [=ToeJam=] and Earl together.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: To balance out the fact that there's [[SequelEscalation a lot more going on]], ''Back in the Groove'' has far more beneficial Earthlings than the original game.

* MooksButNoBosses: One of the few gameplay tropes shared between the original game and its sequel.

* NewJackSwing: Alongside pure hip hop, the first 3 games' soundtracks were influenced by new jack swing heavily. It was met with a positive response for the first two games, but ''Mission To Earth'' was criticized for the dated-sounding new jack production.

* NostalgiaLevel: Level 1 appears to be a carbon copy of the same level from the original game, [[spoiler:though they moved the hole that leads to Level 0.]]

* OfficialCouple: Bloona and Peabo by the end of the game. Also [=ToeJam=]/Earl and Lewanda in the best ending, depending on who the player is controlling (if it's a co-op game, she introduces her never-before seen identical twin sister for the second player.)

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: For the most part. Some Earthlings will help you out for the right price.

* LittleGirlsKickShins: An enemy Earthling in the second and third games.

* OurMonstersAreWeird: The series almost rivals ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' for the amount of silly, bizarre enemy types.

* BareYourMidriff: Sharla, Bloona and Trixie wear midriff-bearing outfits in the second game. Latisha also wears one in the third.
* BrattyHalfPint: There are a few child enemy types in ''Panic on Funkotron'', who attack with tomatoes, spitballs and kicking the player in the shins.
** The shin-kicking child enemies return in ''Mission to Earth''.

* CoolShades: Earl.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Earl.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Trixie, who would play a major role in ''Panic on Funkotron'', can be found on the ending screen in the first game (when [=ToeJam=] and/or Earl arrive on Funkotron) on a hidden island tucked away in a corner of the map.

* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Earl wears blue pants with red polka-dots, white tennis shoes, and sunglasses, but no shirt.

* NameAndName

** In the first game, the very first level has a hidden entrance to a level 0, where [=ToeJam=] and Earl can get extra lives and chat with some cuties in a hot tub. Getting to the entrance requires a lot of swimming (or Icarus Wings or Rocket Skates), so the players must first acquire some appropriate presents to reach it without drowning. Leaving the secret level returns the players to the highest level they've reached so far. Overlaps with Main/GuideDangIt as level 0 is so ludicrously hidden people spent days trying to find it.
** The sequel has numerous secret rooms (usually containing loads of presents, health items, or one of the Funkopotamus' favorite things.)

* BadHumorTruck: One of the enemies. Worse, it's a ''ghost'' ice cream truck that teleports around.

* ChestMonster: Variation: the dreaded Mailbox Monster, who will attack if you get to close - and aside from waiting to see if eyes randomly appear in the mail slot, this is the only way to distinguish the two. Less notable are the Earthling presents which may or may not summon harmful enemies.

* ThreateningShark: If a shark gets close, you'll hear a quick snippet of the ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' theme as a warning.

%%* MightyGlacier: Earl is slower than [=ToeJam=] and his pants fall down occasionally, forcing him to stop and pull them back up, but has a longer life bar.

** TakeThat: [[spoiler:If you make it to the end of the original game, there is a secret area on Funkotron with a single female alien who says [[SonicTheHedgehog "No hedgehogs round here."]]]]

* StandardStatusEffects: Quite a few. Schoolbooks put you to sleep, which makes you helpless to enemy attacks, forcing you to button mash your way to being awake. Wahini will make you do a dance if you get too close to her, slowing you down. Cupids fire arrows [[InterfaceScrew which make you lovestruck]]. Finally, the Rain Cloud will randomly drain your health with lightning bolts.

* BigEater: Bloona is always seen eating something (and she's always trying to force feed Peabo candy as well.)

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Flarney, thanks to having two heads, meaning he can never make up his mind about ''anything'' and tends to give fairly unhelpful hints as a result.

* FatAndProud: Bloona is overweight but not afraid to show off her midriff in a shirt clearly too small for her.
* FisherKing: Lamont the Funkopotamus, the source of all Funk in Funkotron. When the invading humans scare him into hiding in the Funk D'mension, all Funk starts to slowly fade from the planet.

* GogglesDoNothing: The fact that Earl wears sunglasses doesn't make him any safer from enemies with flashbulbs.

* MoodSwinger: Sharla. She's ''always'' crying, but whether she's crying tears of joy or tears of happiness seems to change on a whim.

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Trixie is some kind of green alien mermaid who appears when the player finds one of her Super Secret Funk Orbs, granting the duo a power-up (like unlimited coins, unlimited Funk-Vacs, or double the gains on presents) that lasts until the end of the level. The description from the manual goes so far to suggest she's some kind of goddess, actually, and with how she magically appears to grant superpowers to her favored allies...

* RamblingOldManMonologue: Otis is rather fond of these.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Smoot is a total narcissist.

* TwinSwitch: Chester and Lester ''love'' to pull this. Only one of them is ever seen on-screen at a time, and them constantly flip-flopping on who the duo is talking to becomes a RunningGag. At the end of the game, they ask if Chester and Lester really ''are'' twins or just one person who's been screwing with everyone this whole time. [[spoiler:[[NonAnswer The answer: Yes.]]]]
** In ''Back In The Groove'', [[spoiler:Chester and Lester appear together in the post-game]].
* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: Lewanda's mom is some kind of polka-dotted blob thing with a mouth and sunglasses. Lewanda looks nothing like her and is the game's love interest.

* AffirmativeActionGirl: Latisha was added as the first female playable character in the series.

* SassyBlackWoman: Of the Blue Alien variety, Latisha in ''Mission to Earth''.

* DownloadableContent: ''Mission to Earth'' had three extra characters -- Geekjam, Earlbot, and Suteki -- and some additional levels available while it was online-capable.
** The Xbox Exhibition Vol. 2 demo disc also made the DLC available for those without an account or an internet connection.

* MythologyGag: In the intro sequence we have Toejam greeting the viewers by saying "Greetings and various apropos felicitations." Magazine ads for the original game used the exact same line.

In late February 2015, series creator Greg Johsnon announced a fourth game in the series, ''Back in the Groove'', that was [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1578116861/toejam-and-earl-back-in-the-groove/ successfully funded]] on Website/{{Kickstarter}}. It was released in March of 2019.

* [[DropInDropOutMultiplayer Drop-In Multiplayer]]: After a one-player game is started, a second player can jump in at any time without penalty. It's even [[ExactWords taken literally]] as the second player drops right in where the first player is standing, meaning, in the first game, the first player better move or he'll get crushed by his partner.

* MercyInvincibility: [[ClassicVideoGameScrewYous Or lack thereof]]. Can lead to several otherwise-innocuous enemies becoming DemonicSpiders.
* {{Mondegreen}}: There were rumors that Toejam and Earl were originally named Flowjam and Whirl, but the man coding their names in misheard them and wrote in Toejam and Earl. Greg recently announced that this was not true, he was something of a TrollingCreator when tired during interviews.

* ParentalNeglect: The shopping cart lady, whose only interaction with her wailing baby is to stop occasionally and yell "SHUT UP!" at him. Behind this PlayedForLaughs villain is an impending FridgeHorror story.

* InMemoriam: For Gregory Savoy Brown, aka rapper G-Nut of 187-Fac, the voice of Earl.

* MegamixGame: Features nearly everything from the first game, many elements from the second including the Hyperfunk Zone, most of the characters throughout the series, and some new stuff.
* NostalgiaLevel: Level 1 appears to be a carbon copy of the same level from the original game. [[spoiler:...though they moved the hole that leads to Level 0.]]
* OneHitKill: Besides the above-listed Total Bummer returning from the first game, amped tomato presents cause the tomatoes to glitter and pop earthlings in one hit.

* UnlockableContent: Some of the playable characters, presents, and power hats need to be unlocked by winning games or performing other feats.

''[=ToeJam=] & Earl'' is a series of video games known mainly for its first entry, released in 1991 on the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Sega Mega Drive/Genesis]], although two more games exist. The first game, with the same name as the series, is an exploration-oriented ActionAdventure game with an overhead perspective and (the option of) randomly-generated [[GameLevel levels]].

The sequels are ''[=ToeJam=] & Earl in Panic on Funkotron'', an extremely different two-dimensional PlatformGame released on the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1993, where the Duo has made it back home, only to find that several Earthlings have somehow stowed aboard, and are now causing [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Panic on Funkotron]], and ''[=ToeJam=] & Earl III: Mission to Earth'', a three-dimensional PlatformGame released on the Microsoft Xbox in 2002. They were also featured in ''Ready, Aim, Tomatoes!'', a pack-in game with the Genesis's Menacer light-gun peripheral.

A beta of the third game [[http://www.geek.com/games/dreamcast-just-got-a-new-game-and-its-toejam-earl-3-1580775/ was released,]] bearing many more similarities to the first game than the finished product.

In late February 2015, it was announced a new game in the series would be made called ''Back in the Groove'', with Website/{{Kickstarter}} [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1578116861/toejam-and-earl-back-in-the-groove/ funding]] to allow added features, by the game creator Greg Johnson, which as of March 25th has successfully been funded. In August 2016, the development team announced Creator/AdultSwim as a major funding partner. A release date of Fall 2017 was being aimed for, but it eventually had to be pushed back, first into 2018 and later into the first quarter of 2019. It did eventually see release in March of 2019.

* InMemoriam: ''Back in the Groove'' is dedicated to Gregory Savoy Brown, who voiced Earl.