Is a New ToeJam and Earl Game Coming? Should the 90’s Franchise Have A Glorious Revival?

If you grew up in the 90’s, you might remember the ToeJam and Earl games. If not, you still might have tried the games out on Nintendo Switch Online’s Sega Genesis collection. The games are thoroughly products of the 90’s, with funky hip-hop music, wacky items that exist for the sake of being wacky, and 90’s slang. However, this generation is a sucker for nostalgia, as was demonstrated by a recent nostalgic fest, ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove, along with a possible upcoming movie. Now, there might be another game coming out.

ToeJam and Earl in the 21st century

Back in the Groove was released in 2019, though Sega wasn’t involved in its creation. Instead, it was developed by HumanNature Studios and funded by a successful Kickstarter. However, it has a Metacritic user score of 6.1, showing that nostalgia can only get you so far when it comes to appealing to the public. Still, that hasn’t stopped the creator of the franchise from trying again.

Greg Johnson, the creator of ToeJam and Earl, recently hosted a Reddit conversation where he promoted the Kickstarter for his latest game and answered questions from fans. When asked about a new ToeJam and Earl game, Johnson had this to say:

“I can say that the new game is in the planning stage. We intend to make it happen. It’s going to be developed by a third party, design led by the infamous and talented producer of BitG, Nap, and will be a combo of games one and two and incorporate some of the design ideas of the original game 2 that never got made.”

He also discussed the upcoming movie based on the franchise when asked if it would be live-action or animated.

“I’m not 100% sure as it’s out of my control but I expect it will probably be animated. I’ve read the script and really it could be either all animated, or it could be a mix like Sonic, as it’s primarily on Earth. I’m as curious as you are as to what they will do. Right now they are still looking for a director so things are a bit stalled out. Hopefully that train will start moving again soon. The guys are Story Kitchen are great.”

Why Are People Still Interested in the Franchise?