Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove hits Kickstarter

If you're one of those faithful few still praying for a new Toejam & Earl game, it's time to put up or shut up. Series co-creator Greg Johnson has brought the funky alien duo to Kickstarter for a new game called Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove.

According to the Kickstarter page, Back in the Groove will be chiefly inspired by the original Sega Genesis adventure (also according to the page, Sega is not involved with this project). That means randomly generated, vertically stacked levels filled with tons of the same bizarre Earthlings and presents you encountered in the first game - you'll also encounter a few influences pulled from the sidescrolling Panic on Funkotron.

This time around the world will be rendered in full 3D, though the game will retain a fixed camera angle and use comic-style sprites for all the characters and important details. Expect plenty of new funkalicious tunes to listen to as you wander around, as well.

Johnson's studio HumaNature (which previously released Doki-Doki Universe) plans to allow up to four players to cooperate at once, complete with online play. The game's only confirmed for PC at the moment but HumaNature hopes to bring it to "all platforms", if funding and business developments allow.

Speaking of funding, Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove is calling for $400,000 in Kickstarter pledges, with funding set to close on March 27. You'll need to back at a minimum of $15 to get a copy of the game.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.