Welcome to the fifth episode of 23 Endings: The Early Years, the show where we put old school video game endings in proper context. Today we're getting funky with ToeJam & Earl, one of Sega's most beloved 16-bit games. Will these two hip hop aliens find their way back to Funkotron? Find out now when you watch a brand new episode of 23 Endings: The Early Years!


Even though it didn't earn the best reviews at the time, I would argue that ToeJam & Earl is one of Sega's best known Genesis games. A big reason for this is because, for lack of a more exciting word, it's different. At a time when most games were coming straight from Japan, this funky Genesis cart had a decidedly Western vibe. It felt like it was taking a swing at obnoxious American stereotypes and showing our annoying ways through the eyes of two lovable aliens. Did it have a deeper meaning? Probably, but at the time I was just fixated with the funky soundtrack and two-player exploration.

This is the story of ToeJam and Earl, two outer space visitors from the groovy planet Funkotron. The problem isn't the duo's 1990s hip hop influenced look (complete with a large gold medallion, oversized sunglasses and a backwards baseball cap), but rather Earl's erratic driving. They crash land on Earth and are forced to explore the decidedly unhip planet in search of the parts to repair their damaged space ship. Once they find the parts, they'll fly back to Funkotron and be welcomed as returning heroes.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, because first there's a lot of searching we need to do. Are the parts over here? Or maybe next to this thing? Or what about in this corner?

The problem with recapping a game like ToeJam & Earl is that not much happens. We find a few weird power-ups and go from grass to sand, but there aren't really any story beats here. You find a missing part then search for the next one, rinse and repeat. In fact, this Sega classic is the only game in our series that could be called a "roguelike." Eventually you find all the pieces and this happens.

What, you expected something else? It's a game about finding all the pieces and repairing the ship, so, yeah, of course that's what happens at the end. But instead of simply leaving it there and letting the funky duo fly through space while the credits rolled, ToeJam & Earl has a little something extra that I think it worth talking about.

After a couple minutes of listing names, the newly repaired ship safely lands back on Funkotron and the two friends are welcomed home as returning heroes. Everybody has something nice and positive to say, making this one of the most uplifting endings I've ever seen. As you can see, this road goes on for quite a while. Just about everybody has something to tell you. And to top it all off, your friends and family all show up at the end of the street like it's the final episode of The Amazing Race. What I like is that this is an interactive ending and you can wander around and explore Funkotron. And then you can jump in the water and swim around. I can't think of a more fitting ending for ToeJam & Earl.