ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth

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Tj&e3xbx title.png

ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth
System(s): Xbox
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Xbox
US
$49.9549.95[1] 64020
Xbox
EU
Xbox
IT
Xbox
AU

ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth is the sequel to ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. It was originally released for the Xbox in 2002, and is currently the first and only entry in the series to be presented in 3D. The duo are also joined by a new female friend, Latisha.

During development the game was known as ToeJam & Earl III: All Funked Up.

Gameplay

ToeJam & Earl III plays as a cross between the original ToeJam & Earl and ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, with an emphasis on the former's roguelike elements, being built around the concept of exploration. Up to two players can traverse a world uncovering new environments with the aid of specified or random items in the form of "presents", which in turn can either help or hinder your experience. Collecting money also helps in making progress, special ordering presents, making deals with Earthlings and more. Keys also serve as a way to unlock new levels and environments.

The main objective is to spread the word of funk to the people of Earth, as decreed by the Funkopotimus himself, Lamont. To do this, all characters have the ability to perform Funk-Fu, which also acts as a means of self defense. Funk-Fu serves as basic attacks that look like physical attacks, but instead will funkify earthlings causing them to become friendly with you. Funkified earthlings can also give helpful items or aid in level quests.

Each action in the game rewards points, which then gives the ability to level up your character which also increases your belt-color ranking. Attempting to funkify an earthling with a rank higher than yours causes them to be invulnerable until your belt level matches theirs.

After the game has been completed, the "Random Mode" will be unlocked. Environments will be randomly generated as opposed to fixed that re-arranges the location of presents, keys, earthlings and more.

Playable Characters

Just like previous entries, up to two players are able to play simultaneously. However with the addition of Latisha as well as three secret characters, both players have the option to hotswap between the characters at the beginning or by finding a location in the overworld(s) that allow you to change characters. Each character also has specific abilities or perks that give them an upper hand over the other characters in certain situations.

The additional three characters must be downloaded to the Xbox hard drive.

ToeJam
*Extra shot power
  • Speed & jump powe
  • Mailbox rebate
  • Good Money Luck
Big Earl
*Stronger Funk-Fu
  • Can eat bad food
  • Two-for-one Sushi
  • Increased Life
Latisha
*Double Rhythm Power
  • Double treats
  • Risky present luck
  • Can ride tornadoes
Geekjam portrait.png GeekJam
(downloadable character)
  • Super jump power
  • Super money luck
  • Super Rhythm Power
  • Can ride tornadoes
Earlbot portrait.png Earl Bot
(downloadable character)
  • Speed power
  • Super Funk-Fu
  • Super shot power
  • Three-for-one Sushi
Suteki portrait.png Suteki
(downloadable character)
  • Speed & jump power
  • Can eat bad food
  • Increased life
  • Triple treats

Dwnloadable content

Additional characters and levels were available as additional downloadable content for the game. They could be obtained either through the Xbox Live service (which was decommissioned on May 11, 2010) or from the Xbox Exhibition Disk Volume 2.

Title and description Links Releases
GeekJam
Xbox
US
2002-11-15[2]
FREEfree
Earl Bot
Xbox
US
2002-11-15[2]
FREEfree
Suteki
Xbox
US
2002-11-15[2]
FREEfree
Hades Maze
Xbox
US
2002-11-15[2]
FREEfree
Funkadelic
Xbox
US
2002-11-15[2]
FREEfree

History

Development

ToeJam & Earl III was once set to be a Sega Dreamcast game, and was even pencilled in for release in November 2001[3], but the demise of the console led to development being moved to the Xbox.

Once development moved onto the new platform, there was consideration in bringing the game to other platforms after the Xbox version was completed. Namely the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It was noted that the same experience could not be brought to other platforms in the same way as the Xbox version. As a result, only came out on one system.[4]

Production credits

Design & Management Team
  • Lead Designer & Creative Director: Greg Johnson
  • Project Manager: Mark Voorsanger
  • Lead Programmer: Steve Scholl
  • Production & Design Assistant: Suruchi Krieglstein
  • Executive Producer: Scott Patterson, Visual Concepts
Programming Team
  • Camera, Graphics & Game Engine Enhancements: Steve Scholl
  • Artificial Intelligence, Mini-Games & Boss Battles: Matt Russell
  • User Interface & Sound: Randy Tudor
  • Character Controls, Software Tools & Utilities: Richard Fife
  • Graphic Special Effects & Performance Optimizations: Robert Leyland
  • Random Level Generation: Mark Voorsanger
Art Team
  • Lead Environment Artist: Maida Kreis
  • Lead Animator & Concept Artist: I-Wei Huang
  • Animator: Rob Skiena
  • Environment Artist: Hal Smyer
  • Texture Artist: Maria Bowen
  • Additional Artwork: Lee Ballard, Robin Lujan
Sound Music Team
  • Music Composition, Sound FX & Sound Engineering: Burke Trieschmann
  • Gospel Singing: Genevieve Goings
  • Gospel Composition: Greg Johnson, Genevieve Goings
Character Voices
  • Player-Character Voices: Greg "Big Earl" Brown, Sherrie "Latisha" Jackson, Kirk "ToeJam" McHenry
  • Other Character Voices: Genevieve Goings, Greg Johnson, Rob Skiena, Suruchi Krieglstein, Burke Trieschmann
Visual Concepts Credits
  • Executive Producer: Scott Patterson
  • Library and Tools Engineers: Ivar Olsen, Eivind Hagen, Boris Kazanskii, Chris Larson, Chuck Batson
  • QA Manager: Chien Yu
  • Lead Tester: Damon Perdue
  • Quality Assurance (In Alphabetical Order): Eric Andreassen, Brian Beavers, Stephen Benz, Benjamin Bracamonte, Chris Charles, John Crysdale, Andrew Davies, Christopher Gross, Jeremy Huddleston, Erik Lampi, Robert Nelson, Haven Rocha, Semmy Sebastian, Junior Sison, Derek Williams, Tim Walter
Sega Europe Ltd
Very Special Thanks To
Source:
?? manual

Magazine articles

Main article: ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth/Magazine articles.

Artwork

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
55 №13, p64-65[5]
Xbox
55
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Consoles + (FR) PAL
85
[6]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
72
[7]
GameNOW (US) NTSC-U
83
[8]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
88
[9]
GMR (US) NTSC-U
70
[10]
Hyper (AU) PAL
69
[11]
Le Magazine Officiel Xbox (FR)
55
[12]
Official Xbox Magazine (UK) PAL
79
[13]
Play (US) NTSC-U
90
[14]
Xbox Zone (DE) PAL
74
[15]
Xbox
76
Based on
10 reviews

ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth

Xbox, US
TJaEIII Xbox US Box.jpg
Cover
TJaEIII Xbox US Disc.jpg
Disc
Xbox, EU
TJaEIII Xbox EU Box.jpg
Cover
TJaEIII Xbox EU Disc.jpg
Disc
Xbox, AU
TJaEIII Xbox AU Box.jpg
Cover
Xbox, FR
TJaEIII Xbox FR Box.jpg
Cover
Xbox, DE
TJaEIII Xbox DE Box.jpg
Cover
Xbox, ES
TJaEIII Xbox ES Box.jpg
Cover
Xbox, IT

External links

References



Games in the ToeJam & Earl Series
Sega Mega Drive
ToeJam & Earl (1991) | ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (1993)
Xbox
ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth (2002)
Xbox Live Arcade
Sega Vintage Collection: ToeJam & Earl (2012)
PlayStation 3 PlayStation Network
Sega Vintage Collection: ToeJam & Earl (2013)
ToeJam & Earl related media
Music
ToeJam and Earl Rap (1991) | Sega Tunes: ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (1996)