The world goes black and white.
The funk is leaving Funkotron!
Earthlings are running amok!
The Funkopotamus has hid!
Whatever will we do?!
Of course, to our rescue come two funky teens named ToeJam and Earl, of course. They must capture all the Earthlings in jars, and lure the Funkopotamus out of hiding with his favorite stuff, in hopes of the funk returning to Funkotron. Sounds like a pretty full agenda, if you ask me.
This game is downright funky. To say it any other way would be almost disrespectful. This sequel to a smash hit, ToeJam & Earl, incorporates a completely new plot, many new concepts, characters, and, of course, keeps the funk alive.
My favorite part of this game is its amazing multiplayer mode. What puts this multiplayer mode far above the rest in its time period is the way it is executed. All it is is two main characters completing the regular game and fulfilling the regular storyline. Doesn’t seem so spectacular, does it? It is. This concept is so simple, yet so many games smash a single multiplayer game in for the sake of being able to be labeled as multiplayer. This, however, is a true multiplayer game—perhaps one of the best I have ever experienced.
As funky as this game is, if you’ve just completed level four, and level four happened to be rather hard for you, I doubt you’d want to go back and play it again. This is where, theoretically, a password system would’ve come in handy. However, if you didn’t write down the password, which can be easily accessed from the pause screen, your game is lost. Granted, it’s your own fault if you didn’t obtain 
the password. But, say you were very diligent and wrote down the latest password as soon as you got it. You still lose part of your game. The way the password system is set up, only every other level has its own password. Therefore, your password would be to level three, not four. A minor inconvenience, yes; but I think it could’ve been done better.
(I must add here, though, that many Sega games at this time did not even have a password system, or ANY way to access your saved games. So kudos to the TJ&E team for adding that in.)
One of the biggest things absent from this game is THE PRESENTS. True, the presents are present; they just aren’t present like the presents from the previous game. In other words, they are there, give you points and some items (coins, super jars, etc.); but the whole present system, with different items from each, using them to get through levels, identifying what each package gives you, etc., is not there, and is greatly missed. However, the view of the game (side-scrolling) probably wouldn’t have allowed the present system to work well if it was included.
Another thing not included from the previous game is the rank system. Contrary to the presents, this system could have worked quite well in the side-scrolling view. Don’t ask me how they would decide when you get promoted, but it would’ve been enjoyable had it been included.
As expected, the music is funky and makes you want to beat box your way through the whole game. The controls are extremely simple and easy to learn, and the graphics create a really imaginative, nearly crazy atmosphere that you would imagine Funkotron has. All these things and more add up to the fact that, even after all of those times I have played it and beaten it, I want to go back and play ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron again.
I would like to dedicate my closing to the wonderful people at ToeJam & Earl Productions, Inc. for bringing us such an amazing game. In the words of Lewanda, “Get down with your bad self!”
