Toejam & Earl is an action-adventure game for the Sega Genesis that has garnered a cult following since its 1991 release. Players control Toejam and Earl in their quest to piece back their spaceship after a crash landing on Earth. Players explore randomly generated maps either together or separately, using an array of items to support them on their journey. The maps are set up as a stack of islands (floating in space), the players able to move up by way of an elevator. Along the way, they come in contact with the Earthlings.
Earthlings are an odd collection of characters that can offer help or harm to the player. There are wizards, devils, cupids, doctors, hula girls, men in carrot suits and Santa Claus. These are all recognizable to us (more or less) on some level, but they would hardly figure into our representation of life on earth. The Earthlings presence of Huizinga statements that play is separate and detached from ordinary life [103]. Toejam and Earl is not representative or real life, but it borrows real life objects. Even the setup of the world is distinctly different from our own. The game world is a flat piece of land stranded in space. If the player steps over the edge, he simply tumbles through space to the level beneath him. By opening presents, the player can access surreal equipment that, like the humans, can help or hurt him. The player can run fast while wearing hi-top shoes, jump farther wearing spring shoes, or even fly with Icarus wings. These items make perfect sense within the context of the game, but seem irrational from a real-world perspective.
Another of Huizinga's criteria for a game is that it is free [103]. I would add some of Callois' points as an addendum: play is uncertain and governed by rules [128]. Toejam & Earl simply presents the players with a goal: to piece together their broken ship. The player is allowed to accomplish this goal however he sees fit. He can explore every inch of every level for presents and food or he can simply seek out the elevator to advance as quickly as possible. Two players can choose to move together or separately through the worlds (on different levels if they want). In this way, the gameplay of TJ&E is both free and uncertain. The player chooses how the game is played, which cannot be predicted or determined beforehand. Also, the maps are generated randomly each time the game is played, further preventing a game from being predictive or constrained.
The rules of the game, while based on the living world, are also distorted and surreal. Gravity exists, where it should not, at the edges of the map. If you to far past the edge of the world, you fall down to the previous level when you should drift into space. The player cannot be hurt too much, or he will die (though he has three lives). These injuries could come from drowning, poking, crushing, or just opening the wrong present. Suits also addresses rules in his essay on defining games. Simply, he says that the rules of a game may not be "ultimately binding". That is the user can be free to interpret the rules or apply some that may not be in the game. TJ&E requires the player to find an elevator on each level. But that need not be the goal for each level. Is I played, I would want to find as many presents as possible. Or if I had the proper weapons, I would seek out enemies to defeat. I think that's part of the charm of the game. The surrealistic setting and the flexibility that it affords the user.
Works Cited
Suits, Bernard. "Construction of a Definition." Game design reader a rules of play anthology. Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 2005. Print.
Caillois, Roger. "The Definition of Play and the Classification of Games." Game design reader a rules of play anthology. Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 2005. Print.
Huizinga, Johan. "Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon." Game design reader a rules of play anthology. Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 2005. Print.
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