Toejam and Earl are rather peaceable aliens armed with nothing but their wits and their cool. Luckily, someone (hint: wears a red hat and coat) has left a bunch of presents lying around. But these are very unusual presents that contain things like rocket shoes, inner tubes, boomboxes (old school cool), and tomato slingshots.

Contrary to Christopher Columbus’ so-called discovery, however, it turns out that the Earth is flat and consists of 25 levels. How do you progress to Earth’s upper levels? Elevators, of course. Brilliant! Just be careful not to drop off the edge of the Earth because it can be a long fall down to the levels below. Some levels have ship pieces (where did those fuzzy dice go?), others contain nothing but trouble – watch out for that ice cream truck!

Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, each level is crawling with Earthlings who do what they do best - DESTROY, DESTROY, DESTROY! – so watch your back. These Earthlings are a truly whacked out bunch. They range from helpful (wizards that heal, opera singers that can destroy enemies and guys in carrot suits that can identify your presents before you open them) to slightly annoying (little devils) to psychotic and dangerous (boogeymen, nerd herds, and phantom ice cream trucks).

The game encourages exploration and experimentation by rewarding you with points for each piece of the level map you uncover and for each present you use. Those points go towards promotions, which net you more health and occasionally an extra life. Since the presents are wrapped, you never quite know what you’re gonna get. So before you tear into one, ask yourself, “Have I been naughty or nice?”

Arguably one of the best Genesis games, Toejam & Earl had some truly groundbreaking stuff for its day. The split-screen co-op works great, as you can start out with one player, and someone can just drop into the game and drop out whenever they like. And for an added challenge, at the start menu you can choose to have the levels randomly generated.

Though the core essentials remain the same each time through, the intuitive gameplay, great humor and randomness of the adventure ensure a near endless amount of replay value.