ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!

Please give us Toe Jam & Earl 3 remastered. Bought this remaster to show support for the IP.

Goodness, me. This is an absolute delight. A faithful recreation of the first game with lots of new elements added including some groovy bits from Toejam & Earl 2 (this thrillingly includes occasional visits to the Hyper Funk Zone). Thanks, Macaulay Culkin! (...no, really)

The original TJ&E was and still is one of my all time favourite games. My sister and I had spent hundreds of hours back in the 90's sitting in front of our old CRT mindlessly playing and verbally mimicking everything. Going into this remake I was very skeptical because I was so used to the original of old.
I purchased it at launch and spent very little time on it as I was put off by the new artwork and music. Fast forward years later and I managed to give it a good play and beyond the new look and music it still feels like the original game to me. We always would play the random level game and it took me a few attempts to even beat the fixed world.
There's a lot of memories that flood back and it's brought back old recurring dreams of myself walking among disappearing/reappearing platforms in outer space. There's quite a lot of nostalgic humour and I'm ecstatic that the secret level is still hanging around.
...and seemingly the hula dancers aren't as rage inducing as in the original.
It's not a perfect game but it has a ton of replayability and is a great game to play with a friend in either couch co-op or online.

A real masterclass in how to modernize an older game.
The original was amazing for it's time, but hasn't held up. Playing it now... the original feels too slow and events are too spread out. Which makes it hard to revisit - even as a diehard fan. Let alone trying to convince people that aren't wearing the same nostalgia glasses that it's a great game.
Back in the Groove fixes that problem. This title respects your time much more than the original. Fun events and presents are much more frequent. You've got to strategize nearly constantly or you're not going to go the distance. A real masterclass in how to modernize an older game.
The different tiers of presents & enemies really spices the game up.
The addition of searchable trees and bushes adds tons to consider when taking chances. I didn't like this feature at first, but once I got used to the search action and understood the game loop more, I really appreciate it. I just wish they had included the tree shaking animation from the 2nd game. That would've added some extra jazz.
The inclusion of the hYpErFuNk Zooone is a ton of fun, and is a great throwback to the underappreciated 2nd game. In the harder difficulties, jumping into the hyperfunk zone can be strategic and can literally save you. And the money you can get inside can help extend a dying run.
This game is actually difficult! Which I love.
The little lumps and hills in the terrain are awesome. Ramping over them feels amazing. Really awesome idea to add this bit of 3d to what is a 2.5d game.
The rocket skates feel aaaamazing. Really well done.
Slapping earthlings off the edge or into water is great.
My negatives are that
-> the rhythm game doesn't work properly and the instruments in it sound bad (they have no weight to them, they're empty). The buttons never seem to hit at a place the makes sense, leading to constant false negatives. The background music to the rhythm game is just bad too. please fix and make more like the rhythm game from TJ&E 2. There's no joy in it as is :(
-> some of the background music in the game has bad sounding instruments and effects
-> movement is 8 direction for some inexplicable reason and not analog... making precision movement difficult.
-> sometimes your character just hops over the side of the map...instead of giving you the "I'm about to fall" animation
-> sometimes you just can't use the shops, and you get mopped up trying to interact with the good earthlings
Things I'd like to see added
-> some really awesome music from TJ&E 2 that is not present
-> Funk scan & maybe the funk vac
Thank you for not including funk fu! I think you guys did a really amazing job on picking and choosing which mechanics to bring back and which to exclude.

I ignored this game for quite a long time thinking I would not have as much fun as the original first episode which I'm a big fan of, but I was wrong. I'm actually having a lot of fun with this one. Never mind the negative reviews if you enjoyed the original, this one is very entertaining, and frustrating just as was the first one sometimes but it's entirely part of the fun of it.

This is a great remaster of a classic game. Captures the look and feel perfectly. Basically a 'roguelite' before it became a popular genre. Full of 90s 'feel'. Definitely not an amazing game by todays standards but I'd get it on sale. Easy to jump in for a quick run.

Feels just like the old game. Its a chill vibe of exploration fun.