ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron

ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron is a game developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega in 1993 for the Sega Genesis. The game is the sequel to cult video game ToeJam & Earl, released in 1991. The game concerns two alien protagonists, ToeJam and Earl, both of whom have escaped from Earth, where they had crash landed. After returning to their home planet of Funkotron, the duo discover a number of antagonistic Earthlings have stowed away on the spacecraft and are wreaking havoc across the planet. The player must hunt down these Earthlings and imprison them in jars before sending them back to Earth.

The game's platform format was a departure from the original ToeJam & Earl, a treasure hunt game with randomly generated levels, inspired by the game Rogue. Creators Greg Johnson and Mark Voorsanger originally began designing a game built on the concepts of the original, but changed to a more generic type of game due to a lack of support for their vision on the part of Sega. The game was critically well received, with reviewers praising the graphics, soundtrack, fluid action and two-player mode. It was also a commercial success, but fans of ToeJam & Earl were disappointed and confused by the radical change in direction.

Gameplay
Unlike its predecessor, Panic on Funkotron is a side-scrolling platform game in which up to two players play as ToeJam and Earl as they travel across Funkotron to capture antagonistic Earthlings that had stowed away. Players accomplish this by using a radar to locate an Earthling's proximity (some Earthlings may be hidden in the environment) and attack them with jars in order to trap and collect them. Once all Earthlings have been found, the player can move on to the next level. Players can collect presents containing various bonuses, such as super jars, radar scans, and teleporting moves. Coins can be used with parking meters to trigger events in the environment or participate in minigames such as Jam Outs and Fungus Olympics. Players can also enter gateways leading to the Hyper Funk Zone, where the player must avoid obstacles in order to earn more presents. Hidden throughout the game are ten objects belonging to Lamont the Funkapotamus; collecting all of which will earn the player the best ending upon completion.

Plot
The game follows on the events of the first game, in which funky aliens ToeJam and Earl crash landed on Earth. After managing to rebuild their spaceship and returning safely to their home planet of Funkotron, the duo soon learn that a bunch of Earthlings had stowed away on their craft and have now invaded Funkotron. With the humans spreading panic across the planet's citizens, even scaring the source of all funk, Lamont the Funkapotomus, away to another dimension, it is up to ToeJam and Earl to clean up the mess they've made and send all the Earthlings they brought with them back to where they came from.