Recap: The franchise spawned two sequels over the years - ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron for the Genesis and ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth for the Xbox in 1993 and 2002, respectively.

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is finally launching on Friday. More than four years in the making, the game is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign that launched in early 2015 and a little help from Macaulay Culkin. Wait, what?

Back in the Groove will serve as the fourth installment of the cult classic. The original, launched on the Sega Genesis in 1991, followed two alien rappers that crash-landed on Earth. It's up to you to help them collect pieces of their wrecked spacecraft so they can return to their home planet of Funkotron.


Culkin is a retro gamer with fond memories of playing the original with friends during his mid-teen years. In 2018, he tweeted a photo of himself playing ToeJam & Earl during his annual Oscars live-tweeting series. One thing led to another and shortly after, he was heading to San Francisco to visit the developers of the new game.

The two sides must have hit it off as Culkin wound up being an executive producer for Back in the Groove.

His Bunny Ears podcast featuring series creator Greg Johnson goes live on Friday, the same day the game launches.