The Toejam & Earl Nintendo DS Game That Never Was

Last month, we heard that Toejam & Earl won’t be a part of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, despite their iconic status as funk-loving video game aliens from the 16-bit era. There’s more to that story, but in an interview with Joystiq, TJ&E creator Greg Johnson also said that he’s been unable to get a new Toejam & Earl Nintendo DS game off the ground. “I was really hoping to do a multiplayer DS version – but didn’t have any luck getting interest from any publisher – I approached pretty much all of them,” Johnson said.

From the concept drawings he shared, the game looks a lot like the original Sega Genesis classic, with isometric views of a warped Earth and random presents that could be your savior or bane. Toejam & Earl is one of my all-time favorite games, so I hope getting these images out there will spark publishers’ interests. As for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Johnson said Sega wasn’t offering enough money to feature Toejam & Earl in the game, plus the publisher wanted long-time rights to use the characters on all platforms. Johnson said the ball is in Sega’s court, so maybe the extraterrestrial funk masters will appear in some downloadable content later. Join me in praying to the Funkopotamus. [via Joystiq]