ToeJam & Earl III Dev Kiv Found for the Dreamcast

I love how people are still finding games on DEV Kits 12 years after the death of a unit. Toejam & Earl III was a cancelled Dreamcast game bak  in 2001 and later was ported over to the xbox. Recently the Dreamcast version has been discovered on a Dreamcast Development Unit.

The game was scheduled to be released in the final phase of first-party Dreamcast support around Autumn/Winter 2001 but like many other cancelled Dreamcast games they were later transferred over to Xbox in 2001 – 02  after demise of the console.

As examples House of the Dead III, Gun Valkyrie and Propeller Arena were all in development for the Dreamcast but were then subsequently released to the Xbox

Apparently Toejam & Earl III has been found to be quite playable and is estimated to have around 24 levels, a main menu and support for two players. However the game is unfinished, the cut scenes are not present and currently the game has not been made to boot on a retail Dreamcast or via an emulator.

Many people have found previous games on DEV kits like Propeller Arena , and it has been possible to run that game on a bootable disc. Hopefully Assembler Games (the guys behind Geist Force) could do the same with Toejam & Earl 3.  Rumours have also come to light that the Dreamcast build of the game would have contained a system link option as well as a streamlined game experience that found it’s way onto the Xbox released version. I, for one, will defiantly be keeping a my eye out for a bootable version of this ill-fated Dreamcast version.

Source released by ZakhooiTM
Well guys and girls, it’s finaly done. It has been released!

Q&A
Q: Did you get SEGA’s permission?
A: Nope, I didn’t get any response. As this is a beta of a game for a console that’s already dead for 10+ Years
I think they woudn’t care. And as long I don’t make any money from it, I’m not conflicting their intrests(I hope).
I’m releasing this at my own risk.
Q: What about Greg Johnson?
A: There are pieces of the code that Greg and Mark don’t own(SDK’s, Katana Library’s, stuff that other people from Visual Concepts made) ,
so even though they don’t object to me sharing this within the community of Dreamcast enthusiasts, they can’t really give permission

As for the Intellectual Property goes, Greg and Mark wont sue me for using the IP in this context.
However, there is ONE limitation and that is that it should never be sold or pressed to disc
This would go past the whole “community release” thing.

Again to make it perfecly clear : He did not give me permission for releasing this game,
he just turns his head the other way when it comes to the use of the Intellectual Property itself.

Q: What about donating?
A: The donation campaign idea has gone out of the window and the game is released for free.
However, if you really want to thank me, I found a destination where a donation could go to.

And that is Mardan School, its a special school located in America for kids that fall between the cracks with the normal school system.
Kids for example that have Autism, ADD, ADHD and other learning issues, Mardan helps them to get them educated with extra care and time.

As you might see in my profile, I live in the Netherlands but when I was younger, I fell between the cracks and had a terrible childhood.
Later I got on a school that simmilair to Mardan and that was a life saver for me.

So, if you wanted to donate to me. Please donate to the school instead, they need it harder then me and do fantastic work.
I have been working together with the school to get international donations working so everyone that wants to donate, can donate 
Here is the link : http://www.mardanschool.org/about/support-mardan.php
A small note here : If you get an error after the donation, DONT PANIC! it’s a known issue and is being worked on 

The Devkit
Q : How did you get your devkit ?
A : I got my devkit from ebay, bought it for around $1200 (plus additional costs such as customs and taxes)

Q : On what medium did you discover the game ?
A :
When I received the devkit I was eager to see what was on the internal hard drive (all devkits have one, except older versions)
I connected the kit to my PC and opened Windows Explorer, there where the raw files of the game.
However, I had to rebuild the GD-M (GD Emulator) project file in order to get it to boot, when I got it to boot I went to AssemblerGames and showed my discovery.
So there are no GD-ROMs that are discovered, I just got very lucky to find the game assets AND the binary to boot the game 

The game
Q : Did you know ToeJam & Earl before the discovery ?
A : Before I had this devkit, I even didn’t really know ToeJam & Earl (I got a megadrive in the time, but was a hardcore sonic fan at the time and didn’t have ToeJam & Earl)
But when I got it working on the devkit, I found it hilarious and to my amazement it works really smooth and looked quite good for a beta/alpha.

Game play

Q: How is the game ?
A : I’ve seen some video’s of ToeJam & Earl 3 version and it’s quite different from the version I found on the devkit.
The version on the devkit is more like the original on the megadrive but then in 3D. So no bosses, gates, keys, mini-games and hub connected world.
Also no cutscenes, you just begin at the begin of the map and go to the elevator then can go to the next level.

Q : What about stability ?
A : I found however that the game is becoming more unstable as you go through the levels. Levels 1 to 9 are stable, none to very few lockups.
From level 10 and up, lockups become more frequent, however I was ble to get to Level 12, so it is possible 

So that are the most frequent questions answered I hope, if I know more I will update this post.

One note for burning it to disc, the image requires to be overburnt as the image is exactly 80 Minutes