The early '90s were pretty wild when it came to children's toys, and The Toxic Crusaders were perhaps one of the oddest brands of the period.
Based on Troma's R-rated (and totally unsuitable for kids) Toxic Avenger movies, the cartoon series featured Toxie and his bunch of mutated misfits, who were committed to cleaning up the world from pollution. 13 episodes were produced, and these were, of course, accompanied by a line of colourful toys and video games.
With the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles getting their very own collection of classic games (not to mention an all-new adventure), it seems only fair that Toxie and the gang are given a chance to discover a new audience – and that's exactly what the fine fellows over at Retroware have done.
An all-new beat 'em up title created in a 2D retro style, this version of the Toxic Crusaders will allow you to control seven playable characters (Toxie, No-Zone, Junkyard, Major Disaster, Headbanger, Yvonne, and Mrs. Junko) across seven levels.
Here's some more PR:
- The triumphant return of the Toxic Crusaders, just when we needed them most!
- Pulse-pounding beat 'em up action for up to four players
- Gorgeous full-color pixel art graphics
- A stunning soundtrack that'll make you party like it's 1991
- Amazing comic book cutscenes featuring the voices of TeamFourStar (Dragon Ball Z Abridged)
- Seven playable characters, each with their own unique moves and powers
- Seven unique stages taking you from the streets of Tromaville to Planet Smogula and beyond!
- Surprise cameos (each more surprising than the last) from across the Troma Cinematic Universe!
As we alluded to earlier, video games based on the series existed back in the 1990s, with Bandai and Sega doing the heavy lifting. Bandai's titles were on NES and Game Boy (a SNES version was in the works but was cancelled), while Sega itself handled the Mega Drive / Genesis version.
You can wishlist the all-new Toxic Crusaders on Steam now, but it's also coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch in late 2023 (thanks, Gematsu). It will cost you $24.99, which seems like a pretty sweet deal to us.