Ahead of PAX East, publisher and developer Retroware – best known for their Angry Video Game Nerd tie-ins – has revealed a scrolling brawler based on Toxic Crusaders, the ‘90s environmental-themed cartoon series; itself an offshoot of the cult 1984 movie The Toxic Avenger.
Some obvious similarities can be made with the excellent TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, with it looking set to offer a similar brand of chaotic multiplayer side-scrolling action. Set across seven stages, it sees seven playable characters (Toxie, No-Zone, Junkyard, Major Disaster, Headbanger, Yvonne, and Mrs. Junko) battle Dr. Killemoff and his Radiation Rangers. Oh, and zombie chickens.
A four-player mode and comic book style cut-scenes will feature.
What has fans really excited though is the promise of cameos from other Troma movies – including Class of Nuke ‘Em High and Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.
Ah, that explains the zombie chickens.
The Steam page is now live, revealing that it’s on track for a 2023 release. There’s no word on a console release yet, although it seems pretty much inevitable given how popular Shredder’s Revenge was on Switch et al.
THQ released a few games based on the Toxic Crusaders back in the ‘90s, but they never found commercial or critical success – with the SNES version being canned altogether.