It’s no secret the original Toxic Crusaders cartoon was based on the live-action Toxic Avenger movie, so we just had to pack in references to it, too!
First up, we’ve got the kid with bandages on his head riding a bike at the very start of the demo level, which is a direct reference to the kid seen in The Toxic Avenger as he’s traveling down a road!
Next, we’ve got the very noticeable reference to the exterior look of “The Mexican Place” as seen in the original movie!
Now, for those of you who’ve seen the film, the common mob enemies running around here should evoke some nostalgia.
Here’s a look (from left to right) at Rico, Leroy, and Frank from the scene just before they throw hands with Toxie himself!
Below, the positions of the characters are different, where we have Leroy, Frank, and Rico in that order, instead:
For Frank, we gave an extra reference to his ultimate fate in The Toxic Avenger, where he met a very…graphic fate that isn’t (unfortunately?) present in the game! However, to reflect this, we created Frank’s in-game sprite to always have an arm behind him at a lowered position–a callback to when Toxie ripped off his arm in the movie! That said, in-game Frank will always attack players with only one arm!
Thirdly, the train tracks at the start of the junkyard section are a reference to when Toxie begins his journey in the movie! When Melvin Junko first turns into Toxie, he walks along a set of train tracks.
And here’s where those tracks eventually “led” to in-game!
We’ve also included the B.G. Whip mob character, who isn’t a specific character, per se, but she is merely a reference to some of the Apocalypse Inc. henchwomen from the second Toxic Avenger film.
And here we have concept art drawn by Bryce Collins for the eventual in-game sprite:
You can check out these and many other references present in Toxic Crusaders! You can wishlist the game and play the demo NOW!