Game:

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (1998)

Duration: 0:00

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Originally recorded: February 6, 2022
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Jazz Jackrabbit 2 certainly feels different from the first game. Of course, considering there was a four-year gap between both of their original releases, that's to be expected. I honestly had no idea that JJ2 came out in 1998, the same year Epic put out the original Unreal. It'd almost be like if a Commander Keen game came out the same year as Doom or Quake.

The gameplay definitely feels more refined than the previous game, but it also feels like they made certain things a bit too complicated for their own good. For example, rather than being able to run by building momentum ala Sonic in the first game, Jazz 2 adds a run button... which I'd consider both a positive and negative change, if that makes any sense. Positive because I no longer have to inch my way through levels when I'm low on health -- but negative because another change made to the game also fixed that problem.

The viewing resolution in this game is incredibly large, to the extent where it reminds me of one of those ports of the original Mario or Sonic people make that manage to expand the game's playing field to take advantage of modern high-resolution displays... all while keeping everything at its original pixel size. You know, where you can practically see the entire level on a single screen? I suppose I'm kind of exaggerating my point there: it's not quite as bad as, say, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, but I did find myself having to squint to see everything. And all the footage of JJ2 I've seen online seems to imply that this is how the game always looked.

Jazz 2 also added multiple playable characters. Since GOG decided to use the later "The Secret Files" revision, that means that we have both of Jazz's siblings as playable characters: the red-furred tweaker Spaz (who was in the original release) and his sister Lori, who looks like she came out of a totally different game, yet seems to be accepted as canon. Of course, Jazz himself also returns and there are slight differences between the characters. Well, at least Jazz and Spaz have different secondary jump actions: Jazz can glide down for a short time, by spinning his ears ala Tails'... well, tails, while Spaz gets a double-jump. Lori seems to have Jazz's glide, but also this weird jump-kick attack that... honestly, seems kind of useless. I kind of discovered it by accident while playing as her, so I'm not sure if Jazz or Spaz have a variant of their own... but I'll be sure to look into it next time.

In terms of progress, I manage to get where I wanted to this time: beating the first three episodes of the base game. That just leaves the fourth (and final) episode, the extra "Secret Files" episode that was added to this revision and Holiday Hare '98, which is a separate download. Considering how early I was able to wrap things up this time, I wouldn't be shocked if I finished things up next time... maybe even with enough time for a dice roll.