How did you like Jazz Advance?

[JustRob]

Well? How did you like that game?

Personally, I thought it was okay for a GBA game, and terrible for a Jazz game. I'm sorry Cliffy, I know you've tried to put heart into this and revive the Jazz hype, but creating a cheap Star Wars ripoff, and neglecting the entire history the previous Jazz games have put down, is not the right way. Rather then putting a bunch of people on it who didn't know (-)(-)(-)(-) about Jazz, you should have tried to round up the original team instead. I'm sure Noogy would have been jumping to help, and probably the others as well.

But this, this just isn't Jazz Jackrabbit anymore. Where's the blaster? The launcher? Where's Spaz? Where's Eva and Devan Shell? Instead we get the crappy realistic weapons and the new Han Solo Jackrabbit versus Darth Shell and his army of Turtle Stormtroopers.

What you should have done is look at the story Jazz3D put down. The story where Devan Shell would kidnap Jazz's kids and use their dreams against him. The story where a new character, Razzamatazz, would make his introduction. But instead you shoved this all off the table and went with a stupid Star Wars ripoff.

As for Jazz's new clothing, you said Link and Mario also had these changes, but for Mario it was necessary because he was moving from 8-bit to 16-bit. Jazz Jackrabbit looked fine, he didn't need a clothing change. He already looked awesome and I don't know what you were thinking.

I'm sorry if I upset your feelings or anyone else's with this topic, but Jazz Advance makes me puke, and in my opinion, all it does is take a huge giant piss on Jazz Jackrabbit's tombstone.

One thing is for sure, if I ever release a Jazz fangame, it will have a sequence showing Jazz sleeping somewhere and dreaming about Jazz Advance, then saying: "Wow, that was the most terrible dream ever". Because this entire game deserves a big fat retcon.

Now tell me what you other fans think of this game.

[Ninja]

it has no soul. *puke*

[KRSplat]

It was fun, the story was amusing but slightly annoying because it screwed with JJ canon so much. There was no replay value compared to the PC Jazz games, but hey, it was a GBA game... I loved playing threw it, but ultimately I gave it to my cousin.

[JustRob]

But I just don't understand how you can love playing through it, if you play Jazz Advance after Jazz 2. I mean, Jazz 2 has 5 full episodes with more then 5 levels per episode, and those levels are extremely long, and you can take multiple passages to boot.

After such awesomeness, playing Jazz Advance is an eyesore. The levels are unimaginative and straightforward. For the last mission, they even took part of the Carrotus castle tileset and copied it straight over.

It's just terrible level design, the enemies as well. Floods and floods of enemies in places where they shouldn't be. And only one kind of enemy with different colors, whereas Jazz 2 had plenty of entire different enemies.

[cooba]

What you should have done is look at the story Jazz3D put down. The story where Devan Shell would kidnap Jazz's kids and use their dreams against himJazz Advance makes me puke, and in my opinion, all it does is take a huge giant piss on Jazz Jackrabbit's tombstone.Jazz3D's visual style and plotline take a huge giant piss on Jazz as he was in JJ1 and JJ2, rather...

<img src="http://www.dutchfurs.com/~haze/images/boxes/jj1_new_front.jpg" />

!=

<img src="http://images.techtree.com/ttimages/story/108141_jazz-jackrabbit-3.jpg" />

[JustRob]

No, Jazz3D was awesome. Let's face it, game franchises need to go on. Back in '98, every big franchise was moving into 3D, and it was only right for Jazz to tag along.

Let's face it, really. Say a new Jazz game in 2D would be made. Could it really be any better then Jazz 2? I mean, really? We have the awesome episodes and levels, we have the level editor, the online capabilities, we have the three characters, albeit the third one a bit less complete.

I think Jazz Jackrabbit has pretty much reached the highest level in 2D platforming already. I know it's my favorite 2D platforming game. Sometimes a game just can't get any better.

No, it's only right that Jazz Jackrabbit's sequel be in 3D. We've had the fast-paced Sonic style gameplay in Jazz 1, we've had the awesome exploration and puzzles and secrets in Jazz 2, now it's time to see how Jazz does in 3D. And all in all, I really liked that alpha demo. The graphics were a bit choppy ofcourse, and there were some bugs, but imagine that game to be remade in UT3. In my opinion, it could be awesome.

[KRSplat]

But I just don't understand how you can love playing through it, if you play Jazz Advance after Jazz 2.
Relatively, JJA is nothing compared to JJ2 or JJ1. But I love the whole franchise and I wouldn't turn my back on any game that includes a green rabbit and guns.

If it were my choice, an official sequel to Jazz Jackrabbit would be a fast-paced, cartoonish 3d platformer, retaining the essence of the original PC games. JJ3D was the right direction. I believe Epic will eventually make it happen one of these days, (years, decades) ultimately we know whose decision it is.

[Violet CLM]

I've played through JJA a number of times, though always with some time in-between, and generally enjoyed myself. I kind of like the health system, where you come back to life in the same place you die, but it's not made much of... it might have been cool to incorporate some of the style of Battery Check, so that the weaker you were the slower you were.

Combat wasn't too cool; weapons, despite their realism, were basically reduced to the level of JJ1 weapons, most behaving about the same way but with different degrees of damage. The ricochet gun should have been an exception but I never found any good uses for it in the level design outside of the targets; the flamethrower, though, was really cool and I applaud them for it. Carrot grenades were also pretty cool, although I'm not sure they deserved their own button and being generally separate from the guns.

The enemies didn't help with the combat because they were (nearly) all the same behavior, walking back and forth and attacking you with a set number of attacks, which is all the worse when you realize that all the bosses (except for King Chameleon, whom I also enjoyed) work the exact same way. It's just a matter of shooting them more than they shoot you, and some of their attacks are really hard to jump over. That said, I do appreciate games in which you and the enemies have (some of) the same attacks -- if nothing else it's a good explanation for why the ammo is there in the first place -- so that's cool.

Jazz's movement engine was probably the worst part of the game. I shouldn't say I wanted an exact clone of the JJ2 physics, but maybe I did -- as it was, jumping (and coptering) were entirely too hard to use, especially given how much control JJ2 gives you (see: any test level). And yeah, no running? What? The level design didn't help with anything: lots of small platforms and leaps of faith, coupled with bottomless pits and falls that hurt you (which addition I do like in principle, but it was misused), and as someone said lots of enemy clusters. The few moments the level got interactive -- switches, moving platforms, ricochet targets, disappearing platforms, the chameleon mouth -- I enjoyed it immensely, but in general the environment was about as basic as JJ1 but with different enemy behaviors.

All the thematic stuff I liked, with the obvious caveat that I missed all the characters who got lost. The plot is simplistic but that's not really a liability in a Jazz game. The store visits in-between planets are a good addition, and I appreciated both the new tilesets and the tileset remixes, particularly the pollution planet (and isn't it nice that Jazz is going to planets again?). It was also cool finally seeing ingame cutscenes, since neither JJ1 nor JJ2 really supported that in any way (the closest we ever came being the HH94 ending movie). I only ever played multiplayer once, I think, with Sal, so my experience is much too limited to have any opinion there.

[JustRob]

Meh, I could appreciate this game if it wasn't a Jazz Jackrabbit game. But because it is a Jazz Jackrabbit game, it blows so much. Never has a franchise been so (-)(-)(-)(-)(-)ed over and retconned. The cutscenes were hardly impressive; they were just the same images over and over again with dialog.

Also the tiny amount of levels was truly ridicilous. Whereas you spend a good 20 mins playing through a Jazz 2 level, a Jazz Advance level can be completed in less then 5.

I just completed this game today in about 30 minutes, and that's truly pathetic. Like I said, I don't see how a Jazz fan can appreciate this game, but I guess some people are more forgiving then me and don't really care what the sequel is, as long as it has a green bunny with a gun.

[Violet CLM]

See, I don't know about you, but I can almost complete Formerly a Prince in 20 minutes.

[DoubleGJ]

I've played through JJA a number of times, though always with some time in-between, and generally enjoyed myself. I kind of like the health system, where you come back to life in the same place you die, but it's not made much of... it might have been cool to incorporate some of the style of Battery Check, so that the weaker you were the slower you were.
No, that's annoying. I rather like the "next-gen" style - the worse you do, the more the game tries to help you.

As for JJGBA, well, I'm probably the most supportive person of it in the whole community, doing a remix album (still in the works!) and incorporating bonds with it to my other fanworks, but I do admit it has its flaws. Then again, every other JJ game has. Love is about accepting the bad sides, not ignoring them. O+
Also, take notice it's a GBA game, so it's meant to be short and simple just so you can play it while on a train or having a free hour in school. Understanding that, I like the classic side-scroller shooter gameplay, the short but catchy music, the artistic design and a few jokes. What I don't like is, like UR said, bad character control (try to aim for the sewer platforms on the first try, I dare you, I DOUBLE DARE YOU) and a somewhat uncreative arsenal. I can understand the pointlessness of the Blaster - it's actually good that finally the player is tempted to use other, ammo-depleting weapons over that one - but all these other guns are nearly the same and still can be annoying. The machine gun is an all-around weapon, but it quickly becomes too weak and eats up ammo way too fast, even when there's plenty of it because when fighting a tougher enemy you feel like wasting it, plus your health and your precious time. The Ricochet Gun, save for a few obscure gimmicks, is practically a grenade launcher without a gravitational pull, and for that I often used it instead of grenades... but just like them, it has a blast radius that can hurt Jazz as well, plus it has this weird lag between pushing the fire button and shooting, sometimes. The Flamethrower is mostly pointless and really finds a use only when you want to shoot an enemy behind a thin wall or you're running around like a freak spreading fire all over the place hoping something (or rather someone) catches on it. The rocket launcher is cool, but just like the Ricochet Gun it has this weird lag, can't shoot in mid-air and there's never enough ammo for it, and finally the Big Gun is an eleventh hour superpower (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EleventhHourSuperpower) that isn't super at all and unless you use some GameShark code you ALWAYS GET ONLY THREE SHOTS IN THE ENTIRE GAME, ALL FOR THE LAST PLANET. And after you kept it for Dark Shell, you shoot the thing and think "wow, that's all the big deal?" But I guess that's the joke.

Then again, it's not like, say, JJ2's pepperspray is an all-purpose weapon, and even though JJGBA is still the weakest of the series, it's fun. Just don't try to compare it to the older games too much. This is the same reason why Unreal 2 suffered way more than it should.

[plunK]

Jazz3D's visual style and plotline take a huge giant piss on Jazz as he was in JJ1 and JJ2, rather...



<img src="http://images.techtree.com/ttimages/story/108141_jazz-jackrabbit-3.jpg" />
Oh no! Jazz

What does the 34 mean in the bottom left.


And I thought Jazz 3 was excellent especially the improvements made to the treasure hunt and capture the flag gameplay systems.

As for JJA, i thought that the spammed reuse of miscellanius tiles and the poor layouts and such made the game pretty average as for the GBA community, an absolute letdown JJ wise

[n00b]

Meh, I could appreciate this game if it wasn't a Jazz Jackrabbit game. But because it is a Jazz Jackrabbit game, it blows so much. Never has a franchise been so (-)(-)(-)(-)(-)ed over and retconned. The cutscenes were hardly impressive; they were just the same images over and over again with dialog.

Also the tiny amount of levels was truly ridicilous. Whereas you spend a good 20 mins playing through a Jazz 2 level, a Jazz Advance level can be completed in less then 5.

I just completed this game today in about 30 minutes, and that's truly pathetic. Like I said, I don't see how a Jazz fan can appreciate this game, but I guess some people are more forgiving then me and don't really care what the sequel is, as long as it has a green bunny with a gun.

What I get from this is that you are godly at Jazz Advance but blow at Jazz 2, have never played any other franchise ever (there are far worse retcons than Jazz Advance), and have no ability to step into another shoes without being a condescending (-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) about it.

[JustRob]

What I get from this is that you are godly at Jazz Advance but blow at Jazz 2, have never played any other franchise ever (there are far worse retcons than Jazz Advance), and have no ability to step into another shoes without being a condescending (-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) about it.

I don't blow at Jazz 2. I always just take my time to find all the secrets in a level. And some of them are pretty hard to find. I'm talking about playing through a level for the first time here, not playing it again if you've played it before.

I agree there are retcons worse then JJA, so I exaggerated there a bit. But come on. Why destroy everything Jazz 1 and 2 have established? It's like they said "Okay guys, we're dumping everything in the trashcan except for the green bunny and guns, and we're gonna remix it with a Star Wars theme instead". Just because I don't appreciate all the crappy games Epic throws at me, that makes me condescending?

I, mean at least, AT LEAST if the big blue gun and headband had stayed I could have appreciated this game a little more. Instead they went with the realistic bull(-)(-)(-)(-) weapons and the Han Solo outfit.

[Troglobite]

No, Jazz3D was awesome. Let's face it, game franchises need to go on. Back in '98, every big franchise was moving into 3D, and it was only right for Jazz to tag along.

Let's face it, really. Say a new Jazz game in 2D would be made. Could it really be any better then Jazz 2? I mean, really? We have the awesome episodes and levels, we have the level editor, the online capabilities, we have the three characters, albeit the third one a bit less complete.

I think Jazz Jackrabbit has pretty much reached the highest level in 2D platforming already. I know it's my favorite 2D platforming game. Sometimes a game just can't get any better.

No, it's only right that Jazz Jackrabbit's sequel be in 3D. We've had the fast-paced Sonic style gameplay in Jazz 1, we've had the awesome exploration and puzzles and secrets in Jazz 2, now it's time to see how Jazz does in 3D. And all in all, I really liked that alpha demo. The graphics were a bit choppy ofcourse, and there were some bugs, but imagine that game to be remade in UT3. In my opinion, it could be awesome.

I have (un?)fortunately never played JJA, but I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with you here. I can understand that Jazz would almost certainly have to make the move to 3D at some point if the series continued, but I'm not sure how well it would hold up. I doubt the level editor would end up being quite so flexible, seeing as editing things in 3D is inherently more complex than editing things in 2D. And I personally find JJ2's greatest quality by far to be the level editor. The ability of anyone to create their own tilesets and/or levels kept the game interesting after all these years, especially as new glitches are found, understood, and used to create cool things like MCE's and background triggers.

Also, I find JJ2 itself a bit lacking in some respects. The original single player episodes are kind of boring, seeing as many of them can be rushed through, and enemies ignored entirely, due to your temporary invincibility after touching an enemy and your health and carrots on the level. Or one can go slowly and shoot enemies from a distance, and really never risk damage at all. Also, several bosses can be beaten simply by repetitive stomping. The plot disappoints me greatly, seeing as it doesn't really affect anything other than the start and end of the game. The rest of your missions are just get from point A to point B because you can. The single player wasn't bad, it just could be improved significantly.

What I think truly makes JJ2 an amazing game is the level editor. The single- or multiplayer can be made awesome through it.

[JustRob]

The point of Jazz 2 wasn't the difficulty. Like you said, you can get through pretty easily without suffering a lot of damage. The point of these levels is discovering the secrets and finding the treasures. And the bosses can be pretty hard if you do them for the first time and you don't know what they're going to do.

Also some of the levels are pretty hard with regards to jumping, for example those metal crates which spaw those 1-tile platforms in the air, that can get pretty frustrating. This way of playing, is much, much better then the trial and error Jazz 1 had. In Jazz 1 you just kept dieing because you didn't know what was ahead.

As for 3D, in my opinion you can't say "Let's not make it 3D because we can't have a level editor". JCS is great, and has kept Jazz alive for years, but it should never be the main focus of the game. That's like saying "Well guys the game may be (-)(-)(-)(-) but at least there's a level editor so go nuts with it".

And besides, a level editor in 3D is perfectly possible. It's already easy to make levels in UT3 Editor, I learned it in a matter of hours. If they make an editor in which you can spawn premade 3D objects like the tilesets have, + if they add premade events to that, a 3D level editor can be perfectly possible, and it could be awesome.

[FawFul]

JJA is just an incredibly screwing game with a good name sticked to it. They kinda raped it.

[cooba]

A tirade about 2D/3DWay to completely misunderstand my point.

JJ1: Jazz is a badass soldier of fortune with a gun as big as himself, who shoots anything he <em>wants to shoot.</em>
Jazz3D: Jazz is a cutesy furry who tries to save his moreso cutesy children from Devan! Oh no! Devans such a bad guy!!!!!:roll:

If a JJ3/Jazz3D ever gets made, I want it to look like Jazz Jackrabbit, not like Elysian Tail...

[n00b]

Just because I don't appreciate all the crappy games Epic throws at me, that makes me condescending?


No. Because people have told you in detail why they liked it and you dismiss it as "WELL I GUESS SOME PEOPLE WILL EAT UP ANYTHING WITH A GREEN RABBIT LOL"

Listen cockwit, don't make a thread soliciting opinions if all you really want to do is passive-aggressively bash a game and the people who derived enjoyment from it.

[JustRob]

Way to completely misunderstand my point.

JJ1: Jazz is a badass soldier of fortune with a gun as big as himself, who shoots anything he <em>wants to shoot.</em>
Jazz3D: Jazz is a cutesy furry who tries to save his moreso cutesy children from Devan! Oh no! Devans such a bad guy!!!!!:roll:

If a JJ3/Jazz3D ever gets made, I want it to look like Jazz Jackrabbit, not like Elysian Tail...

JJ1: Jazz is a cutesy furry who tries to save his moreso cutesy lover from Devan! Oh no! Devans such a bad guy!!!!!:roll:
Jazz3D: Jazz is a badass soldier of fortune with a gun as big as himself, who shoots anything he <em>wants to shoot.</em>

See what I did there? I don't quite understand what you mean. First off, ET is in 2D, and secondly, there's lots of lizards / turtles to blast in Jazz3D. Also you should keep in mind that Jazz3D was an alpha demo, while Jazz 1 was a full game. I'm talking about what would happen if Jazz3D was completed and improved, not if it was released as it is.

No. Because people have told you in detail why they liked it and you dismiss it as "WELL I GUESS SOME PEOPLE WILL EAT UP ANYTHING WITH A GREEN RABBIT LOL"

Listen cockwit, don't make a thread soliciting opinions if all you really want to do is passive-aggressively bash a game and the people who derived enjoyment from it.

You're right, apologies. The reason I created this topic is because I wanted to know why people enjoyed JJA, and they explained it enough.

[cooba]

I don't quite understand what you mean. First off, ET is in 2D, and secondly, there's lots of lizards / turtles to blast in Jazz3D. Also you should keep in mind that Jazz3D was an alpha demo, while Jazz 1 was a full game. I'm talking about what would happen if Jazz3D was completed and improved, not if it was released as it is.I'm going to assume that you're not getting my point on intention...

[JustRob]

No, I really don't get it. I don't care if you think I'm dumb.

[DoubleGJ]

Way to completely misunderstand my point.

JJ1: Jazz is a badass soldier of fortune with a gun as big as himself, who shoots anything he <em>wants to shoot.</em>
Jazz3D: Jazz is a cutesy furry who tries to save his moreso cutesy children from Devan! Oh no! Devans such a bad guy!!!!!:roll:

If a JJ3/Jazz3D ever gets made, I want it to look like Jazz Jackrabbit, not like Elysian Tail...
My point of view as well, but I figure you know that, cooba. ;P Jazz2 went the right direction with that, mostly thanks to how Stadler's artistic style evolved. There's less guns and robots and all that, but it retains that "rad" feel and improves on it. Dodrill was the right person to create a female playable character for the game, however his cutscenes do feel a bit out of place with their Disney style and unfunnyness (compared to JJ1's, at least), and I too feel that JJ3D demo to be too cutesy-daisy. Sure, you have a gun, but... well... if you've seen it, you know.

On a slightly unrelated note, in JJ1 you shoot defenseless baby turtles of an intelligent species.

[Nonomu198]

Oh please, did you (JustRob) ever read the JJ comics? There are (-)(-)(-)(-)(-), booze, and guns. Badass.

[JustRob]

Guys, it's a GODDAMN alpha demo! Jesus. If Jazz3D were finished it would have all that crap.

Damn, and I thought I was dumb or something because I didn't get it. While actually you guys are the ones who are missing the point.

And yes, I read the comics. Not in my childhood though, because those blasted things were only included in USA distributions of the games.

[n00b]

Guys, it's a GODDAMN alpha demo! Jesus. If Jazz3D were finished it would have all that crap.

I was never aware that when making an alpha you deliberately create a completely different atmosphere than the final game.

This sounds like a great way to design a game, tell me more JustRob.

[JustRob]

Different how? I see the turtles Jazz 2 had. I see the Carrotus Jazz 2 had. I see the characters Jazz 2 had.

I can understand the step from 2D to 3D is heavy, but hell. If Mario 64 could do it, why not Jazz?

If there's any game that changes the atmosphere, it's the game this topic originally was about.

[DoubleGJ]

Yeah? You and what army?
Oh. Right. That one.

(...)

Jazz: 1
Chameleon army: 0
I rest my case.

[JustRob]

Me too, this is way too tiring.

[n00b]

Different how? I see the turtles Jazz 2 had. I see the Carrotus Jazz 2 had. I see the characters Jazz 2 had.
So you're perfectly okay just because visually some things are similar? If your friend walked up to you tomorrow and had a completely different personality, you'd be fine simply because she looked the same kind of?

You know what, I wash my hands of this. You have to be a joke account. You got me yet again EvilMike.

[Stijn]

I thought Jazz Jackrabbit on the GBA was a pretty okay game, I especially liked the carrot grenades. Of course it didn't have much to do with the Jazz Jackrabbit franchise, but if you look past that it's not bad at all.

Nothing that will be remembered by the general public in a few years (or even now) of course, it wasn't that special, but certainly not a bad game.

[Violet CLM]

JJ1: Jazz is a cutesy furry who tries to save his moreso cutesy lover from Devan! Oh no! Devans such a bad guy!!!!!:roll:
Jazz3D: Jazz is a badass soldier of fortune with a gun as big as himself, who shoots anything he <em>wants to shoot.</em>
Okay, no. These are literally contradicted facts. In JJ1, Jazz is described as a soldier of fortune, and the first thing we see him doing is planning to bring a cat to a planet of rat creatures, essentially planned genocide in recompense for them stiffing him on the bill. He hangs out in a bar and gets drunk. Later on, in the animated cutscenes, he takes on a more classical cartoon feeling, playing fast and loose with real world physics, but at no point does he act like a furry. Furthermore Eva is in no way his lover because the two of them have never met.
In Jazz3D, Jazz's gun is objectively smaller than him. It's true that he can shoot anything he wants to, perhaps more than ever before considering he can attack other rabbits, but there is a specific plot involving rescuing his children and a third dimension. Mayhem is never unprovoked.
In terms of stylistic evolution, Jazz 2 was a significant break from JJ1. If there had been a community at the time in the sense that there was in 2000, people would have been upset. Jazz3D took significantly fewer chances with character and design, and suffered comparatively little complaint on that ground, while JJA went all out and as such incurred great wrath.

[JustRob]

So you're perfectly okay just because visually some things are similar? If your friend walked up to you tomorrow and had a completely different personality, you'd be fine simply because she looked the same kind of?

You know what, I wash my hands of this. You have to be a joke account. You got me yet again EvilMike.

I'm going to believe you're the joke account until you explain WHAT you wanted different in 3D. You keep saying everything's different and everything's crap but you fail to mention what you preference would have been.

[JustRob]

Okay, no. These are literally contradicted facts. In JJ1, Jazz is described as a soldier of fortune, and the first thing we see him doing is planning to bring a cat to a planet of rat creatures, essentially planned genocide in recompense for them stiffing him on the bill. He hangs out in a bar and gets drunk. Later on, in the animated cutscenes, he takes on a more classical cartoon feeling, playing fast and loose with real world physics, but at no point does he act like a furry. Furthermore Eva is in no way his lover because the two of them have never met.
In Jazz3D, Jazz's gun is objectively smaller than him. It's true that he can shoot anything he wants to, perhaps more than ever before considering he can attack other rabbits, but there is a specific plot involving rescuing his children and a third dimension. Mayhem is never unprovoked.
In terms of stylistic evolution, Jazz 2 was a significant break from JJ1. If there had been a community at the time in the sense that there was in 2000, people would have been upset. Jazz3D took significantly fewer chances with character and design, and suffered comparatively little complaint on that ground, while JJA went all out and as such incurred great wrath.

That "classic" cartoon feeling as you described, imo they were going for that with the Jazz 2 intro a bit. The part where he runs into the Tuf Turtle and uses the rope to escape is alot like it. But I agree it's not quite the same as in Jazz 1. Then again, is it really comparable? Jazz 2 had significantly less cutscenes then Jazz 1.

So in that regard, you're right. I think I finally get that point. If they had more time with Jazz 2 it might have been different.

But for Jazz3D though, you can't expect it to stay cartoony. Jazz was moving to 3D, and things change when you move to 3D. Mario had those changes, Sonic had those changes, Zelda had those changes. And only Sonic turned out pretty bad. The same might have happened to Jazz3D, but then again, it might not have. Let's say if Jazz3D would have found a publisher, then undoubtedly CliffyB would have joined the design process, and more of his "adult" style would be implemented.

[Violet CLM]

I agree there's a difference in cutscene number, but I really do think there's a significant stylistic difference between Spaz using more-or-less accurate physics to rescue Jazz with a rope on the one hand, and jumping on a spring to hit the plunger for an explosive hidden inside a turtle's shell -- which doesn't even kill the turtle -- on the other. The unfinished non-shareware intro might have been a little closer, but it's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL4rPX0rddo">hard to tell</a> from what little got done, and Dean's other works suggest otherwise. And no, I didn't expect it to stay cartoony for Jazz3D, I think that change was made between 1 and 2.

[JustRob]

I suppose it also just has to do with their different styles. In Jazz 1 wasn't it Nick Stadler who animated those cutscenes? While in Jazz 2, it was Noogy. And as expected from Noogy's designs, Jazz looks alot more buff and serious in his version. While in Stadler's version Jazz reminded more of Bugs Bunny.

So yeah, I guess that's it. I feel they were slightly going in the right direction, but like you said, it's not quite the same.

[DoubleGJ]

I suppose it also just has to do with their different styles. In Jazz 1 wasn't it Nick Stadler who animated those cutscenes? While in Jazz 2, it was Noogy. And as expected from Noogy's designs, Jazz looks alot more buff and serious in his version. While in Stadler's version Jazz reminded more of Bugs Bunny.
That's exactly the problem. Noogy was the creative designer for Jazz3(D) and if you look at his works you can see it's all more or less fairy tales (not to say they are bad).

[JustRob]

Yeah he was also pretty much the one who headed the project.

And yes, it is true. But I think that if Epic would have funded the project, CliffyB and Arjan Brussee could have given their own personal touches to the game. And perhaps Nick Stadler would have liked to come back too, since he was the one who made the original cutscenes.

[Slaz]

I'd like to add to this, that it's hard to predict what Jazz3(D) would've been if it ever came near a finished state. I remember they said that this so-called 'Alpha' demo was around 15% complete, not to mention that they hadn't found a publisher. So basically, anything could've happened to the project back then. And what JustRob said could've been a logical outcome. After all, Epic Games was interested in what they saw from Noogy and his team, but didn't want to fund or arrange anything more for it unless they found a publisher. If WTG managed to do that, people working at Epic Games would've been able to give their creative influences to the game, something that usually makes big differences for the final product.

So yeah, I agree with JustRob about the 'goddamn alpha' part, and that we better not judge too seriously on such an early build of a game.

And I agree with Unknown Rabbit about the fact that Noogy's incarnation of the Jazz Jackrabbit character is a little more furry and 'adorable' than Nick's (and cliff's) original bad-(-)(-)(-) style.

And also note that changing the whole creative aspect of a game after releasing 'Alpha' builds does, in fact, happen. Think about Team Fortress 2 by Valve Software, which was supposed to be a realistic class-based multiplayer shooter. On a later developement state, they completely changed the direction and adjusted the visual style to look like a cartoon, and gave all of the maps an industrial/farm atmosphere, including all the items and weapons.

[Dermo]

Razz Arena was pretty hot though

[JustRob]

I wouldn't know, never got to play it, and it seems the website has been dead for a while.

[Pako]

We need Razz Arena: Source

Immediately

[Foly]

We need Razz Arena: Source

Immediately

http://www.jazz2online.com/jcf/showpost.php?p=455201&postcount=6

Done.

[Sonyk]

You missed the joke. (http://store.steampowered.com/app/280/)

[sonicnathan 1]

I kinda liked it. I got stuck on the last level cause I couldn't figure out how to jump high enough. I thought it was too different for it too count.

[DoubleGJ]

Well, if you still want to know, in JJGBA if you start using your ear copter while still jumping up, you'll go higher. But I'm pretty sure this trick is neccessary as early as on Icebox3...

[n00b]

Well, if you still want to know, in JJGBA if you start using your ear copter while still jumping up, you'll go higher. But I'm pretty sure this trick is neccessary as early as on Icebox3...

I recall it only being necessary on one stage in Icebox3 and Pollutus each, but its been a while since I've played the game.

[Sonyk]

What's worse is that it's required right at the beginning of that Icebox3 stage and the game never clues you in on its ability to give you height.

I ought to dig out the cartridge and see if I can finally pass it this time.

[JustRob]

Yeah, I had to consult GameFAQs to figure that out, and even then it's annoying to pull it off.

[Slaz]

I found the controls for JJA pretty good. They're a little harder to control than the usual JJ1 and JJ2 controls. Compare it to Mario's original 2D controls, his movement wasn't 'static' at all and you seriously had to play the game for a while to make your jumps predictable. I feel the same for JJA, after playing through the game for a few times, it got a lot easier and I rarely fall into pits anymore. You'll also know when to use what weapon, and how to avoid as much enemy shots as possible.

Oh and for the multiplayer, has anyone else but me played CTF in this? I only found one other person at school who also bought JJA back in the days, and we decided to do a multi-pak game for a while. I don't remember everything, but the worst part were the maps. They were basically just all the single player maps with enemies removed and CTF bases at the beginning and the exit. It works, but the SP level design is totally not suited for CTF, so you'd imagine that only few SP maps were suited for CTF. Still milti-pak gameplay is better optimized than the 'buggy' single-pak downloader (client).

Perhaps we can try to do some matches with this, just for fun. I remember that there was a netplay add-on for the popular Visual Boy Advance emulator. Most of us own the original JJA cardridge so emulating it on PC for multiplayer wouldn't be a problem.

[Stijn]

I played the singlepak multiplayer a few times, which was fun enough (especially with carrot grenades), but never found someone who also owned the game.

[n00b]

I've only played multipak multiplayer against myself shortly after a multi-visualboy advance program was released. I've played the singlepak one a good number of times, and my opinion of it is essentially the same as Stijn's.

Would love to get some JJA online games going.

[Sonyk]

Are there really any GBA emulators that actually support internet play and not just LAN? I know the link cable transmits data at 1MB/S synchronously... I could see latency getting in the way of that.

[n00b]

Are there really any GBA emulators that actually support internet play and not just LAN? I know the link cable transmits data at 1MB/S synchronously... I could see latency getting in the way of that.

Looking it up it does only support LAN, but you overcome that with Hamachi for internet play.

[Slaz]

Yes, Hamachi is the answer. And yes, poor connections will 'damage' the emu's overall framerate somehow. I don't think it causes serious trouble with todays connection speeds though..

[Sonyk]

The last time I tried Hamachi with VBALink, I couldn't get anything to work despite being in close geographic proximity (1/2 mile). It may have improved since then, but I'm not sure.