Jazz Jackrabbit Rabbit's Revenge - a fangame

[Sherokee]

Hello,

My nickname is Sherokee, and I've been a huge Jazz Jackrabbit fan ever since I was a kid. I've always been interested in game development, and several months ago I started working on my very first game : a Jazz Jackrabbit fan game. It has been ported to Windows, Linux, and Android.

My goal was simply to create a modest sequel to the original games as a birthday gift for my mom, who is also a huge Jazz Jackrabbit fan.

Jazz Jackrabbit Rabbit's Revenge is a platformer set in the Jazz Jackrabbit universe. It reuses many sprites from the original games, as well as sprites gathered from various places across the internet. If I forgot to credit anyone, please let me know and I'll be happy to add you to the credits.

The game features 4 different worlds, each divided into 4 levels. The levels are much shorter than those in the original games, so the game automatically saves at the beginning of every level. There are both brand-new weapons and returning classics. The gameplay follows the same general principles as the original games, although it's somewhat simplified compared to Jazz Jackrabbit 2.

If you encounter any bugs, please don't hesitate to report them. I can't promise I'll be able to fix every issue or even have the time to but I'll certainly do my best. Please don't expect a revolutionary game or a complete revival of the series. This is simply a small, humble fan game that I wanted to share.

On PC, make sure to configure your controls in the Options menu before playing, otherwise you won't be able to play properly. (You can also change them during gameplay)

The game was primarily designed for touchscreen devices. To open the menu, simply tap Jazz's head, and to switch weapons, tap the weapon icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

The game is also available in French. To change the language, click the "J" in the game title on the main menu.

The soundtrack consists of fan-made covers available on YouTube, as well as unused music from the original Jazz Jackrabbit games.

I've included a few screenshots if you'd like to take a look.

Edit : I've updated the version to 1.0.4.

Edit 2 : I've updated to verson 1.0.5 (it's about a bug for the coin counter).

Have Fun :

Windows version : https://www.mediafire.com/file/8shbby8toso58sr/Jazz_Jackrabbit_Rabbit_s_Revenge-1_0_5-windows.exe/file

Linux version : https://www.mediafire.com/file/a18b2deixjjqst1/Jazz_Jackrabbit_Rabbit_s_Revenge-1_0_5-linux.AppImage/file

Android version : https://www.mediafire.com/file/4xafytgy5m4kxqu/Jazz_Jackrabbit_Rabbit_s_Revenge-1_0_5.apk/file

[Violet CLM]

Welcome! I hope you don't mind that I moved your thread to "Beyond Jazz Jackrabbit 2," which is the forum for fangames and such.

I tried out your game here (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2821042362?t=0h6m7s) and had a good time, it felt like going through a SAGE (https://sagexpo.org/) game with more rabbits in it :)

Things I liked:
There's a lot of custom art everywhere! Based on the themes, I was expecting some classic JJ2 tilesets like Aztec (https://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/files/1105/aztec.j2t/info/) or Building Site (https://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/files/2549/buildsit.j2t/info/) or Metropolis (https://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/files/34997/metropod.j2t/info/), but you did your own thing instead, which does help this feel like its own game and not a JJ2 level pack.
The falling boss and the wall of saws are good platformer tropes that don't appear in the normal Jazz games, great job adding them to the lineup.
Speaking of standard platformer things that don't appear in the normal Jazz games, pressing down to fall through platforms! Whoa!
The enemy edits were cute!
Having the unused door sprites for the bonus warps was a neat touch
Always neat to get to fight four new bosses, even if the third one was pretty simple and the second suffered from a difficult camera.
The new HUD was a cool touch! Having higher resolution portraits for the weapons makes a lot of sense--they're easy to miss in JJ2--and I love the upset Jazz head when your health is low. (Score is very prominent for how useless it is, though.)
There was clearly a lot of work put into the menu presentation, especially Spaz's chalkboard sequences with all the great doodles.
I've played so many indie games without keyboard customization menus, and yours works perfectly!


Things I was iffier about:
For all that there's a lot of new art and that's cool, it's not really a coherent art style. The backgrounds have much bigger pixels than the sprites and walls, in particular, and the hearts seemed like a less attractive alternative to JJ2's. Almost all the enemies are JJ2 styled, except the JJ1 turtles.
This is a tough one, because I recognize it also describes JJ1 and JJ2, but: lots of enemies just walk back and forth. It meant that I hardly ever really needed the weapons, I just tried to use them because it would feel like a bummer not using them.
Speaking of the weapons, I liked the laser (though it didn't do too much damage, so it was only useful in the rare cases with multiple enemies), but too many of them are just a single sprite moving left or right. The ricochet gun is cool in Jazz Advance because you can bounce it off of slopes at 90-degree angles, but here it's barely distinct from the basic blaster.
Wish I could have seen how many coins I had, though the secrets were obscure enough that I only ever got into one bonus door.
Both JJ1 and JJ2 let you change weapons by pressing the number keys on the keyboard, and I found myself missing that function constantly.
The moving platforms were tiny (and not very attractive). It also feels like there should be at least one platform that moves in a circle, both JJ1 and JJ2 love that.


Things that seemed like bugs:
The springs were the wrong colors. Red is supposed to be the weakest, blue the strongest. Both JJ1 and JJ2 are consistent about this and it's really offputting having them the other way round.
The springs just seemed buggy in general. Sometimes I could stand in front of them. Sometimes after using a spring, I could jump in midair, probably because the game still thought I was standing.
When I froze an enemy and let it unfreeze, it would take a couple seconds to start animating after it started moving.


Overall I think this was a perfectly playable little game--as you say, simplified from JJ2, just a quick little adventure--and a really pleasant surprise. :) There could be some more polish in some areas, especially the clashing art, but it's very impressive for a a few months' work. It's a lot more platforming-oriented than the original games, but takes advantage of the resolution to put in a lot of enemies and goodies.

[Sherokee]

Hello VioletCLM,

Thanks for the feedback !

I've released a few updates to the game. In particular, I changed the springs so they now match the ones from the original games, I have to admit I had completely forgotten the correct color order ! I also fixed a bug involving the Redbats and missiles, fixed the spring bug (hopefully), and added a coin counter below the health bar. Finally, I added an option to rebind the Switch Weapon key in the settings (it was set to Enter by default). The game also supports game controllers.

I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed the game! I'd like to work on another small 2D shooter that I'm currently starting, where I'll be experimenting with multiplayer. If that project goes well, I may come back to Jazz Jackrabbit Rabbit's Revenge and add more weapons and levels, or maybe even an online co-op mode, I haven't decided yet.

I'm definitely not closing the door on future Jazz Jackrabbit projects.