My best memory was probably back in Sweden, Stockholm when I was 8 years old and started a Jazz Jackrabbit club in my school! More and more people joined my club and after some time, I made my whole class play Jazz Jackrabbit 2! We had meetings and parties where everyone played the game, so that's a great childhood memory from me!

And it was Jazz Jackrabbit 2 that actually made me interested in game development later in life and made me start to study game design in Sweden!

I can for sure say that I'm the biggest Jazz Jackrabbit fan out there, and it would mean so much if I got a signed CD from Arjan Brussee! I made my best attempt to create some fan art for the competition (and I'm not a concept artist, but i did my best), hope you'll like it!

Click on the link to see my fan art:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UGE...ew?usp=sharing

Ohhh, my first memory is when i played the shareware level of JJ2 over and over thinking that would unlock the other episodes, even if i couldn't read because i couldn't read, but i had fun anyway, and the music was also a really memorable part of those games, i still enjoy listening to it even 20 years after.

Also, i shouldn't had started the fan art way too late in the deadline, but here it is:
https://toxicoow.deviantart.com/art/...bbit-744846380

Edit: I forgot to mention that i drew Spaz sometime over the years and we can see the improvement over the years.
2009: Ewwww, i hate it so badly that it was my first drawing i deleted from DA.
https://i.imgur.com/H1mgKf0.jpg

2011: ROUND eyes
https://toxicoow.deviantart.com/art/...bbit-244277510

2013:
https://toxicoow.deviantart.com/art/...bits-421030419

2018: Oh, i can animate now (I'v done that way too close to the deadline)
https://toxicoow.deviantart.com/art/...bbit-744846380

It might not be anything special, but I remember when I was at around 6-7 years old at the community center and noticed in a room someone playing Jazz. It was the PC learning course room, so it was filled with PCs (at that time owning a PC was quite rare), I wanted to go in, but I was not a member so I dared not entering, instead I started sobbing at the entrance of the room, due to my helplessness. One could say Jazz is the first game that made me cry, but in this case, it was it's absence. The teacher there noticed me and invited me in, allowed me to get my grip and as an act of goodwill, he allowed me to play the game a bit in order to cheer up. It was effective.

The next day I joined the club and got more involved, not just in Jazz itself, but also other computer technicalities, later I joined a high-school with math/computer-science curriculum and even finished a computer science bachelor degree (about to finish the master degree as well, really soon), and it all started with me whimpering about seeing a colorful rabbit game that I could not play.

I remember that in my country it was difficult to get PC games, I played JJ in shareware version since it was included in a PC that we bought. They were many hours of fun with the limited version, I could never get a boxed copy due to the lack of titles for sale in the region where I lived. The quality of the graphics was great and the difficulty of the game was very good and it gave you hours of fun.

I'm probably kinda late for party but even so I wanted to share my best memory with Jazz Jackrabbit

Back in 1999 my parents bought me my first ever PC. It was a big event since we weren't really rich and all we ever had was some clone NES console with like thousands of games packed in one. I lived with my parents in a single room and I wanted to show PC to all of my friends - so imagine a group of almost 15 kids packed in really small room! Before a PC even turned on one of my friends, Casper, asked me what kind of games I can play on it, so I run asap Jazz Jackrabbit 2. We spend hours playing it in turns, having a contests who can even beat the first levels, since nobody ever had any experience with using a keyboard. Those were really great and fun times. Since Jazz Jackrabbit is now available on GOG, I wonder how many of my old friends still have memory of this day, how many are still playing games and how many of them were happy to hear you can buy and play it on modern systems. I wish we could gather one more time and have so much fun as we did back then

Hope I'm not running too late with this, I got a little carried away. Anyway, here's some fanart!

Unfortunately, I can't really enter with a favourite memory of Jazz 2, as I've never had a chance to play it! (But hopefully that will change soon.)

However, the first Jazz Jackrabbit game was a favourite in my childhood. I thought the graphics were awesome for the time, and I get super nostalgic just listening to the music. It was definitely an influential game for me.

I didn't even know it had a sequel for the longest time, only found out about it maybe a little over five years ago. I didn't have a way to pick it up at the time and wasn't even sure if it would run on modern computers, but with it being on GOG now, it's definitely more accessible.

I also didn't know it still had such an active community! One way or another, I'm sure I'll be playing Jazz 2 in the near future and maybe hanging around here some more.

Originally Posted by PaquoCastor

I haven't played Jazz 2 since I couldn't figure out how to disable mouse in plus. That's what I remember most, but I also remember playing a free for all as Lori, and I was wining against a slew of Spazs. I don't think "best character" works that way guys. I should play the game again like I used to; Lori, hard, pistol only (save bosses of course.) Or I could try some user maps, and maybe try my hand at creation. My best work is probably my Commander Keen map pack, so, same genre.

I've won against Slews of Spaz many times, sometimes even without one on my team. On a not-so-boastful note, winning JJ2 online is mostly about map control and timing/prediction.

Disabling mouse-aim is easy. To disable mouse-aim, click on the drop-down menu at the top, then uncheck mouse-aiming.

You can also disable it without it being reset upon game opening each time, by going into plus.ini in your jazz2 folder, then changing and saving MouseAim=True to MouseAim=False.

I recommend trying out custom user maps. They are usually much more challenging. Yes, even more challenging than blaster-only turbo mode on the official maps.

Sorry this is a bit off-topic. Just wanted to help.

The green hare jumps high
His red brother kicks strongly
Their blonde sister's hot

It might be too late, but this is my last minute entry for the artistic part with this unusual haiku

Wrote two haikus as well:

Jazz is cool and fun.
Can be played by anyone.
Gives good memories.

Nothing feels better
than when I hear that cool line,
Y'all ready for this?

Originally Posted by stevencojo

The green hare jumps high
His red brother kicks strongly
Their blonde sister's hot

It might be too late, but this is my last minute entry for the artistic part with this unusual haiku

Lol I think I like yours better

Oh man, my story.. where should I even begin? I'm active for over 20 years now in the Jazz Jackrabbit community. So there are a major ton of fond memories to go around and to tell. However, I totally suck in telling stories but also I’m far from being creative.. I can draw stick figures, I guess? Oh, yeah.. I am able to create levels, it always gives me a huge smile if someone downloads it and plays with it a bit.

I’ve been involved in so many (especially early) projects with the community. I always wanted the community to thrive, but these days I’m major irrelevant. People made and create so much beautiful stuff, so much awesome websites and so many projects that boost the community in anyway. I’m proud of you, you all that are involved in this process.

Now let’s talk about my most memorable and most fond memory, I don’t think I should talk about the games perse. I'm talking more about the community. My first meeting with community memberts in a small village next to Amsterdam, named Broek and Waterland. I think that was my most fond memory. Meeting with Fquest, NewSpaz, Haze Hackrabbit, Dr Jones, Disguise, Aiko and several others I fail to mention.

We went canoeing, explore the vast and flat nature of ‘Waterland’ a little district of the province of ‘North Holland’. We went for the 15 km route. For us untrained nerds this was a hassle, it took is way longer then the target time, but we had laughs and fun. At some point during the trip, mr Disguise lost his camera, it felt into the water. A big shame, back then digital cameras was a quite expansive investment… so losing that into the murky waters of Waterland gives you panic moments. Infact Disguise actually jumped and dove into the water trying to save his camera. Which ofcourse is pretty impossible with the muddy waters. After searching for a half hour, he started to look like a bog monster and gave up on the thing. However, Janneman aka Disguise is .. Disguise, he actually shrugged up his shoulders and smiled. ‘Oh well, let’s just continue the trip!’ You can imagen that, even though we didn’t want to laugh.. people couldn’t hold it in anymore and we burst into laughter.

I’m proud of the people that kept GPW a-live in times I went totally inactive with the game, I’m still proud wearing the Mystic Legends tag as level designer and I’m still happy that I can say I was part of Jazz 2 City and JMMB crew back in the day. But mostly, I’m proud being part of this community.

Now that I’m past my 30’s, I’m pretty sure that I would say the same when I’m past my 40’s.

Thank you all.

And here's my creative work. I'm not an artist, but I gave it my best shot

Okay! First off, let me thank you all so much for your participation and all the wonderful memories (and creative works) you shared with us. It's been a real pleasure to see so many names both old and new in here, and all your reminders of how our favorite bunny game has touched so many people over the decades. We'd love it if any of you folks wanted to stick around... this news post over at GOG.com has some of our suggestions for where to start when trying out the absurdly huge mountain of custom content, or just refresh the front page of Jazz 2 Online a few times to see five random selections from our highest-rated content. Or if you're ready to make some levels of your own, check out Howto JCS for some great coverage of all the basics.

But in the meantime, let's draw some names at random! I excluded two or three posts that amounted to "I don't have any memories of this game," but it was still a big list. I drew the first fifteen names—plus a sixteenth because His Buttjesty ended up in the first fifteen twice on account of having both memory and image—as follows:

>>> names = ["Obi1mcd", "Primpy", "Primpy (art)", "Lemorack", "negzero", "SkillZila", "Cyprus", "blkxltng", "brandsmanator", "njoenka", "Roobar", "emonegarand", "Kupopom", "P4R4D0X", "Coche", "Mewster", "Lillinettix", "Lillinettix (art)", "burekdober", "burekdober (art)", "Dinkleberg", "LOTIC506", "Szkodnix", "G@vie", "Goldrabbit", "PT32", "DaemonlordX", "Moosatronic", "luke11685", "J0uluP4m", "J0uluP4m (music)", "defalcon", "DisOwl", "nukkus", "Mageinstein", "inknow", "f2bnp", "phrost", "Stijn", "matem", "Aratok", "Aratok's brother (art)", "rdr666", "NoBit", "grim-one", "Fastmancz", "SAMI", "adamhm (Wine wrapper)", "PC-King (statue)", "happygreenfrog", "happygreenfrog (episode)", "PurpleJazz", "utahjazzjackrabbit", "ionut00", "Dominator_101", "Dominator_101 (art)", "CarrotusKnight", "CarrotusKnight (art)", "cxr2262", "evilroosterboy", "Kass", "PC-King", "Slaz", "Mosquito", "Mosquito (haiku)", "Sir Ementaler", "Sir Ementaler (level)", "His Buttjesty", "His Buttjesty (art)", "Treylina", "listerofsmeg42", "listerofsmeg42 (poem)", "PaquoCastor", "Lorelin", "Lorelin (art)", "Toxicoow", "Toxicoow (art)", "stevencojo", "evlshdw", "MagicalRabbit", "SkyeLegs (art)", "stevencojo (haiku)", "blkxltng (haikus)", "ShadowGPW", "cxr2262 (art)"]
>>> import random
>>> random.shuffle(names)
>>> names[:15]
['Goldrabbit', 'DaemonlordX', 'Moosatronic', 'His Buttjesty', 'Sir Ementaler', 'ShadowGPW', 'stevencojo', 'Mosquito', 'brandsmanator', 'CarrotusKnight', 'listerofsmeg42', 'blkxltng', 'Obi1mcd', 'MagicalRabbit', 'His Buttjesty (art)']
>>> names[15]
'Roobar'

Congratulations to Goldrabbit, DaemonlordX, Moosatronic, His Buttjesty, and Sir Ementaler for winning the CDs! Please send me a private message with your email address, and I'll turn those over to an employee of Epic Games, who will in turn ask each of you for your mailing address.

Congratulations also to ShadowGPW, stevencojo, Mosquito, brandsmanator, CarrotusKnight, listerofsmeg42, blkxltng, Obi1mcd, MagicalRabbit, and Roobar for winning the GOG.com codes! After I've gotten some sleep I'll send each of you a private message with a unique code for free copies of Jazz 1, Jazz 2, and Epic Pinball, and you can add them to your own account or give them to a friend or whatever you like.

And once again, thank you all!

Thank you for arranging the contest, webportal and the event itself, this was a blast Violet CLM. You are truly the biggest legend we have within the community.

Thank you.

Thanks again for the amazing webportal, this thread, the server, the giveaway, and of course the fun gameplay and conversations over the past week.

Congrats to the winners and here's to another 20 years.

Thanks for the contest and the hard work. Thank you community for reminding me how amazing this place is, and what an awesome game Jazz 2 really is. It's also a great reminder that game development shouldn't only be about the money or even the massive audience. There are many examples of games that did much better, and do not have a creative and passionate community like this after twenty years. When you read all these stories, there's no denying that the Jazz 2 was (and still is) something special.

Congrats winners! And thank you for this giveaway to all organisers! It's beyond awesome that Jazz2 got to have a big 20 years birthday party like this.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all involved in organising the giveaway

Holy cow, I won! Thanks for an awesome giveaway/birthday party for Jazz, this has been quite an extravaganza

Congrats to the winners! Guess I'll be shelling out 10 bucks for a copy of Jazz 1 soon after all, lol.

On a related note, I think it's rather fitting that Sir Ementaler ended up getting a signed copy of Jazz Jackrabbit 2, seeing as how he's one of the devs of JJ2+.

I won! Awesome! Thanks very much for the opportunity . I'll definitely be looking forward to hopping back into Jazz 2 with my sis again

Thank you very much for this nice giveaway and cograts to winners (and me !). I don't have a GOG copy of both Jazz Jackrabbit games so I'm really happy about it ))

Congrats to the winners! But the real winners were the whole community, who got to share in some amazing stories and memories over the past week. So congrats everybody

Congratulations! And once again big THANK YOU to everyone involved in organising this event and keeping the community alive!

Congrats and many thanks! The nostalgia flows through me strongly!

Thank you and congratulations to everyone. May the green hare and his siblings live for many more years to come.

I know it is over, I only learned now about this community, and I came here to say that probably the first words I even typed (other than win to run windows 95) were the cheat codes for jazz jack rabbit as I remember distinctly being able to type and hand-write them, even tho I was a 4 year old.

Have any of the other CD winners heard from Epic? Because it's been almost 2 weeks now and nobody has gotten in contact with me...

Same here. I suspect Arjan is still learning how to spell his last name correctly in order to sign the jewel cases. It's difficult so I'm not criticizing that. Probably a good thing they're not getting signed by Cliffy instead.

The CDs were signed before the giveaway began. I'll write in and see if I can figure out what's going on.

ETA:

Yes, I'm snowed under. I'm going to try to get them out this week.

Thanks, it was effective. Just got an email.

Originally Posted by Sir Ementaler

Same here. I suspect Arjan is still learning how to spell his last name correctly in order to sign the jewel cases. It's difficult so I'm not criticizing that. Probably a good thing they're not getting signed by Cliffy instead.

Even mister Cliff Bleszinski should did this even if he doesn't work at Epic Games anymore.This could be a pleasure to get autographs of these both famous people,really.

Yup, I got an email too! Thanks Violet CLM