New poll

Posted:
10 Dec 2012 at 07:39

Best also-ran playable experience?
JJ2 Christmas Chronicles 18 votes (45%)
JJ3 Alpha 15 votes (37%)
Jazz Jackrabbit Advance 7 votes (17%)
Jazz iOS Stick Shooter Demo 0 vote (0%)
Total votes: 40

So, to summarize. JJ3, JJA, and the stick shooter thing all introduced their own unique engines, weapons, graphics, and (except for the stick shooter) music and plots. Christmas Chronicles introduced… a green background for the menu. Somehow the very fact that it uses the JJ2 engine boosted it up over everything else. Okay. But how about the top of the barrel instead? What is the best playable experience?

JJ1 has more levels and tilesets, but JJ2 has significantly more of both if you count fan content. JJ1 lets you edit more aspects of a level, but JJ2 is simpler to make levels for. JJ2 has more playable characters, but in JJ1 you could shoot as a bird. JJ1 has 3D bonus levels and lots of secret levels and cutscenes, JJ2… doesn’t. JJ1 is much harder and has a smaller resolution, but that’s not always a good thing. JJ2 has online multiplayer. JJ2 has more detailed graphics and far more animations, but JJ1 has more inventive design. I could go on. But maybe you should instead?

Answer the question in any way you like. Include HH98/CC99/TSF and HH94/HH95/JJCD in your considerations if you want, or else don’t. The only way to do this wrong is not to vote at all.

- Violet CLM


Comments

Love & Thunder on 10 Dec 2012 at 10:35

Definately Jazz 1 for me!
Sure, JJ2 has all the customisability and the larger community, but when it comes to the main campaign, Jazz 1 wins in my opinion. Although, it is twice as frustrating as JJ2.

Obi1mcd on 10 Dec 2012 at 12:51

JJ1 hasn’t aged as well as its successor, if you ask me. While it may have more content on its own, I find it feels clunky and old. Jazz 2 on the other hand still has a lot going for it. The level editor it came with makes additional content easy to make, and the graphics and music are still good by today’s standards.

Roobar on 10 Dec 2012 at 15:35

Why there isn’t an option for both? I love them both and they both are excellent!

Foly on 10 Dec 2012 at 20:01

I used to play JJ1 when i was little, i like it but the reason i’m still playing jazz jackrabbit is because of JJ2, not JJ1. Mainly because JJ2 has online gameplay and much content. Also a bit because i’m not fond of the (very) old games anymore.

Jerrythabest on 10 Dec 2012 at 22:28

Pretty much impossible to choose, but I selected JJ1.

JJ2 is so great and active thanks to its community and the additions that everyone has made to it. The most important plusses of JJ2 above JJ1 is that it has online play and comes with a level editor.

But if I come to think about the game itself, JJ1 was far more ‘complete’. It has secret levels, 3D bonus levels… those things never made it to JJ2 (surely secret levels exist, however they were barely used in the original episodes).
There were far more levels, more tilesets, and its levels are also more challenging.

Of course, JJ1 is old and doesn’t have all those newish things like network play and window support. But if I think about what it was, in the time that it was created, I’d consider it much better than what JJ2 has ever been before people started creating levels, tilesets, and most importantly, bugfixes for JJ2.

So I think JJ1 deserves this one. We shouldn’t forget about the good old things just because they are old.

Roobar on 11 Dec 2012 at 11:19

It’s arguable whether these “3d” bonus levels add any value to the game. They are quite easy, repetitive and are no match for the Sonic bonus ones. I’ve played all of the 30 bonus levels and only 2 were challenging in terms of the low time you start with. But once you know where the clocks are, they’re very easy too. And in the other levels, there is plenty of time and clocks.

The other challenging thing is if an exit sign is hiding behind a blue gem and you don’t see it right away. But after one failure, even this isn’t an obstacle anymore.

These 3d bonus levels were removed for good in JJ2.

Love & Thunder on 11 Dec 2012 at 17:39

Yes, but originally, they were intended to be in JJ2, and pretty much the only reason they weren’t was because of time(If you didn’t know already, JJ2 was rushed after a certain point of development(Probably around the middle)), so — to my knowledge at least — they weren’t removed due to quality.

Roobar on 11 Dec 2012 at 21:01

You mean they sugar rushed it :). If only they’ve managed to release JJ2 a few months earlier, they would’ve made a much bigger profit deal. But anyway, that’s another story.

ThunderPX on 14 Dec 2012 at 17:16

I prefer Jazz 1’s atmosphere. Perhaps it’s because the level tiles were done before Stadler redesigned Jazz, but the game doesn’t feel like it’s trying as hard as Jazz 2 to be wacky. Also, a good chunk of Jazz 2 is a ripoff anyway.

Vladan345 on 18 Dec 2012 at 20:40

When is gonna be release of jazz jackrabbit 3D ?

Love & Thunder on 18 Dec 2012 at 21:51

No one here knows.

Jerrythabest on 22 Dec 2012 at 20:04

3D? May take a while.

But JJ3 is here!

Slaz on 23 Dec 2012 at 21:58

As a whole I’d say Jazz Jackrabbit 1 gave me a better experience due to the structure, diverse graphics, and arcade-style gameplay and difficulty.

Yet I’ve spend far more time in Jazz Jackrabbit 2 thanks to the endless amount of custom levels and online games.

My vote goes to JJ1 merely because it was shipped as a more complete product. A better memorable experience straight out of the box! But counting all custom content that came later it would’ve been JJ2.

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