Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

It’s called “Damntest” because that’s what you say after noticing someone released another TSF test.

Bar-none, simply one of the best single-player campaigns I’ve played from any game ever.

Well, since I’m the reason this tileset conversion more or less exists, I feel obligated to write a review for it. Not that I don’t want to in the first place.

For a long time, now, I’ve been bugging Violet to make a Crysilis conversion, since the original one from a long time ago was subpar (in my opinion, at least) and contained various tile errors, as well as missing key components. Finally, my constant bugging has been answered, and Violet has delivered no doubt his finest work.

CrysilisV is really three tilesets in one: the first one is a straight-up conversion of Crysilis, with many extra tiles from other JJ1 levels thrown in. The second one is a recolor that is reminiscent of Mystic Cave/Hidden Palace Zone from the Sonic games, and the third one is a light blue recolor that mimics Marbelara, complete with lava (even lava-colored water for you 8-bit palette freaks). Each of the tilesets has its own original art, but are organized in such a way as to minimize confusion and allow users to change the tileset on a whim. The tilesets are complete with destruct scenery, tubes, vines, hooks, and everything else you need for your JJ2 level. There’s even extensive invisible platforms.

I know it’s not kosher to review the example levels, but I feel that Violet put an effort into these, and it should be noticed. The example levels themselves do an excellent job of showcasing what the tileset can do, as well as being fun and enjoyable in their own right, chock full of new ideas. If you play them (which you should), honor Violet and play them in 8-bit.

Everything about this conversion, from idea to execution, is flawless. This tileset has literally unlimited possibilities, and sets the standard to which all conversions are measured by. If you play JJ1 or JJ2, you must own this tileset.

Uhh… What?

Also, you might want to release all the levels of an episode in one pack. Anyway, onto the review.

“Nakari Forest Winter” is a single level that is apparently part of an episode (according to the level name, the second episode of whatever series this is a part of). The tileset that comes with the level is (as far as I know) rarely used, and it doesn’t look that bad for a Diamondus conversion.

The level itself, while fairly large, is extremely dull. While the level is mostly linear, it somehow manages to accomplish a feeling of “what the hell am I doing?”, mostly because the level is at some points impossible (not in the good sense, it is literally impossible to pass through some points in the level without using jjnowall). The level feels as if no beta-testing was done on it, and while space is used efficiently and it pulls off somewhat unused ideas (a switch to turn on and off tiles, as well as bringing back the frog concept), for the most part the level feels uninspired.

The eyecandy is subpar, a few gem ground tiles thrown here and there among a vast sea of the same ground tile everywhere. There are quite a few tile bugs throughout the level, and the level makes no use of background eyecandy. The textured background’s fade is set to black, there were no birds singing, the pants were dead, and the ground was messy and bloody from headcrabs.

While the level design is mostly unappealing and the eyecandy isn’t interesting, the level manages to show some interesting ideas. I won’t recommend downloading this, though.

Hey, if you played through this level pack, I’d love to hear what you think. Even if it’s a short review.

Alright, so I downloaded both the instrumental and the normal versions of this song, and I have to say, not bad.

The fast rhythm and quick guitar captures the Jazz atmosphere. The whole composition evokes the image of a mercenary rabbit gunning down everything in his path, starships blowing up, Devan’s machines engaging in combat.

There’s a good amount I don’t like about this song, though. The beginning radio tuning-in dealy is good enough, but the clapping and (I think) tambourine intro defeats the purpose of the intro you already provided. The first half of the song feels repetitive, and the song doesn’t really have an ending. It just stops. Not to mention that the vocals don’t feel “heavy” enough for this kind of genre.

Nonetheless, I really like the song. The lyrical version I’m not a fan of, but the instrumental is great. This song is a must have for any Jazz fan, regardless if you like this genre of music or not. There’s room for improvement, but this song is a definite keeper in my playlist. I give it an 8 and a download recommendation.

A final note: don’t put this on your iPod. This song shouldn’t be tainted by that.

Alright, I haven’t done a lot of reviews lately, but Forest is just begging for one.

Forest is basically the Swiss Army Knife for JJ2. Basically everything that Controller did, Forest does, and a whole lot more. Fixes seeker holes, chat bugs, weapon auto-changing (picking up a new weapon) and the respawn bug. Allows you to spectate, auto-cycle levels (switches levels until you get to one you want), remote character change (including bird and frog), and can even poke the memory! This tool replaces about 5 different programs, does it quickly and cleanly, and brings in the equivilant of 5 new programs.

However, there are some things that Forest doesn’t do. I have so far seen no ability to bleach names (e.g. Project Gamma), although you could do that manually, but it’d be a major pain. The morph bird and morph frog addresses are switched, according to tests (although that could be my fault), and “Call Plugin” seems to have no function (as of now, perhaps it’s meant for third-party add-ons?).

Nonetheless, Forest is a wonderfully done tool, and while it may not have everything you need (no chatlog, nor server protection), no server should be without it. 9.2 and a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED download recommendation from me.

FIRST GLANCE: Another remix by accomplished remixer and legendary member Lark. Wonderfully done.

DETAILS: The opening gives us leaves rustling in the wind and birds chirping. Soon, a guiter strums in a basic tune. The xylophone kicks in, sounding off the melody of Diamondus. This sounds like it belongs in Sims 2, either that or a band playing in Central Park. The song has a happy feeling to it, and you could get carried away from what you are doing to listening to this. Truly wonderful. Before you know it, the song ends, and… well, you’ll have to hear it. ;)

I give this an 8.5 out of 10, and a high Download Recommendation. You NEED this song in your WinAmp or XMPlay playlist.

Two days for a single level is still a lot of time. Usually I take around two WEEKS to finish a level on average (one week, if I work hard enough).

Uhh… MSB, this is Streetfight. When you host this online, you will not be able to fire weapons. Thus, there are no weapon pickups. I highly recommend that you actually check out multiplayer levels (especially those using special rules, like Streetfight) in multiplayer.

Wait, why the hell did you make it an MP3? Modules are much, much smaller in comparison, unless your samples were unnecessarily huge.

EDIT: Music modules (shortened to modules here) are the proper name for .mod, .xm, .it, and .s3m files, as well as the great many other module files out there. I assume you are using a module tracking program for the remix. Next time, upload your remixes in module format, they’re much smaller. Trust me.

I’m giving this a higher rating than the other wallpaper upload simply because this didn’t use a terrible format.
(Unsupported rating (6) removal. Do .png files even work as wallpapers? ~Violet)

Design: Since the design was really by whoever worked on the Super Mario Bros. 3 team (and the Super Mario All-Stars team), I can’t give a rating on the design. I will, however, tell you that this tileset looks horrible. Thomas failed to use a proper tileset pallete program (such as the readily availible TilesetPal), and thus everything looks grainy and unplesant. Everything is a pain to look at. Beyond that, while Thomas had a lot of room for pretty much all of the tiles used in Super Mario Bros. 3, he only included the first world (and even forgot a lot of things, including the huge steel blocks and the checkerboard ground). 2/10.

Layout: Not so good. There’s open spaces everywhere where you could stick stuff in. If you gave me 15 minutes, I could probably make this tileset 33% shorter. Sadly, this is one of the better aspects of this tileset. 3/10.

Eyecandy: The eyecandy, although designed in SMB3, looks terrible here. The fourth frame of the lava is the same as the first, and the flag, for some reason, isn’t 2x size like the rest of the tileset. 2/10.

Masking: The bane of every tileset creator and level maker. That’s right: Thomas used AUTOMASK. I’m not sure if I can even attempt to create a working level here. 0/10.

Other Remarks: Ninte*n*do is not a trademark, it’s a regestered trademark. There’s a difference, namely the ® and the ™.

Overall rating: 1.75/10. Sorry, dude. Next time try not to make your conversions as grainy, and don’t use automask, those two really hit you hard.

Download recommendation: No.

Artwork: Wonderfully done. The tileset has the Blade lineart touch we’ve all come to know and love, and yet still brings some new stuff to the table. Attention to detail is awesome. 9/10.

Eyecandy: Chock full of eyecandy, any level in Twilight Park made well enough can look very polished. Only thing I don’t like is the lack of detail in the cityscape. That, and the buried bucket and cell phones have shadows there there shouldn’t be. 8.5/10.

Masking: Well done. Almost impossible to get stuck here, unless if the level designer’s acting nuts. 9.5/10.

Other: I know I shouldn’t rate the example level, but it was so well done that it’s a work of art in and of itself. Also, the music selection was great, and while you could tell by the vocals that it wasn’t made by Epic, it has a really Jazzy feel to it. +.6 bonus points for that.

Total: ((9 + 8 + 9.5) ÷ 3) + .6 = 9.433334 ~= 9.4. Highly recommend downloading, if only for the example level.

Edit: Added formatting.

I couldn’t run the level; apparently there were too many enemies or something.

Also, this would probably be better off as an article with a link from the JCF.

Jarno: n00b wanted to show people like you why you don’t do certain things in SP levels.

Sounds great. This could really open the door for some innovative SP packs (for example, imagine collecting coins along the way to buy ammo/powerups at save point stores).

I also hereby copyright the above idea. Use of it is prohibited until I use it in a level pack. Or something.

Falcury: I was kidding. I know I couldn’t copyright it, and even if I could, how would I enforce it? Nonetheless, this is an awesome idea, and i’m really happy you made it 1.23 compatible.

First glance: Another remix by Lark. Don’t see many of these too often. But this mix, just around holiday time, makes a great addition to your holiday mix CD.

Tempo/beat: Very well done. Kept faithful to the original song, while adding it’s own charm and even a new verse. Only part I don’t like is the end, where the jingle bells suggest a higher tempo than the song really is, and it kinda throws me off. 9/10.

Instruments: All high quality samples used wonderfully. If you look at the samples, you’ll see samples like glass breaking and a Chinese cymbal. Very well put together. 9/10.

Overall composition: Excellent. Polish it up and submit this to OCremix, they just might accept it. It’s a damn shame it doesn’t work in JJ2, this would be excellent for a battle level. 9/10.

(9 + 9 + 9) ÷ 3 = 9. Download recommendation twice over.

Advice: Keep on rockin’, Lark. This is excellent. Also, see if you can’t make this JJ2-compatible.

OH CRAP. I’ll fix it.

First Glance: Yet another castle1 level. But wait! This level looks and feels solid, and you just might find it on a few servers.

Gameplay: The gameplay is above average, but nothing too fancy. Apart from a few hiccups, this level flows quite smoothly. 7.5/10.

Eyecandy/atmosphere: Looks very nice. Minimal foreground eyecandy, enough to embellish the level but not too much as to distract from the battle. Some original ideas here, and the music selection perfectly captures what I feel to be a stronghold of cranial flatuence. 8/10.

Layout/tileset use: Some very original ideas, and smooth masking more than make up for the hiccups in the layout. 7.5/10.

(7.5 + 8 + 7.5) ÷ 3 = 7.67 ~= 7.7. Recommend.

Advice: Make the layout a bit smoother next time, don’t use as many springs, and maybe add some food.

First Glance: More Christmas levels! \o/ Christmas levels are having a high turnout this year, which is awesome.

Gameplay: Firstoff, i’m awarding a BONUS 0.5 point to be added after I average just for remaking Battle3. Anyways, the gameplay is almost identical to the battle levels, but Battle2 has powerups. 7.5/10.

Eyecandy/atmosphere: The eyecandy looks better than before, but still nothing too original. The music adds a nice touch. 7.5/10.

Tileset use: These tilesets are really annoying, so good job for dealing with them. 7.5/10.

Tilt: Not as clean as i’d like them to be, but they’re fun. 7.5/10.

(7.5 + 7.5 + 7.5 + 7.5) ÷ 4 + 0.5 = 8. Reccomend highly. They’re awesome.