Released in 1994, a time when Mario and Sonic were battling it out for the video game crown; Jazz Jackrabbit went all out to show that the PC wasn’t just a machine for word processing, pseudo-3D shooters and slow 16-colour platform games. It’s easy to see that Epic Megagames were targeting the same demographic that the Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive did, but why use a dedicated console when dad’s office PC is capable of doing the same job but better? Jazz Jackrabbit is a platformer that’s faster than sonic, yet easily rivals Super Mario World’s level design and adds a choice of weapons to deal with anything that gets in Jazz’s way. Jumping on enemies’ heads is like…so 1992!
Once installed and the setup program has been run to configure the PC’s soundcard (necessary evils of early PC gaming) You’re greeted with one of the funkiest intro theme tunes and a green rabbit with a big blue gun and a bandanna. I’ve never understood why Jazz is green, but then again, Sonic is blue and I’ve never come across a blue hedgehog before! Level selection is done in the form of episodes. This was very common for PC games. Usually, a ‘Shareware’ version of a game would be given out for free which would contain the first episode of a game, and the rest would be purchased separately. Jazz Jackrabbit is made up of 6 episodes, and each episode is made up of around 7 levels giving a total of around 42 levels which is enough gameplay time to rival quite a few modern games. ‘Turtle Terror’ is the episode included with the free shareware copy of the game, so I will be focusing on those levels.
The first realm in the game is Diamondus. Fans of Sonic will recognise some resemblance to Emerald/Green Hill here, with large, grassy planes, green trees and perfect blue skies. That is where the similarities end though; Jazz Jackrabbit takes a lot of inspiration from Sonic and Mario but it definitely isn’t trying to imitate them. You’re almost instantly greeted by a giant green turtle which is about double the size of Jazz. With a quick tap of the spacebar, bullets are fired and the turtle explodes. And yes, the gun is Jazz’s main way of combating enemies. The weapon starts with basic ‘Blaster’ projectiles and throughout the level, there are circular signs with various bullets on which upgrade your armoury to ‘Toaster’ bullets which are far bigger. In the later levels, you are equipped with ‘Launcher’ bullets which bounce around until they hit an enemy or explode. The most powerful projectiles are ‘RF missiles’ which launch two at once and spread out when fired. There may not be a massive choice of weapons in this game, but every weapon is useful and switching between them in certain situations is essential.
The level design is one of the best parts of Jazz Jackrabbit. Although the game is a platformer, it’s very fast; similar to sonic but also very different. The levels seem to flow so well yet always offer plenty of choices. Most of the time, choosing the longer path is often more difficult but yields far more rewards, such as invincibility shields, a bird that will help shoot enemies and gems which let you play the bonus stage after the level is completed. Many paths are also accessible through false walls or walls that can be shot, which really encourages exploration of the whole level. Add to that the fact Jazz is fast. Very, very fast. If he was to race Sonic, I’m sure the winner would be hard to guess! The levels almost always exploit this, with long passages that are designed to showcase how fast Jazz is. On the first level, there’s even a chilli item box. When shot, the music speeds up and so does Jazz, giving a very similar effect to Sonic’s speed shoes. Also borrowed from Sonic are the tubes from Chemical Plant Zone.
The world Tubelectric uses tubes that are almost exactly the same, however, they allow some control of Jazz as he travels through them which allows the player some choice over where he ends up in the level and if you’ve got quick enough reactions, hidden items. The levels are themed depending on the world they are in, Diamondus is grassy, full of trees and walls peppered with diamonds.Tubelectric is far more industrial, with lots of pipes and electric parts and Medieval is based on a castle in a stormy night.
Jazz Jackrabbit comes with an option to set difficulty (with the usual ‘baby’ mode typical of the 90s) but the game is quite unforgiving. Enemies are usually placed after a quick section where Jazz will reach his top speed and inevitably run into them. Fortunately, if you fire plenty of bullets in front of Jazz, they’ll hit the enemies before he does. There are a nice variety of enemies too; some of which are quite original and very challenging. The spark-like enemies from Tubelectric are particularly hard to defeat, as they slowly move towards you through walls so they usually can’t be shot unless Jazz is close. There are also swords in Medievo which move towards Jazz, but they usually block the way forwards and hit you unless you quickly shoot them. Further adding to the difficulty of the levels are various hazards, such as electric wiring that hurts you if you run into it, spike pits, and projectiles that are shot at regular intervals. Avoiding these usually requires well-timed jumps and shots. The higher difficulty level of Jazz definitely adds to the game; Epic managed to get the balance right. Such a powerful weapon could have rendered the game far too easy. Lives in Jazz Jackrabbit are usually fairly easy to come across. There are usually 2 or 3 in a level, but if you manage to collect the red gem you’ll have an extra opportunity to gain a life in the bonus stage. The bonus stage is very similar to the one in Sonic CD, but it’s far more fun to play. Jazz is transported to a 3D world and has the task of collecting blue gems around a race track type world. Epic clearly used this stage to show off what they could do with PC hardware as it is very smooth and makes the Sonic CD bonus stage look pretty awful in comparison.
What really makes Jazz Jackrabbit shine over Mario and Sonic are its graphics, sound and music. Every world is rendered so beautifully, with Diamondus’s bright green grass and trees standing out over the gradient background, and the gems in the soil subtly glistening. Medievo’s castle is outstanding too, with constant rain and lightning effects that can be seen through the castle’s windows and fire effects that colour cycle and glow. The graphics are really a step above the consoles that inspired Jazz Jackrabbit. Special attention to detail has also been paid to the soundtrack. Every piece of music fits so perfectly with the world that it was designed for. Medievo’s soundtrack has medieval-style chants and Tubelectric’s music sounds pretty electric! Add to this Jazz’s cartoony style voice and you have some sounds and music that will be stuck in your head for a long time after playing the game.
Jazz Jackrabbit went on to receive a sequel, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, which includes the option to play as Spazz, Jazz’s odd brother. It also included vastly improved graphics, bigger levels and more weapons! If you’ve not played Jazz Jackrabbit, it’s definitely worth trying out the shareware version on DOSBox (an emulator to play old PC games) just to experience one of the best platformers the PC has to offer.
Reviewed by Nick Bedford
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