Jazz Jackrabbit: A Prime Example of DOS Gaming at Its Finest

Jazz Jackrabbit was one of those games that I practically worshipped as a kid, and in my eyes, it is a prime example of DOS gaming at its finest. So, in true Lazy Game Reviews fashion, I'm not going to just simply look at the game and tell you how awesome it is, because that would be far too easy. Nope, this is a straight-up Jazz Jackrabbit extravaganza, and we'll be looking at the game, its history, its versions, merchandise, and of course, the gameplay itself.

To start things off, we've gotta go back in time to the early '90s in a little European country known as the Netherlands. The home computer scene was in full swing, and the Commodore Amiga was king. But the IBM PC running MS-DOS was quickly rising in popularity due to the decreasing costs of 256-color VGA graphics cards, sound cards like the Creative Sound Blaster, and fast CPUs like the Intel 486. While Amiga still owned the computer gaming market, video game consoles like the Sega Mega Drive were gaining serious popularity, plenty of clever nerds were taking advantage of the PC's ever-increasing awesomeness.

One of these amazing individuals was Arjan Brussee, a Dutch demo scene coder with the group Ultraforce. Today, you might be more familiar with his work at Guerrilla Games known for their PlayStation game series Killzone. He was responsible for seriously impressive demos such as Vector Demo in 1991, the first demo to use true 3D imagery on the PC. It displayed filled 3D vector graphics at a constant frame rate, which ran on even a lowly AT-class 286 PC. Obviously infused with nerdy Dutch superpowers, Arjen decided to start his own PC game - a platformer inspired by Amiga games like Zool and Turrican.

Meanwhile in America, there lived a young nerd with a Polish surname, Cliff Bleszinski. At age 17, he sent a game of his titled The Palace of Deceit: Dragon's Plight to Tim Sweeney, founder of Maryland-based computer game company Epic MegaGames. Turns out it was pretty rad, and a follow-up game titled Dare to Dream was released by Epic the following year in 1993. Although it wasn't a big success, Cliff gained valuable experience and also got to work with the very talented Robert Allen and Nick Stadler.

Things were going well enough at Epic that Tim Sweeney was on the lookout for new talent for the company and ran across Arjen's amazing Vector Demo in early 1992. After spending several months trying to recruit him, he finally agreed to work with Epic MegaGames. It turned out Arjen was already hard at work on his Amiga-inspired game for the PC, but at that point, he didn't have any real characters or story laid out. In the preliminary stages, the game had a main character that was inspired somewhat by Wubbo Ockels, the first Dutch citizen in space.

While I can only imagine how awesome a game starring a mustachioed astronaut physicist would be, the idea was only temporary and that's where Cliff Bleszinski came into play. He brought his own unique style to the table, which ultimately led to the creation of Jazz Jackrabbit. The game's story revolves around the protagonist's quest for freedom from the evil forces of Dr. Vortex.

The development of Jazz Jackrabbit was a collaborative effort between Cliff Bleszinski and his team at Epic MegaGames. The game's design and programming were spearheaded by Robert Allen, while Nick Stadler provided the artwork and sound design. The result was a game that was both visually stunning and musically catchy.

One of the most notable aspects of Jazz Jackrabbit is its attention to detail in terms of graphics and animation. The game features a wide range of colorful characters, from enemies like the 'Fuzzle' to allies like the 'Globo', each with their own unique design and personality. The game's levels are also meticulously crafted, with precise jump heights and landing zones that require precision jumping skills.

The music in Jazz Jackrabbit is another highlight of the game. The soundtrack, composed by Robert Allen, features a catchy rock song called "Jazz Jackrabbit" which plays during the game's opening credits and has since become a classic in its own right. The game's sound effects are also noteworthy, with precise and realistic sounds for each character and enemy.

The shareware version of Jazz Jackrabbit comes bundled with the full version of Epic Pinball, which contains the entire first episode of the game and not much more. However, this is still enough to give you a taste of what the full game has to offer. The shareware version starts off with an example of Nick Stadler's excellent animation and graphical talents, showing Jazz being his awesome self all while Robert Allen's totally rockin' theme song plays in the background.

The music is in glorious S3M tracker format and uses an awesome set of samples to compose some seriously catchy grooves. If you've played Epic Pinball, this is the same guy and the same sample set. So, it's just awesome. The shareware version introduces you to the basic plot line of the game, such as it is, which builds on the idea of the classic Aesop's fable "The Tortoise and the Hare".

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enJazz Jackrabbit was one of those gamesthat I practically worshipped as a kid,and in my eyes, it is a prime exampleof DOS gaming at its finest.So in true Lazy Game Reviews fashion,I'm not going to just simply look at thegameplay and tell you how awesome it is,because that would be far too easy.Nope, this is a straight-upJazz Jackrabbit extravaganza,and we'll be looking at the game,its history, its versions, merchandise,and of course the gameplay itself.And to start things off, we've gotta go back in timeto the early '90sin a little European country known as the Netherlands.The home computer scene was in full swingand the Commodore Amiga was king.But the IBM PC running MS-DOSwas quickly rising in popularitydue to the decreasing costs of256-color VGA graphics cards,sound cards like the Creative Sound Blaster,and fast CPUs like the Intel 486.While Amiga still owned the computer gaming marketand video game consoles like the SegaMega Drive were gaining serious popularity,plenty of clever nerds were taking advantageof the PC's ever-increasing awesomeness.One of these amazing individuals was Arjan Brussee,a Dutch demo scene coder with the group Ultraforce.Today, you might be more familiarwith his work at Guerrilla Gamesknown for their PlayStation game series Killzone.He was responsible for someseriously impressive demossuch as Vector Demo in 1991,the first demo to use true 3D imagery on the PC.It displayed filled 3D vectorgraphics at a constant frame rate,which ran on even a lowly AT-class 286 PC.Obviously infused with nerdy Dutch superpowers,Arhen decided to start on his own PC game.a platformer inspired by Amigagames like Zool and Turrican.Meanwhile in America,there lived a young nerd with aPolish surname, Cliff Bleszinski.At age 17, he sent a game of his titledThe Palace of Deceit: Dragon's Plightto Tim Sweeney, founder of Maryland-basedcomputer game company Epic MegaGames.Turns out it was pretty rad,and a follow up game titled Dare to Dreamwas released by Epic the following year in 1993.Although it wasn't a big success,Cliff gained valuable experienceand also got to work with the verytalented Robert Allen and Nick Stadler.And yes, this is the samecompany now called Epic Gamesknown for their hugely successful Gears of War seriesand the Unreal Engine,just in case you were wondering.Things were going well enough at Epicthat Tim Sweeney was on thelookout for new talent for the companyand ran across Arjen's amazingVector Demo in early 1992.After spending several months trying to recruit him,he finally agreed to work with Epic MegaGames.It turned out Arjen was already hard at workon his Amiga-inspired game for the PC,but at that point he didn't haveany real characters or story laid out.In the preliminary stages,the game had a main characterthat was inspired somewhat by Wubbo Ockels,the first Dutch citizen in space.While I can only imagine how awesome a gamestarring a mustachioed astronaut physicist would be,the idea was only temporaryand that's where Cliff Bleszinski'screativity came into play.He had the idea for a sort of Rambo rabbit,a bunny with an attitude,a bandana and a big gun.He himself was inspired by SegaGenesis games like Gunstar Heroesand Sonic the Hedgehog,and eventually he came up with Jazz Jackrabbit.As for the origins of the name,Cliff had a dog named Jazz,who was named after theTransformer, also named Jazz,and Jackrabbit worked due toalliteration, and it was an animal.So, it worked out.While his fur was originally purple,green was the final color chosen.And this rabbit's mug was to become one of the most recognized faces of shareware games in the mid-'90s.Well, recognizable after NickStadler got on board, at least,as he reworked many of the character art assetsand animations near the end of development,going for more of a classic Looney Tunes vibethan whatever it was supposed to be before.Jazz Jackrabbit was eventually released onAugust 1, 1994, on various bulletin board systemsand Internet providers like CompuServe.Following the popular shareware model,the first episode of Jazz was releasedcompletely free of charge and free to share,which ensured that crap-tons ofpeople downloaded it worldwide.If you wanted more, and of course you did,the rest of the game had to bepurchased via phone or mail orderdirectly from Epic MegaGames.It was well worth it if you bought the full gamebecause you not only got a lot more gameplay,you got this sexy Jazz Jackrabbit comic book/manual.Its artwork was drawn by Nick Stadlerand it's full of humor and win,with references to the Teenage MutantNinja Turtles and Sonic the Hedgehogand other things to make you smirk.It also doubles as the game's documentationwith information on everything from the controls,to the story behind the levels,to the enemy designs.You also get this awesome drawingof the developers of the game.Heh!I especially love the depiction of Cliff Bleszinski.It's quite the stark contrast to his look today.I got my first copy of the game ona shareware floppy disk from Epic,which came with the full version of Epic Pinball.It contains the entire first episode ofthe game and not really much more.Eh, I still played through this version endlessly.It starts off with an example of Nick Stadler'sexcellent animation and graphical talents,showing Jazz being his awesome self,all while Robert Allen's totally rockin' JazzJackrabbit theme song plays in the background.All the music is in glorious S3M tracker formatand using an awesome set of samples tocompose some seriously catchy grooves.If you've played Epic Pinball, this is thesame guy and the same sample set.So, it's just awesome.In the shareware version of the game,you are introduced to the basicplot line of the game, such as it is.It builds on the idea of the classicAesop's fable \"The Tortoise and the Hare,\"with rabbits and turtles still duking it out3,000 years into the future.This turtle, Devan Shell,leader of the turtle terrorists,has kidnapped this rabbit,Eva Earlong, the princess of the rabbits,who just happens to have a lovely rabbit rack,as part of a scheme to conquer the planet Carrotus.It's up to you, as the solder of fortune Jazz Jackrabbit,to take down Devan with thehelp of your gun, the LFG-2000.Heh. A not-so-subtle reference to theBFG-9000 from the first-person shooter Doom,which makes me wonder what \"LFG\" stands for.Little F---ing Gun, perhaps?Whatever the case, awesome reference is awesome.You've got controls for moving,jumping, shooting, and changing weapons,as well as a slow-motion mode thatnobody in their right mind would use.And you go around collecting weapons and power-upsin order to progress through a bunch oflevels spread across various planetsfurther split into episodes.After selecting your difficultyand being amused by the various Jazz artwork,you can select the episode you'd like to play.Of course, in the shareware game,you can only play the first episode,which can be completed in roughly 20 minutes,but the full game features six episodes in total.Each one contains at leastthree planets with two levels each,a couple bonus stages, one boss stage,and sometimes even a secret level.I always liked the artwork introducing these episodes,especially \"The Gene Machine,\" which showsEpic MegaGames' Jill of the Jungle character,and \"The Chase Is On,\"which shows what appears to be Terminator turtles.Start the game and you're greeted withwhatever planet you're about to play on,and you'll notice that the bright andcolorful artwork from the menuscontinues into the main game, and I love it.Everything is fantastically drawn,bright and animated,from the backgrounds,the enemies, to Jazz himself.I especially appreciate the little things,like when you get Jazz too close to a ledge.Or leave Jazz alone for a second,and he'll whip out a carrot andstate with his Bugs Bunny-ish voice,JAZZ: What are you doing?LGR: Yes, breaking the fourth wall in games is fantastic.These little animations might remind youa bit of the Sonic the Hedgehog games,and the similarities to thatgame certainly don't end there.You've got Jazz's crazy running speed,worlds filled with maze-like platforms to explore,checkpoints to pass, shields to collect,stars of temporary invincibility,running shoes to breeze through levels with,and even an airborne sidekickthat tags along for the ride.But unlike Tails, this little half-pheasant,half eagle actually has a use.These are known as Hip Hops, and if youhappen to find a cage and free one of them,they'll stay with you and shoot any enemies nearbywith bird loogies or something.At least until you get hurt,and then he'll instantly teleportto another dimension, I guess.I really don't know what the deal is with him leaving.Of course, two of the biggestdifferences between Jazz and Sonicis the fact that Jazz has a health bar,which is replenished by eating carrots,and he carries a big blue gun to dispatch enemies.This can be filled with different types of ammunition,all of which are limited,other than the main type, the Blaster.This is the gun you'll use most often,which fires weak bulletsand can be fired as fast as you can press the button.So it gets tiring unless youhappen to find rapid-fire power-upsscattered around the level.These will disappear if you die, though,so having a turbo controller would really help out here.If only there were such a thing for the PC...Oh, wait! What's this?These little collectibles that look like game controllers,spread all throughout the game,And billboards in the backgroundsaying \"All kids love Gravis GamePad.\"Ooh, the Gravis GamePad,the official joystick of Jazz Jackrabbit.Holy crap, not one, not two,but four buttons with rapid freaking fire?I must have one–ahhhh...Thank you, PC gaming gods,for this divine feast for the hands.If Jazz Jackrabbit is anything to go by,Epic MegaGames and AdvancedGravis Computer Technologywere in bed together during this time period.And so all throughout Jazz Jackrabbit,you'll see references to the company's products.So, of course, as an impressionable young lad,it was drilled into my headthat their stuff was top-notch.And really, that idea wasn't completely wrong.The Gravis Ultrasound is still consideredone of the best classic sound cards ever,and the Gravis PCGamePad isn't too shabby, either.It was the first gamepad for IBM-compatible PCs,so you could not only play gamesthat were looking more and morelike console games on your computer,you could use a controller that wasn'tso dissimilar to the Super Nintendo's.And not only that, but it had theaforementioned turbo buttons,and the controls were customizable,so you could make whatever button you neededshoot faster than I shoot my evil cloneswhenever they show up at the front door.It even had a switch that swapped the button layoutso that you could play left-handed,if you're one of those weird people.And there was even a Master System-style screw-in joystick for the D-pad.But the main problem I have with this thingis that it just feels kind of cheap.It doesn't feel as solid as aGenesis or Super Nintendo controller,and the D-pad is pretty bad.Feeling too imprecise and gummy for my taste.Sorry, Epic, as much as youpushed the Gravis GamePad on me,I still prefer the good old keyboardfor playing Jazz Jackrabbitbecause so much of the gamehinges on precision platforming.Jazz moves very fastand even at slower speeds,he feels a bit twitchy.So while most of the time, you canjust fly through a level at high speeds,you're going to want to slow down and take your timeon many sections to avoid getting killed off.You've only got so many lives,and even though you can save the game,it's annoying to have to gointo the menu and reload them.You've also got a time limit to worry about,which further adds to the frustrationif you don't soon get a handle on these controls.Not only that, but if often feels like Jazzis just too darn fast for his own good,mostly because of how zoomed-in all the action is.There's only so much of the level viewable around you,so going too fast or making a jump too hastilyoften ends with pain,which will send Jazz flying backwardswith only a second of invincibilitybefore he can get hurt again.This is really one of the veryfew issues I have with the game.A slightly larger line of sightand some toning down of the damage knockbackwould have gone a long way inmaking the game even more fun.But overall, the game is prettyforgiving with great level design,mostly weak enemies and several weapons to use.Other than the Blaster, you've got the Toaster,which is kind of a more powerful version of the Blaster,the Bouncer, which shoots bouncy blue grenades,the RF Missile, which shoots two strongmissiles that travel in an outward V shape,and TNT–dyn-o-mite–which acts as a kind of mine thatdeals heavy damage when it goes off.Another item you'll occasionally comeacross is the totally rad hoverboard.As an avid \"Back to the Future\" fan, I loved this thing.Once you get it, you'll be able totake your sweet time in the leveland shooting crap while flying on a freaking hoverboard.All while enjoying incredibly sweet animated graphics,smooth gameplay and bobbingyour head to the amazing soundtrack,which I swear somehow just gets better with age.And every so often, you may runacross a big, floating red gem.Collecting this will grant you entrance to abonus level at the end of the current world.These take place in a third-person perspectiveand the goal is to gather enoughblue gems before the time runs outand avoid obstacles, like stop signsand barf-indicing spinny things.Each bonus level changes inappearance with each episode,and they're pretty similar in themeto the bonus stages in Sonic games,especially the ones in Sonic CD.You also have the option toenter a secret level here and there,if you can find it, that is.I remember when I first found the secretlevel in the shareware game, holy crap!This was the first time I had ever found a secretwithout the help of a strategy guideand I was so proud of myself.I probably played that secret levelfor three hours once I got in there.This first secret level lets you play as a Hip Hop,with dozens of other similar birds flying all around.It also features these statues,which if you're a fan of Epic's One Must Fall 2097,you'll recognize as being modeledafter the Katana robot from that game.In a much later secret level of note,you get to play as a funky-lookingdrunken lizard with mad jumping skills.These secret levels are just awesomeand are extremely memorable tome from playing this game as a kid.You also have loads of littlesecrets within the normal gameplay,with tons of breakable or false wallsand alternate pathways that lead toextra lives or weapons or who knows what.And each planet provides new enemies,new music, new environments,and sometimes even totally different gameplaylike these underwater sections,which I think kind of suck,but whatever.After you complete all the planets in an episode,you're greeted with a boss or guardian level.These are another somewhatdisappointing part of the game,since almost all of these arestupidly simple to take care of.Unlike the Robotnik battles in Sonic,the Devan Shell battles are as simple as it gets,with no real patterns to learn or anything like that.Just shoot him a bunch of timesanywhere you want, don't die, and that's it.Some of the bosses themselvesare pretty cool in design, though,like this giant Jazz Jackrabbit clone,and Zoonic,which is an obvious mashup of thecharacters Zool and Sonic the Hedgehog.Once you beat a boss,you get a little cutscene of some kind,ranging from rather simpleones on the floppy disk versionto those that are fully-animated LooneyTunes-inspired cartoons on the CD-ROM edition.Yeah, the CD-ROM enhanced version of Jazz Jackrabbitcame the following year in 1995.On top of new full-motion videos,it included three new A, B, and C episodes,which kind of throws the chronologyof the game out of whack a bit,since they take placesometime before \"The Final Clash,\"but it doesn't really seem to say when.You also get access to a special Christmas episode,\"Holiday Hare '94,\"and the option to play just bonus levels if you want.If you ask me, this is the definitiveversion of the game you want to play,since it's just the same game but bigger and betterand more jazzy and jackrabbit-y.There are also some other versionsof the game you might run acrossif you go looking for it online.You've got the \"Holiday Hare\" episodes,like the aforementioned 1994,and there was also a 1995 variety.These were essentially shareware versions of the gamewith a Christmas theme and unique levels,and they're at least as awesomeas finding an extra slice of pizzain a pizza box that you were about to throw out.Whatever that means.You'll also see these versionsof the game by BNN Software,like this CD-ROM titled Jazz Jackrabbit Trilogy.This is an odd one and was soldin stores like K-Mart in the late '90s.It only came in this jewel case form that I'm aware ofand provides the first three episodes of Jazz Jackrabbit.So it's not just the shareware game,but it's certainly not the full registered game, either.BNN also released this version of the game in a box,simply titled Jazz Jackrabbit, around the same time.It's a bit deceptive, since it's only thefirst shareware episode of the game,not the full game.So there's really no reason to seek this one outunless you're just an obsessivecollector like...someone I know.I also find it frickin' weird that the onlyscreenshot on the back of the boxis of the unreleased beta version of the game,from before the final design of Jazz Jackrabbit.The last things I want to touch on aresome neat little Jazz Jackrabbit extras,starting with the cheat codes.One of these allows you to spawn the hoverboardto use anywhere in any level, which is just awesomebecause the hoverboard is just awesome.And exploring areas you aren't supposed tois a wonderful pastime of mine.Another cheat unlocks Nightmare difficultyand judging by the cheat code itself, DOOM,I'm sure you can figure out what it's alluding to.Finally, in early versions of the game,you have a direct jab at Epic MegaGames'biggest competitor of the time,Apogee Software, Ltd.Type in their name and thegame will slow down to a crawland use terrible low-color graphics,which was a not-so-subtlereference to Apogee still releasingcomparatively slow games with 16-color EGA graphics.On top of that, it was referred to as \"Apology Mode,\"which was admittedly pretty mean.Apogee didn't take the joke very welland either sued them orthreatened them with legal action,and made them take the code outin later releases of Jazz Jackrabbit.However, if you use any of these,the game will take noteand show you this screen at the end ofthe episode instead of the usual ending.Clever.Lastly, the game was writtenin the Turbo Pascal language,so getting the game to run on anythingmuch more powerful than a fast 486isn't that straightforward.The version of the language usedsimply will not work on faster CPUs.You either had to limit your CPU somehowor download and apply a patch,often known as the \"TP Patch,\"which fixes the executable to run on faster machines.Of course, running it in DOSBox is alwaysan option nowadays, and it runs pretty well.Certainly good enough to play,even on default config settings.The problem is going to be locating a copy of the game.Since it was a shareware gameand was for the longest timeonly available directly from Epic MegaGames,original copies of the game are stupidly hard to find.And the later releases aren't always easy to find, either,and many of those like the BNN versionsaren't even complete games worth getting.I wish they would release this on Good OldGames or Xbox Live Arcade or somethingbecause the demand for it is still there.You've got websites like Jazz2Online,which are a testament to that fact.It seems like the best bet is to go to EpicClassics.comwhere you can supposedly still order a copywritten to a cheap CD-R or something for $25.Wherever you can find the game, though,I can assure you the experience is worth it.There is very little to complainabout with Jazz Jackrabbit,and it was a pretty big hit back thenand still enjoys a dedicated cult following today.It also had an excellent sequel, Jazz Jackrabbit 2,which we'll talk about some other day,and a lackluster Game Boy Advance gameand a 3D platformer that was never completed.But there is talk in the air of apossible reboot or rerelease sometime.But even if that doesn't happen,the original and totally rad JazzJackrabbit will always be aroundand it is superb.If you like DOS games, platform games,or just having fun in general,I'd recommend Jazz Jackrabbit with asmuch enthusiasm as my lazy self can muster.\n"