It's been a quiet few days here on Usenet. I guess if you can't think
of anything else to write about, write about a free game. Today, on
GOG, you can claim:

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Collection
https://www.gog.com/game/jazz_jackrabbit_2_collection?utm_campaign=adtraction&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=adtraction

You all remember Jazz Jackrabbit, right? He was the PC's answer to
Sonic the Hedgehog, a wise-cracking, fast-moving mascot-platformer
that proved the PC was just as competent as Sega and Nintendo's
machines. Colorful, frantic and with a rocking soundtrack, the first
game was revelatory to those of us who associated PC platformers with
the like of "Duke Nukem" or "Commander Keen". Its shareware release
was followed up by a six-episode retail version and several "Holiday"
freebies (remember when those were a thing?).

This is not that game.

Rather, it's the sequel, which itself was fairly competent but nowhere
near as ground-breaking. Maybe it was the zoomed-out, 'high res'
graphics that shrunk the protagonist down to half his size in the
original game, or an increased difficulty, or just changing tastes
(mascot-platformers were definitely a bit passé by '99) but "Jazz
Jackrabbit 2" never matched the heights of the first, and - after yet
another Holiday special - the series puttered out.

Still, if you like the genre, "Jazz 2" is a fun game. It feels a bit
dated, of course, what with all the repetitive tiled backgrounds, but
it's just as fast and frantic as it was 23 years ago. I'm happy to
have this one in my library. The "Collection" on offers includes the
original version, updated to run on modern hardware, as well as the
"Christmas Chronicles" expansion.

The offer is good for three days (give or take a few hours) and
requires a GOG account.

On 10/31/2022 9:31 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> You all remember Jazz Jackrabbit, right?

Never heard of him or it.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Mon, 31 Oct 2022 14:17:16 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>Never heard of him or it.

I have but only because I watch a lot of gaming youtube channels.
Spalls is right. Think Sonic the Hedgehog, but for the PC instead.

On 31/10/2022 16:31, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> It's been a quiet few days here on Usenet. I guess if you can't think
> of anything else to write about, write about a free game. Today, on
> GOG, you can claim:
>
> Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Collection
> https://www.gog.com/game/jazz_jackrabbit_2_collection?utm_campaign=adtraction&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=adtraction

I might get it purely for the somewhat interesting name!

On Tue, 01 Nov 2022 07:06:05 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:
>On Mon, 31 Oct 2022 14:17:16 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
><dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>>Never heard of him or it.

>I have but only because I watch a lot of gaming youtube channels.
>Spalls is right. Think Sonic the Hedgehog, but for the PC instead.

You are all making me feel old.

Then again, I really shouldn't be surprised the Jazz games aren't
remembered. Although he made a big splash on his debut, Jazz's fame
fizzled out pretty quickly. He was notable not because of his
gameplay, character, or visuals but simply because he was able to
compete with better known platformers. There was a general assumption
that PCs simply could not match the performance of consoles when it
came to fast-moving platformers like Sonic.

This wasn't entirely without reason; although the CPUs of the
Megadrive and SNES were far outclassed by that on PCs, those consoles
had a lot of support software that let them move sprites into and out
of memory very quickly. It was only because PCs became so much faster
that they were able to 'brute force' their way past their limitations
with their raw computational muscle. Still, with many publishers still
targeting 286/386 machines (and using slower real-mode memory
routines), the raw oomph of PCs wasn't visible to most gamers. "Jazz"
was a wakeup call in this regard.

But other than that, Jazz Jackrabbit didn't bring much to the table.
It had some satisfying gameplay, but it didn't really stand out
amongst its peers. Its character was the just another example of the
smack-talking rebellious pseudo-teen that was so popular in the 90s.
Its visuals - though quick - weren't mindblowing. It was an okay game
for its genre - and one I quite enjoyed at the time - but otherwise it
was not memorable game.* Well, other than its historical/technical
achievement, but twenty-five years later, that's really only of
interest to the nerdiest of PC gamers, I suppose.

TL;DR:** I shouldn't be too surprised people don't have the same
regard as I have Jazz. Nonetheless, if you like that sort of game,
it's still worth playing. And you still have 40 hours to claim it ;-)

===========================
* I did rather enjoy its techno soundtrack, utilizing tracker music
technology.
** Some people, recognizing that they've a reputation for being
long-winded and meandering, tighten up their prose so they get to the
point more succinctly. Me, I just provide a "too-long, didn't read"
summary at the end for the impatient ;-0