LunarLoony
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“Play a different version of the game” is the answer to that. It works in some versions, doesn’t in others. There’s a separate thread detailing the version differences, but the upshot is: Epic managed to break it, fix it, and break it again.
The current GOG.com version apparently works, but I haven’t tested it myself.
There is a snowy level (Nippius) in episode 4 which is visually very similar to the Holiday Hare levels – perhaps that’s what you’re thinking of?
I tend to prefer Jazz 2 overall, but there’s a certain je ne sais quoi that didn’t carry over from the first game.
Despite that, it has much more varied enemies with much stronger animation, the wacky and slightly unsettling artstyle is still brilliant, and the music is out of this world. I think perhaps the levels feel a bit unnatural at times, and it’s painfully obvious they’ve used tilesets. But as a general experience, Jazz 2 wins out for me.
I tend to stick to Medium difficulty. Pretty sure it’s the same experience, except you get two extra hitpoints.
Otherwise, I tend to agree with Pix’s criticisms. It’s definitely a victim of the Shareware Curse, i.e. the first episode is the best the game has to offer.
I’d suggest trying it with Slow Motion switched on in the settings, but I believe that makes the game generally unresponsive as well, so probably not the best idea. (Alternatively: Apogee Mode, if you really wanna play Jazz in 16 colours)
I have a few older machines. The two I have set up at the moment are my Pentium II Win98 PC, which I often use for latter-day DOS games, and my Core 2 Duo XP PC which is slightly out-of-scope for this thread 😀
I also have an AMD Thunderbird machine, but I think the motherboard’s toast because it won’t display anything. I refuse to believe my Voodoo3 is kaput, I’ve scarcely had chance to use it since buying it a couple of years ago!
Currently working on-and-off on a rack-mount solution so all my machines are in one neat(ish) package. It’s quite a cool setup, but there are still a few bits and pieces to address so it’s not quite complete yet.
It’s a good effort, but something still feels off with the Jazz2 reimplementation. Particularly in terms of animations. I hope it goes far, though – would be nice to see Jazz 2 get a new lease of life.
Ah yes, the very legitimate .zip domain.
Shame this doesn’t work in ScummVM, although given its historical status, perhaps it’s something they’d look at?
Scraparap is one of the best pieces of music in video games ever.
https://youtu.be/E_j3blvIuwE
I’ll give that a try. Thing is, I get screen tearing even playing through DOS on my Pentium II!
I seem to recall we discussed this ages ago in the IRC. Pretty sure I got it to the point, even, where I could play through a whole level!
The version that “works” in DOS is 0.98k. Still yet to try it on real hardware: maybe this is a good time to do so 😀
Fun fact: Holiday Hare ’95 saw the first appearance of Spaz, Jazz’s problematically-named younger brother, who would later have a playable role in Jazz 2.
What was game industry culture (not sure on the wording) like during the development of these games? Was crunch even a thing back then? I guess what I’m asking is how it felt to be part of what was a major studio, and how different (or similar!) it was to working at a AAA studio today.
For what it’s worth, I played with a Saturn controller. It worked really well!
There are a few examples I can think of. The Pro Pinball games all have the full table on-screen, and the likes of Star Trek Pinball also do it (though those games are pretty bad).
Can’t think of any others off the top of my head, but the rule of thumb seems to be that if it uses pre-rendered graphics, you’ll be able to see everything. Otherwise, it’s scrollers all the way down.
It’s really good for its time, but it highlights a major issue in pinball games of this era: SCROLLING.
Maybe it’s just me who has this issue, but I find it quite difficult to hit targets that I can’t see.
This one seems to be running off the same engine as the god-awful Star Trek pinball. This one isn’t quite as bad, but I honestly don’t know how you managed to get such a high score…might have to give this one another crack.
I’ve only played the Mega Drive version of this one so far, though I suspect both versions are much the same. Each table has a little minigame that breaks up the action a little – so the Wild West one has a platforming section where you jump in between train cars, for example.
Yeah, I think quite a few episodic games did that – Jill also had individual releases for each episode, and you could buy Jazz’s episodes separately direct from Epic.
It would be nice to do this since we’ve covered Wasteland in the past. 1997 was also kind of the last bastion for DOS gaming, so it would be interesting to talk about that aspect as well.
The original release includes the DOS version, but unfortunately not the GOG version – as with so many releases of this period.
Can I also say, I *love* the aesthetic.
There isn’t a whole lot to this one, but it’s honestly better than I expected. Feels very Pinball Dreams.
Silverball was the original game by James Schmalz. Epic Pinball is kind of an improved, updated version with different tables, as is my understanding.
The Pro Pinball games were the most realistic games of their time, in terms of physics and table design.
I recall there was an interview with one of the developers where they said they originally weren’t going to have a pause button. To pause, you’d have to hold the ball in place with the flipper. Pretty hardcore.
Also, the Pro Pinball tables allow you to change all sorts of internal settings, such as how worn-out the table is and what angle it’s tilted at. Never seen that in another pingame.
For info: The Web, Timeshock, and Big Race USA all have DOS versions. Fantastic Journey doesn’t as far as I know.
How about the early Putt-Putt games?
Ooh, sounds like a good idea.
There’s also Pinball Dreams 2. The first three Dreams games all came out in 1992, as well! Bonkers.
If we wanted to go super old-school, there’s Night Mission from 1983. Originally an Apple II game, but made its way to DOS too.
Otherwise, everything Pix said. Pro Pinball is the pinnacle of video pingames, in my opinion.
Luck was definitely on my side, let me tell ya. You were a very good opponent though!
I dun one anyway. (Mainly because ePSXe is the devil)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUzK1-hbKYM
I may do a video comparing the two on real hardware, if it’s alright with you kdrnic? (Don’t wanna step on anyone’s toes, yaknow)
Here’s my copy…!
On initial glance, this looks a lot like Balloon Challenge, another Soleau game. I haven’t played it yet, though, so we’ll soon find out if that’s the case.
You’ll notice my avatar is of Alley Cat…
You can actually play the game online here, but I suggest playing it on a real machine if you can. Otherwise you won’t get the full PC Speaker experience 😉
The screenshots look interesting. Looks like the graphics have been put together in a similar way to the Petz games, funnily enough…
VOGONS is a fantastic site for looking up ways to get old games going on modern machines. It’s like PC Gaming Wiki for DOS.
There’s also DOS Games Archive, which has a great collection of shareware DOS games. It’s been my go-to for years.
That would be neat!
I’d love to get in touch with the guy that made these and see if the registered version actually exists. Probably doesn’t, but you never know!
My mum always enjoyed playing Crusher Castle II. It’s another Soleau game – they must be pretty popular amongst mums! I think she got as far as the magic invisible cat, but couldn’t find it.
Great game design, huh?
(Side note: you can still buy all Soleau’s DOS games from their website.)
Theme Hospital is ace. Haven’t played Populous, and last time I tried Theme Park (on my IBM Aptiva), it ran way way too fast. Shall have to give it a go in DOSBox.
I’ve played this game before, but never got in-depth with it. I’m gonna have another go before I share my thoughts on it.
In answer to AngryDinosaur’s question, I found a Windows version that Remedy Games released for free in 2009. It seems to be identical to the original DOS version, which is pretty neat. Had the shareware version worked in DOSBox, I would’ve played that, but it was way too slow and choppy.
