Jazz Jackrabbit

Jazz Jackrabbit is the first installment in a series of arcade platform games, developed by Arjan Brussee and Cliff Bleszinski and published by American company Epic Games. Since its release in August 1994, the title has seen a sequel and two holiday-themed additions: Holiday Hare '94 and Holiday Hare '95. As of November 30, 2017, Jazz Jackrabbit is available in collector's edition form (which includes the CD-ROM version and the Holiday Hare '95 add-on) on GOG.com.

Plot

The plot of the title is set in a fictional world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. One of the races shown in the game are rabbits from the planet Carrotus, ruled over by the much-loved princess Eva Earlong.

One day the peace in the rabbit lands is disturbed by an invasion by a hostile race of turtles. The leader of the terrorists, Devan Shell, abducts Eva Earlong and sends ranks of plunderers to her planet. The galactic rabbits cannot accept the loss of their beloved princess and demand revenge. So the story's main character, the intrepid Jazz, sets out in pursuit of the villain, dealing with every opponent he encounters along the way. His goal is not only to retrieve Eva from Devan's paws, but also to prevent the maniac from financing the Turtle Dominance plan.

Game mechanics

Jazz Jackrabbit is a classic platform game, in which we come to explore vast locations, eliminate threatening opponents and collect diamonds and all kinds of bonuses. Our hero is able to jump, run with dizzying speed and, above all, smash his opponents with his trusty gun - LFG-2000.

The game has a total of 4 difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard and turbo) and has been divided into several chapters. In each of them we have a certain number of levels to overcome (each located on a separate planet, to which Jazz goes to collect additional information about the current whereabouts of the kidnapped princess). Our hero has a limited amount of time to overcome them. The level is completed when you reach the board with the image of Devan. That's when the points for time, number of defeated enemies or items are added up.

In the initial phase of the game we have a total of 3 lives and a full HP bar. When injured, our hero loses some health, which he can regain only after finding and eating a carrot. With careful exploration of levels, he also has a chance to come across spare life points. The production also includes bonus sequences, in which our main task is to collect 30 diamonds. If we manage to collect all of them before reaching the finish line, we are also gifted with extra lives.

Technical aspects

Jazz Jackrabbit features two-dimensional graphics, made in a side-scroll perspective. This title contains more than 90 different levels, each of which is provided with an individual music track.

Last updated on August 14, 2015