Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

A really lovely take on a more eveningy Lapper Festive, though obviously I come in with a lot of positive bias for the tileset. The background does not work at any window height other than 600, but otherwise everything looks great here. The alternate-color ornaments work well, not too garish, and everything else tiles properly. The use of tinting to mark non-solid giftboxes and other elements is good here. This isn't the most detailed account of the visuals but just, um, it all works)? Everything in the tileset is put to its proper use and flows together nicely without ever becoming distracting.

I will jump right in and say that I'm not thrilled with the nail gun usage here. The gold standard for nail gun is still Illumination, with the different pickups and stuff you can access with them, and Jolly Battle isn't that. There is one specific area you get to using the nail gun, thoughtfully marked off with additional nail gun pickups, but the reward is… a nail gun powerup. This just raises the question. Also you can shoot the nail gun powerup with electro blaster instead. (This must be intentional, it's the only obvious place to use electro blaster in the whole map.) But the level also has an RF powerup, and most of the level is crowded enough with curved platforms that your nails are never going to go all that far.

There's also a toaster powerup which feels like it has a lot of support: fastfire scattered around the level, a few big springs, and of course thematic resonance. It's a bit blatant, using both Duo Bouncers and Spike Bomb right after they were both MLLE-ified in the same level, but I suppose there are reasonable places to use them both, spikes on the right side and bouncers in all the gentle curves that weave through the top/ left half. Firework doesn't work everywhere but it, too, has its good spots. Other the nail gun and the electro blaster, I think weapons are well chosen here.

The layout in general is a good mixture of close spaces, thin platforms, and open spaces, which keeps players entertained and also helps you keep track of where you are. A few minor visual landmarks are also included. The biggest point of interest is the full energy carrot, especially in a level with three other carrots, but I think it does work. Multiple weapons can be used to shoot it down (but not the nail gun!) and it takes long enough that you put yourself in a lot of danger, which is what you want to avoid if you have, say, 1 health and desperately need a full energy carrot. It's a good trap.

I would not have guessed this is a Dragusela level. Honestly I would not have guessed this is a 2024 level! It's so… indoors! It's almost a single tileset despite using four separate .j2t files, but it's all visually coherent. (The giant porthole is a bad resizing job though.) It's got really solid, intricate use of layer 4 and doesn't just lean on the background layers to sell itself. Battleship is not a tileset that I find easy to make look this good, so, kudos. I can see the Maelstrom comparison but it also reminds me of Dethroned, interestingly enough…

My biggest issue is the level is just a bit bigger than it needs to be. I think you could cut out about a fifth of its width, some of the area between the seeker and toaster powerups, and be fine. The far right area with the wide springs is also quite expansive but like, it's showing off, it's cute, it's fine. Check out all these springs! The sucker tubes into the top powerups are super campy but, well, I guess you know exactly what you're letting yourself in for, right?

This is a level I respect a lot but have never quite fallen in love with. It's not quite got a central concept that I can gel with, although it does do interesting things with vertical space. But it has lots of great bits scattered around, and again, the detail work in the walls is a treat.

Zeno is probably the 2024 level I can most easily imagine myself making, if one day I decided to get really into springs. It's a very vertical map, to be sure, and this relies on springs to get you around, and those springs tend to be perfectly positioned, taking you to just the right heights and with just the right amount of horizontal displacement. It's deeply satisfying, the moreso because the layout is still interesting and varied, you're not just taking springs from one long smooth platform to another like a 2002 CTF. Over and over exploring this level, you expect something to go badly (perhaps a fall to your death?), only for the level to save you by being designed just that carefully.

Besides the springs, there's also a smattering of energy blast. I'm less sold on that… I can't object to the powerup area after making Scorpio Key (and there's plenty of electro blaster, including very close by), but there's not much energy blast ammo in the rest of the level and it's just not going to last you long enough to do anything cool. The area above the powerup, with the firework ammo, is likewise a bit awkward despite some revisions… the firework ammo itself seems very appropriate though. Other powerups besides the energy blast powerup are pretty much just sitting around in the open, which feels nice, you get to keep getting stronger as you move around without having to think about it too much.

Visually, Zeno stuns in its layer 4, the bright Labrat colors standing out really well against the black, and the tunnel starfield amazing in how well it works for how simple it is. minmay may be right about the intervening layer, though… the not-quite-1/1 speeds work well enough for the pipes, but the rectangles are always a little weird how they don't quite serve as backgrounds to whatever layer 4 area they're associated with. And yes, sometimes you lose track of where you are in the big emptiness. Layer 4 looks so good though, obscure graphics source and all; the stop signs are as cheesy as ever but they sure do their job.

Zeno is deeply cool and has a very clever level description. Maybe some more firework pickups though?

Starling is fun stuff, a bold revitalization of the ancient art of combining JJ1 sets to form new things, but a JJ2 set for a change… the exact reverse of the IC JJ1 episode. And what do you know, it looks great. The deliberately non-fading background is a particularly cute touch, but the layer 4 stuff is still a great mixture of clearly Colon-inspired while not trying to faithfully recreate every single Colon detail. The crates feel appropriate despite not having a clear analog, and the pillars are fine too. I wouldn't have thought of any of this but it's all nifty and clever.

The biggest risk Starling takes is the sewer/coin area, but I don't think I'm thrilled with how it ended up. It just doesn't seem worth it from a gameplay perspective, despite how interesting it is. If you want to go to the roof, you can use the lamposts, even if they are very narrow. If you want the powerup you can shoot it through the wall. The sewer takes a while and feels like a trap to get camped on. It's very interesting but I wouldn't want to go there, although JJ2 players are like ants and I'm sure some people will pass through it anyway.

Outside the sewer, well, I like cramped spaces in Battle levels, with weapons that can reach around corners a bit, and Starling delivers, but with nice smooth walls instead of the uneven alcoves of cramped levels of yore. It's not a silky smooth gameplay experience by any means, but it's consistently interesting, and because part of the problem with the sewer is that it's so skippable, well, you can simply skip it!

True confession: I do not know what produces the lightning strike, here or in Thunder Cliffs. I'm sure I could read the script but I just don't have the pattern recognition skills to figure it out from gameplay.

The original version of Windstorm Fortress is a deep cut, and pairing it with Iron Crown makes a lot of sense. It must have felt satisfying to create all those cloud layers without resorting to animated tiles tricks. The background is still slightly too minimal for my tastes though… I know this is a hugely gameplay-focused level, and the background is as unobtrusive as possible, letting the player easily distinguish between black and gray, but I would like slightly more obtrusion I guess. Visually I'm pretty satisfied with layer 4 and company, though, they're clean and minimally interesting, not trying to do too much and distract anyone. Some of the sloped corners are kind of ugly with the striped blocks, but I guess that's the tileset.

As for gameplay and stuff, this generally delivers on what I want out of battle levels: a bunch of little spots where you can do different things, that play in different ways. Using custom weapons makes this even more possible, and the elektrek shield powerup feels great (though a bit neutered from earlier versions). The fusion cannon feels fairly thematic, I dunno if the layout is especially built toward it but I guess you can point it in some direction and hope you get lucky ten seconds later? The toaster and gun 8 don't feel too necessary but there are lots of springs for the toaster.

The left side of the level seems like a good place for helicopter ears, between the wide open spaces and the bouncer powerup. The right side of the level is very Spaz-centric, with jumps that are a little too high for Jazz or Lori to reach. I guess maybe that balances out?

Other than the elektrek shield, this level doesn't take any big risks, but it feels good to play and it's easy to navigate and it's easy to read. I'm also a sucker for levels inspired by other levels and stuff.

I've played worse.

Please review before downloading.
And happy birthday Koen.
Doe de groetjes thuis.

Cool stuff, short and sweet, felt like 2004 again. I used a few cheats though.

Gefeliciteerd Koen

I think about this tileset too much to continue not reviewing it.

For so many years, a JJ2 level used one tileset and that was it. Making a bespoke version of a tileset for your level wasn't unheard of, but it wasn't the norm. If a tileset didn't have everything you needed to make a level – all the foreground and background and platforms and so on – it didn't get used.

If used in this way, as the example level dutifully does, Cybercity has serious weaknesses. Its loud decorations and quiet walls make it hard to parse, it boasts one of the ugliest textured backgrounds I've ever seen, and it lacks game design tools like obvious one-way platforms.

But that's not how levels are made anymore. JJ2+ and MLLE make it trivial to paste different tilesets together, change palettes, and edit the tileset images themselves. And in that world, Cybercity shines. It offers fun, original, well-designed animated decorations that'd work great in any city setting with a matching art style, or in one of those levels where you're in cyberspace (we're overdue for another one of those!).

The artistic vision here is just too cool to ignore, I don't even care whether it's referencing Deltarune or not.

There's a lot to like here. A strong theme with bold color choices, animations to keep things feeling alive, and all the functionality's there, with a clean layout and mask and every obligatory event tile. Creative reuse of episode posters, too.

Where it falters is in the tiles themselves – much of the artwork is just too primitive to appeal to me. The foreground and background walls are bog-standard blocks with no identity. There are some windows and such to break them up, but it's just not enough for my eyes.

That said, the background skyline is awesome. The shading on those buildings is perfect for the theme.

An outstanding tileset overhaul with two excellent Single Player levels that use it. You can tell that an insane amount of work (and love!) was put into making these. If JJ2 had a "definitive edition", this is what I imagine it would look like. It's a must-play!

A music upload in IT format? I'm practically required to review that!

I haven't seen the level(s) Jungle Fevah v3.0 was made for, but I have no doubt it'll fit perfectly. Not super transformative, just an "upgrade" of the song, but a nicely done one where I liked every addition and change – always excited to see a tiny bridge. I'm most impressed by the new original vocal and guitar solo samples, that's some high effort right there.
It's also cute how it takes even more samples from Necros's "Ascent of the Cloud Eagle".

Jungle Fevah (Hip Mix), while it sometimes feels less polished (I really do not like the sound of the panflute portamento in rows 49-51 in patterns 23 and 24), is more interesting. It's still very intent on reminding you that it's Jungle, with a lot of melodies from the original showing up unaltered aside from the shuffle rhythm, but takes a lot more risk with going to new places, most visibly with the Plaedo section! It's a genuinely creative interpretation of Jungle Fevah that I'm delighted to see.

Here's hoping these don't lose their luster by getting used in 100 levels like Diamdust.j2b did :p

The tileset "Hotel Mix.j2t" is missing from the upload.

Quite like the gameplay. I'm still oddly fond of layouts with lots of vertical movement, and it's super easy to learn.
Visually, I love all the kooky gadgets in the walls, the Labrat-esque palette, the upside-down powerup, and the stop signs. However, I think the background's too austere – there's a cute textured background and a cute parallax layer matching the layout of the foreground, but that isn't quite enough for me to absorb an atmosphere from, and I'm left reading the level as mostly-disconnected floating platforms.
This minimal background decoration also results in a lack of visual cues for your position after jumping left off the top carrot platform, but I guess there's always the F9 display for that.

Tök jó mapek :)

Probably the single best way to mark the 30th anniversary of Jazz (however incidental), Marbel Prize is a delicious piece of vanilla Jazz.

I was going to say "little piece", but this level is considerably bigger than the original levels – with multiple discrete sections (marked by checkpoints), optional areas, and a lot of diverse and rewarding secrets. It took me a few attempts to get to 100% items, and that's not counting the "super secret" I ran out of time for. All of which is on brand with Marbelara as we know it, but on a bigger scale and more polish.

As mentioned by minmay, the enemy placement is pretty insidious, and this level is much tougher on ammo than JJ1 generally tends to be. It's not terribly hard – which is pretty rare as far as Violet levels go – but expect above average difficulty.

Overall, really rather quite good, maybe not brilliant, but more than worth the 10-15 minutes.

Got this as an random download… Hahaha would be fun to see this now if your like me in the 30's yo's.

I had been replaying some older Violet levels this summer and noticed that there is a gap between her SP and MP works – in that the former usually go pretty wild with tileset combinations, while the latter tend to pull their punches in this department. This level in particular, though, does not disappoint.

Although Violet remains careful and prioritises player visibility, the eyecandy in bllib is visibly more diverse – eclectic even, considering those poor disturbed Diamondus trees – than in blcon, even though the latter features 400% more textured backgrounds. The music does a lot of the heavy lifting as well, but the overall impression left by Blood Libel is one of vague, but intense discomfort and dread. And with that eyebrow rising title? Playing this level hits different this week than the last, for reasons I should not elaborate upon.

This is by far the most interesting layout from all the contest entries, built with, and around, one specific gimmick in mind. Navigation is easy, and means of climbing upwards are plentiful, with one direction but many possible paths. Violet is weaving new cloth with familiar threads here – in addition to everything listed in the download description, a seasoned JDC player will be reminded of Ascendance Cliff, Tower of Death, but also The Fingers of Icarus, and even Penelope and/or Falkenstein: The New Order. If the opening post of the contest thread was written specifically to entice Violet, should I be surprised that Violet’s entry seems to be created specifically to entice me, as an easily flattered level designer? Who could possibly tell.

Across all the entries for the Halloween contest, this one is my favorite, and is therefore declared the winner.

Bonus points: The Spike Bomb looks really good in blue.

Such a pleasant surprise to receive another Heroes 3 themed level from SJ! I have to admit that this one leaves me a little underwhelmed, unfortunately, since I’m so used to the original Necro town being very dark and gloomy, while this level settles for rather standard usage of Blade’s Fortress tileset. The little extras – the Tomb Rabbit coffins AND mummies especially – are nice, but I think the additions from Castle and Inferno (funnily enough, both of those are also Heroes 3 towns) clash with the “main” artwork a little, and the background, though multilayered, is a little flat. Would have been nice to see some more layers with more creature dwellings.

SJ claims that the original CTF layout has mostly been replaced, but this level still feels like a CTF to me – the middle is symmetrical and the side areas feel like they’re missing a CTF base each. What’s there is kind of interesting, but also feels like a lot of platforms floating mid-air. I do always say that it doesn’t take much to make a Battle level fun – and this level was fun – but this feels a little purposeless. I don’t think there is a single good use case for the Nail Gun in this level – a weapon specifically designed for vertical climbing – aside from the theme.

Not my favorite, but still enjoyable.

Bonus points: In 1.23, what should be a Pacman Ghost in the background is replaced with Sparks, which looks really funny to me.