Jazz Jackrabbit

2005-11-14 02:59:00 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Hi,

congratulations for doing this run (it's currently downloading, so I have not watched it yet). I remember many fun hours running through the game over and over again.

Actually though, personally I preferred the predecessor, Jazz1. Cute little game - written in Turbo Pascal, if memory serves me right.

I guess recording DOS-games is not an option - is it?

If so: Do you consider doing a jazz 1 run?

Philip

Thread title:

henkie

2005-11-14 03:35:11 pm

Just FYI: Linkage to the discussion topic for Jazz Jackrabbit. And he used his VCR to capture the run, so if he can get Jazz1 running, he should have no problems capturing it. Aside from other problems of course (I remember seeing many topics in the Tech Support forums by Aquatiger).

I don't remember if Jazz1 actually came up in the above linked topic, but I believe it was at least mentioned in there somewhere.

pilif

2005-11-14 03:50:40 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Hi,

oh. I'm terribly sorry. I did a search after Jazz. Both in the overview via ctrl-f (found nothing) and in the forum search (found only the on-progress topic).

Anyways. I doubt Jazz 1 can be run in a dos box and native DOS does not support the Video output of the graphics card. That's why I feared a run of Jazz 1 would be impossible.

If it is: Even better. The one thing I really liked about Jazz 1 was his coherent story which seems like it's missing in Jazz 2. Additinoally, I personally feel that the level design of Jazz 1 is quite a bit better than in its successor.

Philip

Robyrt

Edit history:

Robyrt: 2005-11-14 05:15:54 pm

2005-11-14 04:21:55 pm

aw crikey!

I have no problems running Jazz 1 with full sound and everything in DOSBox. I think Radix has problems with using it though, as it's technically a DOS emulator (although it doesn't go any faster than the games themselves, I think).

Kudos on the Jazz 2 runs - they're much better than the prelim runs that were up a while ago, especially with Spaz's use of the jump-off-start-position trick and some really good maneuvering in the early levels. The Jazz run isn't nearly as polished (mostly because it's a lot harder) but is still quite good.

And yes, for those of you who haven't played the game, the top hats ARE that hard to drop into normally, especially at turbo speed like Aqua does it.

AquaTiger

Edit history:

AquaTiger: 2005-11-14 08:18:41 pm

2005-11-14 08:18:24 pm

Never give up!

Thanks to those people who appreciate the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 runs. My real reason for posting here, though, is to address the questions that have come up.

Regarding the first Jazz Jackrabbit: I had problems trying to get it exact in DOSBox on my (fairly fast, WinXP) recording computer - while the game worked fine, the sound and music was off in several places, which is a pretty bad thing to record as it is. If I can get the game running without any incident on my (slower, Win98) laptop, and can get the video output to a TV (the laptop has an SVideo output, but the TV and VCR I own do not have SVideo inputs, and I have had no luck so far finding the right converters), a run would be possible. However, I have several runs I'm working on at the moment, plus my recording computer (which would only actually capture runs so I could make comments) is currently getting fixed.

Regarding Jazz Jackrabbit 2's story: I actually had to look this up when I'd played - it's not really mentioned much in the game, in all honesty.

Regarding the top hats: The hit detection in this game seems clearly aimed at youngsters - if you're even slightly on the edge of a platform, you're considered on it in most cases. So yeah, dropping down the hats is a pain.

Some other things I want to say:
-Using a lower resolution, while making the action more visible to everyone, took some real adjusting from me, because higher resolutions let you see more of the action around you. Therefore, there's probably at least one area where I'm either running blind or relying completely on prior knowledge.
-The specific comment Radix alludes to in the news topic mentioning this game (the final one in the Jazz run's comments) is perhaps the oddest situation I have EVER encountered in my time speedrunning games. Had such a thing happened on any level but the last one, I would've started the run over. (By the way, it happened slightly after I'd broken through the large set of floor blocks - that spot, I should note, seemed to desynch for some reason whenever I tried to process the run myself, which is why I ultimately decided to let Nate process it.)

Thanks to those people who appreciate the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 runs.  My real reason for posting here, though, is to address the questions that have come up.

Regarding the first Jazz Jackrabbit: I had problems trying to get it exact in DOSBox on my (fairly fast, WinXP) recording computer - while the game worked fine, the sound and music was off in several places, which is a pretty bad thing to record as it is.  If I can get the game running without any incident on my (slower, Win98) laptop, and can get the video output to a TV (the laptop has an SVideo output, but the TV and VCR I own do not have SVideo inputs, and I have had no luck so far finding the right converters), a run would be possible.  However, I have several runs I'm working on at the moment, plus my recording computer (which would only actually capture runs so I could make comments) is currently getting fixed.

Regarding Jazz Jackrabbit 2's story: I actually had to look this up when I'd played - it's not really mentioned much in the game, in all honesty.

Regarding the top hats: The hit detection in this game seems clearly aimed at youngsters - if you're even slightly on the edge of a platform, you're considered on it in most cases.  So yeah, dropping down the hats is a pain.

Some other things I want to say:
-Using a lower resolution, while making the action more visible to everyone, took some real adjusting from me, because higher resolutions let you see more of the action around you.  Therefore, there's probably at least one area where I'm either running blind or relying completely on prior knowledge.
-The specific comment Radix alludes to in the news topic mentioning this game (the final one in the Jazz run's comments) is perhaps the oddest situation I have EVER encountered in my time speedrunning games.  Had such a thing happened on any level but the last one, I would've started the run over.  (By the way, it happened slightly after I'd broken through the large set of floor blocks - that spot, I should note, seemed to desynch for some reason whenever I tried to process the run myself, which is why I ultimately decided to let Nate process it.)

CannibalBob

Edit history:

CannibalBob: 2005-11-15 03:34:09 am

2005-11-15 03:26:58 am

Hehe nice run, I noticed the run as Jazz wasn't 100% Jazz, as you turned into Spaz for like 1% of the time Wink

Also, you got real lucky on the devil boss in the ice level! One health and he was just about to hit you, but luckily he was almost dead himself.

And, you said you did the Spaz run after the Jazz one? I noticed in the Jazz one you made a lot of mistakes. I don't blame you for it but I was wondering maybe the Spaz run is 2 min better because you now have a greater feeling for the levels? I didn't watch the Spaz run yet, so maybe they're both about the same. I agree Spaz is the fastest, maybe you're like me and don't use Jazz as often as Spaz.

Addition:
Oh yeah dont' you just hate those flying guys, how they stick with you, no matter how far you run?

And a question: did you use a keyboard or a gamepad? I noticed you're extremely slow in switching weapons. You can just press a number on the keyboard and instantly switch to that weapon. This would've been really helpful near the end, when you're about to go to the boss and you had like 5 flying lizards and a handful of crows chasing you. You easily could've pressed 7 for dynamite, dropped it and dispatched of them all immediately!

Hehe nice run, I noticed the run as Jazz wasn't 100% Jazz, as you turned into Spaz for like 1% of the time  ;)

Also, you got real lucky on the devil boss in the ice level!  One health and he was just about to hit you, but luckily he was almost dead himself.

And, you said you did the Spaz run after the Jazz one?  I noticed in the Jazz one you made a lot of mistakes.  I don't blame you for it but I was wondering maybe the Spaz run is 2 min better because you now have a greater feeling for the levels?  I didn't watch the Spaz run yet, so maybe they're both about the same.  I agree Spaz is the fastest, maybe you're like me and don't use Jazz as often as Spaz.

Addition:
Oh yeah dont' you just hate those flying guys, how they stick with you, no matter how far you run?

And a question: did you use a keyboard or a gamepad?  I noticed you're extremely slow in switching weapons.  You can just press a number on the keyboard and instantly switch to that weapon.  This would've been really helpful near the end, when you're about to go to the boss and you had like 5 flying lizards and a handful of crows chasing you.  You easily could've pressed 7 for dynamite, dropped it and dispatched of them all immediately!

henkie

2005-11-15 10:21:05 pm

As he (Aquatiger) already mentioned in his notes, as well as the topic in which the run is discussed, Spazz is faster because of his ability to do a double jump, as well as his kick, which allows you to deal with bosses faster. On the mistakes, well, I think his run was actually very smooth, especially if you compare it to his preliminary runs. Plus, he did both runs in a single segment. You try to do a run of 30 minutes and not make a few mistakes.

AquaTiger

2005-11-15 11:36:29 pm

Never give up!

Yeah, the Spaz run does benefit from being more comfortable with some levels. However, that's not an absolute - there are several levels where the two have different start points.

Flying lizards: Yes, those and the bees are the prime reason why I didn't do this run on Hard mode - enemies are more aggressive in Hard mode and these were bad enough on Normal. I will say it's probably more entertaining, at least in my eyes, to let them follow rather than obliterating them.

As for the control: I used a gamepad, because I am more comfortable with that in side-scrollers than I am with the keyboard. That is indeed why I'm a bit slow switching weapons.

Enhasa

2005-11-25 05:54:32 am

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Various points:

- I thought it was widely considered that Jazz1 was by far the better game. Almost as much as the difference between OMF2097 and OMF:BG. Haha, I kid.
- I had to look up your comment about Turbo Pascal because I was skeptical, but apparently so. http://www.jazz2online.com/J2Ov2/articles/view.php?articleID=17 even details some kind of workaround that maybe Aquatiger can try if he hasn't already.
- You can definitely speed up or slow down emulation in DOSBox. It's how I could even get some games barely playable on my old comp.
- Honestly, I would have just toughed it out with regards to the fire alarm. If there's one thing college taught me, it's how to die in a fire. Whether it's being woken up at 4am or working through the alarm while writing a last minute paper or what have you.
- They're certainly annoying in normal play, but I hadn't realized those insects would really hurt you in a speedrun.

CannibalBob

2005-11-25 03:27:29 pm

Yes teh Turbo Pascal fix works. You might be able to run the game normally though DOSBox is best because you can use an openGL or DirectX overlay and use FRAPS