I’m not sure why you even bothered to include the inferior conversions of certain JJ1 sets, given that no one in their right mind would use them over their superior counterparts anyway (see Rooster’s vs Lark’s Industrius conversions for example). While I guess this upload is at least a useful reference for people looking for JJ1 sets, it serves little purpose overall as unless you’re planning on making a level pack that uses all or most of the JJ1 sets, you’re better off using J2O’s search feature to look for the individual sets you want.
It’s HOLIDAIUS, not “Holidaeus”, Violet CLM.
I’d recommend disabling ratings since nothing is actually yours.
I suppose this would be convenient for those who are looking to use JJ1 conversions which aren’t the official godawfully converted ones, though I just prefer using the search function to get the certain single conversion I want, so I don’t fill JCS with tilesets I’ll never use even more.
Absolutely great pack, two levels (Cerulean Comet and Pool Party) are worthy of a ten I’d say… The others are all of a very high standard too.
level is tedium. No, seriously, some really good maps here.
Incredibly uncreative, it’s just a boss slapped in an empty arena. Anyone can do that. Also, the screenshots are unrelated, and bossrush7 doesn’t even have a boss put in, it’s just an end area. Bossrush1 is annoying when Bilsy gets stuck in the wall. Test your damn levels before uploading them. The Devan boss is made easier for no reason.
Here’s a very useful add-on tool for those who like to script things. Helps you avoid those typos, flaws, etc. in your script that are sometimes not-so-easy-to-notice. This patch guides writing the functions themselves as well, without the need to peek into plus-angelscript for details all the time. There’s also auto-completion!
An awesome level with a smart use of the AngelScripts functions. JJ2 may have really good future!
Keep going!
@ cooba, I know how to use JJ2+ in 2013. Too bad that I started working on this map in 2010 or so. I do know that I could have changed the water and lighting more easily. But this level has a script only for the water palette.
Nice big map with a decent layout, the eyecandy is a bit lacking though.
Another map by FireSworD huh? Quite a good map tho! One of the better maps, if not the best map, FireSworD made. Tileset usage here is really good. Since I haven’t seen many Haunted House maps around here is the eyecandy also really good. You can easily learn the map and the layout is balanced aswell. Download recommendation!
What’s the point of uploading the sequel to the first one, now that they offer the exact same thing? At that point you should only keep one or the other.
Also, use the TSF to 1.23 converter. There’s absolutely no need for this to be TSF. There’s one for tilesets and levels.
http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/5370/-/
http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/5368/-/
As trendy as Flappy Bird may be, the addiction never really got to me. I admit playing it twice or so. But I never expected it to be ported to JJ2.
Basically, what we have here is a direct conversion of the game’s graphics (which is partly a conversion of Mario in itself), including the city background and score numbers. There are both masked and unmasked pipes, but that’s about it for the tileset.
Included is a test level using only Fly Carrot movement, which confronts to the gameplay layout of Flappy Bird. You just have to move all the way to the right avoiding pipes and the ground, as they’ll warp you back to the beginning. Instead of scoring after passing pipes, you’ll get to see a message saying Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc, etc. Also, you can fly on your own pace, while part of the Flappy Bird challenge is the forced scroll.
Now, as Ande300 encourages others to make their own level with it. This just asks for an AngelScripted version that uses forced scrolling, score counting, flappy movement, and randomized pipes. I’m terrible at scripting, but the idea is there!
I recommend downloading this only if you played and liked Flappy Bird, and give a 6 for the effort of porting the graphics and an OK attempt at porting the gameplay.
This is a small CTF level about the size of MALCH. The bases are in small square enclosures on both sides, linked with a long vine. The bases are entered from the downside or up from the big vine. Springs give easy access to the vine, as well as jump you up behind the bases. Spaz has a clear advantage here, as he’s able to jump the vines without a spring.
On both lower side corners are warps that take you up to a 3h carrot and directly warp you back to the middle. Here comes the issue that falling on a vine after being warped will give weird movement results. Also, the warps are easely accessed by accident as they’re not enclosed in a wall or anything.
Ammo is there, but not evenly spread. The left base has a Toaster PU and ammo, while the right side has a Bouncer PU and ammo. This gives the right team an advantage with the ranged bouncer. Though both sides have a few (regular) seekers behind the base.
Eyecandy is almost nonexistant. There is plain ground, and all walls are made of blocks. There are some flowers and trees on the ground, waterfalls in the back, and a regular clouds layer 8 background.
So, I don’t know what else can be said about this. I guess it’s yours (and Naruto’s) first level? I can’t recommend this level for download, and give a 4 for a solid first attempt. It’s not too bad for a very first level, but I suggest you keep on practising (and perhaps reading sites like JCSref or HowToJCS) and I’m sure you’re able to make a splendid level someday!
Some weeks ago, Mithos (in person) reminded me of these levels and their obvious reference to Touhou 11, so I played another game in them to get them reviewed! For the music, I couldn’t find the file ‘underwater2.mp3’ used in the first level, MegaUpload has since then been demolished.
Let’s get to the point. The first level is Deeper Depths, made with the popular Xargon tileset conversion. I’m familiar with UT’s level ‘Deep’ but don’t know anything about the game Ever17 (the inspiration for the level). A Google search got me an interactive novel game with an underwater theme, so I guess the level fits that. It’s a small to medium sized symmetrical CTF level with multiple horizontal and vertical pathways to the bases and a PU gimmick. Stomping a crate in the upper-middle will make a Seeker PU fall down, which is interesting for coordinated 2v2’s but a little risky in a duel where your speed is even more crucial. The pathway layout is done alright, there are no annoying dead ends, and arrows point at your possibilites. There’s no shortage on ammo and PU’s, so expect heavy fire in the narrow paths. There are 1h carrots on both sides, and of course a 3h carrot in the middle near the Seeker PU. I’m personally not too fond of the Bblair style warps (which take you away to a place in a ‘random’ fashion). Also, there’s these sucker tube events that pull you up on ledges, supposedly to bring back the flow of the game if a player’s jump was off, but I’ve never been too fond of those. Overall, a not too original but fun level. It’s speciality is clearly the unusual placement of the Seeker PU in which controlling it will give you an advantage. Personally, I’d say it’s more fun in 2v2 than in duel.
The 2nd level, Subterranean Apocalypse, is the gem in this pack if you ask me. It’s pretty small and has a clear focus on duels. It’s a symmetric level as well, and the left and right sides houses the bases protected by a triggered wall that forces players to enter from the top or bottom, thus into combat. There are 2 carrots in the middle to protect (a 3h and 1h), and plenty of PU’s both low and up. All lava either falls or warps into pits and will kill you (with a fun message though). The pits on the upper side are placed quite tricky just after having used a spring. Ammo is just right for a duel, there will be no overflow of bullets and there’s plenty of space to dodge in the middle. Eyecandy is good enough, though I understand the tileset has it’s limits. Gameplay is what this level’s about, and that’s original enough to reccomend!
For the third level (supposedly added later), well, there isn’t much to say about it. It’s symmetrical too and mostly based on horizontal movement and feels a bit plain in design. There is a lot of ammo, maybe too much, scattered a bit randomly and several PU’s. Best thing’s probably the tubes, they allow to save you from the lava pits in the bottom and let you take small shortcuts too. I can’t really recommend this one, it’s bigger but hasn’t really got anything special that makes it stand out.
Overall, with this pack’s original 2 levels Deeper Depths and Subterranean Apocalypse you can sure have a good time. I recommend them for friendly matches, but little makes them stand out compared to the big names in competitive CTF levels. SA alone would get an 8.5. Thus with a bit of generosity towards SA’s quality, all 3 levels combined justifies an 8! Don’t forget though, Deeper Depths is worth a try too!
This was supposed to be a quick review, but it turns out I have too much to say about it. So I’ll go into more detail. Then I expect people will downrate it because of the rating, no matter how constructive I am.
Gameplay:
I’m not sure where the “Challenging” comes into this. It’s about as easy at the official episodes. Partly due to having 3-4 shields in this level, lots of seekers, lots of carrots, and mediocre enemy placement.
While I don’t mind reviewers mentioning their difficulty experience as information, I’m not a huge fan of players judging level quality based on difficulty. The thing is, player skill varies wildly so while one level may be hard for them, someone else could just steamroll through it. Some like it really difficult, some like it medium, and some like it easy. However, I may be biased since I try not to judge levels based on difficulty, but on creativity and the execution of ideas (which is why I originally didn’t want to make a long review of this level). Except I dislike mindless (aka riskless) easy and the cheap trial and error “hard”.
Why is the enemy placement mediocre? Except in the small and water passages, you can easily ignore the enemies by jumping over them. There are literally no airborne enemies, so jumping and running constantly is promoted. The enemy placement gets pretty spammy at times, which may look difficult until you realise that all you need to do is stand/walk and spam the shoot button…or spam kick if you’re Lori. More enemies also means a higher chance of pickups, possibly making the level even easier.
There’s also a bunch of ammo crates near the start. The ammo usually feels slapped about in the level in terms of why it’s there. I rarely use ammo in SP due to a habit of spamming blaster. Most of the time I didn’t see a reason to use much else, but hey, if you’re bored of blaster, you can try super easy mode with spamming seekers, or use freezer if you have a fetish for wasting time, or electro and pepper and RF just for something different.
The best thing about this level is the layout. It’s not exactly linear at the start. There’s a lot of exploration involved, and some secrets.
However, changing the difficulty will barely make a difference, because the author put no effort into setting difficulty for the events (I checked in JCS). I’m guessing they either overlooked that you can set difficulty for events, or they didn’t know how to, or were just plain lazy. The shields, some carrots, and a couple of seeker crates belong to easy mode. Hard mode could do with some smartly placed air enemies, or even just in general.
There’s also a bunch of star blocks you’re supposed to shoot with RF. Um…there’s RF blocks in this tileset. If that was supposed to be a puzzle then it wasn’t too well thought out for simply being a trial and error one.
There are two exits. It’s not worth playing again if you got to the coin exit, since there’s nothing special at the main exit. Inside the coin exit…you get the tuff boss in a plain arena with a bunch of carrots. EIGHT carrots. I get the coin warp is supposed to be rewarding, though eight carrots feels like overkill, especially when you’re against a boss. At that point all you need to do is mindlessly fire due to the sheer amount of carrots.
There’s nothing in particular that’s really creative. Since it’s limited to vanilla jj2, there’s barely anything new you can do with it anymore, so I didn’t expect anything revolutionary. However, it’s still possible to be creative within these limitations.
Eyecandy:
Your typical colony fare, except the closer foreground streetlights aren’t there. I can’t say much else, since there isn’t much else you can do with this tileset. At least the tiles are placed fine.
However, I’m a little against using the original tilesets due to most having annoying masking errors and worse tile arrangement (which makes it harder to work with), and this isn’t one an exception. There’s a conversion of this tileset which fixes the masking issues. Not a big deal though.
There’s also some enemies that feel out of place. Xmas turtles, dragons, helmutts…what.
Music:
Lol, what? I guess I can’t get used to the idea of official music being used in a different official tileset, that was intended for a different one.
Overall, this level is mediocre. Not bad, but not good. I’m sure plenty of other players will enjoy it more than me. If you’re into the official style of levels, you’ll love it. I feel like I’m repeating myself…
lol people are silly yellin’ on the internet and all. anyway, great job buddy your contributions are great. i dont get how to use this thing to its full extent, nor do i think im gonna find out given that my time with jcs is short aka no time with jcs, or mlle i should say.
Sonic With A Gun is probably the fourth most ambitious Jazz-related project to ever see completion. The first three are Jazz Jackrabbit, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, and JJ2+, and now that I think about it, I’m not really even sure about those.
In case your country has censored the upload description: SWAG offers six new Jazz 1 episodes, most with two normal levels, a secret level, and a bonus level. If you only include the normal levels then you would expect roughly the size of two original Jazz episodes, but most of the SWAG levels are much longer than the original Jazz levels, so it is closer to 3 or 4.
The levels do a remarkable job of stuffing themselves full of Sonic references, and while the game is still, at its core, Jazz Jackrabbit, SWAG feels very distinct from that. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a different game, but it feels much more like a full-fledged expansion pack (one of the cool ones, not horse armour) than a mere set of custom levels. Every planet has its own complete tileset, most of them more intricate than the original Jazz ones – Emeraldus is certainly a lot more attractive than Muckamok. Despite most of the graphics coming from some part of Jazz, the environments feel completely fresh, due to how much those graphics have changed. Just look at the 1st and 3rd screenshots. You won’t see a single enemy reused from Jazz, either – every single one is new, and there are lots of single ones, too. This being Violet, some of them are positively evil in their behaviour and placement. Even the pickups have new sprites!
The level design is tight all around, several times more appealing than that in the original game. Levels are filled with multiple paths, cool tricks, and interesting challenges. Despite many levels having complex layouts, it’s rare to feel lost; there’s a fantastic job done of showing the player where to progress. Or maybe that’s just because you always want to get from the left side of the level to the right side of the level. Whatever. The only planet that didn’t really impress me was Gravis – the graphics were surprisingly dull, with little detail and lots of floating coloured lines, and the pinball portions were really awkward with Jazz’s physics.
I was also very impressed by how well Sonic’s bonus levels were recreated. They’re certainly a lot more exciting than the original Jazz bonus levels – although I would have loved to be able to see the UFOs from more than 2 centimetres away.
The boss fights are on par with Sonic 1, and a good deal more interesting than the ones in the original Jazz. Then again, a trained gerbil could beat the boss fights in the original Jazz.
Playing SWAG, the only things that really bothered me were the timer running out on later levels (like I said, they’re long!), the small field of vision in Jazz (but SWAG handles it /much/ better than the original levels), and the limitations of the Jazz engine itself (every now and then you might notice a spike ball or spring spontaneously ceasing to exist).
I don’t think the difficulty was actually that much higher than the original Jazz levels, I didn’t have much trouble beating it on Hard. Mind you, Jazz 2 single player is about as difficult as drinking a glass of chocolate milk, and by comparison Jazz 1 is more like eating a small cactus. Except the cactus is actually delicious.
SWAG even has its own title screen. This is a product that is impressive in every respect, well worth the time it took to develop. I mean, the worst things I could think of to say about SWAG were actually complaints about the ORIGINAL GAME. I haven’t ever had that reaction to a mod before.
Rating? 9.8, because I’m reserving 9.9 for an especially large piece of the True Cross, and 10.0 for a machine that turns my toenail clippings into money.
Quick Review? I don’t think so.
Download recommended? What do you freaking think?
P.S. After completing SWAG, I managed to fix my Windows computer. Coincidence? Okay, yeah, it probably is a coincidence.
Alright, this took me somewhere between 6 to 8 tries to finish on Normal in one continue, but I finally did it and oh boy, this pack exceeded my expectations and overloaded my nostalgia! Across all playthroughs I found 3 secret levels and played 4 bonus levels. I’m not sure if that’s all of them, but let’s just review this beast!
The first stop is Emeraldus, an easy-going planet that mixes elements from Diamondus and Sonic’s Green Hill Zone. Right from the start it’s noticable how clever the levels are designed towards Jazz1’s low field of vision, with every jump landing Jazz where you’d expect him to land. I rarely bumped into spikes or enemies without expecting them to be there. Also, both levels have enough carrots to let players get the hang of Jazz1’s mechanics.
The 2nd planet, Marbelava, is perhaps the strangest and a bit of a black horse compared to the others (just like Sonic1’s equivalent). The underground parts encourage slow movement and precision jumps. It’s also filled with cleverly designed moving platforms, like blocks floating on lava and plateaus hanging on a chain. I generally liked these parts, except for the section with falling blocks which appeared to form a stack yet they didn’t. Just jumping into them worked, but it’s a bit unclear as to how and why this was intended or not.
Oh, and without trying to spoil, I got to play a secret level with an incredible atmosphere. It literally turned darkness into light. :P
Next stop is Gravis, mixing various elements from the Casino styled Sonic levels with Jazz1. All focus is on spring, bounce, and jumping mechanics here. In my view, the difficulty took a significant rise from this planet on. Carrots get less (or harder to find), enemies are placed harder, and environmental hazards are more fierce. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and visual details set here, such as neon-lights and the fact that the downside of the level is dark while the upside is light! I also liked the little Jazz clones, they remind you that it’s still a Jazz game following the same base plot (without the Twin Battleships).
In one of my latter playthoughs I found a secret level that felt as a springy reward, those extra lives really helped in learning the harder levels to come!
Labyrinthion, the fourth planet, was where most of my playthroughs ended. It mixes water-level puzzles with carefully placed hazards such as rolling rocks. First off, the way how the water slide at the beginning loops through warps is a cool way to resemble Sonic1’s counterpart. Thereafter starts a cleverly designed puzzle that requires you to open high pathways by raising the water level. I didn’t particularly like the slow pace of the first level, but the minecarts and moving platforms in the second one got me amazed! And then I haven’t even talked about the JJ2 style crate puzzles that halted my progress until asking on the JCF thread! Best thing introduced here may still be the granade weapon, it works well and gets rid of the fact that Jazz1’s weapons aren’t too different from each other.
The fifth planet is Noirlite, and reminds you that pits in platform games are evil! Thus it more than ever encourages you to stay up whenever possible. It also encourages fast movement like no other, and uses sucker tube mechanics to simulate loops. The booby-trap enemies introduced here were annoying (as they should) and it took me a while to learn how to overcome them. All while enjoying the starry sky including falling star effects!
In an earlier playthrough I found another secret level that really took things different with a Jazz clone. It relied on muscle-memory to clear it but wow, it was amazing!
Next there’s an oddly titled (extra) level ‘cloudsduel’ that resembles Sonic’s flying trip to Eggman’s base in Sonic 2, except we have Jazz on his trusty airboard! Me as a shoot ‘em up fan really appreciated the gameplay of this level! And it felt like an easy interlude for what is to come…
…In Fabricus, the final planet which is Devan’s base! It resembles both the ‘Death Egg’ and Scrap Brain Zone from Sonic. And just like on Sonic, environmental hazards are everywhere and way harder to avoid than on the previous planets. There’s things like electricity, torches, sawblades, and spears. The enemies however, are somewhat more passive and predictable, like those pigs shooting ball-things. I got through the first level pretty easy, but the 2nd started with another water puzzle (now with more hazards) that took many of my hard earned lives. The rest of the level went smooth, and the most surprising thing were the magnetic circle platforms, very clever and fun to play around with!
A lot more can be said about SWAG. But this review is a wall of text already, so let’s just say that even though there’s no such thing as perfection, a project of this scale with every nook & cranny thought-through with a purpose. The purpose of letting people play a game mixing Jazz, Sonic, fresh surprises, and nostalgia that’s well worth a 10! Chances are slim that you will like this pack if you don’t like the original Jazz1, but it’s well worth a try. Download recommended? No, it’s mandatory!
Well, it took me a while, but I finally managed to win this level.
Indeed, it was quite an interesting experience and something that is entirely new for jazzjackrabbit 2. Also, this is one of the first single player releases since the newest version of JJ2 plus(involving scripting) has been introduced.
The main concept is basic enough but is exploited in different ways throughout the level. Players can also observe what a possible obsession with the raven enemy could lead to. However, to my mind, it would be best if there were some sort of story to explain the occurrencies, despite the fact that it was designed for cooperative mode. Of course there is nothing wrong with leaving the player to interpret the reason for things like the rabbit flying into space while encountering bats and fish or Devan Shell flying on Bolly’s aircraft and transforming himself into a giant raven, but giving the creator’s point of view is not a bad thing either.
Decorations could have been slightly better, although here we have an excellent example of changing background colours accompanied with synchronization of events and music – that was well done.
Gameplay was, as mentioned earlier, very original. What I specifically liked about it is the balanced difficulty which made up for there being no choice between difficulty levels(once again, because of coop). Some of the bosses could be defeated with numerous strategies depending on the decision whether it is reasonable to get hit or not – making those main enemies requiring constant movement to avoid harder to fight opponents.
Overall, this is highly reccomended to download and a very good release to begin the year.
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Eat your lima beans, Johnny.