Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Battery Check was the first released game using the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 engine. It was a promotional game starring Batteryman that could only be obtained after handing in 15 empty batteries to a Stibat (a Dutch organization that promotes battery recycling) battery collection unit. When the player beats the game, he is given a secret sentence, which could be sent to Stibat to win prizes.

Story

There is no real story to the game, other than stop Battery Boss from whatever he was doing. To find Battery Boss, Batteryman has to run about puzzle filled areas.

Gameplay

Battery Check is a tactical platformer. This means you do the basic running and jumping, but something extra is added to the game to make you strategize. That something extra is the fact Batteryman runs on electricity, and his health is constantly draining. He must keep himself recharged or he will die. Batteryman can recharge himself at special gates, which are placed at various places in the level.

The first two level’s main objective is to make it to the end of each level. This is done by solving puzzles, and dodging the suckers who will gladly sap away your energy. The third and final level’s objective is to defeat Battery Boss.

An interesting gameplay aspect is that Batteryman can not shoot. His only means of interacting with his enviroment are several machines, which are connected to battery machines. The machines can be charged with a green battery. The green battery runs out of power after a while, so it’s vital that Batteryman gets through the puzzle before he has to recharge the machine.

Pickups and Non Playable Characters

There are two main kinds of pickups in Battery Check. Normal green batteries, and blue super batteries. The green batteries are required to progress through the normal stages, and you need at least three super batteries to defeat the end boss.

There is a non playable character who appears from time to time in levels. His name is Freddy the Dragon and he will swap 3 empty batteries for one full one.

Development and Distribution

The game was distributed by Stibat in 1998, in exchange for 15 empty batteries. It is now impossible to get a copy.

EDIT: The full version of this game has now been released for free download by Stibat. There is also a demo version available.

Enemies and Hazards

Battery Check contained 3 enemies:

• The Energy suckers. There are two types of those: Orange energy suckers and red energy suckers. They hang onto ceilings or casually hop about until Batteryman gets close. Suckers attack by trying to latch on to battery man to suck his energy. After sucking away Batteryman’s energy, they will lay still for a few moments and continue hopping around afterwards. Suckers can be destroyed by making them touch water or get squished by a closing door. Red suckers are larger and charge batteryman on sight, whereas orange suckers only charge when Batteryman gets close.
• The third enemy is the Battery Boss, whose only attack is pressing a button that causes a machine to shoot electric spheres at you.
• There are two main hazards in Battery check. There is water (both in pools and rain) and acid dropping from various laboratory equipment. Touching any of those liquids will make your energy gauge drop.

Version Compatibility and Custom Level Creation

In May 2004, the beta version 1.10o has been discovered. The level and tileset file formats used by the said version were compatible with Battery Check’s, and thus the JCS coming with it was able to create and edit Battery Check levels and tilesets.