RF Missile
- the 3rd in Jazz Jackrabbit 1,
- the 5th in Jazz Jackrabbit 2.
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Table of Contents
Normal weapon
Appearance
When this weapon is used without its power-up, it fires two green rockets, one angled 15° above the player and one 15° below. These rockets will accelerate slightly as they travel.
Effect
Each rocket will do two hearts of damage to enemies and destructible blocks, but only a single heart to other players. Furthermore, the rockets’ explosions can knock away nearby rabbits, and in multiplayer can even hurt them (but will never hurt the player who fired them; his teammates may blink but without losing health). Sometimes, damage caused this way will not result in temporary invincibility, resulting in the infamous “three-heart kills”, in which a player is hit by one of these explosions and then immediately hit again by the missiles themselves (or even more explosions). Assuming JJ2+ is used, these explosions will do a single heart of damage regardless of power-ups.
Said explosions can reach just far enough to harm an opponent on the opposite side of a one-tile thick wall; this can be exploited to harm an opponent on a platform directly above you without fear of immediate retaliation.
Powered-up weapon
When powered-up, the rockets will become red, and a third rocket will be added, which is fired on a straight trajectory. The individual rockets will do two hearts of damage to rabbits, but their damage against normal enemies is unchanged.
Although the rockets explode quickly and thus appear to have a short range at first, their speed is very heavily augmented by firing them while running, giving them a quite respectable range. This, combined with their spread, tends to make the RF Missiles a very effective weapon in multiplayer games.
Techniques and strategy
Because RF Missiles’ explosions throw nearby rabbits away, they can occasionally be used to aid in navigation. The two most common techniques are RF Climbing (a player stands between two walls, jumps upwards, and repeatedly fires RFs in alternating directions; when done correctly, this allows the player to reach potentially infinite heights as long as they have enough ammo), and RF Kicking (a Spaz player fires RF missiles and immediately sidekicks; when done correctly, the explosions will hit the player as they are sidekicking and propel them forward, greatly increasing both the speed and distance of the kick).
If the player is stuck in a wall, they can propel themselves slightly upwards by firing RF missiles straight up. However, this in itself will not allow them to escape from the wall, and it also requires a great deal of ammo to accomplish anything at all.
Finally, note that the effects of these explosions on other players are far greater than those on yourself. A player hit particularly hard may be propelled more than 30 tiles in one direction.