Retro Fun: Jumping Flash!
I make it no big secret that when the original Playstation arrived in 1995, I avoided it with a seething, boiling hatred. After all, I was brought up on Nintendo, and proud of it. Throughout the 8-bit and 16-bit era I swore by Nintendo and considered Sega to be second-rate wannabes whose only chance at getting people to play their games was to make fun of us Nintendo loyalists and belittle us. When Sony entered the gaming scene, I immediately disliked them for the same reasons. Needless to say, I never owned a PS1. However a friend of mine did, and I hung out at his house a lot after school, so I did play my fair share of Playstation games anyway. One game that quickly became an obsession with me was a platform title called “Jumping Flash!”.When I first bought my PS2, I happily thought that I could finally play all the games that my fanboyishness had forced me to avoid. Jumping Flash was one of the first games in my mind that I just had to get. I’m happy to say that this is a game that has, in my mind anyways, stood the test of time. It’s a 3D platform game done in an era when 3D platform games were still mysterious and scary things, back before Mario stepped in and gave everyone a template on how to do it properly. Its timing couldn’t have been better, because this game doesn’t play anything like the Mario-clones of the time and it stands out much better because of it.
Jumping Flash has you playing from a first-person perspective, inside a robot rabbit, suitably named a “Robbit”. While you can fire guns in the game, don’t let the FPS viewpoint sway you, you’re much better off jumping around like crazy! Your Robbit can triple jump, and while the first jump keeps the standard “look forward” perspective of other FPSes, when you double and triple jump, your robbit automatically looks down directly below it, making it easy to gauge where you’re going to land. It’s a mechanic that works really well, and gives you a great sense of vertigo as you jump all around the platform-based levels.
The level design is really top notch, too. While the graphics and landscape are pretty bare as far as visuals go, its the sense of how everything is laid out that works so well. Floating platforms are scattered all over the place, and enable you to make your way around the open levels in any way you want as you search for your energy canisters then make for the exit. The levels are often quite surreal in a 2D Mario-esqe way, with platforms floating all over the place, or areas of floor that push you super-fast along their tracks, or even giant whales floating through the air (that you can, of course, jump on and hitch a ride!). The levels really feel like giant playgrounds and invite you to go crazy all over them.It’s a real shame that this particular series, or even this style of 3D platforming, never caught on especially well. The sequel is more great fun, but the third game in the series was released without a stateside counterpart. However, I’ve heard that Jumping Flash is available (or will be soon?) on the PS3’s downloadable service. Those of you out there with the option to do so, I highly recommend getting this title, it’s worth the small fee you’d have to pay. To everyone else, check out some used gaming stores, both games can normally be found awfully cheap (I got the first Jumping Flash mint in box for 7.99) and you won’t be disappointed.
The good folks (folk?) at Whip Ass Gaming have recorded some of the tunes from Jumping Flash and made them available for download. The music is simple, but really fun, much like the game itself. iPod worthy in my opinion (at least, it’s on mine!). Actually, WAG has *tons* of great video game music, so be sure to check out their other offerings! Music from Jumping Flash can be found on Tape 5 and Tape 7.