Jumping Flash

 

Hey everyone, Welcome back to Games With Dad. Sorry about the quick hiatus. It was completely unintentional, and lets just say that I got caught up in the moment playing some games and I couldn't find much time to write up posts about them. Over the next few weeks I'll be chronicling my experiences with these games. First up is Jumping Flash on the PS1!

Jumping Flash is an early PS1 game and it's a first person platformer of all things. Because we don't see many of those (off the top of my head, only Mirror's Edge comes to mind) and because it came out in 1995, conventional wisdom would say that it's probably not good. I found this to be quite the contrary. This is a quick little enjoyable game that I was able to run through in just a few hours.

The biggest question that most people might have before playing this game is "What about the controls?". It was created in an era before analog sticks, after all. Honestly, that was my biggest concern going in, and it ended up being a nothing burger. While on the ground, your rabbit mech controls like a tank; no strafing and to look up and down you hold down a shoulder button. While in the air you can't turn but instead have the ability to strafe. They give you a double jump and you automatically look at your feet while jumping so you always know where you're going and where you will land, a big issue with platforming in 3D.

Your main objective in Jumping Flash is to find the 4 jetpods in the level and then make your way to the exit. This puts the emphasis on exploring the levels instead of twitch reactions, which is a good idea in the early 3d era. There are 6 worlds, with 3 levels a pop, and the 3rd level is always a boss battle. The worlds have varying themes; from standard 90s technicolor forests, to an amusement park/carnival, to a space station up in orbit. The story is a bit of an afterthought and something that you would see back in 16-bit/early 32-bit games. You're fighting an evil scientist in a hawaiian shirt, so more Sonic the Hedgehog than Final Fantasy.

In order to truly complete Jumping Flash, you must beat it twice; Once via the normal playthrough, and then again in a New Game+ mode with a bit more enemies and where jetpods are put in some tricky locations. Overall, it was a fun playthrough that only took an hour or two. I could easily come back to it years from now and blow through it. Would recommend!

Next time we'll be going over the start of my new gaming obsession. It's a series I've slept on until recently, but now I can't get enough of it!