PlayStation Basement #80 - Jumping Flash! 2

This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on March 7th, 2020.

Welcome back to the PlayStation Basement, a weekly review of games for the original PlayStation that are somewhat obscure, unusual, or unknown. Games are rated Good, Bad, or Neutral to emphasize the review itself. Now, let’s go!

Tomorrow most of the United States will “spring forward” when daylight saving time begins. Time will shift just so slightly as to cause some kind of dimensional vortex to occur, the source of the Mandela Effect? I’m glad to see days getting longer and to get out of work when the sun is still up. For this momentous occasion of leaps and bounds, we return to the world of Jumping Flash! with Jumping Flash! 2. Jumping Flash! 2 is very similar to the first game. It was developed by Exact and MuuMuu and published by Sony. The robotic rabbit Robbit’s second adventure commenced in 1996, a year after his first. This game would see Robbit team up with the questionable Baron Aloha to defeat a new villain, Captain Kabuki, who has decided to pull pieces of Aloha’s planet, Little Muu, apart. Maybe Aloha will finally gain some humility? Only time can tell, daylight saving or otherwise.

The cover art for Jumping Flash! 2 is very, very weird without any knowledge of the game. Again, Europe and Japan got the same image with slight changes in color with North America getting something similar but different. The Japanese original shows Robbit flying over a planet with Kabuki and various MuuMuus behind him and Baron Aloha on the side in a space copter. I like how Captain Kabuki splits the image in two; this is good composition. While the Japanese image utilizes a more natural look in an illustrative style, the European version smooths things out in high contrast to create a 3D effect. This cover also zooms in, awkwardly cutting off Aloha and making the composition more cramped. The American art has Robbit flying off of a planet with four MuuMuus in tow as Kabuki looks on and the visage of Aloha is in the sky. It’s also cramped and probably the most confusing; I had no idea what I was looking at really before I played the game. Just generally though, these characters, especially Captain Kabuki, are very strange looking.

The characters within the game are still pretty strange-looking too, so perhaps the cover art is appropriate. The in-game graphics are similar to the first Jumping Flash!, but Jumping Flash! 2 adds more textures, move faster, and goes for a darker, deeper color palette. Many of the same enemies (spidery crabs, turret oxen, and TV-headed flyers) are still here, but there are new ones too. The bosses have gotten larger and more elaborate too, in my opinion. I really like how the levels look here: they are still simple but much more detailed. There are special objects in each one, and a lot of unique little references to see. I’m often impressed with some of these early PlayStation games, as they often seem to lack the warping polygons of later titles. Everything looks smooth here. Along for the ride are some goofy and fun cutscenes. These are much more full-featured than the snippets in the first Jumping Flash! Everything looks really good here.

The sound continues to be great. Jumping Flash! 2 features the great Takeo Miratsu once again. A composer known for anime OVAs of the 90s, Miratsu made some excellent tracks in both titles. Amidst the OST one can here heavy dance beats, tropical grooves, Japanese classical instruments, metallic rock rhythms, and carnival tunes. It’s overall a darker and heavier soundscape, and it fits the color scheme of the levels well. The sound effects continue in the same vein as the first game with extra speech from the MuuMuus and during FMVs from Aloha and Kabuki. I enjoy Lorelei King’s camp performance as Captain Kabuki, but Baron Aloha became heavily German-accented. It can be hard to understand him at times, and it is a little over-the-top. Jumping is the name of the game though.

That’s what you do in Jumping Flash! 2 – jump. It’s a first-person platformer just like the first game. Robbit can jump several times, fire weapons, and use special attacks. He has to collect four MuuMuus on each stage, instead of the jet pods from the first game, and then defeat the bosses at the end of each world. Each stage can be completed quickly, but there’s much exploration to do to find your way around and to find the MuuMuus scattered about. Some levels are indoors, but most are outdoors. This game even includes some underwater sections. It’s generally the same as the first Jumping Flash! with small additions. I did find the levels more complex in Jumping Flash! 2, but I think it’s an easier game overall. Certain sections gave me some trouble but not many. I was able to defeat Captain Kabuki and clear the whole game without losing all of my lives. Once again, this unlocks the Special and Extra modes. There is even more to unlock in Jumping Flash! 2 – performance medals are awarded silently for performing certain actions during certain stages. I think I had six of them at the end, but there are 12. Maybe sometime soon I will go on the hunt for the rest.

Jumping Flash! 2 is an excellent game that continues what worked with the first game and adds a bit more. If you didn’t enjoy Robbit’s first outing, I don’t think you will like this either. If you just wanted more levels and more bosses and the like, Jumping Flash! 2 will be a great time!

Jumping Flash! 2 receives a Good.