Jazz² Resurrection

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About

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is a 1998 side-scrolling platform game produced by Epic MegaGames for Windows (and later Macintosh), notable for adding LAN and internet multiplayer over the original Jazz Jackrabbit; it was re-released on GOG.com in 2017. Jazz² Resurrection is a fully rewritten, from-scratch C++ reimplementation of Jazz Jackrabbit 2 built on an extensively modified fork of the open-source nCine engine, supporting the Shareware Demo, Holiday Hare '98, The Secret Files, and Christmas Chronicles game data plus partial support for the JJ2+ and MLLE community extensions. It requires the player's own copy of the original game's data files, runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, and the web via WebAssembly, and has also been ported to numerous historical game consoles; it's licensed under the GPLv3 with active, ongoing development.

How it differs from the original

Beyond a straight recreation, the project adds partial support for the JJ2+ and MLLE community mod/extension systems and ports the game to platforms it was never officially released on, including the Switch, Xbox, several PlayStation consoles, older Nintendo consoles, classic Amiga systems, and the web, several of which remain experimental and untested on real hardware.

Getting started

You need to own a legitimate copy of the original Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (the Shareware Demo or a full release); copy its data into the app's Source folder for your platform and run the corresponding executable — exact folder locations vary by platform, from desktop OSes to mobile and the various console ports.

Known issues & limitations

audio: Sound effects in the intro cinematics are missing on first startup until cache is generated.
platform: Nintendo 64 port is experimental with frame rate well below other consoles and has not been tested on real hardware.
platform: Sega Dreamcast port has not been tested on real hardware.
platform: Nintendo Wii, GameCube, 3DS, PSP, PS2, PS3, and Vita ports have not been tested on real hardware.

Requires original assets. Requires copying contents of original Jazz Jackrabbit 2 directory to the Source folder.

Additional notes

Multiplayer hosting: A dedicated headless server is distributed as a separate Docker image for hosting online multiplayer, apart from the regular game client builds.
Platform note: Several console ports (e.g. Nintendo 64, GameCube, Dreamcast, PS2, PS3, Wii, and 3DS) are experimental and have so far only been tested under emulation, not on real hardware.