The first 3d platformer, controlled from a first person perspective and made with tank controls for a controller with no analogue sticks in an era where Mario 64 was just a glint in the milkman's eye should not be this good. Jumping Flash is absolutely fantastic.
Bounding across the apotheosis of early gen 5 aesthetic, with glorious low poly animals and critters, delightful pastel platforms floating all around, and a weird surrealness to the environments and places you bound across.
And the controls are excellent. Despite being initially clunky by modern standards, they're surprisingly snappy and within minutes i was fully in tune with it. The ability to at least turn whilst moving forward with diagonals, the surprising amount of precision you have in air control, and the general freedom of the level design, which gives you the ability to jump on almost anything if you've got enough of a grip on the control.
Its quite hard to put into the words, but there's just something so natural about it. You can tell hours upon hours have been spent into fine tuning things like air acceleration, turning speed and the jump arc that just feels "right". You can dash around the levels surprisingly quickly with just a little practice, and the fantastic kinesthetics alone make it fun to do so.
Once you've beaten each world, a time trial opens for each stage. And the thing is, it's actually fun. I've only done a bit of it but working out quick routes and bounding across them, damage boosting off mysteriously flying skillets and riding air currents and rollercoasters.
And then, when the game is over? You get Extra mode, which rearranges all stages and encourages you to test this skillset. I love it.
Yeah, the underground stages kinda suck, yeah the boss fights arent too great. The game's too much of a joyful breeze for me to care. If there's a core issue, it's the framerate, wildly varying from a breezy 60 to about 10. The game isnt so precise that you need 60 for the most part, but it is awkward and it seems to very occasionally eat inputs. I wish the PS5 version i was playing overclocked the emulator or something, which i believe is possible with duckstation etc.
Jumping Flash is a Joy. Cute, 90s namco-esque energy with extremely simple, fun mechanics. A few days ago, i used to think first person platforming was almost inherantly flawed, something really only Counter-Strikes' KZ/Surf and Rocket Jumping had ever really gotten right, the bane of Arkane games, half life and a thousand other shooters.
Turns out, the template on how to do it properly has been there all along.
Bounding across the apotheosis of early gen 5 aesthetic, with glorious low poly animals and critters, delightful pastel platforms floating all around, and a weird surrealness to the environments and places you bound across.
And the controls are excellent. Despite being initially clunky by modern standards, they're surprisingly snappy and within minutes i was fully in tune with it. The ability to at least turn whilst moving forward with diagonals, the surprising amount of precision you have in air control, and the general freedom of the level design, which gives you the ability to jump on almost anything if you've got enough of a grip on the control.
Its quite hard to put into the words, but there's just something so natural about it. You can tell hours upon hours have been spent into fine tuning things like air acceleration, turning speed and the jump arc that just feels "right". You can dash around the levels surprisingly quickly with just a little practice, and the fantastic kinesthetics alone make it fun to do so.
Once you've beaten each world, a time trial opens for each stage. And the thing is, it's actually fun. I've only done a bit of it but working out quick routes and bounding across them, damage boosting off mysteriously flying skillets and riding air currents and rollercoasters.
And then, when the game is over? You get Extra mode, which rearranges all stages and encourages you to test this skillset. I love it.
Yeah, the underground stages kinda suck, yeah the boss fights arent too great. The game's too much of a joyful breeze for me to care. If there's a core issue, it's the framerate, wildly varying from a breezy 60 to about 10. The game isnt so precise that you need 60 for the most part, but it is awkward and it seems to very occasionally eat inputs. I wish the PS5 version i was playing overclocked the emulator or something, which i believe is possible with duckstation etc.
Jumping Flash is a Joy. Cute, 90s namco-esque energy with extremely simple, fun mechanics. A few days ago, i used to think first person platforming was almost inherantly flawed, something really only Counter-Strikes' KZ/Surf and Rocket Jumping had ever really gotten right, the bane of Arkane games, half life and a thousand other shooters.
Turns out, the template on how to do it properly has been there all along.