Looking at Windjammers 2 surprisingly isn't as easy as I expected. Sure, you can beat the arcade mode within a few minutes on easy settings, but is that the game?

Windjammers has a history and DotEmu, from my point of view, did a faithful job in creating a sequel that does look more like a modernized port, actually. When I finally played it, preferred on Nintendo Switch and therefore having been waiting for a half-price key, there was just one thing missing: An online community.

Maybe there was one at release, just like there had been a few hundred players on PC in the beginning and now dropped to almost none. I don't know. Maybe it even was a mistake to include Windjammers 2 in the Game Pass, because it's easier to pass on a game you didn't pay. It seems not only to be the lack of cross play though.

Windjammers, a fast paced Frisbee basterd of Pong/Airhockey and a one on one fighting game, had always been kind of a sleeper. The original release on the Neo Geo system wasn't too catchy on first sight, but since it was part of a competitive video game TV show back in the day, it got my attention.

Windjammers turned out to be an instant classic, easy to learn but hard to master, once we rented it for SNK's bulky home console in the 90ies or played it on other adaptions. It's something you have to experience rather than watch it on video. It seems it also spawned a small but hardcore competitive scene helping the game to stay in circulation.

Even though it hasn't been forgotten and there was also a Switch port, my calculation was to better wait for the sequel and a growing online community there. Why not? DotEmu did a great job creating Streets of Rage 4, updating look and gameplay while staying true enough to the original.

Honestly, there wasn't much to change on an almost perfect program. Keep it fast but make it look fresher, that's basically what they did. Windjammers 2 is a classic arcade game, not Elden Ring. But expectations seem to be different these days. Do people know playing against the computer is more like a training session?

It's even supposed to be fun to play for a few minutes in-between. You can play it for hours as a die hard, sure, but then the virus already got you and you're probably playing Windjammers against humans. That's when it really shines and that's when it really gets competitive.

I see that you might want to at least chat via Discord to swear at each other, preferably with future ex friends, if you can't meet at someone's home like in the good old days. But you also only get better having somebody challenge you.

What's to expect in times when opponents quit on you at the moment of their first K.O. in a match of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, to escape the few seconds of shame? If you need your reward center targeted constantly, wouldn't you be better off with a mobile game?

Windjammers 2, just like its predecessor, plays like the epitome of arcade competition and I'd really love to get my ass beaten multiple times on my way to master the game. There's no additional mini games needed or whatever people ask for. Just commitment. It requires blood, sweat and tears and the ability to lose until you're good enough to win.

Hopefully there's going to be a sale in the future to draw more people in and finally have some regulars stick. I'm not saying this type of gaming has to be your box of juice, but it can't be that hard to reckon the obvious qualities, can it?

Reviewed on Apr 17, 2022


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