Jumping Flash!

[NovaSquirrel]

Has anyone played (or heard of) Jumping Flash! (or its sequel) for the original PlayStation? I really like both games a lot, and it's really cool historically to look back on a game that really blatantly feels like a very early 3D platformer, but still gets enough right to be really fun all this time later. They're silly and lighthearted and you play as a robot bunny!! And there's a really big emphasis on jumping really high up and I love that.

I think another reason the games are historically interesting is that I think it's pretty likely that the Bubsy 3D developers took inspiration from Jumping Flash! because they have a few strong similarities in how they control and work, and there just wouldn't have been many other 3D platformers to look at for inspiration back then. For instance they both have tank controls and do the thing where the camera can aim down at the ground during jumps, which works a whole lot better in Jumping Flash! than in Bubsy 3D.

[kkzero]

Heard of them like once a while ago but haven't played them. Looks pretty cool though, might have to fire it up next time I'm in a DuckStation mood. I'm always down for another bunny game, too.

I did play Bubsy 3D years ago though, it was a less than ideal experience.

[Jess]

I've seen jumping flash but I haven't played it, but one time I really gotta check it out

bubsy 3D I'll continue sleeping on lmao

[PencilVoid]

I tried Jumping Flash! in DuckStation a while ago. It is very experimental but still neat.

[defiantoptimist]

Jumping Flash is one of those games that I always think “I need to try this” when I’m reminded of it, then immediately forget about. But it does look quite fun.

[Foxxhoria]

I have the games! Maybe they're the next ones I should stream, hehe.

I can even hypothetically play the Japanese-exclusive third entry, thanks to Tonyhax.

They look very neat though; I think it's underappreciated how they're way more of a unique kind of platformer for 3D that centres the actual act of jumping from one platform to the other, by virtue of enabling the camera to be rotated along two axes, rather than SM64 and successors which in their movement feel very much more of the "jump & run" kind of game as 2D platformers, and just have the camera follow along to frame the action in a way that from moment-to-moment is also more similar to 2D platformers, for the most part.

And, perhaps one aspect (of many) where Bubsy 3D tripped up was that they were trying to adapt this more deliberate approach to platform-jumping into a game that was trying to follow on in gameplay style from the other Bubsy games, haha.

[kkzero]

Okay so I just played the first 3 worlds of the first game, wow this is pretty fun. At first I was really wishing there was a way to strafe, but as I played more I got more adjusted to relying on the higher bounce thing to ensure you're landing somewhere desirable. And exploring the levels is really fun, too! It's a surprisingly workable game given just how early this was for a 3D platforming thing!

Also the audiovisuals are just so charming.

Thanks for the rec!

[Beancatte]

Yeah Its wild to me how many smart decisions it makes for a first person platformer of the time. Stuff like the big shadow under you and the camera pointing downwards as you jump really makes it a joy to control once you've wrapped your head around it. Stuff similar games would struggle with for years after this game somehow.

I say this about most Sony things but the fact they've never revisited these games much is a real shame.

[Scooblee]

[one of our partners is a massive fan of the games, but we've yet to play them ourselves. I think we may even be a tad more familiar with geograph seal, its direct predecessor (linked below so you can get an idea of just how similar they are), just for its soundtrack, but they're on our radar to try out someday nonetheless.]

[darkwitchclaire]

i love EXACT's output on the x68000