There are four different special weapons in the game, which Jazz can use as soon as he collects ammo for them. Unlike the other Sonic-esque game about a gunslinging anthropomorphic animal with a gun, however, Jazz is much less angsty about it. Jazz carries with him a big gun referred to in the in-game instructions as the LFG-2000, (Wonder where they got that from) which he uses to blow through everything in his way. The major difference between Sonic and Jazz is that while Jazz can’t roll himself into a pinball to defend himself, he doesn’t actually need to. He’s also suspiciously similar to forgotten Saturday morning cartoon character Bucky O’ Hare in design, although at least Jazz doesn’t have to cart around some random kid everywhere he goes. While he’s not quite a mute, he never actually speaks in actual sentences, which automatically ratches him miles over Bubsy. At least they’re honest.Īs far as animal mascots go, Jazz is much more on the “cute” side of the spectrum rather than the “annoying” side. The manual includes a small comic explaining the plot, where it admits that yes, it is completely and utterly ripping off Sonic the Hedgehog. Not really the most creative plot, but it sure beats an environmental message. It’s up to the rabbit mercenary Jazz Jackrabbit to travel the galaxy, destroy Devan’s forces, and eventually rescue the princess. The evil turtle terrorist Devan Shell has kidnapped the princess of the planet Carrotus, and starts trying to conquer the rest of the galaxy, as well. Their attempt was Jazz Jackrabbit, and while it couldn’t really stand up to the games it was inspired by, it ended up becoming a pretty big hit on the PC, and for good reason. That was when Epic Megagames, who had previously created DOS hits like Epic Pinball and Jill of the Jungle, started work on the first attempt to make a high-speed platformer for the PC. Sure, there were a lot of great side-scrollers at the time, such as Duke Nukem, but nothing that could match up to the speed of Sega’s series.

But the one system that never had its own Sonic-style game was the PC. Even before then, pretty much every major game company was making their own Sonic rip-off for every console at the time, some with more success than others. In early 1994, the Sonic the Hedehog series was a worldwide phenomenon, especially with its recently released third game.

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