Jazz Jackrabbit

Jazz Jackrabbit was the PC's answer to fast console platformers and still ranks among the most polished action games ever released for DOS. The hero is a green rabbit armed with an oversized weapon, setting out to rescue a princess kidnapped by the turtle Devan Shell, journeying across planets with wildly different looks, from jungles through icy slopes to mechanical mazes. Unlike most platformers of its time, the game isn't just about jumping between platforms but mainly about shooting: Jazz has several types of ammo, can run at tremendous speed, slide through narrow tunnels, and collect gems that unlock bonus levels. Each episode ends with a boss fight, and the world map between levels gives the whole game a pleasant sense of rhythm.

Technically, the game was a showcase of what a 386 processor with VGA graphics could do. It runs at a smooth pace, uses multi-layered parallax-scrolling backgrounds, large colorful sprites, and a number of effects that had until then been rare on PC. Smooth screen scrolling in particular was the biggest surprise for players of the time, since it was a discipline where home computers had long lagged behind game consoles. The music uses module tracks played through a sound card, mixing energetic, fast themes that suit the breakneck pace perfectly, and even the gunfire sounds carry a pleasantly arcade-like sharpness.

At the time, Jazz Jackrabbit was very well received precisely because it filled a long-empty niche: the PC had shooters and strategy games, but hardly any quality fast platformer. Shareware distribution made it widely known, and a sequel later followed that pushed the whole genre line even further. Today the game feels charmingly over-the-top and colorful; the difficulty at times rests on reflexes and knowledge of level layouts, but the core remains fun and the controls are surprisingly precise. Anyone who wants to see that DOS could do snappy platformers too, and not just dark corridors, should start right here.