8/6/2021
Review of Jumping Flash! 2
Developed by: Exact, MuuMuu
1996, PlayStation
This is a sequel that feels weird to like less than the original game, because it's very similar and not worse in many objective ways. I'm reminded of The Lost Vikings 2 (7.5), which like Jumping Flash! 2 also has a subtitle that's a reference to something else and I'd rather not type out of shame. Both games are essentially the same as the original, but I couldn't enjoy them nearly as much. Maybe because it's not as exciting to see an old idea repeated without enough inovation. Somehow Mega Man X's 1 though 3 (10) didn't have that issue, and they only had incremental differences.
The one semi-positive change is that Jumping Flash! 2 is more difficult. In the first game, one of the most difficult levels, 6-1, was also one of my favorites. It had platforms that were spaced far apart and connected by thin metal walkways, all floating in space above the Earth. It was fun because it made you jump in ways you usually didn't have to in the previous levels. The second game has a lot of levels with small platforms that are spaced far apart and difficult to land on, which I liked at first but eventually became annoying when I would barely miss something and have to start the level over, re-collecting all of the MuuMuus each time. The second game is more difficult, but not really more interesting. There are just smaller platforms and it's more likely that when you fall there won't be something to land on.
I think Jumping Flash! 2 could have improved on the original in a couple of ways. I love the buildings in these games, and I especially love when you can go in them. With more complex buildings, the levels could have been more intricate instead of only keeping the same open, playground sort of feel. The goal of each level is still to find four items, which are MuuMuus in this case, and then you get to the exit. There are usually multiple ways to reach each MuuMuu, which is great, but they don't feel like unique challenges. You almost always just go to different points in the level until you happen to see one. Getting the MuuMuus could have involved a different type of challenge for each one, or they could have been more interesting to find in some way. Super Mario 64 (9), which came out two months later, does that well.
It's also a little strange that the boss fights don't involve jump-specific challenges. Usually you're in an enclosed arena and the goal of each fight is to shoot as much as possible. They could have you jump to certain parts of the level depending on what the boss is doing, or jump on the boss's weak point, and other typical videogame things. Instead you only jump to avoid what the boss shoots at you, and then jump on its head as much as you can to avoid dealing with its patterns at all.
The game is still basically good, because you can jump really high around imaginative, Jumping-Flash-style worlds. My favorite level is 3-1 which has a big tower in the middle that the rest of the level is kind of centered around. Some of the others are lesser versions of parts from the first game. Instead of the bright and fun city level from the first game, the city level in Jumping Flash! 2 is a smog-filled, industrial shipping yard.