It was the dawn of a new console generation, the first one to focus on 3D graphics. There were almost too many options at the time: the Amiga CD-32, Atari Jaguar, the 3DO, Sega's Saturn, Sony's PlayStation, and the Nintendo 64. My various game magazines offered a lot of hype, but nothing definitive that would show one system as the clear winner. I had to rely on gut feeling and intuition.
Feeling burned by the lack of support for the Genesis CD and 32X add-ons, Sega then asked loyal fans to spend more money on a Saturn. Nintendo seemed to have a winning relationship with Silicon Graphics, but preferred to eschew the CD format and strongarm developers with their monopoly on cartridge production. The 3DO and Jaguar seemed like half steps to the next generation, releasing early, but sacrificing horsepower to do so. The Jaguar was also cartridge based, and the 3DO launched with a hefty $700 price tag. Amiga's CD-32 didn't seem to have too much in the way of third party support, and was receiving mostly ports of 2D computer games I had already played.
Even though they hadn't proven themselves in the console space, something told me to go with Sony's system. Their hardware seemed powerful on paper and they announced at a much lower price compared to competitors. Namco was on board as a partner and brought an arcade perfect port of Ridge Racer. Toshinden was a flashy 3D fighter and Rayman proved the system could do beautiful 2D. On top of that, Square had announced full fledged support, with an exclusive sequel in its flagship series Final Fantasy. Maybe I could live without Daytona, Virtua Fighter and Mario.
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Jumping Flash was featured in some of the first ever screenshots of any PlayStation game and its clean and well defined visuals helped convince me of the power of Sony's first ever system. The gouraud shaded primaries looked like pure eye candy compared to the flat shaded featureless polygons I had seen previously on SuperFX and even PC games. The sky texture reminded me of many professional computer graphics renders, such as those seen in the game Myst. What blew my mind: These would be moving fluidly in realtime on a home system!
Before Jumping Flash was a reality, developer Exact had pioneered something similar on the Sharp X68000 called Geograph Seal. This is where the game engine took shape, and Exact had since evolved the technology and concepts to bring a premiere 3D platformer to a next generation console. Breaking ground in first person platforming well before Metroid Prime, Jumping Flash had an exceptional control scheme for a 3D game that was released before the advent of dual analog sticks which would allow for easy camera movement.
In Metroid Prime the camera tilted down to help you judge jumps and similarly in Jumping Flash the camera would flop completely downwards to your shadow as you jumped, allowing you to pinpoint your landings. In addition to letting you adjust your downward trajectory, a triple jump capability allowed a further safety mechanism. This was necessary to help ease players into your first fully 3D game. There were some bottomless pits, fans to land on for a boost into the air, and platforms not much larger than your character that you would need to hit on target.
Taking control of Robbit, the robot rabbit, players were tasked with collecting JetPods scattered about huge levels in order to activate the goal. You could see clear across expansive stages, tilting up to view platforms above, or watching the world get smaller beneath your feet as Robbit soared up toward the stratosphere.
The worlds were festive and full of contraptions to ride on or run across to the next platform. Colorful, comical characters patrolled the area or shot at you with cannons, requiring a few repeated stomps to take them out. A burst of shots from your cannon could also do the trick and the foe would give up an additional time bonus or a special weapon to clear the screen of enemies. Boss fights would punctuate the end of each world, pitting Robbit against giant mechanical beasts in an arena surrounded by bottomless pits or lava.
Maze-like first person dungeons would pop up a couple of times during the campaign, a successful change in gameplay for the most part considering it didn't let you use the trademark jump mechanic. Instead, these levels focused on exploration and shooting, with forking paths, elevators, and doors. Memorization became crucial in order to avoid previously explored areas and nab all of the JetPods before time ran out.
To top it all off are humorous pre-rendered cutscenes between worlds, showing the game's antagonist Baron Aloha fleeing to the next area to set up a new trap for our hero. Accompanying the entire package is sometimes atmospheric, but mostly upbeat music by Takeo Miratsu. The notable composer previously worked on anime soundtracks such as The Abashiri Family, and went on to score Konami's Beatmania IIDX and SCEI's The Legend of Dragoon before his untimely death at age 46.
The highly original Jumping Flash launched two months after the PlayStation, and for me was an instant purchase. It definitely lived up to the wild dreams I had when staring at early screenshots, wondering what it would look like in action. Along with Ridge Racer, Toshinden, and the system's demo disc featuring Wipeout, I was extremely enthusiastic about the platform's future. Years later, Jumping Flash remains a favorite that I often revisit. I also recommend trying its sequel, which expands on the successful formula with even larger levels, new bosses, and new challenges.
