Post by I.M.Gibbon on Feb 21, 2017 0:00:09 GMT
In 1983, when copyright laws were lax, a lone programmer made what these days would be called a fan-game.
Jumpman chronicles the efforts of the titular protagonist defusing bombs that have been placed in a skyscraper construction zone.
The character has evolved from a pudgy Italian to more of a John McClain, but that might just be bad box art syndrome.
Randy Glover, the creator, freely admits that the game is inspired by Donkey Kong and that he stole the name therein. If this wasn't already an "established" franchise at this point, he would probably have been in legal trouble if he'd tried to do something similar today.
After developing the original, Glover went on to develop Jumpman Jr. Also released in 1983, Jumpman Jr is less a sequel, and more of a demo; A way for people who didn't have disk-drives to enjoy the game.
In 1991, Apogee Software publish Jumpman Lives! This title was unauthorized, and Glover successfully got the game removed from circulation, though you can still find copies floating around every once in a while. While it repeats some levels from the original, it has a decent amount of new levels and obstacles.
Jumpman Lives featured a "first hit is free" model of distribution, where you got the first set of levels for free and had to pay for the rest in installments.
Notably, the series also went full sci-fi at this point, involving Jumpman exploring alien installations on other planets, having completely abandoned the New York skyline, though the graphics within the games themselves didn't really change all that much.
2001 saw the release of Jumpman Zero, which is 3D by virtue of weird isometric voxel graphics, with a camera angle that gives me a slight sense of vertigo.
It starts out by recreating stuff from the original game but then quickly goes into surreal territory, what with the propeller-equipped murder sheep and the giant tetrominos and such.
Most levels features a gimmick of some sort, many of which are derived from classic arcade or home console games of the eighties. It's pretty fun.
In a really odd case of things coming full circle, in 2008 the original Jumpman was released on the Wii Virtual Console.
Looks a bit awkward in the setup stage witht he virtual keyboard, but once you get past that it's just a straight port.
Finally, in 2014, Jumpman Forever was released as an OUYA exclusive (I know, right?)
Notably, the lore of the series has been retconned to have always been alien invaders on a space station instead of terrorists in skyscrapers, but eh that's okay really. It's a clear attempt to distinguish itself a bit from its Mario roots.
It strives to be a "feature perfect" sequel to the original, and, in my opinion, suffers a bit from a lack of innovation because of it.
Of the games in the series, I like Jumpman Lives and Jumpman Zero the best. Inteestingly, these are the two less-than-authorized games in the series, but that perhaps just goes to show that a new perspective is not a bad thing when it comes to continuing a franchise.
Jumpman chronicles the efforts of the titular protagonist defusing bombs that have been placed in a skyscraper construction zone.
The character has evolved from a pudgy Italian to more of a John McClain, but that might just be bad box art syndrome.
Randy Glover, the creator, freely admits that the game is inspired by Donkey Kong and that he stole the name therein. If this wasn't already an "established" franchise at this point, he would probably have been in legal trouble if he'd tried to do something similar today.
After developing the original, Glover went on to develop Jumpman Jr. Also released in 1983, Jumpman Jr is less a sequel, and more of a demo; A way for people who didn't have disk-drives to enjoy the game.
In 1991, Apogee Software publish Jumpman Lives! This title was unauthorized, and Glover successfully got the game removed from circulation, though you can still find copies floating around every once in a while. While it repeats some levels from the original, it has a decent amount of new levels and obstacles.
Jumpman Lives featured a "first hit is free" model of distribution, where you got the first set of levels for free and had to pay for the rest in installments.
Notably, the series also went full sci-fi at this point, involving Jumpman exploring alien installations on other planets, having completely abandoned the New York skyline, though the graphics within the games themselves didn't really change all that much.
2001 saw the release of Jumpman Zero, which is 3D by virtue of weird isometric voxel graphics, with a camera angle that gives me a slight sense of vertigo.
It starts out by recreating stuff from the original game but then quickly goes into surreal territory, what with the propeller-equipped murder sheep and the giant tetrominos and such.
Most levels features a gimmick of some sort, many of which are derived from classic arcade or home console games of the eighties. It's pretty fun.
In a really odd case of things coming full circle, in 2008 the original Jumpman was released on the Wii Virtual Console.
Looks a bit awkward in the setup stage witht he virtual keyboard, but once you get past that it's just a straight port.
Finally, in 2014, Jumpman Forever was released as an OUYA exclusive (I know, right?)
Notably, the lore of the series has been retconned to have always been alien invaders on a space station instead of terrorists in skyscrapers, but eh that's okay really. It's a clear attempt to distinguish itself a bit from its Mario roots.
It strives to be a "feature perfect" sequel to the original, and, in my opinion, suffers a bit from a lack of innovation because of it.
Of the games in the series, I like Jumpman Lives and Jumpman Zero the best. Inteestingly, these are the two less-than-authorized games in the series, but that perhaps just goes to show that a new perspective is not a bad thing when it comes to continuing a franchise.