Homebrew -REQUEST- Jazz Jackrabbit

[iDallin]

Hey 'yall!
As a child i adored the Jazz Jackrabbit series. Would it be possible to play this on the NDS in any way? It was an old DOS game. Does a port exist or is it possible to play on NDS or what? Plz reply!
~iDallin

 

[Kiiro_Yakumo]

Ah Jazz Jackrabbit...I love that times when I was younger and played it like crazy...well today not much changed at this case =3
Lemme think...requirements of Jazz Jackrabbit aren't big (tough I can't find pit-point numbers), it's not 3D either, it's simple-graphics 2D game...
My toughs are that just music would be a bit problematic to port (or maybe not if we will find all tracks in tracker format =3)
I believe DS is able to eat that game and not break sweat there
I do not know about existing port, tough the source code for OpenJazz is somewhere in the net, maybe that one could be used or be base of inspiration...

EDIT #1
Give me some time I will try to do *VERY* simple demo with few graphics to find out, but I believe DS can eat it anyway, especially that tracker music doesn't load CPU much (5-10%? it's nothing)

 

[Rydian]

While I would suggest DSx86, Jazz Jackrabbit isn't even on the compatibility list...

 

[VatoLoco]

While I would suggest DSx86, Jazz Jackrabbit isn't even on the compatibility list...

Ya, tried it and it crashed on DSx86 and DS2x86.
Ima try Jackrabbit 2 now, i think that one may work. edit: nope, JJ2 is indeed a Windows game.

Also, i think theres a GBA version of the game too.

 

[Kiiro_Yakumo]

1) Jazz DEMO was on 3 Floppy disks, DS can eat that for sure
2) Jazz Jackrabbit 2 REQUIRES Windows, it won't go on clean DOS
3) GBA version is like only title is common, the rest is complete diffrent thing (however adds points for "it will run on DS")
4) I found some graphics from it, I will try to work on some *VERY* simple demo today, jumping around and stuff (oh and music of course)

EDIT #1
OK I started putting pieces together, I must congratulate You for making me want to code something even small

EDIT #2
Demo level assembled, now for Jazz itself...

EDIT #3
A bit non-perfect placement of tree and stuff but grass compounded perfectly
It also plays music from Diamondus level already
Ah yes it's demo thing so I placed some grass here some here... it's not as in game per se
Now for Jazz seriously

 

[choconado]

yeah, having played both, the GBA version really isn't the same at all. It's not really the high speed running game that the classic series is about, and instead it's a generic platform shooter.

 

[iDallin]

While I would suggest DSx86, Jazz Jackrabbit isn't even on the compatibility list...

Ya, tried it and it crashed on DSx86 and DS2x86.
Ima try Jackrabbit 2 now, i think that one may work. edit: nope, JJ2 is indeed a Windows game.

Also, i think theres a GBA version of the game too.

You have risen my curiosity...
I tried to install dsx86 but i cannot find a version of windows 3.0!!?!?! Help?

 

[FAST6191]

I believe we ignore the GBA version for a reason but if you are considering coding things
http://sourceforge.net/projects/openjazz/
It also got ported to the 360, wii, dingoo/gp32/similar, PSP and other consoles but those tend to have ports/properly functioning versions of SDL so I would not expect a quick and easy port.

 

[Kiiro_Yakumo]

Jazz Jackrabbit will go without any Windows, DOS is more than enough

I am aware of OpenJazz port (I have it on Wii) but as You mentioned it's coded in SDL so porting it would take probably longer than doing from scratch
Also for now I threat my work as "let's see if it's possible without breaking my wall"
If I would be about making serious porting then not alone or not very fast, studies and other project goes first, also Jazz is copyrighted by Epic and Jazz Team which I deeply respect, I do own both Jazz games original ones, I respect Master Alexander Brandon for his work done there, so probably EVEN if I would "port" Jazz to DS I wouldn't let it go public unless Epic would allow me to do so...Jazz is old game so there is chance they would allow such move, however not sure
Sorry guys, but I do have some honour left in me
I did some simple demo and for now it works, however I need to recall that nice method to build map from tileset without drawing it in parts, more effective way...and the only one to use here for SERIOUS

 

[LeRodeur]

You may want to take a look at sdl port on ds, maybe it would only need few modifications to the computer port, worth giving it a try I guess

 

[Kiiro_Yakumo]

SDL on DS? WoW...that would be...funny...oh well let it be I will try tough I'm not some god when it comes to porting...however no earlier than on weekend, period
Rev 4 is almost ready, I have killed big bug today and done some work on code, so I want to finalize that "thing" first

 

[Schmendrick]

Any progress on this? I'd love to see JJ on DS. If not, I would probably want to do this myself.
Though looking at the sprites for Jazz the dimensions are way off what would be practical for textures and sprites, I'm not quite sure how to best handle this.

 

[Kiiro_Yakumo]

Go on ahead if You want, tough I haven't deleted files from my "work" on it, I won't currently spare time for it, I need to code CoG for now since new cards came in and I pumped to my head some reasonable answers for coding problems
Also once again, I have respect to Epic and Master Alexander Brandon, I would never forgive myself such sin
I found some info that - according to source page - requirements for Jazz Jackrabbit as for PC are just this

IBM PC, 4MB RAM

DS has exactly that ammount of RAM and not so bad TWO CPUs (so we can divide jobs more or less)
I believe that Jazz works on 4 layers which are as follows:
#3 - Back-back-back(...)-ground as in sky, sun &c.
#2 - background as in ground, mud, back-wall
#1 - Walls and other collide stuff like platforms (collision map says hi)
#0 - Sprites - enemies, Jazz itself, cages, power ups, treasure-type items (score)
That much is more than enough for Jazz Jackrabbit to work smoothly
If we add the fact that music is made in tracker format, (MaxMod says hi) we are more than set to port the game to DS
PERIOD