Jazz Jackrabbit 2

Jazz Jackrabbit 2

Developers
	Orange Games
	Epic Games
Mac OS (Classic)	Logicware
macOS (OS X)	Contraband Entertainment
Publishers
	Gathering of Developers
Mac OS	MacPlay
Release dates
Windows	May 7, 1998
Mac OS (Classic)	February 4, 1999
macOS (OS X)	January 18, 2002
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Scrolling, Side view
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Platform, Shooter
Art styles	Cartoon
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Jazz Jackrabbit

Jazz Jackrabbit
Jazz Jackrabbit	1994
Jazz Jackrabbit 2	1998
Jazz Jackrabbit 3	Cancelled

Warnings

The Mac OS X version of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.

General information

Official site for game series (Archived)

Jazz2Online - A fan site for game series

Hardcore Gaming 101 - Comprehensive feature

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		The game had two different releases and two standalone expansions. See Version differences and DLC and expansion packs.
GOG.com		Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files bundled with The Christmas Chronicles.

Version differences

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is the original release. It contains four episodes and the shareware demo levels.

Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files is a 1999 re-release with an additional episode and a new playable character, Lori. It also includes the shareware demo levels. It was only available in Europe.

Demo

A demo is available. It contains three single player and two multiplayer levels.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Holiday Hare 98	Standalone Christmas episode, released commercially in 1998. It also includes the shareware demo levels. It was only available in the US.
The Christmas Chronicles	2000 re-release of Holiday Hare 98 with a new playable character, Lori. It was only available in limited quantities in Europe.

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest official patch is v1.23. GOG.com version is patched with v1.24.

JJ2+ is a multiplayer-focused unofficial patch/mod which fixes numerous bugs and adds a host of new features. It is included in the GOG.com version as a bonus, see how to apply it here.

Import The Christmas Chronicles levels

If you have both The Secret Files and The Christmas Chronicles, you can just copy over the files without overwriting, resulting in the episode being listed and the levels being playable.

While you can play as Lori, it's likely unintentional and unknown if it's conducive to a good playing experience.

Skip intro videos

Use JJ2+
Download and install JJ2+. Use the -menu parameter.

Use Jazz² Resurrection

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\JAZZ2.CFG
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVEGAME.***
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

In-game general video settings.

In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Use JJ2+. Only custom resolutions below 800x600 are supported; uses pixel-based scaling. For widescreen on native resolution use Jazz² Resurrection
Multi-monitor			Vert-. See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen			Vert-. See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD			Enable pixel-perfect scaling in GPU driver, use the borderless fullscreen windowed hack, or use Lossless Scaling in windowed mode for best results. For proper 4K support use Jazz² Resurrection
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Toggle with Alt+↵ Enter or use -windowed command line parameter. Jazz² Resurrection features an in-game setting to switch between Fullscreen or a resizable window.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use this hack. Upscales cleanly with mild distortion, includes fullscreen instructions too.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Vsync is always on in fullscreen mode. Jazz² Resurrection allows you to switch between Vsync, Adaptive Vsync or Off.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Maximum of 130 FPS in windowed mode. Use Jazz² Resurrection to play with uncapped framerate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode		Unimportant background and foreground layers can be removed by using Low Detail mode.

Input

In-game keyboard key map settings.

In-game joystick button map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Mouse cannot be used to navigate the main menu or the pause menu, however it can be used to navigate the menu bar in windowed mode.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Be sure your controller is set as 'Preferred device' in Windows 'Game Controllers' (joy.cpl). Some DPAD joysticks require the JJ2+ patch to work. To make the game recognize the controller you may need to turn it OFF/ON again AFTER the game has been launched.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		See Xidi.
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Xidi

May not be needed when using JJ2+ & definitely not needed when using Jazz² Resurrection.

Adds full DirectInput controller support for modern XInput-based controllers.

Restores haptic feedback.

Installing Xidi

Works with Xidi library in WinMM form, but requires drop Xidi's winmm.dll into the game directory. Ensure the system is running Windows 10 or 11. Xidi is built to target Windows 10 or 11 and does not support older versions of Windows. Ensure the Visual C++ Runtime for Visual Studio 2022 is installed. Xidi is linked against this runtime and will not work without it. If running a 64-bit operating system, install both the x86 and the x64 versions of this runtime, otherwise install just the x86 version. Download the latest release of Xidi from here. Install one of the forms of Xidi into the same directory as the game executable: <path-to-game>. Optionally supply configuration settings to Xidi: config. Run the game.

Audio

In-game general audio settings.

In-game advanced audio settings.

In-game language settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music and Sound FX.
Surround sound
Subtitles		All dialogue, except that which is played during idle animations, is text-based.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Idle animations with speech are only used when playing in English.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Voices with idle animations only.
Afrikaans				Fan translation, download. Included in JJ2+.
Arabic				Fan translation, download. Included in JJ2+.
Czech				Fan translation, download.
Dutch
Finnish				Fan translation, download.
French
German
Italian
Polish				Local retail release and GOG.com version. Included in JJ2+.
Romanian				Fan translation, download.
Serbian				Fan translation, download.
Spanish
Swedish				Fan translation, download. Included in JJ2+.
Turkish				Fan translation, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		4	Co-op, Versus Split-screen.
LAN play		8	Co-op, Versus Up to 32 players when 4 players share one computer in split-screen mode.
Online play		8	Co-op, Versus Up to 32 players when 4 players share one computer in split-screen mode.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	10052, 10053, 10054
UDP	10052

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Unplayable low frame rate in fullscreen mode

Disable Hardware Mode[citation needed]
Go to Options, Video, Advanced. Set Hardware Mode to Off.

Use Jazz² Resurrection

Turn off information shown on screen (level name, resolution, etc.)

Press F9 in-game

Low frame rate in fullscreen mode on Windows 8/8.1/10 due to DirectDraw

Install ddwrapper into the game directory

Download ddwrapper and extract ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg to the game's installation directory. Edit aqrit.cfg so that ColorFix = 1 and ShowFPS = 15 Notes If the above fix doesn't work initially, try forcing Jazz2.exe to run in 640x480 resolution under the compatibility properties tab. In addition, try starting the game in windowed mode and enable fullscreen mode once a level has loaded. Use Alt+Enter to switch between fullscreen and windowed modes.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	6
OpenGL	2.1	Jazz² Resurrection runs on OpenGL

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Mac OS (Classic)

Jazz² Resurrection

Open-source re-implementation of the original game's engine, allowing for the importing of the original game's assets.

Supports various versions of the game (Shareware Demo, Holiday Hare '98, The Secret Files and Christmas Chronicles) and all of them can be imported but the dev recommends to use The Secret Files and install it the latest if more than one version are to be imported.

Renders at fixed resolution 720x405 and cannot be adjusted manually

Partially supports some features of JJ2+ extension and MLLE.

Allows Jazz Jackrabbit 2 to be played natively on Windows, MacOS, and Linux; supports pixel perfect scaling, can be played at unlimited FPS, supports XInput and has widescreen aspect ratio support.

As this is merely a recreation of the original game, the physics differ significantly.

System requirements

Windows

Mac OS (Classic)

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 90 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	45 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 6 compatible

Mac OS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7.5.3
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	45 MB