Jazz Jackrabbit Version Differences

Last update: 2023-02-11, split the Jazz 1.3 column into two colums: Unpatched, and GOG Patch 1.

Jazz Jackrabbit Version Differences

There have been at least 6 different fullgame releases of Jazz Jackrabbit. All releases have bugs and oddities in levels, none is perfect.

Summaries of the releases:

Jazz 1.0 was the original Floppy release with episodes 1-6. All levels are completeable, even Marbelara Secret.
Jazz 1.1 on Floppy has identical physics as the 1.0. All levels are completeable. The fullgame release is extremely rare: In 2018, one copy sold on Ebay for 40 to 50 USD.
The good 1.2 on CD adds episodes A-C and episode Z, removes all hidden springs, has an easy first room of Tubelectric 2 with a visible spring, and prolongs the end of Tubelectric 2. Marbelara Secret is impassable without the airboard cheat.
The bad 1.2 on CD differs from the good in that Tubelectric 2 is short like in 1.0, but lacks a replacement spring for the removed hidden springs, now requiring a tricky jump (see table below). The Orbitus bouncy floors have no effect anymore, they behave like air. Orbitus is still reasonably easy. Marbelara Secret remains impassable. Episode C became easier.
Jazz 1.3 on CD adds episode X (Holiday Hare '94), fixed Marbelara Secret, keeps the easier episode C, but makes Orbitus 2 almost incompleteable. The enlarged trigger area of the bouncy floors suck Jazz upwards, away from the intended route. This is the notorious hard Orbitus 2.
Jazz 1.3 + GOG patch 1 fixes the most egregious bugs in 1.3. The executable is the same. Buy Jazz 1.3 + GOG patch 1 from GOG or, if you already have a vanilla 1.3, download GOG patch 1 from Jazz2Online.

I (Simon N.) recommend 1.3 + GOG patch 1 for casual play, and I recommend Jazz 1.0 for speedrunning episodes 1-6.

Jazz 1.3 got re-released by GOG (Good Old Games) in November 2017. In September 2021, Love and Thunder, Violet CLM, and I submitted GOG patch 1 to GOG, and in December 2021, GOG began shipping 1.3 + GOG patch 1. To my knowledge, there is no vanilla 1.3 or 1.0 in that download, even though there really should be at least a vanilla 1.3. Well, well. At least twitch streamers don't get stuck in Orbitus 2 all the time anymore. :-)

If you're interested in speedrunning Episodes 1-6, see tips for new runners for how to create something with physics reasonably similar physics to 1.0. (Really, GOG should ship a 1.0, a good 1.2, and a 1.3...)

The following table shows all the version differences I know.

	Jazz Jackrabbit 1.0	Jazz 1.1	Jazz Jackrabbit, good 1.2	Jazz Jackrabbit, bad 1.2	Jazz Jackrabbit 1.3 unpatched	Jazz 1.3 + GOG Patch 1
Disk	Floppy	Floppy	CD	CD	CD	Download
JAZZ.EXE prints before main menu	`Welcome to Jazz Jackrabbit.`		`Welcome to Jazz Jackrabbit. version 1.2` (The good and bad 1.2 have byte-for-byte identical .EXEs.)		`Welcome to Jazz Jackrabbit. version 1.3` (Unpatched 1.3 and GOG Patch 1 have identical .EXEs.)
Version shown by HELPME.EXE in top-right corner	1.0	1.1	1.1 -- the good and bad 1.2 have identical outdated manuals		1.3 -- the unpatched 1.3 and GOG Patch 1 have identical .EXEs
Version shown by SETUP.EXE in top-right corner	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Intro cutscene	Jazz points with gun on black background		Jazz cosplays as 3 superheroes	Jazz cosplays as 3 superheroes. But I've heard that some CD version had the gun/black intro?	Fullgame: Jazz cosplays as 3 superheroes. Demo: Jazz points with gun on black background.	Jazz cosplays as 3 superheroes.
Main menu look	Normal menu		Normal menu	Normal menu	Normal except during winter, then Jazz will wear a santa coat and snow will fall	Normal except during winter, then Jazz will wear a santa coat and snow will fall
Cheat prefix	P, backspace	P, backspace, DD	P, backspace	P, backspace	P, backspace	P, backspace
Apology mode	P, backspace, APOGEE	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
ARJAN cheat	Displays HAHAHA	?	Displays HAHAHA, shakes screen	Displays HAHAHA, shakes screen	Displays HAHAHA, shakes screen, gives 100,000 points	Displays HAHAHA, shakes screen, gives 100,000 points
Birdshot bullet size	Small		Large	Large	Large	Large
Episodes	1-6		1-6, A-C, Z (bonus levels)		1-6, A-C, X (Holiday Hare '94), Z (bonus levels)
Episode 3/4 title images	3: Pink vortex 4: Jill	?	3: Jill 4: Pink vortex	3: Jill 4: Pink vortex	3: Jill 4: Pink vortex	3: Pink vortex 4: Jill
Episode A/B title images	n/a		A: Frog B: Green stars	A: Frog B: Green stars	A: Green stars B: Frog	A: Frog B: Green stars
Impassable or near-impassable levels	None, all levels are good		Marbelara Secret is impassable	Tubelectric 2 is too hard, Marbelara Secret is impassable	Orbitus 2 is too hard (details below)	None, all levels are good
Tubelectric 2, first room	Hidden spring		Visible spring	No spring at all. To reach the top tube, run into the right tube at full speed. As soon as the right tube pushes you leftwards, immediately press and hold down and jump and release right. (You will jump off the floor at the right tube's ejection speed, making that jump very high. Holding down is necessary to jump as early as possible.)	Hidden spring	Hidden spring
Tubelectric 2, end	Short		Long: The exit sign from 1.0 got replaced by a checkpoint, followed by a zig-zagging downward section surrounded by yellow and orange square bricks. You get a shield and a bird, then travel through a pipe to the exit.	Short	Short	Short
Medivo 1 airboard ditch	Works		Broken	Broken	Broken	Works
Ordering information after episode 1	One advertizement screen after "Let's not keep her waiting." This is in the fullgame release because you could order episodes 1-3 and episodes 4-6 separately.		None	None	None	None
Orbitus 1 airboard ditch	Works		Works	Broken -- but that keeps the level solvable because bouncy floors are completely broken, they behave like air.	Works	Works
Orbitus 2	Fairly easy, can fall through cracks in bouncy floors		Fairly easy, can fall through cracks in bouncy floors	Requires a bounce off the bouncy wall because bouncy floors are completely broken, they behave like air.	Almost impassable without tool assistance. Bouncy floors have a huge trigger area, sucking Jazz upwards, away from the intended route. Even with slow-motion, this is excruciatingly hard. Cheat for an airboard (P, backspace, CSTRIKE) or copy MaxStrike's fix into Jazz 1.3.	Fairly easy: The gaps that Jazz must enter are now bigger. Jazz cannot fall through cracks in bouncy floors.
Turtemple 2 airboard ditch	Works		Works	Broken	Broken	Works
Jungrock leaves	Fall after touching	?	Won't fall	Won't fall	Won't fall	Fall after touching
Jungrock bouncy flowers	Bouncy	?	Not bouncy	Not bouncy	Bouncy	Bouncy
Marbelara Secret	Passable via hidden spring		Incompleteable due to missing spring. Workaround: Cheat for an airboard (P, backspace, CSTRIKE), bypass the pillar, enter the cheat again to lose the airboard.		Passable via hidden spring
Dreempipes fuel raising/lowering speed	Slow: In the final room of Dreempipes 1, you can skip the first red switch on the right and instead swim immediately to the next red switch on the left. If you shoot the Dreempipes 2 speed shoes through the wall from the right, you won't have to hit red switches and can keep the speed shoes until the exit.		Fast water raising/lowering	Fast water raising/lowering	Fast water raising/lowering	Fast water raising/lowering
Pezrock 2 airboard ditch	Works		Works	Broken	Broken	Works
Battleships airboard ditches	Both the Battleships 1 and the Battleships 2 airboard ditch work in 1.0, in 1.1, in both 1.2s, and in both 1.3s. Battleships Secret correctly has no airboard ditch in any version.
Bonus stage music	End-of-episode music		End-of-episode music	End-of-episode music	Fullgame: End-of-episode music. Demo: Exoticus music.	End-of-episode music
	Jazz Jackrabbit 1.0	Jazz 1.1	Jazz Jackrabbit, good 1.2	Jazz Jackrabbit, bad 1.2	Jazz Jackrabbit 1.3 unpatched	Jazz 1.3 + GOG Patch 1

The CD releases have episodes A-Z. The good 1.2 had slightly harder episodes A-C than the bad 1.2 and the 1.3. Especially Deserto 2 is very hard in the good 1.2. Here are all A-C differences that I know.

	Jazz Jackrabbit, good 1.2	Jazz Jackrabbit, bad 1.2	Jazz 1.3 with or without Patch 1
Exoticus 1	No blue spring near the halfway checkpoint	No blue spring near the halfway checkpoint	Blue spring on the purple hill near the halfway checkpoint
Raneforus 2 airboard ditch	Works in all 3 CD releases, even though the TAS notes claim that it's broken in 1.3.
Ceramicus 1, flowerpots	Small flowerpots, the upper part of the tile is air	Large flowerpots, each fills a whole tile	Large flowerpots, each fills a whole tile
Ceramicus 1, after 1st patch of carrots	High pole, tricky to jump over, but not too hard	Pole is one tile shorter than in good 1.2, easy to jump.	Pole is one tile shorter than in good 1.2, easy to jump.
Ceramicus 1, before 2nd patch of carrots	3 flying springboards that you must evade, otherwise they'll bounce you back to where you came from	No springboards to bounce you back	No springboards to bounce you back
Ceramicus 1, near the end	A moving springboard moves inside a tunnel, directly below a ceiling. That springboard gets you permanently stuck in the ceiling.	Solid platform, you can't get stuck	Solid platform, you can't get stuck
Deserto 2	No carrots anywhere. On Medium/Hard/Turbo, this is is the hardest level in the game. Shooting the checkpoint is disadvantageous, then you can't recollect the 4-shield after dying.	5 patches with 2 carrots each throughout the level. Level has average difficulty.	5 patches with 2 carrots each throughout the level. Level has average difficulty.
Lagunicus Boss	Select Blaster to fire Toasters, select Toaster to fire RF-Missiles, select RF-Missile to fire Launchers, select Launcher to fire single birdshots that bounce and sound like Launchers. TNT functions normally.	All 5 weapons function normally.	All 5 weapons function normally.

See also the great TAS notes by Ilari, Mothrayas, and slamo. They have lots of extra info, even if the list of version differences is not as comprehensive as mine above.

Thanks

[RDR.EXE], a.k.a RetroDeath Reviews, has dissected the rare Jazz 1.1 floppy release. I've added the findings to the table above: Physics in 1.0 and 1.1 seem identical.
happygreenfrog from the Jazz Jackrabbit Discord tested and reported about the 1.0-1.3 hybrid: See my notes above for patching the almost-impassable Orbitus 2 in Jazz 1.3.
Matt C. for pointing out version differences in the ARJAN cheat: On 1.3, it gives 100,000 points.
Love and Thunder (a.k.a. Robo4900) from the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 community for extensive research towards fixing the 1.3 for GOG, and for pointing me to the version differences in Jungrock leaves and E3/E4 title images.

Contact me

I'm Simon N. and have speedrun Jazz Jackrabbit since September 2016. Watch live at twitch.tv/simonnaar or send email to eiderdaus at the gmail.com.

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