posted September 01, 2000 09:56 AM            

I REALLY WOULD LIKE TO THANK DOC JONES who made it possible and bought
and sent me the game cause it was only available in Holland and i was too lazy to drive there!!!
THANKS SO MUCH, DOC!!!!!

Well, as a real JJ fan, i immediately compiled some information on the game...here we go...

Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Christmas Chronicles
(Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Christmas Chronicles '99)
_____________________________________________
(C) 1997-99 Epic MegaGames Inc.
published by Project 2 Interactive BV.

It seems like the game was supposed to be released for Christmas 1999 all over Europe.
All text on the box is written in six languages: English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish.
Here is what the back of the cd case says (english):

"They are back! Super-cool rabbit Jazz, his crazy little brother Spaz and their
athletic sister Lori will gang up for Christmas 1999 to have a wild and whacky time
on your PC. In these Christmas levels of the PC hit Jazz Jackrabbit 2, never before
released in Europe, our favorite rabbits have brand new adventures in cold,
snowy landscapes, where there are many evil enemies. Anyone who manges to complete
the entire game will obtain the precious code which gives access to many more Christmas
levels..."

- Name of CD: JAZZXMAS
- 164 MB on CD
- Manual in Acrobat Reader format (ACR) in six languages (23/24 pages)
- Acrobat Reader program is on the CD (six languages)
- takes 61,7 MB of space on my harddisk (HH98: 22,7 MB), number of files is 170
(140 in the main directory)
- creates subdirs "Html", "JCSHelp" and "Tiles"
- contains 8 additional ANM tileset files (seems to be "Haunted House", "Town"
and the XMAS Tilesets...)
- there is no readme file
- the files were last changed/compiled on 23/24-11-1999.
- it includes a JCS.EXE(!) which is different from all other J2 games (712 KB)
the levels made with this version of JCS are only compatible to TSF, they dont
run with "normal" JJ2
- pre-loading screen (when youre still in Windows) is different from all other
JJ2 games
- intro and company splash screens are the same as always, only the title screen
(shortly before the menu appears) has changed and looks pretty cool
(same picture like on box and cd case covers; drawn prolly by Gerrit Willemse (mentioned in the credits for "Arts") or Bianca Wibenga (credits: "Printed Materials")
- the design of the menu screens is changed and looks pretty funky (green background
and it snows in the menu which makes a very nice effect!)
- in the game you can choose an additional language: Polish
- version number shown in the lower left corner is: 1.24 x
- the three single player levels are the same as in HH98, only difference is
the welcome text event and the text event when you beaten the xmas boss. it gives
a password (which i wont tell here of course ;-) and advises the player to visit
Project 2 website (which is a dead link since Winter 1999 :-).
- there are six entries in the "Homecooked levels" episode screen
(all of them are from Project 2's easter level contest i guess):
- "Hot Cross Bunnies" (by CaRRoTs / J2LC)
- "easter hunt" (by f.quist / J2LC)
- "Easter pinball eggs" (unknown author)
- "Happy eastern" (unknown author)
- "Easter Time!" (unknown author)
- "Easter Elves" (by Ninja Dodo)
- there are fix more homecooked levels but they arent shown on the list for some weird reason:
- "Fright night ctf" (by martin / J2LC) -> greetings martin! :-)))
- "JAZZ HOME SWEET EASTER" (by SPY)
- "Oh No Easter" (by KINGPIN GPW)
- "Easter Dream" (by BugsBunny and Tweety)
- "Easter Arena" (by Snapper and Pyropotato)
- tilesets are included
- all of them are nice levels :-)
- registry info is similar to the stuff that was stored by all previous versions
- in Local split screen play you can only choose Treasure Hunt (like in HH98)
- in Internet play mode you can only choose Battle and Capture the flag (also like in HH98)
- Default battles are the same as in HH98: "Festive Feud" & "Chrimbo Combat"
- the default ctf level is martin's "Fright night ctf" :-)
- Internet play IS NOT compatible with any previous version of JJ2
so you cant join servers of other versions and they cant join your 1.24 x server.
- "-player X" command line argument isnt available (like in TSF...),
all other parameters seem to work
- the credits scroller lists all full names (8-) of the homecooked level authors

To sum it up: "The Christmas Chronicles" are a very good buy for all us Europeans.
It has Lori, a very funky(!) menu, a JCS and eleven cool homecooked levels which makes
it a lot better than the US release "Holiday Hare '98".
But remember: acutally this game was never published!

Aiko.
-> Proud owner of JJ1, HH94, HH95, JJ2, HH98, TSF, CC99 (btw im thinkin' about buying a Mac so i can buy the Mac version also...nah j/k ;-)

P.S.: if you use this information please gimme credits :-)

posted September 01, 2000 02:17 PM            

I have CC too y'know...
Had 2 reinstall jazz...

posted September 01, 2000 02:52 PM            

Hmmmm...Maybe Nick did the Cover picture. Hehehe Nick Rocks!

posted September 01, 2000 04:26 PM            

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Wenn die Zeit kommt, Wirklichkeit zu konfrontieren, weiß ich, daß ich mit meinen Fäusten überleben kann. Aber früher oder später, mache ich einen Fehler, und ich benötige Gott, mich von meinem eigenen Durcheinander zu führen. Aber hey, nicht ist Zerstörung von einander und überlebend, was alle wir gut tun?

posted September 01, 2000 06:26 PM            

Thank you for the detailed info Aiko, I already mentioned some of it on LC when I got my copy back in January. However...You have the west-version of the game. As it has a different box. I have a version that comes in a slightly bigger box.

Also, you're not the only one that can compare all versions

Well..my JJ(2) collection is also nearly complete, all I miss is HH98.

posted September 01, 2000 07:50 PM         

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"One day you will wield the sword my son... but it will not make you a warrior." Matthias
"In the end only kindness matters" (ok so it's cheap...) Jewel
" My happiness was when I was young and we didn't give a ****, 'Cause we were raised to see life as fun and take it if we can!" I don't know, I'd appreciate it if someone told me who my sister listens to so much...
If in Chrono Trigger you could travel through time maybe you could use ZSNES to travel to 1999 and walk around... and why couldn't you travel before magus got there?
Kazooie: Oh no! I LEFT MY FRIGGIN REPORT CARD IN MY FRIGGIN BACK PACK IN MY FRIGGIN LOCKER!!!

Mrs. Roberts: That's no language to use here!

posted September 02, 2000 08:49 AM            

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It is illegal to milk another person's cow.