Jill of the Jungle: The Complete Trilogy (1993)

The platforming is bad. It's really imprecise and the hard landings after every single jump completely kill any momentum. Combat is pretty bad too, although i enjoyed the frogs chasing you. Level design is really bad, lots of places where falling down makes you redo too much of the level.

On the plus side, the boomerang-dagger is fun the few times it does work and i enjoyed the goofy elevators. Seriously though, don't bother with this, it compares poorly even to contemporary or older platformers like Prince of Persia or Super Mario.

You can play this for free on GOG:

https://www.gog.com/game/jill_of_the_jungle_the_complete_trilogy

I picked this game up on GOG for free because hoarding things digitally is fun. But I'd heard some rumblings that this was actually a good game, so I decided to give it a try. My expectations were low, because I was much more of a console gamer in the 90s... I remember playing a bit of Chex Quest, Sim City 2000, P.F. Magic virtual pet games, but that's about it. Without that deeper level of nostalgia, I've found other classics difficult to get into.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Jill of the Jungle pretty accessible. Jill's controls have a bit of a learning curve, but once I set my gamepad up as a joystick, I quickly learned how to maneuver. While enemies and obstacles are challenging, the game includes plenty of safety nets:

• You have infinite lives.
• You retain key collectibles when you re-spawn.
• You can save and restore anywhere.
• There is an "invincibility from enemies" cheat that's easy to type, and only stays in effect through the current level.

These capabilities kept me focused on enjoying Jill's gameplay, which is fun and varied. Many levels have light puzzle mechanics, and some feature the ability to transform into different creatures with their own strengths and weaknesses. The sprites are drawn and animated well, the sounds are entertaining, and the music is surprisingly great for the platform and era.

Jill's design is clearly an extension of some longstanding cheesecake tropes, but I was relieved to never encounter any groan-inducing humor at her expense. The humor that is here helped me understand some of the appeal of this era of gaming: News bulletins advertise the retirement of other gaming icons due to Jill's awesomeness. There are homages to other PC classics and other little in-jokes that make this feel like a small team's labor of love.

I do think the first episode is stronger than the remaining two... level designs start to descend into a "Super Mario Maker" vibe, with the same assets remixed in ways that feel increasingly slap-dash. But this is one of the few DOS games I've actually bothered to finish. I'd recommend it.