Thursday 25 August 2022

Jack the Nipper II ...in Coconut Capers (Gremlin Graphics, 1987)

Game concept by Greg Holmes

SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM version:
Programming and sprite graphics by Greg Holmes
Other graphics by Terry Lloyd
Music by Ben Daglish
Odds & Ends by David K. Pridmore, Andrew Green, Chris Shrigley and Robert Toone

MSX version:
Programming by Greg Holmes, Andrew Green and David K. Pridmore
Graphics by Terry Lloyd and Andrew Green
Musical bits by Ben Daglish, Greg Holmes and David K. Pridmore

AMSTRAD CPC version:
Programming and sprite graphics by Greg Holmes
Additional programming by David K. Pridmore
Other graphics by Terry Lloyd
Music by Ben Daglish

COMMODORE 64 version:
Programming by Andrew Green
Graphics by Terry Lloyd
Music by Ben Daglish
Assistance by Rob and Chris

All versions published by Gremlin Graphics in 1987.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS


Some time ago, a reader observed that a game featured on this blog, that would have a series of other games to look into, are rarely featured as more than footnotes at the end of the comparison at hand. This is true enough for good reasons, as most games that would have a larger series to choose comparisons from, are usually too similar to be bothered with. There have been exceptions to this rule, such as the Epyx sports games series, Blue Max (the sequel was handled with the original in a two-fer), the Way of the Exploding Fist (Fist II was compared first), two Horace games were also compared as a two-fer, Saboteur and its sequel also had a two-fer entry; and now, the comparison of Jack the Nipper from 2013 shall finally have its companion, even though back then, I solemnly swore not to do this one, because I'm utterly bollocks at it.

Whatever my personal opinion is of Jack the Nipper 2, most gamers seem to like it enough to sometimes even surpassing the original game in popularity. For instance, at Spectrum Computing, the current rating is 7.7 from 17 votes, while the original Nipper only has 7.4 from 11 votes. Of course, you can compare those scores to what they were at the original World of Spectrum a few years ago before it upgraded to its current form, and you can still see similar results: JTN2 had 8.42 from 228 votes, while JTN1 had 8.35 from 105 votes. No drastic difference, but anyway. The Amstrad version has a score of 14.70 at CPC-Power, while the review at CPC Game Reviews has a 7/10 rating. Here, though, JTN1 has better scores, with a 9/10 from CPCGR and 16/20 from CPC-Power. At Generation MSX, both games have four stars out of five, with JTN2 leading by four voters with 20, so it's hard to tell. But even on the C64, if we base our information on the Lemon64 votes, JTN2 seems to be higher regarded than JTN1, as the sequel has a score of 7.2 from 70 votes, while the original has a score of 7.1 from 63 votes. Not much, but certainly a similar difference as with the old WOS votes. Well, let's see what's what.

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DESCRIPTION & REVIEW


While the original Jack the Nipper was a flip-screen puzzle-adventure with platforming elements in pseudo-3D room-like environments, Coconut Capers is definitely more of a platformer with adventure elements. You still collect items to do things with them, but the game is more action-based than puzzle-based, and the instruction leaflet also tells you to play the game for score or naughtiness than for the actual plot.

As the story goes, Jack and his family have been deported to Australia due to his previous misdeeds, so on their way down under, Jack decides to jump out of the plane. Of course, his father follows him to make sure Jack gets his earful when he is caught eventually. Your given mission is merely to cause as much trouble as possible, but there are 10 tasks to solve with specific items scattered around the jungle, and a place you need to eventually reach to complete the game.

With a map of close to 200 screens, it's not exactly simple to find anything you might be looking for, and having a map is not all that helpful until you have acquainted yourself with a large portion of the map anyway. Certain items need to used in certain places in order to have access to further areas, though, and items can be used in unhelpful ways, so unless you know exactly what you're doing, you might not be having a particularly good time with Jack the Nipper 2. Which is pretty much my history with the game so far.


Of course, if you don't expect any deeper fulfillment by completing the game, Jack the Nipper in Coconut Capers can offer a good amount of enjoyable moments. Just don't expect it to be anywhere as engaging or logical as the original game.


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LOADING


Back in 2013, I was still doing the Loading section with assumed disk loading times included, so this part in the comparison of Jack The Nipper might have been considered a little more interesting. In case you are interested, the Amstrad and C64 versions of Coconut Capers were also released in disk format, but since it has been proven a long time ago, that the disk loading times can differ upon the disk drive in use, they will still not be included in this section. Now, here are the loading times from all the tape versions I was able to find.

AMSTRAD CPC: 5 min 43 sec
COMMODORE 64: 3 min 33 sec
MSX: 7 min 36 sec
ZX SPECTRUM - original: 4 min 57 sec
ZX SPECTRUM - Multimixx 5: 6 min 52 sec
ZX SPECTRUM - Kixx re-release: 7 min 16 sec
ZX SPECTRUM - 10 Great Games II: 6 min 48 sec
ZX SPECTRUM - Erbe re-release: 4 min 48 sec


As far as I can tell, the C64 and Amstrad versions had the same tape masters used for all re-releases, and there was only the original release for the MSX. The Spectrum version was re-released in four variations, of which the Spanish Erbe release managed to top the original in speed. It should be pointed out, though, that all three Spectrum tape versions that take over 6 minutes to load have evidence that they were freeze-framed with some sort of an Action Replay -style cartridge, so if you want an untampered version in your collection, go with the original or the Erbe version.

Loading screens, left to right: Sinclair ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC.

True to its legacy, the C64 version still doesn't have a loading screen, but the turbo loading scheme is so effective, that it loads up the game 1 minute and 15 seconds quicker than even the Erbe Spectrum release. But really, who gives a toss these days. The other three versions have their attempts at recreating the cover art, even so far as to make everything wear sunglasses. The Amstrad version appears the most true to the source material, and the pixelation isn't half bad, either, which I cannot in all honesty say about the Spectrum/MSX loader by Greg Holmes himself.

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PLAYABILITY


Although making vastly differing versions of a game for different platforms is nothing new to Gremlin Graphics (see the double-comparison of Wanted: Monty Mole and Percy the Potty Pigeon from 2013 for two prime examples), it might seem an odd choice to do a very different C64 version of Jack the Nipper 2, when the original game was similar on all platforms. However, as the sequel feels more random and pointless in its style, it doesn't necessarily come as much of a surprise that the C64 team went for a somewhat different approach to Greg Holmes' original idea: the game map is notably different, and it's a multi-directional scroller instead of using a flip-screen method.

So, the main focus of the comparison is actually on the other three versions, and with the SPECTRUM version being the original, we shall start with analysing that one. For starters, you get a few different control options in the title screen, which are a predefined set of keys (Z, X, O, K and 0), cursor keys/joystick, Interface 2 joystick and Kempston compatible joystick. The Kempston option doesn't work properly (or at all) in the original release, but it was fixed for some of the re-releases. Left and right make you walk left and right, up jumps and climbs up ladders, down climbs down ladders, uses the mine cart and picks up items, and the designated fire button shoots a projectile, provided you have some in your inventory's weapon slot. Using an item happens by pulling down and pressing the fire button.

The C64 version adds the possibility to duck by pulling the joystick down, which isn't particularly helpful most of the time, but it's something Jack can only do on the other versions when picking up an object. You can also use your nappy as a parachute when dropping longer distances in the C64 version, by pressing the fire button while dropping, but only after having dropped exactly three times Jack's height. Do the maneouvre too late or too early while dropping, and the parachute won't open. The other problem with using the parachute is, that when you are landing, it takes a few long seconds for Jack to redress himself, so if you land in a bad spot, a collision with an enemy is likely.

The AMSTRAD, MSX and C64 versions don't give you any control options, as you are assumed to be playing the game with a joystick or the cursor keys on the CPC and MSX. The two versions modeled straight after the SPECTRUM version still want you to start the game by pressing the zero key, while the C64 version can only be started by pressing the fire button.

When you start the game, you are dropped into a randomly chosen screen from three possible choices. From what I've gathered, the most common starting point is one screen to the right from the top left corner of the map - a screen with a diaginal downwards slope to the immediate right of Jack. The other two possible starting points are in the exact bottom middle of the map (a room with a bat and an exit only to the left), and just about in the middle of the fourth quarter of the map at the right end (a room with a native man and an exit only to the left). The starting randomizer seems to work a little differently in the AMSTRAD and MSX versions, but they share the starting points, at least. The C64 version always starts from the same spot, near the top left corner of the map.


If you are familiar with the first game, moving Jack around in JTN2 feels more familiar in the flip-screen versions, than it does on the C64. In the flip-screen versions, Jack has a fairly steep jumping curve, meaning that he jumps high, but not very far; much like he does in the original game. In the C64 version, Jack has a more balanced jump: not as high, but a little bit longer. Jack also moves a lot quicker on the C64 than in the other versions, although Jack in the AMSTRAD version is notably faster than in the SPECTRUM and MSX versions.

What makes JTN2 more interesting to play than the original game is the amount of new things Jack is now able to do. He can climb ladders and ropes, grab a swinging vine and jump off from it, enter a mine cart and exit it at will, while being able to throw coconuts at all sorts of beastly beings. What I found quite odd, though, is that the C64 version is the only one to feature JTN1's signature weapon - the blow pipe (or pea shooter if you prefer), which also affects at least one of the missions in the game. More C64-exclusive features are dark passageways between different-coloured areas which render you untouchable for the duration of the darkness; places you can go through only when Jack is blinking in his invincible mode; slidy bits in the ground, and the tornado-looking enemy (apparently a Tasmanian Devil) cannot be shot while he's in his tornado mode, while the other versions allow you kill it even as a tornado. And then of course, the game map is very different.

The thing is, the C64 version of JTN2 is just a completely different experience around the same idea, and best considered as its own thing. If it weren't for the shared title, I couldn't say it was the same game, so for that, it shall have to share the top spot with the other winner. Again, as with JTN1, the AMSTRAD, SPECTRUM and MSX versions are similar enough with each other to be too bothered about the smallest details, but the AMSTRAD version is smoother and faster to play than the other two.


1. AMSTRAD CPC / COMMODORE 64
2. ZX SPECTRUM / MSX

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GRAPHICS


Jack the Nipper's second adventure happens in a jungle, so you would expect some jungle-like things and colours to appear in the game. Now, I have never been to a jungle, myself, but all the pictures and video footage I have seen of jungles around the world have contained plenty of large green vegetation, the occasional obligatory waterfall, and lots of jungle animals, such as apes, lions, elephants - you know, jungle fauna. If it's a jungle movie with glimpses the area's native people, you might be looking at a Tarzan movie. So, how does all this translate into Coconut Capers?

Title screens, left to right:
Sinclair ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64.
You can already tell quite clearly from comparing the title screens, that the C64 version is going to look different from the other versions. All the other versions feature a small glimpse into the in-game graphics in form of an animation sequence of two enemy characters walking around little Jack on a small island that can just about hold three people on it. The SPECTRUM and MSX versions have a white hunter person and a bone-lipped, dark-skinned native man keeping company to Jack, while the AMSTRAD version features two red-skinned natives instead. This might look a bit concerning, as the graphics mode is the same as the one used in Dizzy, but remember, this is only the title screen. The text bits have more colour in them in the SPECTRUM and MSX versions (particularly SPE), but the AMSTRAD texts have two colours for each row of text, even if every bit of text are coloured the same.

The C64 title screen is decidedly unrevealing, although from the title logo, it can be assumed that the in-game graphics are likely multi-coloured, and not hi-res. Aside from the title logo and the info panel at the bottom, there is an alarming lack of colour here, but then you don't really get any real graphics here either, unless you count the surrounding yellow reed thing as such. Then again, it's a title screen, and a very clear one at that.

In-game screenshots from the Sinclair ZX Spectrum version.
Examining the game in action, JTN2 has a perfectly normal info panel at the bottom of the screen, which takes roughly four character blocks in height, although the actual info only takes half of it - the rest is purely ornamental. The info panel is divided into four sections. From left to right, we have the number of lives, the two item slots (blank if nothing is held), the Naughty-o-meter that can basically handle 10 completed tasks, and the score display. The framing is dark cyan stone structure with bits of grass hanging onto it here and there.

The action screen fills the rest of the drawable area, but as the game has a flip-screen method of going through the map, the design choices of the game map are left a little bit under the shadow of what a single screen is able to show you. Be that as it may, JTN2's map graphics are constructed in such a way as to make it easily familiarized, which is a good thing in a maze platformer such as this. There is, however, a distinct lack of colours, as the single most utilized colour throughout the entire map is yellow, and apart from the cyan water bits, there are only green, red and white utilized for the terrain blocks, white being the most seldom used colour in the map. Magenta is another colour that can be seen worn randomly by enemy sprites, but that's about all the colours in the game. Although I can't really say yellow would be the first colour I would associate with jungle, the graphics are still generally very good - specifically all the animations are well-made and often funny. Jack's idling animation of picking his nose and looking around in distaste is funny enough to stop and take a breather every now and then.

In-game screenshots from the MSX version.
As you can see, and if you want to compare this to the original Jack the Nipper, the MSX version looks exactly the same as the SPECTRUM version, apart from the obvious differences in palette and screen resolution. Nothing to report here.

In-game screenshots from the Amstrad CPC version.
Although this set of screenshots doesn't represent the AMSTRAD version's wide array of colours to their fullest, they have at least been taken from the same spots as the screens from the SPECTRUM and MSX versions. Once again, the AMSTRAD version takes on a fairly restricting screen mode (Mode 1), which allows for only three other colours besides black to be used. We have seen this screen mode used lately in Dizzy and Super Off-Road, but in Jack The Nipper II, the colours are changed in a room-specific manner. It seems the most common colour combinatino is cyan, green and grey, although you can often see white and red being used, or blue and orange, mixed with the more common colours. It gives the AMSTRAD version a lot more graphical variety, and sometimes, it even makes the graphics use more realistic colours - not always, though. Because of the screen mode's restrictions, the info panel's colours also change along with the rest of the screen's graphics. Again, I appreciate the variety, but surely they could have made more sensible colour combinations?

One thing I'm not too happy about here, which is the screen size. The black borders, which you can't see too well here, are much larger than perhaps necessary, but I suppose that's what you get when the graphics are pretty much ported straight from the SPECTRUM version. Well, I admit that's an assumption, because it is entirely possible Greg Holmes might have had a cross-platform designer. Something tells me the small screen size helps with the framerate, as the game runs faster on the AMSTRAD than it does on either SPECTRUM or MSX, although you still get a bit of slowdown when there's too much action on screen.

In-game screenshots from the Commodore 64 version.
Since the C64 version has a very different map, it only makes sense to show you examples of a few different-looking areas, along with the things the C64 Jack can do that the other versions can not. This also necessitated the amount of C64 screenshots to be larger than the others.

The C64 version has 5 distinctly different looking, different coloured areas. Most of them can be visited in the left half of the map, and the rest can be accessed from around the half-point of the map. The vast majority, though, is orange-coloured jungle with trees and caverns. While the graphics are certainly not hi-res like in the other versions, the colour detailing is very C64'ish. In the middle of all the orange, brown and green, there are always seemingly randomly placed pixels of other colours to make things look more natural. The light blue and grey areas have lots of white shades and some greens and dark blues, and there's also one area, which features dark brown, light green, light blue, orange and dark green in certain designated bits. Even in its wildest appearances, the C64 version has easily the most natural look of the lot. Also, the larger human characters have a more humane look to them, and the native people are redesigned to appear as dark grey-skinned pygmies, which fits the game's absurd situation nicely.

Here, the map has been redesigned either specifically to suit the multi-directionally scrolling screen; or perhaps merely in such a way as to disregard the limitations of the flip-screen method. Jack moves around with more speed and fluency than in any of the other versions, but once he gets on the mine cart, the speed goes up another notch. The only thing I'm a bit bothered about is the complete redesign of Jack's sprite, which feels a bit out of place, when compared to the fairly original-looking Jack sprite in the other versions. But that's forgivable in the context.

Game Over screens, left to right:
Sinclair ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64.
The only screen where you can see some blue, which can be sort of counted as in-game graphics, is the Game Over screen. The screen itself is not a screen you can see in the game map at any point, although similar design has been often used in the game. The AMSTRAD version doesn't share the SPECTRUM and MSX version's blue slab behind the red Game Over text, but otherwise, it's basically the same thing. The C64 Game Over screen goes back to the title screen design, only the Game Over text has been altered to a more Jack-the-Nippery "Sorry wimp but its Game Over" (sic).

What I said at the end of the Playability section could be practically copied here, so I'll just get on with the scores.

1. AMSTRAD CPC / COMMODORE 64
2. ZX SPECTRUM / MSX

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SOUNDS


Once again, this is the easy part. The SPECTRUM version uses the beeper in a very traditional beeper-like manner, so there is no trickery involved; and there is no AY-music for the 128k Speccies, so beepery is all you will get. Also, the MSX version's soundtrack is ported straight from the ZX SPECTRUM, so the same observations go there as well.


If there's anything to be gathered from the original game manual, the soundtrack was likely put together by Greg Holmes and David Pridmore, and programmed by Ben Daglish, because usually when Daglish is responsible for music, you would have some epic original tunes specifically written for the game, but here, pretty much every bit of music you hear is a rendition of some other more or less historic popular tune. The main theme is a rendition of Henry Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk" in a much higher speed than the original, and there are more familiar melodic phrases to be heard during play, such as the titular phrase of "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts" (a 1940's novelty song), and a similar excerpt of "Pop Goes the Weasel". The Game Over tune is, as far as I can tell, the only Ben Daglish original in the soundtrack, and in all its shortness, it's a very good composition, and it actually stands out to its advantage.

The SPE/MSX sound effects are the usual Spectrum beeper deal: you get jumping noises and coconut-throwing noises, which resemble each other because they go up and down in a similar manner; an explosion noise, a quickly repeating ticking noise for the mine cart riding the rails, and another sort of ticking noise for sliding down slopes. In fact, all the sounds in the SPECTRUM and MSX versions have been executed in the same manner - quickly repeating notes with a minuscule space in between each note. Of course you can tell the sounds apart from each other, but the method of delivery gets old quickly.


In the AMSTRAD version, you can hear some definite upgrading to all the music. Although all the melodies sound like they were made with more or less the same instrument (with slight variations), you can at least hear three simultaneous melodic lines. There are, however, more unrecognizable musical phrases in the AMSTRAD version compared to the others, thanks to Ben Daglish having more control over his work here, but at least he kept Baby Elephant Walk and Coconuts in the soundtrack, as well as his Game Over jingle, now enhanced with a simple bass line to accompany the single melodic line. The sound effects feel are slightly more varied in style here, now featuring some white noise-based explosions and slide noises, and compared to the SPECTRUM and MSX versions, the other sound effects feel a bit more refined, as well.

If it wasn't clear enough before, that Ben's home platform was the C64, the soundtrack for Jack the Nipper II should prove it well enough. The SID rendition of Baby Elephant Walk as the main title theme is so layered and wild with its hyper-active rhumba beat, that it puts the already fine CPC rendition to shame. The Game Over jingle has been so well rearranged, that you would have a hard time recognizing the original if you heard them after the C64 versions, and the other jingles featured in the other versions are all more or less upgraded. Additionally, there are about a dozen more classic tunes shortened into jingles to be heard every time you pick up or use an item, or maybe do something unexpected. Aside from all these new jingles and upgraded tunes, you also get a constant jungle drum beat in the background, which has its own changes. There are perhaps less sound effects here, but hearing sounds for jumping, shooting, exploding, sliding and a couple of other things, is more than enough, because there are so many new jingles that you really don't need any more particular sound effects. The order is pretty clear here.


1. COMMODORE 64
2. AMSTRAD CPC
3. ZX SPECTRUM / MSX

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OVERALL + VIDEO


Jack the Nipper and its sequel both showcase the secondary, yet seemingly necessary addition of having an MSX version in the line-up of a game release, in a way that's difficult to miss. The MSX version is, as far as I can tell, exactly the same as the SPECTRUM version, with no other differences than that the graphics are adjusted for the MSX's different screen resolution, and that the unenhanced beepy music only gets played through the TV speakers instead of an in-built 1-bit speaker. The AMSTRAD and C64 versions are both improvements at least in terms of sounds, but in terms of graphics, it's arguable. The C64 version is such a different game from the other versions, that it shouldn't even be compared to the others, but as it is, it might as well be included in the final scores.

1. COMMODORE 64: Playability 2, Graphics 2, Sounds 3 = TOTAL 7
2. AMSTRAD CPC: Playability 2, Graphics 2, Sounds 2 = TOTAL 6
3. ZX SPECTRUM: Playability 1, Graphics 1, Sounds 1 = TOTAL 3
3. MSX: Playability 1, Graphics 1, Sounds 1 = TOTAL 3


As I mentioned before, the only reason why the Playability score is lower on the SPECTRUM and MSX versions is the game speed compared to CPC, and the Graphics is also comparatively low because of the relative lack of colours. That said, they're not bad at all, merely nothing more than you would expect, yet less good than they could (or should) have been. Just adding a 128k version with AY-sounds would have made a world of difference.

In a vague attempt at giving you some more palatable proof of my musings here, I have prepared the usual video accompaniment to this comparison:


That's it for now, I hope that was more worth reading than it was to make. There are couple more sequel/prequel-themed comparisons in the works, but who knows when they will be finished. Next month will be quiet on this front, since I have to be concentrating more on my real work for a while, but in the meantime, I will be preparing a couple of Ocean Software comparisons for October, one of them somewhat fitting the Halloween theme. Until then, cheerio, pip pip, and don't be a wimp!

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