Windjammers 2 A Retrospective: Changing the formulas of well-known works almost always leads to complications. There’s the army of devoted followers you need to please, the strict adherence to canon, and the challenge of adding anything of real value. Windjammers 2, the sequel to Data East’s much-beloved Neo Geo action sports classic, succeeds magnificently.
Messing with a cult classic is asking for problems since its intricacies are as sacred as scripture to its devoted devotees and any alterations are subject to rigorous scrutiny.
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Windjammers 2 A Retrospective
First, however, it’s important to reflect on the original’s 1994 success, since that’s the rock upon which this excellent sequel is built. Windjammers has long seemed like the pinnacle of the Neo Geo’s type of powerful 2D action, especially considering its release timing in the midst of the 3D graphics revolution.
The bright pinks and yellows of the game’s visuals, together with the players’ wraparound chrome sunglasses, give it the mid-90s tang of a cheese string lunch washed down with Capri-Sun, masking a gloriously instantaneous combination of fighting and sports games.
I’ve always thought that Windjammer’s hyper-charged version of air hockey rivaled Speedball 2’s take on handball as the best fictional video game sport ever; both games have a similar snappiness and energy, but in Windjammer the violence is replaced with pleasant, sleepy summer sentiments.
You have to use unique moves, such as swerving or dipping your shot, as well as diving to make stunning saves as you attempt to get a discus from one player to another and into one of the various scoring zones. Windjammers is essentially a cross between Pong and Street Fighter, and it’s a testament to Data East’s skill that the game delivers on the promise of its premise.
It’s no surprise that Windjammers became an instant classic; its widespread availability was limited only by licensing concerns. Although the French Windjammer’s competitive scene is thriving, my own devotion to the game pales in comparison to that of my fellow Frenchmen. I own an original VMS cart that serves as the centerpiece of my own modest Neo Geo collection, and the game is always the first port of call when playing with friends on my cabinet.
It should come as no surprise that French studio Dotemu is behind the revival, having recruited some of the same talents behind its exquisite Streets of Rage 4 — designer Jordi Asensio once again displaying a deft and delicate touch — as well as some of the original team, such as original composer Seichi Hamada, for something that is, first and foremost, utterly faithful to the original.
Indeed, this is a more conservative affair than Streets of Rage 4, in part because of need; the basics are exactly the same, and the movement of each character and the arc of the discus are exactly the same on an old Astro City as they are playing on an OLED Switch, despite the new aesthetics.
The effort to improve upon a timeless classic reminds me of David Sirlin’s Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, but at first, I wasn’t sure whether the original required that much improvement. Put it down to an unhealthy connection to the original, for after six hours my heart had softened and the additions, of which there are many, started to fit in well with the original’s framework. There are some new levels with more malleable scoring zones, some new characters that are creative mashups of the old and returning cast, and some new moves like parries and spikes that increase the depth of each play.
After a night of online play in Windjammers 2, the meat of this offering is provided by a light but reliable feature set with rollback code and ranked and casual play, it’s astonishing how nicely those new maneuvers compliment the originals, making this a noticeably more complicated beast than the original.
The absence of a good tutorial to walk you through the new specials and EX moves is the only real flaw I saw in this sequel, but once you figure it out, everything works together rather well, although with a somewhat more complicated set of tools than before. Whether or not it appeals to you is a matter of personal preference, but I like how this sequel complements the original while providing its own unique perspective.
Can we say that it’s an improvement over the film’s initial 1994 release? People working on Windjammers 2 probably won’t be too bummed by the fact that I’m not sure it ever could be, what with the original’s visual and stripped-down core still giving something unique.
Surprisingly, though, this is a sequel that can hold its own next to the original, with a somewhat different, enjoyable, and dynamic approach that, with any luck, will attract a whole new audience to the franchise. Here we have a confident return to form for a contemporary classic that was once a cult hit.
Final Words
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