An arcade phenomenon rife with sun-soaked beaches, gigantic plastic sunglasses, musclebound athletes in tiny bathing suits, and a high-energy new-wave fusion of frisbee and tennis,Windjammers was a near perfect encapsulation of the essence of the mid 1990’s. It sat right at home in the NEO•GEO lineup, its cerulean attract screen and iconic theme music daring you not to jam your precious quarters into its slots and challenge your friends to the ultimate in Flying Power Disc competition. Now twenty five(!) years later, DotEmu is releasing a long-awaited sequel in Windjammers 2 which looks to update and upgrade the classic gameplay of the original into something that will endure for another quarter century or more.
Windjammers saw a resurgence in popularity in the 2010s, and demand for copies of the game outstripped access to pricey MVS systems and carts. DotEmu rose to the challenge to release a port of Windjammers in 2017 for the PS4, PS Vita and Nintendo Switch, at last making the classic game available to a wide audience and bringing online play to the game for the first time. It was a big moment for Windjammers fans who had been clamoring for an easier way to play with friends, or even take on random strangers. The game did well enough to warrant development of a sequel, and so here we are with an all-new, fleshed out, more in-your-face 1990’s than ever flying power disc game.
As any fan of Windjammers will tell you, it would be very difficult to improve on the original game. The mechanics are simple, but with a high skill ceiling, so that the game is easy to pick up and very difficult to become great at. Windjammers 2 feels as much an homage to its predecessor as it does a sequel, looking to simultaneously build upon what it started with while also preserving the core essence of playing Windjammers, and in large part I think it’s successful in this way.
Windjammers 2 is a slick, polished looking game, featuring beautiful hand-drawn character art and detailed court designs and in-game effects. Vibrant colors, clean lines, and no shortage of flash are used to recreate the style of the original game’s art in clear crisp detail that looks beautiful on today’s screens. The character animations are fluid and snappy, so movement around the court feels quick and responsive. Every aspect of the interface is both exceedingly flashy and well-defined, so that it’s easy to keep an eye on the scoreboard or timer while frantically dashing to swat your opponent’s shot back across to their side. The aesthetic of the original game has been preserved with painstaking attention to detail, so everything still looks like it’s set in the 90s pseudo near-future of the original, but rendered with a fidelity the original couldn’t have imagined. DotEmu also brought back original composers Gamadelic to create the soundtrack for Windjammers 2 and the vibe is just spot-on.
Playing matches in Windjammers 2 is a familiar affair, and if you’ve spent any amount of time with the first game you’re off to a great start. DotEmu has nailed the feeling of playing the game and the controls feel exactly like you would expect, so there’s minimal adjustment time. Newcomers will have a bit more to bite off as they come to understand the Flying Power Disc sport’s unique rule set, but dashing around the court, returning shots and aiming for the goals will quickly become second nature. Windjammers 2 retains all of the first game’s moves and concepts, and adds some new tactics you can use as a player that add much more depth to matches and make rallies significantly more dynamic and unpredictable.
Players can now jump to catch discs and smash the disc down onto the ground, providing a new risky but effective counter to lobs. Slap shots and drop shots offer quick means to return your opponent’s throws to catch them on their heels. Your character now has a special meter that builds as you play, which you can use to unleash your special attacks on demand, or to use defensively to recover from situations that would otherwise see you scored on, practically like a get out of jail free card. None of these changes upset the balance of playing the game so much as offer additional tools for players of all skill levels, all of which will be formidable in the right hands.
The game’s arcade mode is a challenging tour through the tournament across the game’s plethora of locales and stages, where you’ll face off against the whole roster of athletes in single elimination. You gain points for your performance in each match, increasing your overall rating, with the goal of climbing the ladder to become the reigning champion. Each of the characters you’ll face off against along the way has its own balance of speed versus strength, making your choice of competitor important when you set out. They also have specific competitive styles they favor, giving you the chance to practice against certain moves in a more “real” and focused setting, which sort of sets Arcade mode up as a stealth training mode for playing against real players online.
While I’m not new to Windjammers by any means, I found the Arcade mode to be surprisingly challenging as I was coming up to speed with the new mechanics and getting my bearings again. I will also add that while Windjammers 2 does feel great to control, I reviewed it on the Switch and spent most of my time using the joy-cons in handheld mode, which I do not recommend for serious play. Though you can get enough fidelity of movement with the joy-cons’ thumb sticks, I’d strongly suggest using a Pro Controller or a Hori Split Pad instead, otherwise you’re giving up more fine-grained control in crucial moments that can cost you a set or a whole match.
My only real complaint about the game itself is the lack of a proper tutorial or practice mode. It does feature an in-game “How to Play” walkthrough, but it’s a series of static screens that explain the controls and how to perform moves. I think both for new players, and experienced players wanting to learn the new moves in the game, being able to jump into a practice court set up for you to repeat those motions and get a feel for how to perform them without being under pressure would have been a really nice addition. Arcade mode does give you the chance to try some of these things out more practically, but it’s less directed and relies on you to figure things out yourself.
While I was unable to play online matches for this review, I did participate in the online beta last year and got the chance to see how the system worked back then, and even last Summer it was in great shape, offering quick matchmaking times and a fluid experience in-game, so that it felt like the player I was up against in any given match was right next to me on the couch or on the adjacent set of controls on an arcade machine. I’ll update this review when I’ve had the chance to go hands-on with the online mode post release with final code.
Windjammers 2 is a worthy successor to the original game that builds on its character and adds exciting new depth to its matches, all while paying respect to the source material without straying from its spirit and intent. There is a deep, challenging game here that is thrilling and exciting to play, and I think it’s got lots to offer for longtime fans and brand new ones alike. Windjammers 2 has a big legacy to live up to, and it does not disappoint in its delivery. Purists may disagree, but I think this is the best Windjammers has ever been, and in my book that’s reason enough to pick it up.
A Switch eShop code was provided in advance by the publisher for review purposes
