Jumping Flash PS1 Review - Playing Classic Games on PS5 with PlayStation Plus Premium

Having seen with the recent changes with the PlayStation 5's PlayStation plus program it's great to see them trying to reinvigorate the trend of reinvigorating old-school classics from the likes of the ps1 and ps2 and if you've checked the tiers of the PlayStation plus program you'll see that there's quite a number of games that have been added to the catalogue so once you upgrade you will instantly get access to a lot of these classic games anything from the likes of resident evil directors cut, tekken 2, ape escape among others. 

And included in that lineup is jumping flash which was also one of the first games to ever be released on the PlayStation back in the early days as the game was originally released back in April of 1995 in Japan and then later in September both in Europe and then November in north America back in 1995 and this is one of the earliest games to ever be released on the console. 

And it was also considered to be one of the earliest 3d style platforming games that mixed in fps or first-person shooter elements with platforming all into the mix so it was quite a unique concept. 

Now you can definitely see from the early images and gameplay footage and even if you experienced the game yourself back then you could definitely see an early style of what 3d games looked like, at that time and the graphics themselves are quite quirky and quite unique for what was available at that time and this was long before they were able to push the processes or even figure out the potential power that the PlayStation console had at that time. 

With that being said you play through a number of about six different worlds and each world has its own landscape throughout the levels to master anything from outside environments and world maps to walking around defeating enemies in likes of caves and at the end of each level on the third stage you will always fight an end of level boss which you'll then need to defeat in order to move forward. 

So you'll have the mixture of different abilities from shooting your standard weapon to having all sorts of explosive weapons like grenades and tracking style missiles that just adds an overall level of depth to the gameplay. 

I remember myself going back to playing this, my very first experience with this game was originally on the very first time i'd ever played the PlayStation as it was part of the original demo one disc that came boxed with the PlayStation and i remember my mate having it and getting to play it and at that time i was just introduced to the console and plethora of games that were available. 

You had the likes of resident evil, there was destruction derby, time commando, shockwave assault, wipeout, formula one, so it was interesting to play a unique 3d platforming game.

Now it definitely took a while to get familiar with the controls as even going back to it today the controls are quite clunky it definitely takes a while and a bit of patience to get used to but once you get used to the quirky nature of the gameplay style there is a really fun and very challenging game that you'll have on your hands here and it's worthwhile spending more time in it or even revisiting it if you haven't played it in a while and i have to say i definitely enjoyed it.

I played that demo quite a lot and the thing is about it you got to play through a couple of the levels on the demo and you got to play against one of the bosses so you definitely got your money's worth from just that demo alone and that wasn't even to consider all the other demos that i would have had access to at that time. 

Even from my very early experience with the PlayStation from all the demos and games i had played there really was a case that it had something for everybody at that time which was truly incredible. 

So i remember even going back years later when i first got my PS3 back in 2007 and the first thing i wanted to do was to gain access to download and purchase some of the original ps1 games because at that time ps1 games were starting to show up on PlayStation store so for me it was a good opportunity to go back and play those old classics because i didn't have access to a lot of the physical discs that i would have had back then and the first two games funnily enough that i actually bought on the PlayStation store when i got my ps3 was jumping flash and crash bandicoot so i got back into playing them for quite a while so it was fun to revisit them at that time. 

So even fast forward into today were all the changes with the likes of the PlayStation 5 and modern consoles it is an interesting concept to see the old-school classics starting to appear and i think it's definitely a must because even for the plethora of games that i currently own both on modern consoles, retro consoles i find that i will sooner go back to the older games quicker than i'll go and buy a new game. 

There's just always something about the nostalgic element of a lot of these quirky nature of these games and that's what appeals to me as a gamer but then i suppose because i grew up, i'm an 80s child and i grew up between the 80s and 90s so for me those eras of gaming are among my favorite ever and that's why i always say the PlayStation 1 is my favorite console of all time and quite rightly so because it became at such a transition period when everything was just 2d and then literally straight into 3d and for those of us that were uninitiated by it were completely blown away by what we had seen. 

And the thing is when you compare it to games today 3d gaming and all these type of more modern and more beautiful looking games have become so commonplace that pretty much most of us including myself take it for granted whereas back then it was totally different because it was such a change you actually appreciate it ten times more than you do today because it was so different and was so unique and just had never been seen before at that time. 

Now the first thing i did is i upgraded my PlayStation plus account to the premium account and the first thing i did is i went straight in and i downloaded all of the ps1 games. I have Abes Oddysey, there was ape escape, tekken 2, Kurushi or Intelligent Cube as it's called in other regions and I also downloaded syphon filter and jumping flash. 

Now there is a load of other games, there's a couple of worms games like Worms Armageddon and worms world party but i just wanted to get stuck in to play the games and having looked at the games that are available there is a few of the games that also provide trophy support which is great if you're a trophy hunter like i was or i still currently am but i don't delve into that as much as i used to but i love the fact that you're allowed to play some of the older games now that provide trophy support. 

Now at the moment of time jumping flash doesn't have any trophies that you can earn in the game but it doesn't really matter because it still allows you to have a chance to relive a lot of those old classics and if it is something you're interested in with this new service on the PlayStation plus it definitely gives you a lot more to play with and it caters for different types of markets for different types of gamers that want to relive and replay an old game and experience that nostalgia but then to also give you something new to work towards as well with alongside the trophies. 

So you can get to play the game in a different way that you probably wouldn't have played it before so that is a nice touch but it's just a pity a lot of these other games don't have the trophy support but here's hoping that one day they might do but still it's just an awesome way to get to play them. 

The one thing i have noted as well from when i played jumping flash is the fact is the emulation on the game is actually quite good so it is and the best thing it has full controller support and you can move around in real time using the analog stick which you never would have been able to do in the original game because you all you would have had access to was the standard d-pad so the controls would have been quite clunky now I will admit it does move more freely with the analog controller section but it again it's also very sensitive so you do have to be very very careful. 

I found myself just going back to playing using the d-pad because i had more control or more structure and where i wanted to go and how far i wanted to go whereas when i was trying to use the analog section, I had a tendency to fall off an edge or to go a wee bit too far and just felt a wee bit off putting at first but i still use it. 

It's still enjoyable to use but just gives you a different dynamic to the play style and it's a really cool way to get to play a lot of these old games with using modern controls as well so that in itself is a worthwhile experience. 

Here's hoping that we get to see a lot more of these old-school classic ps1 games to come on to the likes of the PlayStation store hopefully in the coming months. 

I will be planning to cover all of the games that i have so far from that library that was released on the ps5 so make sure to keep watching now for those games as it was currently aside of playing jumping flash i've also been playing Tekken 2 for a lot, now mind you i'm not great at that game at all. 

I was never really the best at most of the fighting games but it's still really cool to go back and play them anyway just to relive those old memories and nostalgia so i'd love to know your thoughts on jumping flash but even more so what are your thoughts on being able to play these old classic games on current consoles? 

The very fact is that you don't have to really play through emulation or even have the old physical discs that you can get access to them now on modern consoles to play them through your modern tv so that is a nice touch but i would love to hear your ideas and opinions behind it so be sure to share them down in the comments below and be sure to keep watching to see more content on other games similar to Jumping Flash, you can check out the blog where we will be diving into the iconic elements of these classic video games and as always keep those gaming memories alive...