If it doesn't say Wham-O, it isn't a Frisbee

Making a sequel to Data East’s 1994 arcade game, Windjammers, is a tricky proposition. It isn’t really a sequel we need. Windjammers delivered pretty well on its thesis of how everything, even an antique video game like Pong, could be improved with a heaping dose of �0s ‘tude. But here we have Windjammers 2, and it has a lot to prove.

Namely, it has to prove that you can stuff more cream into an already perfect eclair and not have it explode. Windjammers was known for its e??asy to learn, difficult to master gameplay, and piling anything on top of that risks having it buckle.

Windjammers 2 (Switch [Reviewed], PC, Xbox One, PS4, Stadia)
Developer: Dotemu
Publisher: Dotemu
Released: January 20, 2020
MSRP: $19.99

Windjammers is the sport of trying to find how far up an opponent’s goal zone you can jam a plastic disc. It’s simple, swing that saucer past the o??ther guy and into the other side and gain points. Accumulate more points until they’re sufficiently humiliated or time runs out, and you win.

The obvious improvements here lie in the aesthetic. The graphics are redone in a "hand-drawn" style while the music is higher in quality while retaining the unique �0s vibe. The roster of Frisbee flingers has been expanded to 10 from the original’s six. There?? are also 10 arenas in all to choose from, double what was available in the original game. Thankfully, there’s now a Junkyard court, so you can complain about how it gives your opponent an unfair advantage because they’re trash.

Those are the most immediate changes, but the more impactful ones are under the hood. Notably,?? the game stretches the controls from a simple two-button arcade game to four. Five if you’re feeling sassy. Added to the throw and lob buttons is jump and deflect. Jump allows you to grab the disc out of the air and smash it down to the opponent’s side of the court, whereas deflect does just that, immediately sending the projectile back at the opponent.

Technically, you could already deflect by throwing the disc the moment you caught it, so I suppose the only advantage to smacking it is that it might catch an opponent off-guard. My issue with playing Windjammers 2 was that the throw button is also the dash button, and you’re almost always dashing to intercept the saucer. Asking me to take my finger off the dash? button was a tricky proposition since I felt like my momentum was best maintained with just the ??throw and lob.

However, it should be noted that online play wasn’t available to me and I don’t know any professional Windjammers, so I didn’t get a lot of time to hone my strategy against fickle-brained humans. Maybe those extra two buttons would make a difference in throwing off someone who isn’t fueled by math, but I spent most of my time with Windjammers 2 competing with the programming.

The fabled f??ifth button isn’t technically necessary. It’s the “EX�ability, and while it’s R on the Switch version, you can also press throw and lob together to trigger it. Simply, a special bar was added that gradually fills throughout the course of the match, and when it’s full you can either use it to immediately hurl a powered-up plate or send one that’s on your end of the court into the air.

Previously, you would perform these charged chucks by standing under an airborne disc for a sufficient amount of time. Out of all the additions, the EX meter is probably my favorite. I fail to see how more fire on the court could do anything but make Windjammers 2 mo?re radical. More opportunities to speed up gameplay and instantly put on the pressure is just so satisfying. Catching a powered-up throw and reversing it back ??at your opponent feels so good.

The arcade mode i?s decent fun when you’re don’t have a plus one. It takes you through a series of matches, allowing you to choose between two different turfs up until the final round. Two bonus rounds are also inserted, but unfortunately, I have to reveal that you don’t get to trash a car. Still, the mini-game where you throw your frisbee to be fetched by a good boy entirely makes up for it.

Which is something to keep in mind: Windjammers 2 adheres very closely to its arcade roots. The rather minor but impactful changes almost make it feel like it could have been released two years after the first Windjammers. That will probably be a relief to the original game’s following, but anyone new to the series should know what to expect. It is largely a game that is designed for versus play, and while there is a single-player option, you most likely will only get your money’s worth through competition. If that doesn’t interest you, neither will Windjammers 2.

I also need to point out that Windjammers 2 has the mentality of a fighting game. While you can get by mashing butto??ns, the real action start?s when you gain the ability to read and react better. The potential for high-level action is there, but I wasn’t able to really see or experience it.

It makes judging the new additions difficult, as I’m not sure how they will affect competitive play. From my perspective, the only major gameplay improvement is the addition of the EX gauge, everything else feels less meaningful. However, it really depends on how the community utilizes them that will define their worth. Whether or not players will prefer the simplicity of the original or the added pizzazz of Windjammers 2 is going t??o dictate whether it’s a success, a failure, or somewhere in the ?middle.

For what it’s worth, I enjoyed my time with Windjammers 2. It sucked me in for hours as I slaved over a hot arcade stick. The single-player is very challenging, but it can only hold up the overall product for so long. It’s also not as transcendental as something like Streets of Rage 4 was in its revival of an old formula. It is as it says on the box: a sequel. It might as well ha?ve come out in 1996 for all it adds.

But it’s also $20, which I think is the right price if a sequel is exactly what you’re looking for. It’s also made with a scoop of love for the original title, which comes across in its faithfulness and overall appearance. Dotemu obviously put a lot of effort i?nto pleasing fans, but it’s going to be that particular player-base that makes the final assessment on whether or not it’s a disc worth catching. The best I can do is tell you that it’s at least worth the sand in your shoes.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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The follow-up to the disc-sport classic has set a launch date

The second round of Windjammers is finally ready for action. The high-octane disc-flinging sports game Windjammers 2 will launch on Jan. 20, 2022.

Publisher and developer Dotemu confirmed today that Windjammers 2 will be launching on Jan. 20 for quite a few platforms. The bouts will be arriving on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Stadi??a, and PC on Jan. 20, and it will also be backward com??patible on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It will also be coming to PC and Xbox Game Pass.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=zinnf4on3QM

The sequel will see old faces and new competitors entering the field of disc-battle, with 10 playable athletes and 10 different courts. It is still that original arcade sport game though, and across its previous tests and hands-on opportunities, I've been enjoying how much Windjammers 2 still feels like Windjammers. It's also going to have rollback netcode, which hopefully bodes well for Windjammers 2 online play at launch.

The dev team went into detail over at the PlayStation Blog about how it put toge??ther this sequel. There's some reall??y cool insight here, ranging from a closer look at the character art to some really cool graphs on gameplay design aspects like disc speed.

Alongside the launch of Windjammers 2, Dotemu also confirmed the new game will be getting a physical? edition of the game from Limited Run Games in the U.S. and Pix'n'Love in Europe. More info is coming soon on that front.

Add this to the growing list of January video games, and it seems like there's going to be very little downtime in the games industry headed into a stacked February and March window. Windjammers 2 will launch on Jan. 20, 2?022 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switc?h, PC, and Stadia.

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Olivia Newton-John is happy

Fans of physical copies have a lot to rejoice about today. Announced at the Kinda Funny Games Showcase, both Celeste and Windjammers will be getting boxed copies in the near future courtesy of Limited Run Games. Windjammers is limited to Switch (a PS4 run happened last year), but Celeste will have a version ready for PS4 and Switch.

Windjammers will be available on December 21, 2018, while Celeste won't be out until the new year on January 1, 2019. Pricing information is not yet available, but you'll have a choice of two different covers for Windjammers.

Kinda Funny [Twitter]

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Discs of fury

Today's contest is totally tubular! I think. Win a Switch copy of Windjammers.

I know summer just ended, but why leave the beaches behind? Thanks to Windjammers, you don't have to!

S??o pull those thongs between your cheeks and stuff yourself into your Speedos, because we're giving away some Switc??h keys of this bodacious disc attack game!

Windjammers is the hot new competitive disc throwing game that's actually like 25 years old and not new at all. But it's still pretty hot! Use your bulging '90s muscl?es to hurl fl?ying discs at your enemies' goal to rack up points and earn the win. It's a weirdly perfect mix of a sports game and a fighting game -- one of those things that probably shouldn't work but actually does. Like peanut butter and celery. It's competitive, it's addictive, and gosh darn it, it's actually pretty damn good.

Also totally '90s, which is rad.

To enter for your chance to w??in, give us your favorite '90s memory. If you'??re not old enough to remember the '90s, tell us one thing that strikes you as totally '90s. I remember when the first kid in our school got a pager, and the rest of us thought he was the most important person on the face of the planet. A pager. Damn, that's the '90s.

We have five Switch keys to give out to some totally awesome winners. Our keys are for North American eShop accounts only. Make sure to comment using a Dtoid ??account that has your current email address on file. If I can't email you, I'll have to page you your key. Don't make me stoop to that level.

Windjammers is available now on Switch, PS4, PS Vita, Wii V??irtual Console, Neo Geo CD, Neo Geo, and arcades.

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Hit the beach with Data East classic

Super '90s flying disc game Windjammers is now available to purchase for Nintendo Switch via the eShop. A new launch trailer was also uploa?ded by developer Dotemu to spread the g??ood word.

Windjammers, which originally hit the arcades and Neo Geo platform in 1994, mixes radical aesthetics, Frisbee and air hockey to create simple but addictive head-to-head gameplay. Windjammers recently saw a renaissa??nce, blowing up with a PS4 and PS Vita re-release last year (of which this new Switch release is a port).

You can purchase Windjammers on Switch today for around $15, which gives you the perfect opportunity to get on top of your games for the long, long LONG awaited sequel, Windjammers 2, launching sometime in 2019, duuuuude.

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Data East's classic gets slammin' sequel

Strap on your wraparound shades and get out the baby oil, revealed in today's Nintendo "Nindies" Direct and confirmed by dotemu, Windjammers 2 is heading your way in 2019.

The sequel to the ultimate flying disc game, Windjammers, released by Data East in 1994 and enjoying a renaissance in recent years, Windjammers 2 will bring back the fast-paced, sun-stroked, competitive fri??sbee gameplay that players have been rockin' for over two decades (save for that fifteen-year plus period where everyone forgot about it).

Windjammers 2, for PC and Nintendo Switch launches in 2019. The original Windjammers drops on Nintendo Switch October 23.

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No-one dressed like that in 1994

"This would be great on Nintendo Switch" is an over-used and often-derided statement, but sometimes its more than apt. This is one of those times, as DotEmu's port of classic '90s Frisbee title Windjammers is finall?y making its way to the Nintendo hybrid console.

As announced during this weekend's ongoing EVO event, The retro-futuristic Data East title, which has enjoyed a new lease of life i??n recent years, will be arriving on the Switch later this year, a direct port of 2017's PS4 and PS Vita release. It features six characters battling it out head-to-head in a sport wh?ich blends the '90s crazes of Frisbee and air hockey for simple, addictive gameplay.

An excellent game to have on the go, Windjammers on Switch will be ideal for commutes, parties and, of course, toilet breaks. Its simple controls will translate easily to the Switch's Joy-Con, making it an ideal pick-up-and-play experience, much like its PS Vita iteration. That fact it has taken this long to get Windjammers on what is clearly a??n ideal platform is bizarre, but better late than never.

Windjammers is available now on PS4 and PS Vita an?d is coming to Switch later in 2018.

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CRACK SHOOT!

The Neo Geo was a seriously underrated piece of hardware. It may not have been popular in its heyday, but the machine has earned a well-deserved cult following over the years from its extremely tight and eclectic collection of games. Things like Metal Slug and King of Fighters are synonymous with the device, but there are a bunch of oft-kilter classics that mos??t people have never?? heard of.

Windjammers is one such game. Basically mixing air hockey with Street Fighter, I’m truly surprised I had never even heard of the game until earlier this year. Originally released in 1994 from Data East, the game is so fast-paced and intense tha??t multiplayer brawls feel like all-out duels to the death.

Sadly??, this new port’??s updated online features really hurt the overall appeal of buying the game on non-native hardware.

Windjammers (Arcade, Neo Geo, PS4 [reviewed], PS Vita [reviewed])
Developer: Data East
Publisher: DotEmu
Released: February 17, 1994 (Arcade), August 29, 2017 (PS4, PS Vita)
MSRP: $14.99

As I said above, Windjammers feels like a mixture between a sports title and a fighting game. The basic premise is that you’re playing a fast-paced Frisbee game with special moves. The go??al??s on the opponent’s side of the court have a three- and five-point section, allowing you to strategically place shots to maximize your score.

Games are typically played to 12 points, though you can tweak that parameter for versus mode. What that means is you’ll need to score four three-point goals, three five-point goals, or some mixture of the two to end a set in your favor. Taking a cue from traditional tennis rule sets, you need to win two ??sets to take the overall match, so comebacks aren’t out ??of the question when you’re far ahead.

To mix things up, the game features a cast of six characters from various countr?ies. Similar to fighting games, these characters have slightly different statistics in thin??gs like speed and power as well as featuring different super moves for you to utilize. This is where the true tactical edge of the game comes into play.

The game utilizes only two buttons for standard play. You have your basic throw and a lob throw. You can direct each throw with the joystick an??d pressing them with more force will increase the shot's speed, but the basic make-up is rather simple. Where it starts to become strategic is that you can curve your shots with a hadouken motion (down, forward on the stick), you can dash when the disc is coming towards you, and you can even knock the disc into the air to charge a super attack.

While there isn’t a proper tutorial to explain all of this, DotEmu thankfully included a pretty concise and well-worded “How to Play” screen that details all of these actions. Windjammers is a game where doing is more valuable than reading, though, so if this sounds confusing, don’t? fre??t. You’ll pick up the gist of the game by throwing yourself into the fray.

While the game does feature an arcade mode where you can face off against the AI, in typical old-school fashion, putting the difficulty on anything above “Easy” results in opponents that basically read your movements before you even think about them. Where Windjammers truly shines is in competitive play with friends or actual people. This new port includes an online mode and it should have made Windjammers an absolute blast, but sadly t??hat isn’t the case.

In my roughly five hours of testing, I’ve played a total of four online matches to completion. Most of the time, the game will find an opponent and allow you to select a ch??aracter, but disconnect before anything else can happen. Then there are matches where you’ll get onto the court to play, but the lag is so severe that playing with any kind of strategy goes straight out the window.

This is especially bad on the PS Vita, where internet connections can only be wireless. On PS4, Windjammers fares slightly better since you can wire your console to the internet, but the netcode is so dependent on peer-to-peer connections that if your opponent has crap internet, you’re not going to have a good time. At least the good matches are rock solid and the ability to request a &ldquo?;Revenge” match lets you easily set up a best-of-three set without much fuss.

Thankfully the rest of the port is pretty great. While the shadows flicker a lot and look weird, the colors and animations from the Neo Geo shine through with a couple of neat filters you can apply to the screen. There are options for bordered 4:3 aspect ratio or stretched 16:9 as well as scanlines, a CRT filter, or just a sharp, true pixel display. I especially like how one of the borders show??s a character portrait based on which character you’ve selected with your opponent's on the other side.

I also really love all of the animations the characters have for winning or l?osing. I suppose these are based on their personalities, but it’s hilarious to see the strong Russian guy slamming into the walls and throwing his arms in the air like he’s going to tear down the arena in joy. It adds a lot of character to the ordeal, which makes for some uproarious multiplayer duels when your friends start getting into character.

At least the local versus option works flawlessly and doesn’t limit you in course selection. I suppose having only six characters and six courts kind of sucks, but you have to take into account that this was made in 1994. Developers had to work with the limitations of that time period, so Windjammers went more for visual flair and personality than it did w??i??th roster size.

Still, tha?t seeming lack of content and rather shoddy online mode does hurt my recommendation of this new port. If it were a bit cheaper, I’d say give it a shot just out of sheer novelty factor. Since the online basically doesn’t work, I can’t attest to how long of a life this title will have beyond this initial release.

If you can get friends interested, though, Windjammers makes for an almost no-brainer local purchase. The intensity of the gameplay and sheer attitude the game exhibits is truly a joy. I do wish the Vita version had ad-hoc multiplayer, but since this is a cross-buy title, you’ll have access to the better realized PS4 version? regardless of which console you buy this on.

_{[This review is ba??sed on a retail ?build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Here's how to order...

Tomorrow sees the long-awaited, highly-anticipated return of Data East's Windjammers, screaming onto a S?ony console near you. A fun launch trailer has been released, shot in the style of early '90s infomercials.

This isn't the first time a retro-release has seen this type of marketing strategy, but it's still an amusing spot, bringing back memories of late-night, low-budget advertisements for?? duck-shaped telephones, Tel-Star CD box sets and radio-equipped baseball caps.

Windjammers was published by SNK in 1994, for both the a?rcade market and their own Neo-Geo console. It's a simple-but-addictive flying-disc game set in a futuristic environment where frisbee has apparently conquered the sporting world. The game has recently become a darling of the internet, being played frequently on the Giant Bomb website and even being hosted as an official EVO entry last month.

If you want a piece of the action yourself, then you won't have very long to wait. Windjammers will be hitting the PS4 and PS Vita tomorrow, as a cross-buy title?, priced at $15.

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I have such a soft spot for Neo Geo art and animation

As someone who is all about arcade-style sports games, I should have played Windjammers by now, but I haven't. It's the same story for a lot of other cool Neo Geo games, actually. We've seen many ports in recent years, and Windjammers will thankfully be among that group next month. He??re's my cha?nce!

DotEmu is bringing the disc-throwing Data East game to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on August 29, 2017. We've known this was in the works since last year, and now we know when it's happening. Soon enough, we'll be settling our differences on the court with GGPO netcode in tow.

While we continue to wait, I'd like to point out this Windjammers Frisbee that popped up on Fangamer. I don't need this thing. Absolutely, one-hundred percent, I don't -- and yet... maybe I do. It isn't available for pre-or?der, so there won't be any?? impulse purchases. (At least not today.)

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Four bright buttons and two joysticks

Windjammers is a sports arcade game originally released in 1994 on Neo Geo by Data East. It was ported to the Wii Virtual Console in Japan only, back in 2010, so in early 2017 western PlayStation 4 and PS Vita owners will for the first time be able to windjam online. That is since Gyrodisc Super League is not an official Windjammers game. Apparently "windjammer" is a word since I didn't get red squiggly lines under it, but unfortunately it does not mean "wear cool shades and play extreme Frisbee like a badass," but rather a type of "merchant sailing ship." Lame.

If you are wondering why anyone would port an old Neo Geo game to modern consoles then I probably haven't made it clear enough: this is the raddest, baddest '80s thing you've seen since Top Gun. Not even Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is as '80s as this, nor anywhere near as fun. Part of the resurging interest in this game is no doubt due in part to Giant Bomb playing and admiring it?? so much in recent years. The game really is that cool th??ough and I can't wait to jam.

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