Having once again found myself dumping nearly fifty hours into it, I decided now was the time to write a piece on why you should play Windjammers 2...

For full disclosure, I played the first Windjammers, the original NeoGeo classic, but only many years after the fact as it garnered a cult reputation from places like Giant Bomb. For the broad strokes of it, Windjammers is a version of tennis that gimmicks itself around Ultimate Frisbee. With the way it is formatted, I always described it as "Pong on steroids" since the layout of the field mimicked that game but Windjammers stood out in it’s bombasity, with a loud personality of which you would expect from a 90s Data East arcade title. An arcade playthrough is similar enough to any 1 vs. 1 fighter as you make you way through a number of different stages, each with their own design, with differing hazards (like barriers), and a couple bonus rounds thrown in there for good measure.

Windjammers 2 continues the same winning formula, and then some: Doubling the amount of playable characters while also adding extra stages and new features that only build on the existing depth found in the original game. For instance, the staple of fighting games, a power meter, racks up throughout play and can be activated to give you a super shot on command, becoming the ultimate crutch in late games as an offensive move, or to be used as a means of stopping an opponent’s move dead in it’s tracks during defence. Another new feature is the jump, a new means of disorientating play, as it becomes very helpful in disguising where your next move will go, and can unsettle play to your advantage. Both of these additions completely change the flow of play in Windjammers 2, creating different outcomes depending on how heavy, host fast or how tricky your character’s throws can be.

Mechanically, DotEmu’s update to Windjammers is sound and responsive. Movement around each field feels natural and distinctive, regardless of whoever you decide to play as, the execution of the intricate super spins and curved shots are satisfying when they pick up results. The animation of Windjammers 2 is also very slick, with plenty of frames for idle animations and specific tells that give the cast a lot of identity. I can appreciate that even joke picks, like Disc Man, can be completely viable in competitive play when so many other games will forego a carefully balanced roster in favour of just amassing the biggest number of paywall locked options, and dumb crossover fighters, as possible. I can also appreciate the attention to detail when it comes to acknowledging the culture around Windjammers, it’s fans, and general lore, around the likes of S. Miller/B. Hoo, the different dialects and languages represented in the international cast, the memorable musical beats that make up the mood of Windjammers in the arcade. Windjammers 2 released a couple decades too late to truly experience life in a busy Akihabara amusement space, but it would have been right at home with the way in which it looks and plays right now. The interface is snappy and quick, with responsive toggles for different mode and setting, with the very colours popping right from the game’s intro, as the blue skies and yellow beaches fulfil the intended summer vibes.

Where Windjammers 2 falters might only be in the manner of which arcade scores are ultimately tallied, given your total is more designed to give you lifelines in the form of extra credits, rather than collecting your sheer stage times and ability to rack up wins in high point scorelines and keeping clean sheets. Weirdly, you’d rack up more points in prolonging games into sudden death by virtue of keeping rallies going and, inevitably, sending out more charged shots (of which the game rewards you points for executing). The AI in Windjammers 2 is also ruthless, granted, this applied in the original game as well but you can’t excuse cheating input reading computers quite as easily now as perhaps in the year 1994. Although no AI can prepare itself for the RNG nature of barrier stages like Clay, Rooftop and Junkyard, which could likely confuse even the most grizzled of Windjammers veterans. But ofcourse the real kicker isn’t a fault specifically with the game but more the community, or lack thereof in the online space. Windjammers 2 does support competitive netbased multiplayer, and possesses an MLG-like progression system based on your accumulated wins against different skilled opponents. The problem stems more from the lack of direction around this, as separating ranked and player lobbies is entirely pointless, and even with crossplay support, with the player pool very rarely gets any higher than the lower double digits. That said, the games I had played of Windjammers 2 online were a lot of fun, and it runs stable enough if your connection to the other party is consistent. The brunt of the fun comes from local multiplayer however and having friends partake in games at get-togethers. Windjammers is simple enough that it has instant pick up and play accessibility, as previously mentioned, it really isn’t that far removed from Pong or Tennis itself.

Given it is now a couple years old, Windjammers 2 is regularly on sale for PC. You can’t really go wrong with any platform that you decide to play it on although it is undeniably cheaper through Steam than on PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch, and is lightweight enough that the game could operate on a laptop without much headache either. Although please, please, PLEASE, play Windjammers 2 with a controller, even if it is a janky knock-off from AliExpress. I personally prefer using a Sega Saturn style six button controller since the looser D-Pad makes circle motions that easier to pull-off but anything will do.

And, in closing this review, I have to give DotEmu credit for providing free updates to Windjammers 2 and not simply taking their playerbase for granted. In an era where Tekken can paywall new characters behind four(!) different season passes, Windjammers 2 has given us two great additions in Jamma GX03 and Anna Szalinski at no extra cost. For a frugal gamer that is a big deal since supposing you bought a £30-40 (RRP) release, the last thing you want to see is extra content effectively being foisted onto you at an extra £25 a pop. Fighting game fans are a different breed when it comes to DLC but this practice is indicative of a worrying trend in making whales out of a trusting audience, rather than rewarding them for their support. Studios should be more like DotEmu and less like Namco Bandai in that way, and that honestly is the cherry on-top for me.

Anyway, give this game a go, oh, and **** H. Max Players!

Thanks for reading!