JumpJet Rex is a 2D Retraux Platform Game created by Canadian developer TreeFortress Games and released in 2015, starring the titular dinosaur as he travels across the galaxy to save Earth from an incoming asteroid. The game takes a lot of inspiration from classic platform game series like Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog.
The game is described as a "platflyer" — in place of traditional platforming mechanics, gameplay focuses on the use of Rex's Rocket Boots, which allow him to fly. Levels are short and designed to be finished quickly and by taking as little damage as possible from various enemies and obstacles. Each level has a total of three stars that can be obtained: one by completing the level normally, one by completing it without dying and one by finishing it within a set time limit. By collecting more stars, the player can unlock more levels and progress the story. The player can also collect coins from levels and spend them on many different items to customize Rex's appearance.
JumpJet Rex is available on Steam and for Xbox One and Play Station 4. The Steam version can be bought here
, and the game's official website can be found here.
JumpJet Rex contains examples of:
- Achievement Mockery:
- Dying 500 times awards the player the achievement "JumpJet Rekt".
- Failing to escape the asteroid in time after planting the bomb earns the player the bad ending where Rex dies and the achievement "Rex In Peace".
- A Dog Named "Dog": A T-rex named Rex.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Some of the bosses have this.
- Seedmour's weak point is on top of his head. To expose it, you need to knock him onto the ground by using Rex's spin attack to deflect his leaf projectiles onto his propellers. It is possible to damage him without attacking his weak point, but this takes much longer to deal proper damage and won't allow you to get the star for defeating him in under one minute.
- The Big Globowski's weak point is its heart, and is exposed by taking out all three of its heads at once. Unlike Seedmour, it can only be defeated this way.
- Auto-Scrolling Level: The screen moves on its own in the level "Scrollway", as well as the bonus sections of some other levels. Touching the back of the screen will hurt Rex even if he isn't caught between it and an obstacle.
- Badass Adorable: Rex is a fairly adorable dinosaur who is nonetheless capable of defeating enemies much bigger than himself, and it's up to him to save Earth from the asteroid.
- Bittersweet Ending: Achieved if the player doesn't manage to escape the last level within the time limit. The Earth is saved, but the asteroid blows up with Rex still inside. The final scene shows the other dinosaurs looking tearfully at a golden statue that was erected in his memory.
- Bland-Name Product: One of the vending machines in the Dinonaut Base sells triangular chips named "Ditos".
- Effortless Achievement: The achievement "Backlogasaurus" is awarded for starting the game for the first time.
- Evil Counterpart: The First Dinonaut appears to be this to Rex. They look identical aside from being different colors, and both were sent on the same mission to destroy the asteroid, but the First Dinonaut turned against the dinosaurs.
- The Fatalist: The First Dinonaut claims to have seen the future, and intends to let the asteroid destroy the dinosaurs because he believes it's their fate to die so their bodies will serve as fuel for Earth's future inhabitants.
- Hearts Are Health: Rex's hitpoints are represented by hearts.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the last level, if Rex successfully plants the bomb inside the asteroid but doesn't manage to escape in time, he dies in the explosion, leading to the game's Bittersweet Ending.
- The Man Behind the Man: After defeating the Big Globowski, it's revealed that the real villain and the one controlling it is the First Dinonaut, who intends to let the asteroid collide with Earth.
- Multiple Endings: The game has three, all dependent on what happens in the final level:
- If Rex fails to plant the bomb at all, the asteroid hits Earth and wipes out dinokind, with several dinosaur skeletons in the ground millions of years later being shown.
- If Rex does plant the bomb, but fails to escape in time, the asteroid blows up with him still in it. The dinosaurs are shown tearfully regarding a golden memorial statue of Rex.
- If Rex successfully plants the bomb and escapes, dinokind goes on to rule the galaxy, with Rex being crowned king for his achievement.
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Nintendo Hard: Between the tricky controls, Rex being a One-Hit-Point Wonder, and the later levels veering into Bullet Hell territory, the game is very unforgiving. While it's perfectly possible for a casual player to finish Adventure mode normally, actually acquiring every star will take a lot of skill, even on easy difficultynote . And that's without getting into Ragequit Rex mode, which requires finishing the game with only three lives! - One-Hit-Point Wonder: Rex dies by taking any damage, instantly sending the player back to either the start of the level or the latest checkpoint if there is one. Averted on easy mode, where he has two hitpoints instead.
- Pass Through the Rings: In all levels except bosses and the asteroid, there is a number of golden rings and the main objective is to pass through all of them to open the gate to the goal. Rings will usually disappear when Rex touches them, but sometimes they will turn transparent instead, meaning that Rex has to pass through them again. When this happens, passing through the same ring twice in a row will not count; Rex needs to cross another one for the previous ring to return to its normal state so it will count (if the ring in question is the only one left, the player has to wait a few seconds for it to return to normal instead). Rex can also activate rings by hitting them with the projectiles from his rocket boots.
- Primate Versus Reptile: The first boss battle pits Rex, a dinosaur, against a giant yeti.
- Retraux: Although released in 2015, the game features 16-bit graphics and music similar to the games that inspired it.
- Rocket Boots: The main gameplay mechanic. Rex can hover, jump, rocket upwards and dash forward with them, and the player needs to master these abilities to traverse the levels quickly.
- Virtual Paper Doll: There are many options for customizing Rex's appearance: the player can change his color, the appearance of his head, the color of his boots, and the color of the jet stream produced by his boots. According to the official website, over 4 million different combinations for his appearance are possible.
- V-Sign: Rex does it upon completing a level.
- X-Ray Sparks: Taking damage from electricity will make Rex's skeleton visible for a moment.
