Jersey Devil
North American cover art
Developer(s)Megatoon Studios[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]
Publisher(s)PlayStation
Windows
Infogrames
Designer(s)Claude Pelletier
Programmer(s)Stéphane Leblanc
Composer(s)Gilles Léveillé
Platform(s)PlayStation, Windows
ReleasePlayStation
  • PAL: December 12, 1997
  • NA: June 16, 1998[1]
Windows
1999
Genre(s)3D platformer
Mode(s)Single-player

Jersey Devil is a 3D platformer developed by Behaviour Interactive and released worldwide for the PlayStation and Windows. The titular protagonist is a Jersey Devil, although he has more characteristics of a bat. His primary mission is to stop Dr. Knarf and his army of mutated vegetables and prehistoric monsters. Jersey Devil uses his punch, jumping, and gliding abilities to defeat his enemies. In many areas of the game, it is necessary to collect all five letters of Knarf's name to proceed.[2]

Gameplay

Jersey Devil is a platform game set in a 3D world, with gameplay dominated by collecting icons and defeating enemies.[3] The player character's abilities include gliding in order to get out of fatal falls or reach new areas.[3]

Plot

Dennis, a mutated, humanoid pumpkin, enters Dr. Knarf's lab with something he found in a small cage. He interrupts Knarf as he is about to dissect a mutant eggplant in order to show him the creature he had found. In the cage is shown to be the main character, Jersey Devil, as an infant. Knarf begins plans to dissect the infant in order to study him, but realizes that when Dennis interrupted him earlier, he ruined his last scalpel blade and locks Dennis in a cage outside before leaving to fetch more. While gone, one of his plant monsters tries to attack the infant Jersey Devil, but he eludes it and then begins to wreck the lab while Dennis watches helplessly from his cage. Knarf returns to find his lab in ruins with the Jersey Devil holding a bottle of Nitroglycerin, which he dangles in the air before suddenly dropping it and destroying the lab almost completely, the result of which sends him flying far away into the middle of the nearby town of "Jersey".

The cutscene then flashes forward to many years later, the town has grown into a city, and mutant vegetable monsters are seen chasing, terrorizing and kidnapping the residents of the city. One of them stops while passing by a television store window, which is playing the evening news, and watches curiously as Dr. Knarf is mentioned. The news then goes on to mention "mysterious sightings of the legendary Jersey Devil", as a figure suddenly appears behind the mutant and pulls of the mask he is wearing, revealing him to be Dennis. The figure, revealed to be Jersey Devil, leans down and says "Boo!" scaring Dennis away, when he picked up by Knarf as he drives past in his car. The scene then pans back towards Jersey Devil, finding instead only empty streets, before revealing Jersey Devil up on the rooftops, looking down over the city as the title screen appears.

Development

Sony Computer Entertainment America picked up the title in October 1997.[4]

Reception

The PlayStation version received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[5] Next Generation said, "Anyone looking for something fresh for PlayStation's stale platform genre probably won't be that happy with this game."[12] In Japan, where the game was ported and published by Konami under the name Jersey Devil no Daibōken (ジャージーデビルの大冒険, Jājī Debiru no Daibōken, lit. "The Great Adventure of the Jersey Devil") on June 24, 1999, Famitsu gave it a score of 25 out of 40.[9] GamePro said, "Jersey Devil is definitely the PlayStation's most ambitious 3D platform games released to date, even though its camera problems keep it from attaining the gaming stratosphere. Fans of Crash or Croc should pick up this title—but be prepared for some devilishly frustrating situations."[14][lower-alpha 4]

Criticism was mainly focused on the camera and graphics.[2] A common praise given to the game was its orchestral score by Gilles Léveillé.[15]

Footnotes

Notes
  1. ↑ Megatoon was renamed Behaviour Interactive after a merger with Multimedia Interactive; this name change is reflected on the later North American release.
  2. ↑ The PAL cover credits the developer as Malofilm Interactive.
  3. ↑ In Electronic Gaming Monthly's review of the PlayStation version, one critic gave it 5/10, two others gave it each a score of 6/10, and the other gave it 7/10.
  4. ↑ GamePro gave the PlayStation version two 4.5/5 scores for graphics and sound, 3.5/5 for control, and 4/5 for fun factor.
References
  1. 1 2 McNamara, Andy; Storm, Jon; Reiner, Andrew (July 1998). "Jersey Devil - PlayStation". Game Informer. No. 63. FuncoLand. Archived from the original on September 15, 1999. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Mielke, James (July 7, 1998). "Jersey Devil Review". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on August 25, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Jersey Devil: Cartoon Adventures in Full 3-D" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 97. Ziff Davis. August 1997. p. 108. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  4. ↑ Johnston, Chris (October 27, 1997). "SCEA Signs Devil". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on February 2, 1999. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Jersey Devil for PlayStation". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  6. ↑ Gia; Switch (December 1997). "Jersey Devil (PS)". Consoles + (in French). No. 71. pp. 130–32.
  7. ↑ Smith, Shawn; Kujawa, Kraig; Davison, John; Hsu, Dan (July 1998). "Jersey Devil" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 108. Ziff Davis. p. 139. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  8. ↑ Grant, Jules (October 30, 1998). "Jersey Devil". The Electric Playground. Greedy Productions Ltd. Archived from the original on November 15, 2003. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  9. 1 2 "ジャージーデビルの大冒険". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on September 10, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  10. ↑ Hsu, Tim (August 1998). "Jersey Devil - Playstation [sic] Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on February 5, 2004. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  11. ↑ Perry, Douglass C. (June 17, 1998). "Jersey Devil (PS)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  12. 1 2 "Jersey Devil (PS)". Next Generation. No. 44. Imagine Media. August 1998. p. 96. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Jersey Devil". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 10. Ziff Davis. July 1998.
  14. ↑ Boba Fatt (August 1998). "Jersey Devil". GamePro. No. 119. IDG. p. 106. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Symhonie d'oueuvres". Gilles Léveillé (in French). Archived from the original on January 14, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
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