Jill of the Jungle

As a kid with a PC in the early days of Shareware, some of my favorite and most fondly remembered games game from Epic Megagames, creators of Jazz Jackrabbit and, another personal favorite of mine, Jill of the Jungle (released in 1992). Jill was unique in that it was unmistakably quirky and not entirely plot-driven. The first episode had you aimlessly exploring different, bizarre locations because...well, why not? Episode 2 had you journeying to a strange underground world because you just happened to stumble into it. Only the third episode had any real plot to it, as Jill quested to save a prince who had been kidnapped by reptilian humanoids. But it wasn't just the strange lack of plot, the unusual in-game physics and the obvious sense that the game was not taking itself seriously at all...Jill was special because it was one of the earlier examples of a PC game featuring a female protagonist, all rather cheesecake as Jill, like something out of a comic book, bounded around with flowing blond hair and a high-cut leotard. She also had the power to transform into different animals on certain levels, allowing her to fly and shoot fireballs as a Pheonix, change into a fish and swim (despite her athletic abilities, in her human form Jill swims like a rock and will immediately drown in water), or a frog, allowing her to jump to out-of-reach locations. Jill of the Jungle was a popular early title for Epic, but never saw a true sequel, although three future games were released that carried on her legacy in spirit if not in body: Onesimus: A Quest for Freedom, Vinyl Goddess from Mars and Xargon. She also got her own themed table in Epic Pinball, which was one of my personal favorites from that title.

First of the Jill of the Jungle successors is really more of a conversion. Onesimus took (by permission) Jill of the Jungle and altered the characters and setting to create a game based on the biblical story of the slave Onesimus, who escaped from his master Philemon and eventually found the Apostle Paul in Rome (from the short New Testament book Philemon, which is told in segments between levels). This title was sold in Christian bookstores as a standalone product. It is an interesting curiosity as it contains what appear to be some original levels (or perhaps edited ones) along with level designs from all three Jill of the Jungle episodes. It might be assumed that this game was created after the release of Jill, but references to Onesimus have been found in the code for Jill of the Jungle and some explorable areas in Jill that appear to be dead ends without purpose actually have function in Onesimus, suggesting that the two games were developed simultaneously.

Next in the line of Jill's siblings is Epic Megagame's Xargon, released one year later in 1993. Built on an engine that appears to be an updated, more sophisticated version of Jill's with enhanced graphics, Xargon plays much the same, but being a more serious tale about an archaeologist exploring ruins in Madagascar, being knocked out by gas released from the ruins, and waking up in a bizarre world. Unfortunately, bizarre didn't mean more fun, and the entire experience felt dull. Technologically superior, but sadly, forgettable and nothing special.

Last and most interesting of Jill of the Jungle's legacy is a little title called Vinyl Goddess of Mars (1995). This game was developed by a third party, and although some of the details are difficult to hunt down, the game appears to have been built using Xargon's engine. This title was actually intended to be Jill of the Jungle II, and at least one interview from the time has it referred to as such. It is fitting as a new Jill game was always a better idea than the dry concept of Xargon, but when the game was completed Epic Megagames was disappointed with the overall quality and chose not to release it. In response, the game's creators reworked the storyline and some of the graphics and released it as Vinyl Goddess of Mars, a tale about a b-movie actress from the future who crashes her spaceship on a hostile planet. The Jill influence is clear, although in its new form the publishers amped up the sex angle, redrawing the heroine in knee-high boots and a thong in place of Jill's leotard, and hiring model "Debra Dare" to appear on the title screen and a pin-up poster that was distributed with copies of the game (although Miss Dare wears a leotard more akin to Jill's in the photos). The gameplay is more interesting than Xargon's and more in tune with Jill, but as the year was 1995 perhaps Epic was correct not to take a shot on a title with an engine that was now showing its age. After this aborted attempt at a Jill sequel, it seems that Amazon hero is never to don her leotard again.