In this Jack The Nipper sequel, naughty toddler Jack finds himself in Africa with the aim to go through 192 screens of pure platform action. Jack the Nipper II: The Coconut Capers (full title) is really fun and humorous to play but you must also move very carefully. This game was a standard 8bit home-computer release back in the mid 80s.
Review
STORY / GAMEPLAY As jack and his family travel to Australia, our hero is quite unhappy with this, so he jumps off the plane using his nappy (!) as parachute and lands in the middle of an African jungle. It seems that all this "escape" went all wrong since now he is exposed to great danger and must confront wild animals and natives having some...coconuts(!) as a weapon. This sequel is really funny, huge and the graphics are really different from one area to the next. There are many screens to explore and it’s easy to get lost. You must always be on alert to face either upcoming enemies (like bats, birds, humans, elephants etc, all with a very funny and cartoonish appearance) or even deadly pits, waters, lava and so on. Most of the time you must make a quick decision before someone or something finally kills you. Some of the nasties can be avoided just by jumping over them and some others must be killed using... coconuts (!) Note: You have a limited amount of coconuts so you must try to find more. Jack The Nipper II is really fun to play but quite tricky to progress. It’s a rather difficult platform game and you must move very carefully all the time. Eventually, the action is entertaining and there are lots of funny details like some enemies that wear sunglasses or when Jack picks his nose every time he waits for your next move! Jack the Nipper II is among our favorite 8bit games back in the days (and still is)!
GRAPHICS / SOUND The CPC version features colorful graphics with detailed backdrops (jungles, rivers, temples etc). The game runs on both 464 and 6128 models, with no actual differences. It seems like a direct port from the ZX Spectrum version but this time with better colors. The sprites look so funny and move so fast and smooth, though there is no screen scrolling and the game runs in flip-screen mode. Generally, this game is very catchy to the eyes without offering any special visual techniques. Apart from its great graphics, Jack The Nipper II has great sound as well, with a funny intro tune, a variety of short-tunes every time you pick up a bonus and some really hilarious sound effects during gameplay.
CPU: ZiLOG Z80 4MHZ MEMORY: 64 KB or 128 KB of RAM depending on the model (capable of being expanded to 512k using memory extension boards) GRAPHICS: Motorola 6845 address generator, Mode 0: 160x200 / 16 colors, Mode 1: 320x200 / 4 colors, Mode 2: 640x200 / 2 colors, A colour palette of 27 colors was supported SOUND: The CPC used the General Instrument AY-3-8912 sound chip, providing 3 channels Mono Sound (via internal speaker) but capable to offer Stereo Sound provided through a 3.5 mm headphones jack (with pretty impressive outcome!). Also, it is possible to play back digital sound samples at a resolution of approximately 5bit. This technique is very processor-intensive though.