Windjammers 2 review – tasteful revival of a cult classic
Tinkering with the classics is always asking for trouble. There’s the legion of fans to satiate, the details you daren’t deviate from, the difficulty in making meaningful additions. Tinker with a cult classic and you’re really asking for trouble, those details sacrosanct as scripture to its dedicated followers while any changes are subject to intense scrutiny – so it’s with some delight I can report that Windjammers 2, the follow-up to Data East’s dearly beloved Neo Geo action sports classic, pulls the trick off handsomely.
Windjammers 2 review
- Publisher: Dotemu
- Developer: Dotemu
- Platform: Played on Switch
- Availability: Out now on PS4, PC, Xbox (Game Pass) and Switch
Firstly, though, it’s worth briefly exploring what made the 1994 original so beloved, as that’s the firm foundation for this fantastic follow-up. Coming just as the 3D graphics revolution was pushing the Neo Geo’s brand of muscular 2D action out of the limelight, Windjammers has always felt like the apex of that particular artform. The bold pinks and yellows of its graphics combined with the wraparound chrome shades of its athletes give it the mid-90s tang of a lunch of cheesestrings washed down with Capri-Sun, that aesthetic providing the perfect front for a deliciously immediate hybrid of fighting and sports games.
As far as fictional video game sports go, I’ve always ranked Windjammer’s hyper-charged spin on air hockey up there with Speedball 2’s take on handball – there’s the same snappiness and dynamism, only in Windjammers that violence is swapped out for sweet lazy summer vibes. You’re smashing a discus from one player to another, trying to squeeze it past them into one of several zones that offer up points, all while leaning on specials and swerve shots and diving for spectacular saves. It’s Pong meets Street Fighter, in other words, and it’s to Data East’s credit that Windjammers manages to be every bit as entertaining as that combination promises.
