Jersey Devil

PlayStation console exclusive

Jersey Devil, as the title implies, is loosely based upon the legendary New Jersey beast of the same name. Instead of the horrific beast the legend describes, the protagonist of the title is cute purple creature with long-ears and small wings. Dr. Knarf -- the villain of the piece -- has created a legion of mutated vegetables to do his evil bidding, and it falls to Jersey Devil to stop the maniacal scientist.

Released: 12 December 1997
Platforms: PlayStation Windows
Genres: Halloween Platformer
Developers: —
Publishers: Ocean Software
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action
Age ratings: ESRB E PEGI 3
Languages: English

About

Jersey Devil is a 1997 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.

Keywords

action-adventure
bats
bonus stage
collectibles
gliding
promo vhs
playstation underground
male protagonist
fan translation - portuguese
fandub - brazilian portuguese

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

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

Story

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".

Reception

The PlayStation version received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. Next Generation said, "Anyone looking for something fresh for PlayStation's stale platform genre probably won't be that happy with this game." 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.

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."