Review: Windjammers 2 is ridiculously fun and the perfect party game

Some games are fun. Some are stupid. And occasionally, there’s games that are stupid fun. You know the ones: they’re a bit harder than usual. You scream and yell, think about rage quitting, but end up laughing your butt off instead. Not crazy laughter. The kind where you can’t believe you missed that jump, track, flip or frisbee and yet you’re still having fun. That completely describes the long awaited Dotemu’s release of Windjammers 2.

After remaining in production hell for the past five years, retro and sport games fans alike are finally able to play Windjammers 2 worldwide. And trust me, that is just the way it should be. With multiple ways to play, it’s time to grab you buddy, best gal or the whole family and prove that you’re the best ultimate frisbee player EVER! OR die laughing. I’ll not judge.

28 years in the making

Windjammers 2 is 28 years of history in the making. The game is the sequel to 1994’s Windjammers, an arcade game released for the Neo Geo system. Developed and produced by Data East, the Japanese gaming company behind Astro Fighter and Kung-Fu Master, Windjammers became the 14^th most popular arcade game of all time in the United States.

Data East was the “jack of all trades” within gaming during the ’80s and ’90s. The company explored everything from consoles and cassette games to pinball machines. Facing off against main competitors SEGA and Taito, Data East eventually had to close its U.S. division, filing for reorganization in 1999. Unfortunately, they withdrew from the video game industry by 2000, and officially declared bankruptcy in 2003.

By 2004, G-Mode had acquired most of Data East’s catalogue, with Windjammers and a few other titles going to Paon DP. In 2010, the game was released on Nintendo Wii Virtual Console in Japan, followed by a port from Dotemu to the PlayStation 4 and Vita in 2017 and the Switch in 2018. When Dotemu first approached Paot about making the port, they also suggested a follow-up. Paot agreed, and thus the whirlwind idea began to take shape.

Of course, no matter how fast Dotemu hoped to dive across the court, their plans fell to the same frustrations most of us call 2020. After an exciting announcement in 2018 at Nintendo Direct, there were high strike hopes for a 2019 release. That didn’t happen, obviously. Early 2020 was next on the list, but again, denied! Finally, word came out in 2021 that Windjammers 2 would finally blaze onto platforms everywhere in 2022. And the rest is just sand in the wind.

Control yourself!

Funky 2D artwork was a staple of the original Windjammers. In keeping with the arcade game’s legacy, the developers wanted to incorporate the same nostalgic feeling. And, oh yeah, they succeeded. Hailing from different countries, the characters are drawn in an over-the-top, flashy and brightly colored way that is eye catching and just this side of 1990’s cheese.

There isn’t a storyline, strictly speaking, but if you take your chosen character through all their matches in arcade, you’ll be treated to cutscenes unique to just them, shedding some light on who they are and where they will go. Some are heartwarming, while others are downright funny. Frenchwoman S. De Lys took the cake in my opinion. I wouldn’t mind a spin off that fleshes out their stories just a little bit.

Like the arcade games of old, the controls are few. However, while I found them easy to use, they were hard to master. There is a “tutorial” card of sorts that tells the play what the basics are. It’s up to us to have the finger speed needed to pull off some of the tougher moves. The controls must be kept tight and precise.

Divide and conquer

The game is top-down style and set up with matches, divided into three rounds each. The frisbee is tossed, much like a tennis match, and usually starts out on the opponent’s side. Be ready! They can move fast and furiously, lobbing the disk back at you, not to you.

Catching and sending it back as quickly and with as much power as you can is the top priority. If you think for a second, they will go easy on you, well, you’ve never played an arcade game like this, have you? First one to 17 points wins all the marbles.

Individually, each character has different strengths and weaknesses, not that you can tell when facing them in the final sets. One of the characters I used, H. Mith, had a lot of speed, but was lacking in power, and I could tell during my matches. Hence, I discovered that paying attention to their stats greatly improves the possibility of not completely getting stomped. Think the frisbee, be the frisbee…

As I lob or miss the torpedo disks coming my way, their special power bar begins to fill. Also called the EX Moves, the powers are unique to each personality, flashing across the screen with a comic book panel sort of moment. Get hit by one of those and you’re sure to have a headache. I was flung back into the fence repeatedly despite my counter and furious button mashing. All I can say is dang, I’m glad it’s just a game!

Game, set, match!

Playing through the arcade mode, I badly thrashed my way through three different locations spread out on the map. The characters are random to an extent, depending on who I chose to play. In between the first and second, and the third and final match are mini games, with a wee doggo ready to play fetch and clay pigeon contest. How far that frisbee goes is determined by strength and timing.

In the fetch game, once that disk is airborne, it’s up to the player to control the pooch as it runs down the beach, hopping over hazards and unsuspecting people along the way. Catch it and rack up the points. Although I have to say I still have no idea how to get the “hot dog points.”

Getting past the preliminaries may be a challenge, but good freaking night, the boss matches are even more so. It suddenly seemed like my opponent was everywhere on the court, able to teleport or at least read my moves before I made them. At times it honestly felt like the CPU was cheating with how fast they could move. Dive, dash, cry, repeat.

Your friends or mine?

Couch co-op games are kind of a thing of the past, and that is an absolute shame. Thankfully, Windjammers 2 has a versus mode just for such an occasion! Welcome to versus mode- the next divider of families. Ok, not really. But playing it in a round robin style with the family is definitely going to spice up the next game night. My daughter and husband played several rounds against each other, and both were laughing by the end.

As an added bonus over Windjammers, the second game has added an online mode. I waited in the lobby for a while but was not matched with anyone. Thankfully, a friend helped, and we were able to try out the ranked matches. I’m assuming the lobby will be buzzing after the full release. The players rack up points which will raise their rank within the global standings.

There is also the option to play with people on your friends list. And based on what I say, I think it is safe to say that we may see Windjammers 2 as an esport in the future. Some of the leaderboard stats were pretty high and I would love to see a ranked match.

Controls and set up are exactly the same as the arcade, so it really just comes down to human skill when going up against a real person. I recommend playing through the arcade a few times before attempting the online arenas.

Windjammers 2 is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC, with backwards compatibility on PS5, Xbox Series X/S.