Jumper (download) is a game which a friend (Alec Thomas) and I created and released back in September of 1994.

To run Jumper you either need an old DOS 3.x, 4.x or 5.x partition (or boot disk), or you can use a DOS-emulator such as DOSBox. The screenshots shown here were taken running Jumper within DOSBox, which I can recommend as it is very simple to install and use.

Installation: To install Jumper, simply extract the files into the directory of your choice (e.g. C:\Games\Jumper) and you're done.

How to start Jumper using DOSBox:
I'm going to assume that you have successfully installed DOSBox. Run DOSBox, mount the folder where you installed Jumper, change to the newly mounted drive and then run jumper, for example if you had installed Jumper in C:\Games\Jumper then you would execute the following commands within the DOSBox window:

mount j c:\games\jumper
j:
jumper

Movement Keys:
The numeric pad plus the spacebar are used for Jumper's movement:

• Cursor left (4) - move 1 block left.
• Cursor right (6) - move 1 block right.
• Cursor up (8) - jump straight up (maximum of 4 blocks high).
• Home (7) - jump diagonally to the left (maximum of 4 blocks high).
• PgUp (9) - jump diagonally to the right (maximum of 4 blocks high).
• Cursor down (2) - jumper turns away to face into the monitor, this is how you prepare Jumper to use his climbing rope, or interrupts diagonal jumps.
• End (1) - face left (makes Jumper face to the left, without moving from the current square).
• PgDn (3) - face right (makes Jumper face to the right, without moving from the current square).
• Spacebar - either launches Jumper's climbing rope (only when facing away from the player) or fires his shooting star.

Things to note:

• Jumper can instantly stop his diagonal jumps, by pressing the down (2) key. This stops Jumper's horizontal movement (and upward motion), causing Jumper to fall straight down from his current position.
• Jumper can only use his rope when he is facing away (has his back to the player). First press the down cursor (2), then press the spacebar. Jumper can only fire his rope from a stationary position!
• Jumper can NOT cancel his rope, so once the rope has been fired Jumper will not move until the climbing rope has reached it's highest point.
• Jumper can jump (or walk) off the climbing at any point while climbing the rope, simply press either Left cursor, Right Cursor, Home or PgUp to move in their corresponding directions.
• Only one star can be shot at a time. However Jumper has an unlimited number of stars at his disposal.

How to complete a level:
You need to collect or destroy all the gems within the level before you can continue to the next. To collect a gem, you simply need to move jumper over of the gem, you will hear the collection sound when you are successful. You can also destroy gems by shooting them with your star. When you destroy a gem you will also hear the collection sound, however you will not receive any points for the gem.

Final Words:
A word of warning to anyone interested in giving the game a go, it's very hard. When we created this game, we failed to take the beginners learning curve into account, so even the first level is more suited to an intermediate player, rather than a beginner. I don't mean to scare you away, just warn you that you're in for a tough challenge! ;)

We built some cheats into the game, so if you get totally stuck then just drop me a line (email me) and ask for the cheats.

Download