About
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (Epic MegaGames, 1998) is a beloved fast-paced platformer reimplemented as Jazz² Resurrection by deathkiller — a native C++ engine (modified nCine, OpenGL 3.3 renderer). For Steam Deck it adds widescreen aspect ratios, unlocked framerates and pixel-perfect scaling, and runs natively via Flatpak. It needs original Jazz Jackrabbit 2 game data, but the free Shareware Demo data works too, making it one of the more polished open-engine reimplementations available.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- flatpak
- Options
- run tk.deat.Jazz2Resurrection
- Needs files
-
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2 game data (free Shareware Demo data, or buy the full game on GOG)
Runtime
- Runs as
- Native Linux
- Proton
- not needed
The one thing to know
- Install via Flatpak: search 'Jazz2 Resurrection' in Discover, or run 'flatpak install flathub tk.deat.Jazz2Resurrection' (note the Flatpak ID is tk.deat.Jazz2Resurrection, not io.github.deathkiller.*).
- Requires Jazz Jackrabbit 2 game data files: copy the contents of an original install into the engine's Source folder. Buy the full game on GOG, or use the free Shareware Demo data (Epic released the demo for free).
- It does not ship game content bundled in — even the shareware/demo path needs its data files supplied; the app alone has no playable levels.
- Engine uses OpenGL 3.3 (modified nCine), not Vulkan. No Proton required — native Linux build runs directly on Steam Deck.
- Gamepad works but may rely on Steam Input on Linux; if the pad isn't detected, add it as a Non-Steam game and enable Steam Input, or supply an SDL2 controller mapping.
- Launch options when added as a Non-Steam game: flatpak run tk.deat.Jazz2Resurrection
Community guides
Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.
- github jazz2-native GitHub repository ↗
- gog Jazz Jackrabbit 2 on GOG (buy game data) ↗
- flathub Jazz² Resurrection on Flathub (Flatpak ID tk.deat.Jazz2Resurrection) ↗
- deat Jazz² Resurrection official site & setup help (deat.tk) ↗
- gamingonlinux Jazz Jackrabbit 2 reimplementation gets Flatpak support (GamingOnLinux, Jan 2024) ↗
Get the artwork
deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick
the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the
game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the
Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.
Run it on your Deck
Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your
Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game
into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it
writes the recipe (binary, launch options)
and registers the shortcut with artwork.