Before starting on Rayman 2, there’s one more small area still to cover that I forgot about. Around 2002, there were three Rayman games released on mobile phones. You know when phones used to suck and you could play games with the keypad? Well here’s a hint, it doesn’t always make for an awesome gameplay experience. Also music is either nonexistent or it plays one very short loop and then silence.
1. Rayman Garden
Nobody knows anything about this game. It was some kind of maze or puzzle game. There are no ROM dumps, and according to a Rayman forum I skimmed, the only way to get it is to buy an old phone from an online shop that has it pre-installed. But the wiki has this screenshot, and says that you have to escape Bad Rayman. Thankfully it’s not the very last Rayman 1-inspired game released. That honour falls to…
2. Rayman Bowling
We know more about the latter two games on this list, and we have ROM dumps so you can even play them. There’s multiple versions of both; in addition to refactored versions for different screen heights, there’s a monochrome one for older phones and a pretty full colour one for your fancy feature phones. Much like Rayman 1 GBC and some of the educational games, this mixes in Rayman’s design from 2 (and partially 3) with environments from 1—I call it a spinoff of Rayman 1 because that’s the origin of almost all the game except his design. You can see more screenshots here, with most of the locations from R1 being represented, even with appropriate hazards to get in the way of your bowling. As a result, it feels faithful and adds some variety to this rather boring virtual bowling simulator. There’s a few steps to throw the ball, with position, spin, aim, and power needing to be done with good timing, which makes it hard to pull off, but it wasn’t too hard to get the scores needed to unlock levels.
3. Rayman Golf
I love that Rayman has these sports spinoffs—just like Mario!—but they’re merely cheap mobile phone games that Gameloft spat out. Poor guy. This controls slightly worse than Bowling, and since golf is such a precision sport, I ended up with a quintuple bogey on the first hole. That aim modifier is super fiddly. It’s also very easy to overshoot or hit a ball askew into a water trap, so you end up with a less exciting experience. The environment is also very generic, a simple grassy forest with pretty much no connection to anything in Rayman’s world. So really, it’s not a Rayman 1 spinoff in particular, but since it was released alongside Bowling, I count it here. Like Bowling, it came in mono and colour versions. Not much more to say, really.
It’s not too hard to play these mobile games nowadays. If you can find a ROM on a skeezy site, get a java-based phone emulator, set up a controller to put the crazy number controls onto a usable button layout, configure the screen so you can see it better… then you just have to deal with badly programmed games with loose controls for a system that isn’t suited for them. So unless there’s something unique or special about them, or you really care about the characters in this case, or maybe you just want to play every bowling simulator ever made, then it’s probably not worth going to the trouble. The screenshots in Rayman wiki may be enough for you. Having said that, Bowling is the best of this small bunch with its obstacle course lanes and its strong Rayman connections, but that’s not saying much.
I’ve been hesitant to talk about these games, simply because they’re not terribly well documented on the Internet, or at least would require more research than I have done. I’m satisfied to be able to talk about them briefly though, based on the Rayman Pirate Community’s wiki and various YouTube videos showing the games themselves (thanks to Eshap and bekyjewell). The information here is as far as I could grok it; it may not be entirely accurate.
So there’s essentially five major releases in the “educational” sub-series of Rayman games. They’re mostly based on the aesthetics of the first game, with a few exceptions. They’re interesting though and generally add some significant things to that universe, including new characters, and also feature voice acting ranging from cheesy to bland to actually quite good. In chronological order, then:
1. Rayman Junior/Rayman Brain Games/Maths & English with Rayman/Amazing Learning Games with Rayman
Released in 1996 for the Playstation 1 and DOS, Rayman Junior sticks very close to Rayman 1’s formula. It shares the mechanics, the UI, the platforming, and the world map. What it adds is voice acting, a new plot with intro and ending FMVs, and a loose “educational” theme that involves you interacting with numbers and letters. Said interaction is by way of Rayman’s normal techniques: platforming, punching, and so on, along with enemies and obstacles ripped straight from Rayman 1. It seems easier but is built directly on Rayman 1’s engine, so any problems I had with its gameplay are carried over. The plot is straightforward: Mr. Dark has stolen the secrets from a magic book that the Magician is supposed to be guarding, so he and Betilla ask Rayman to get them back, which is presumably what all the letters and numbers are about.
2. English with Rayman/French with Rayman
The second edutainment release in 1997 had multiple alternate versions, based on region. This has bearing on the Rayman universe: in English-speaking countries, the game was French with Rayman and involved the Magician getting Rayman’s help to decipher a recipe his French cousin Pierre sent him. He has to learn French to read the formula, giving the game more of a clear focus and goal and arguably being more educational in teaching you vocabulary and so on. It’s still heavily based on the locations and mechanics of Rayman 1, much like Rayman Junior, but the world map is new, strangely incorporating landmarks from our world, in addition to the references to France which are obviously included. It’s conceivable that these are mere analogues to the locations we know that were incorporated into the Glade of Dreams… with Polokus, anything’s possible.
Getting back to the regional differences though: the release in France and other regions was called English with Rayman and required Rayman to translate a letter from the Magician’s English cousin Andrew. So, how to reconcile this? Mere localisation choices? No sir, we have here two different magicians speaking corresponding languages. I propose that there are two alternate universes: if you speak French, then your Rayman games take place in a world where French Rayman associates with a French Magician named Pierre, and if you speak English, then your Magician is named Andrew. Two Magicians, one Rayman. It makes sense, and my long-ago discussed theory about their mutual demise by Rayman 2 holds (sorry, Magicians).
3. Rayman Dictées
Not related to Rayman 1 at all, 1998’s Dictées for PC (only available in French) uses Rayman’s design from 2 and curiously, is largely based on another French edutainment game called Tim 7’s Adventures, making this a crossover of sorts. Gameplay footage is scarce but it appears to be in point and click adventure style with pre-rendered CG backgrounds and FMVs, leading to typing-related games and tasks. It’s most well known for its CG intro showing Rayman’s house and his interactions with human characters. These characters are all native to the other game I mentioned, so strictly speaking Clara the Witch, Patrick, Landra, Dr Gaaf, Sam, some other guy, a dog, and Tim (who does not appear in the intro but drives the plot) are not Rayman universe characters. Makes it easier to keep track of Rayman lore, at least.
These three releases from around 1999 are linked and share many elements and minigames, but also have their differences. The French versions were published with the branding of Accompagnement Scolaire, which some editions of Dictées shared. Along with the next game down (Rayman Premier Clics for 2-4 year olds), they cover a range of ages: Maternelles for ages 4-6, CP for 6-7, and Dictées for 9-10. Maternelles and CP (which I think refer to age groups) are more closely linked, though, and were likely developed simultaneously.
Activity Centre was released for English speakers, and features a point and click interface to access various minigames of dubious educational value. The aesthetic is heavily Rayman 1, and introduces new characters who are members of enemy classes from the first game: a clown and one of the Band Land insects. Betilla is the main contact to help you and introduce the game.
Maternelle and CP, on the other hand, have shifted the branding somewhat, with some aesthetic elements from Rayman 2 and even the short-lived animated series that was based on 2, while still retaining much of the look and minigames based on Rayman 1. They share some minigames from Activity Centre but also have unique ones, with different sets presumably skewed slightly towards different age groups.
5. Rayman Premier Clics
Translated as Rayman First Clicks (I think), this 2001 release for PC and Mac was intended to introduce very young (French) children to computers and provide simple, entertaining activities for them. Unlike other games on this list, it’s mainly Rayman 2-based, although it’s fairly shallow so there’s not much to go on. It does feature some of Globox’s children, so there’s that. The games are simple and the art is flat and not very appealing. As the final game on the list, it’s not very exciting. Sorry.
If you want to know more about any of these, I recommend the wiki I linked or the YouTubers I mentioned. They’re all passionate members of the Rayman community, and some of that voice acting needs to be heard. Some of these games are also quite well documented on their channels, with full playthroughs and text commentary. I wouldn’t say any of the games are worth playing, unfortunately, but they each add that little bit extra to Rayman’s world (or Raym'n’s world, as Andrew seems to pronounce it in French with Rayman). Well thanks for putting up with my long-winded enumeration of these obscure and silly games. It’s all good fun!
PS. Rayman vs Cullcut
Sorry to bother you, but I found another “educational” game. It’s a typing test thing, a Flash game for browsers that was available in French around 1999 and recently fan-translated into English, and is based on Rayman 2 with Robo-pirates and baby Globoxes. You have to type the words it shows you quickly to avoid getting chomped by Cullcut, which apparently shows up in Rayman 2 spinoff Rayman M/Arena.
The Rayman handheld games are strange. Like the Donkey Kong Lands, they accompany and largely reuse bits of the console-based game that they mostly share names with, cutting them down to basics in the process. Like the Rockman World games, they also tend to mix in elements of other sequential games. Hopefully I can explain that a bit more clearly when I get to them.
For example, this game was released 5 years after the original Rayman and while rehashing its plot, takes a few small cues from Rayman 2 which by that time had been released. For cutscenes it uses his new, more attractive design, and the music is pleasing, chip-ified renditions of Rayman 2 tunes. Some of the worlds also seem to me to be inspired by R2 environments, although it’s largely based on R1’s archetypes.
In terms of cutting down, this handheld title strips out almost all of the supporting characters from R1’s cast, and cuts the Picture City and Candy Chateau locations, leaving mostly the less fanciful environments. It’s not just straight removals though, it also is streamlined with Rayman having more abilities from the get-go. That streamlining applies to level design too, with what I felt to be a much clearer sense of direction in the all-new levels, helped by the more zoomed-out view.
The difficulty seems to have been toned down too, much to my relief. Whether the physics are better or the level design is more fair, I just had a much better time getting through these levels, and even feeling good finding the occasional hidden cage (this time they’re not all necessary to fight the final boss, although getting them all does unlock some extra-hard bonus levels… I didn’t try for that). There’s also many more health pickups and mid-level checkpointing, and less reliance on punch powerups. Overall the balance and feel of the game is better than the stumble of the actual main game that this is based on, which results in simply more fun and less me getting mad at it.
I hope I’ve dispelled the notion that this is a mere port, a label that’s slapped all too readily on handheld games that share a name with a larger console release. In many ways it’s a superior game. Points against it are for cutting characters like the Magician and Betilla in favour of an expanded role to the Tings (yes, the main collectibles are the support character) and for extensive use of Comic Sans font. Despite this, a memorable penultimate level—a very challenging but fun platforming gauntlet while being followed exactly by Bad Rayman—and a good final boss left me with a very positive opinion of this one. The fact that I even made it that far to play those parts immediately places this above Rayman 1 in my stakes.
Unfortunately, since it does have a different soundtrack and cuts the more weird levels from Rayman 1, I can’t just tell you that this replaces it. But I certainly found it a more playable game. It even looks better, or at least I preferred the simple colours and cute sprites; the constraints of detail forced simpler and nicer designs, not to mention clearer level layouts. But it’s time to move on, and before we leave Rayman 1 land to start on 2 and its ilk, I think I will do an overview of the educational games, even if I don’t exactly play them. There’s so many after all! Au revoir.
Here goes. My goal for the start of this year is to play through all the Rayman games. After each main entry, I’ll play the handheld iterations that took inspiration from it. So we start with the original Rayman. There are many ports and versions of the game, with many subtle differences. I hear the Jaguar version is especially different. However, the DOS version is the most easily accessible from gog.com. In hindsight, maybe I should have tried the DSi version which attempts to ease up the difficulty by giving you more health and such.
Oh, this game. One of the few that I’ve simply given up on due to sheer difficulty. Normally I like a bit of challenge or can persevere if I’m enjoying the game. In this case, my enjoyment was low due to the slow, plodding nature (as well as slow progression with upgrades… I hadn’t even got the helicopter hair when I stopped) and the “European platformer” style maze-like levels with little direction. So when the game is so unforgiving and the deaths so unfair, I blamed the game’s design. Although you get 9 continues (which might as well just be more lives, since they put you at the most recent checkpoint anyway) the lives run out quickly. The sheer length of the levels exacerbates the problem as you must start the whole gauntlet again upon game over, and if you saved with only a few continues left, well too bad.
After rage quitting, I found out some interesting tidbits. The Rayman Pirate Community’s wiki, an excellent information source claims that Rayman 1 was not playtested for difficulty, and I believe it. By watching a speedrunner I also felt vindicated that I would never pull off the superhuman feats of reflexes and memory that he possessed. I also learned that to get to the final boss, Mr Dark, you must find each and every Electoon cage in all their fiendish hiding spots. What a joke!
So I really can’t recommend Rayman 1. Up until Origins, it seemed valid to ignore it since much of what it established was seemingly retconned by subsequent games. Origins though brings back a surprising amount from this one, with the fairies, the antagonist, the earned abilities, the drone enemies, the environments. The confrontation with Bad Rayman, a cool idea, is also recycled for Legends. So I’d recommend watching Spikevegeta’s speedrun of the game instead of playing it yourself (or rather, it playing you like a mangled xylophone).
Just a few more quick observations, because the difficulty wasn’t my only problem here. The powerup system is obscured from the player; there’s two kinds of fist powerups, but you don’t get an indication of which you have, and you lose them when you die or get hit or something? The “winding up the fist” thing is never useful because it takes too long and doesn’t go far enough. Your Ting count is reset when you die, so you’ll never get 100 for an extra life. The music varies between dull and moody, but no tunes stand out. The backgrounds are vibrant but sometimes obscure important gameplay details. Finally, while the sprites are large and have nice animation, this means the viewing area of the screen is too small and so threats can jump out at you.
It really pains me to have to put down a game. But you have to know when to walk away, and I wouldn’t let Rayman continue to abuse me. I still love him though, and have hope for his next incarnation to treat me better. So I’m moving on to Rayman 1’s little brother on the Game Boy Color. I won’t be covering any of the many, many educational games based on Rayman 1. You can play those yourself and maybe learn some French/English/Maths/etc.
As Origins (and many other Rayman games before it) did, Legends had an accompanying handheld game release. And like other Rayman handheld games, it shared elements of the two most recent console outings. I expected a mainly Legends-based auto-runner to follow Jungle Run, but in fact most of the environments and enemies were pulled from Origins in Fiesta Run, although updated to the Legends style with more shading and 3D-stylings. The Barbara-type characters were also not present.
Thankfully though it does improve on Jungle Run’s formula in many ways. A large scrollable vague map replaces the simple menus. There are Invaded variants of every level that add challenge and twists on the familiarity of the level you just completed. There’s more selectable characters and a unified reward system. There’s even a kind of goal to the whole game. I feel like the levels were more interesting too. (Also I figured out some fun ways to exploit some mechanics to, for example, float horizontally indefintely.)
This game was handled by a proper Ubisoft team, rather than farmed out to a tiny studio, and it shows. Production values are higher, and it’s more stable and slick. Unfortunately they also decided to add in scummy microtransaction BS, although it can be safely ignored for the most part (in fact the purchasable powerups don’t even help, I suspect).
I was hooked quickly and smashed through it. The tuned mechanics made it very easy to pick up and hard to put down. A high point of the iOS game stable, of last year anyway.
My backlog is so big at the moment. My wife and I polished off this game a few months ago, but I think that will help me summarise more to keep it shorter.
This review really cannot exist outside of my opinion to Rayman Origins, and comparisons constantly came up as I played. I actually recommend playing Origins first, as this game is a progression in so many ways. You feel that when you play the recreated Origins levels in Legends—which, by the way, do not render Origins invalid. First of all, I don’t think it’s all the levels, and second, they have put in Legends mechanics in Origins level designs (for the most part), giving them a different feel, especially when playing Legends as intended.
By that I mean that Murfy is integral to the Legends experience, and I just cannot picture playing the whole game solo. Having my wife on Gamepad while I flex my platforming muscles was a very well done mechanic, although the dynamic fell apart when she was forced into 2D mode at a boss battle or when doing a challenge level. So the ancillary bits, anything apart from the core platforming levels, didn’t work so well with that asymmetric co-op stuff (and hence our playing together). So it’s 2 games really, amazing skill gap co-op core and the awesome and varied single player fringe elements (namely bosses, challenges, music levels, and Moskito).
At least, that’s how we played it. For ages I booted it up daily for the Challenge mode, and it did a good job encouraging the quick daily trips. Competing against the 2 or 3 friends who were at around my skill level was a blast, and slowly racking up points and junk was satisfying. Once I got to the full 100% I’d had enough anyway, so I tied a happy ribbon in it.
To me, Rayman Origins was platforming perfection, so it was hard for me to admit that Legends is a better game. But as I hope I’ve communicated, it’s trying to stretch in a few different directions, making it less pure but arguably more fun. I love them both but the improvements to graphics, developed ideas, and more ambitious levels and designs make it a good sequel overall.
I have nitpicks of course: the music is very slightly less memorable overall despite some astounding tracks, the plot is a bit more nebulous, and the thing that rubbed me the wrong way the most was the main menu thing. You run around in a tent to select levels or modes. It’s good for keeping consistency between movement in levels and in this upper area, but the lack of a proper world map that you move around really hurts the feel of being in a world.
Overall though, this is an essential game, probably my best of the year. Certainly the Wii U version is the one to get, seeing that the others are hack jobs for a game designed around the Gamepad. As with Origins, a joy to play and experience, every side of it: music, art, game design. I particularly cherish the fact that it so involved my wife, who is at an obvious skill and enthusiasm handicap for this genre, and that we could share it so much. I fear that there will be no follow-up considering how much the clueless Ubisoft suits jerked around Michel Ancel and co. But I feel happy having got this much. You may recall that it was the main primary motivator for my Wii U purchase, and although late it was well worthwhile.
The Rayman series has a long tradition of having handheld versions to the current main title. Many blend together aspects from the console titles, which lets them serve as a sort of bridge between the main series games, which as I mentioned previously are each quite different to each other.
This started with Rayman for the Game Boy Color, which came out after Rayman 2, and so features some changes: Rayman’s appearance in cutscenes and promotional material is based on his appearance in 2; Tings are said to be fairies inside globes rather than just globes, linking somewhat to the Lums that replaced them; and all of the music is chip-ised from 2’s tunes, rather than 1’s. I think of it as a kind of “Rayman 1.5”. It was likely developed at least partly in tandem with Rayman 2 Forever (GBC), which has almost identical boxart and the same music, and was released a year later (and obviously is also a 2D platformer, unlike the actual Rayman 2).
Rayman 3 had a few handheld spinoffs, firstly Rayman 3 (GBA), which was probably made originally as a separate handheld version of Rayman 2 for GBA, with Rayman 3 elements tacked on at the last minute. It was released simultaneously with the main Rayman 3, and in fact even has connectivity and mini-games with the GCN version, but is mostly inspired by 2. It has Lums, Ly the Fairy, Razorbeard and Robo-Pirates, and Ssssssam the snake, none of which are in 3 proper. Black Lums and Hoodlums are present but rare, so I like to call it Rayman 2.5, especially as that is its probable timeline positioning. This game was also scaled-down and ported to the Nokia N-GAGE, and a separate but very similar Symbian game also exists.
However, the other Rayman 3 GBA spinoff, Hoodlums’ Revenge, is a true sequel to 3, making it I guess Rayman 3-2 (like Final Fantasy X-2), as it is still heavily based on 3. Unlike all other handheld games up to this point, it’s not a 2D platformer but an isometric-type deal. It has more Lum types than 3, but otherwise uses a lot more elements from it than R3(GBA) did. Its plot is also original (although derivative of 3) unlike R3(GBA), which is a pastiche of 2 and 3. Gameplay is different to any other Rayman game, I think.
The final game in the “classic” Rayman series, before Origins, is… well, it’s Rayman Raving Rabbids, but only the handheld versions. Two prototypes of “Rayman 4” were hashed out at various times, one as 4 and one as Raving Rabbids. It was eventually retooled into a party game that spawned some more party games, but remnants of the true Rayman 4(s) survive in 3 handheld games, all called RRR. The purest is the GBA version, which contains environments and concepts from 4 and is solely a 2D platformer. It also features Ly, Globox, Murfy, Lums, and Teensies (Ly gets lots of handheld appearances, despite being in only 1 console game!). Apparently gameplay is very similar to R3(GBA), so maybe you could say this is Rayman 3.5, as it melds gameplay from R3(GBA), which was 2.5, with the concepts of 4. Ok this number thing is getting silly.
Anyway, the DS version of RRR was also a 2D platformer, but it also incorporated minigames, so it’s more of a halfway point between the GBA and console versions. I should make a graph. There was also a Symbian version which apparently rips off its gameplay from Sonic the Hedgehog, of all places. It does use Purple Lums and cages though, in addition to being a 2D platformer with Rabbids as enemies.
Other handheld games include ports of Rayman 1 to the GBA and DSiWare, and ports of Rayman 2 to DS, 3DS, and iOS. There’s also the mobile phone spinoffs: R1-based puzzle game Rayman Garden; the monochrome Rayman Golf; the mono and colour Rayman Bowling, based on R1 locations; and the more recent Rayman Kart, the only game (so far- Legends remains to be seen) to feature characters from 2, 3 and RR!
This brings us to the present. Rayman Jungle Run is a new game for iOS and Android, using the exact same engine and assets as Origins. I guess the closest comparable game is Rayman 2 Forever (GBC), as it is the only one to be solely based on one console game. This is much more similar visually and aurally, obvious since it reuses assets. The big difference here is the gameplay, which is designed specifically for touchscreens. Physics are the same but the controls and levels are designed around Rayman automatically running and you telling him to jump and, later, attack. This works much better than it sounds since as I said the levels and experience is designed around it, instead of trying to also reuse levels from Origins.
This game is more score attack-y that Origins, as the goal is to get every Lum in the level as you run through. Rewards are more Livid Dead levels (yay! so hard!), and a phone wallpaper gallery, handy since you know, it’s on a phone. This gallery also reveals the name of the nymph who was transformed into “Big Mama”, the secret boss of Origins. It’s Fée de la Mort, and there are some nice original art pieces in there.
It’s good to see the tradition of handheld spinoffs continued in post-Origins Rayman, and it’s a short and sweet game. I wonder if Legends will get its own spinoff too. Odd that Origins was on every platform but Legends is only on one, so hopefully there’s something coming.
PS. I should say I’ve never played any of the games I talk about here, except R2(iOS) and Jungle Run. Most of my info is from the Rayman Pirate Community wiki, a generally excellent resource. I’d like to play through them all one day, though. Thank you, emulators!
When I heard there was a co-op 2D platformer better than Donkey Kong Country Returns, I was skeptical. But Rayman Origins is clearly my favourite game of this year, in fact it would be my Game of the Year except in came out in 2011. It is so good.
From my perspective there was a lot of hype for it, but that hype is so justified. Ubisoft and Michel Ancel came back and really put a lot of love and effort into making this the next Rayman successor.
Speaking of him, I find it interesting that each of the four “main” Rayman games features kind of a soft reboot. Rayman 2 was so different to the original, and while the third is quite similar to 2 there are few returning enemies or locations. (Although I haven’t played 3 so I’m generalising a little). Origins makes a worthy attempt to reconcile the seldom-revisited characters and locations from the original bright sugary game with the darker tone and characters of 2-3. Before this game, I think making an overall timeline or setting for the Rayman universe would have been a lot more difficult.
Of course, I say this, but the truth is I had little interest in Rayman before hearing about how great Origins is (and it is really great). However, as I like to do with games I get into, I dived deep into the leading fan wiki. I also picked up Rayman 2 for iOS for a dollar for a bit of background there (it was very hard to control, but nostalgic as a 90s 3D platformer). This prepared me for the game pretty well, although in some ways there are just as many new or different concepts to Rayman’s world as previous games had introduced.
Having a bit of context is always good for games with callbacks, and this game had lots. It uses both Lums and Electoons, collectibles from 2 and 1 respectively. Teensies and Globox from 2 and 3 help you out, with Betilla the fairy/nymph and the Magician from 1 as NPC helpers, although I’m convinced it’s not supposed to be the same Magician. Mr. Dark, also from 1 appears finally as the big bad, although I think you would need to have read the blog and the cut script from the demo to make that have more impact.
Incidentally, this development blog often featured characters, concepts and even basic setting that were changed before the final release, making it very interesting to go back and read after playing. The original setting, surviving in subtitle form in the final game, was that of a prequel. As it is it could be set anytime after 2.
Of course, there are many more games in the Rayman series that the “main” 4, but I’ll save that for another post.
Anyway, as for the basic gameplay of the game it’s a smooth-flowing, fast-paced 2D platformer with collectibles and secret areas and gimmicks. There’s also the usual levels with completely different gameplay that are often seen in 2D platformers, in this case side-scrolling shmups. A staple of modern 2D throwback games such as DKCR, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Kirby’s Adventure Wii, etc is the co-op feature. These vary from the more co-operative (DKCR with no collision and teaming up to help each other) to more competitive (NSMBW with tons of precision-destroying collisions and trolling). Origins compromises very effectively I feel, with no collisions but the ability to use attacks on the other players to knock them around without doing damage. It’s a good system that lets you either help or hinder your friends. Naturally, I played most of the game single-player as my brother and I now live in different states (we had loads of fun with DKCR last year).
Rewards for getting more collectibles are fairly satisfying, more Lums in a level gets you more Electoons, which unlock more levels (often) and character skins (less often). The skins are a great idea that other games should do way more often *cough*NSMBW*. Even DKCR could have used Funky and Dixie as swaps, but I digress. There are also optional challenge levels, and if you do them all, a final super-hard level in a unique environment (seen in the game’s intro). This was good as something to work for, and plenty challenging for me. There’s enough levels generally too that the single one as an end reward was enough.
But let’s talk about the best aspect of the game by far, and the one that always leaves me smiling and happy. The sound and visual design were just beautiful. The cartoony/painterly art style is wonderful, and the ridiculous music was a joy to listen to, one of the few straight game soundtracks I can listen to outside the context of the game. The characters are all exaggerated and funny, and most of them speak Pig Latin in silly voices which is very endearing.
But let’s wrap up. Rayman Origins, as I’ve said, is my favourite game I’ve played this year. It’s just so well-designed, every aspect. From the look to the sound to the very solid gameplay, it’s just great to play. There are of course one or two niggles like mid-air attacks cancelling momentum, the majority of skins being Teensies, or the large amounts of plot and dialogue that were cut which I at least would have enjoyed. But as a game, and as an installment in the Rayman universe, I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. It certainly breathed new life in a big way into the Rayman franchise, which had stalled after the Rabbids overtook his popularity. Fantastic, big hand to Ancel and Ubisoft. Thank you for making a game I love so much.
Wife’s comment: “It was too hard, but the flying bits were ok. It was pretty.” I managed to get her help with the shmup sections, it makes them much much easier with 2 people, even with an inexperienced gamer.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot, I played the demo on 3DS, DO NOT BUY. From my experience and what I’ve read, the 3DS version is a really crappy port. Slow interface, gameplay elements too small and blurry, overall a lazy port. Get a console version for goodness sake! I have no idea how the Wii version compares to the HD consoles, but it was perfectly fine for me, absolutely no complaints RE: resolution or anything.
A screenshot I took of Rayman 2: The Great Escape for iOS. As far as I know, this was based on the Dreamcast version, for what that’s worth. Apparently the DS versions are quite buggy.
This is in the Land of the Livid Dead, in a small graveyard section off the main path. One of the graves houses an ambushing robot pirate. At the far end are two graves with identical images, or skeletons.
This picture illustrates an interesting bit of fanon I’ve constructed. My theory goes like this. The figure, to me, resembles the Magician from Rayman 1, despite his arms. You see, the original Magician was a Rayperson, as were several of the cast. This was retconned later. In my theory, instead of being retconned into a Teensy, the original Magician died and was interred here.
A separate Teensy, perhaps his apprentice or similar, then took on his mantle. Unfortunately he also took on another mantle. *SPOILERS* Rayman Origins’ Teensy Magician is also the new Mr. Dark. Unused dialogue in Origins fleshes out Mr. Dark 2’s background, but I can’t find it online. The lead writer, however, stated that Origins’ Mr. Dark was a copycat, confirming this aspect of my theory. If he’s copying Dark, he can copy the Magician too.
The existing theory for the graves is that they are for robo-pirates, but my weird theory explains why the Magician is different between 1 and Origins. And the second grave? Why, it belongs to the Magician’s English brother, Andrew, of course! They are identical, apart from their clothes. Andrew appeared in the French-only educational title, English with Rayman. Nobody replaced him, of course.
I may not have explained this too well, but it fits together in my mind. And it’s way better than a straight retcon, as it keeps the universe consistent. Rayman’s actual origin, on the other hand, is much harder to keep straight between games. But that’s fanon for another day!
Nobody knows anything about this game. It was some kind of maze or puzzle game. There are no ROM dumps, and according to a Rayman forum I skimmed, the only way to get it is to buy an old phone from an online shop that has it pre-installed. But the wiki has this screenshot, and says that you have to escape Bad Rayman. Thankfully it’s not the very last Rayman 1-inspired game released. That honour falls to…
We know more about the latter two games on this list, and we have ROM dumps so you can even play them. There’s multiple versions of both; in addition to refactored versions for different screen heights, there’s a monochrome one for older phones and a pretty full colour one for your fancy feature phones. Much like Rayman 1 GBC and some of the educational games, this mixes in Rayman’s design from 2 (and partially 3) with environments from 1—I call it a spinoff of Rayman 1 because that’s the origin of almost all the game except his design. You can see more screenshots here, with most of the locations from R1 being represented, even with appropriate hazards to get in the way of your bowling. As a result, it feels faithful and adds some variety to this rather boring virtual bowling simulator. There’s a few steps to throw the ball, with position, spin, aim, and power needing to be done with good timing, which makes it hard to pull off, but it wasn’t too hard to get the scores needed to unlock levels.
I love that Rayman has these sports spinoffs—just like Mario!—but they’re merely cheap mobile phone games that Gameloft spat out. Poor guy. This controls slightly worse than Bowling, and since golf is such a precision sport, I ended up with a quintuple bogey on the first hole. That aim modifier is super fiddly. It’s also very easy to overshoot or hit a ball askew into a water trap, so you end up with a less exciting experience. The environment is also very generic, a simple grassy forest with pretty much no connection to anything in Rayman’s world. So really, it’s not a Rayman 1 spinoff in particular, but since it was released alongside Bowling, I count it here. Like Bowling, it came in mono and colour versions. Not much more to say, really.
