Rayman

To me, Rayman was a short lived franchise. The first game is a classic. It really is a fantastic 2D platformer and was what put Ubisoft on the map and now they're a huge gaming company going alongside EA and Square. Rayman was such a popular game back then and rightfully so. The levels had beautiful and surreal backgrounds as well as being well coloured. Even by today's standards this is one of the most colourful games out there. The game itself was fun and while it was perhaps too difficult here and there for a game's audience being mostly kids, it proved itself to be a challenge. OK, it's hard Nintendo hard but I digress.

Sadly, Rayman went downhill right after the first game. The Rayman franchise suffered a terrible fate just like Spyro and Crash. Infact, Rayman has been mistreated even worse than those two as there was only a good game or two. At least they had 3/4 good games. The first problem with Rayman was several educational games. Instead of having an actual sequel to the first game, they went and made educational games and as a kid back in the 90s, I wanted a great follow-up to Rayman which would have been another 2D platformer and not some educational games!

There was eventually a Rayman 2 which was released four years after the original game and although this is the most critically acclaimed Rayman game, I can't say I was a big fan of it as I much desired another Rayman 2D platformer but even taking out that, the game overall just wasn't that impressive. Contrary to what was just said, there was actually a bonus level where Rayman was in his 2D glory and that was one hell of a reward for me for beating the game with the majority of lums obtained. One level may have not been much but it was better than nothing.

Rayman had one more additional major title but this was a game I never had a slight interest in and after that, Ubisoft introduced Raving Rabbits and this was another huge stain on the Rayman franchise. Although Rayman had some appearances, it was clear as day that these games were more focused on those goddamn rabbids and not as much on Rayman. Although they have dropped the name Rayman in these games now, that's what they should have done from the start but it seems they needed to throw him in these games just to try and get it recognised and that's just mistreating him even more.

The other major problem with the franchise is the numerous re-releases Rayman 1 had. The occasional re-releases would have been fine but they took it a step too far by not only re-releasing it TWICE back in the 90s before they even got out Rayman 2 but still even re-releasing the game today. The latest re-release is for DSiWare...Really now? Instead of making a fourth major Rayman title or even a return to form of the original game which I'd really love to see from Rayman, they keep re-releasing this game and most recently on a shitty console too?! I guess if I want to play more in the 2D style, my only choice is to find Rayman Gold and hope to get it working on Windows Vista but the demo couldn't even work for shit.

In conclusion, Rayman had a good start but quickly went downhill after transferring to 3D (moreso Hoodlum Havoc) and then turned for the worse afterwards when those goddamn rabbids came along to overshadow Rayman when the franchise was clearly named after him and not some douchey creatures. It doesn't help the franchise at all when it was pretty much replaced by this as well as the supposedly fourth title taking ages to come out. I'd say it's mostly due to caring more about re-releasing the original game again and again. Even if they actually make it, I think I'm done with what seemed to be a very short lived franchise unless they go Mega Man 9 on us but that's just wishful thinking.

A little bonus, here's a Garry's Mod video starring Rayman: