Rayman Pirate-Community

Is there a certain appeal you find in the series that makes you a fan?

The dreamy look on R1 I think. Also the simplicity with the character design. No limbs but no problem.

Bump

Mostly because of the surrealness the first games felt, the grabbing music of the second, the amazing sense of humor in the third, the great control and gameplay of origins and nothing about legends :0

Nothing about Legends eh? This aged well.

As a kid I really liked how unique Rayman was as a video game character. I mean, was there a character I knew of that was limbless, have hair like a helicopter, and can throw their fist in front of them like a ranged weapon? Nope! So that’s one thing. There’s probably things from each game that I really liked but I’ll leave that for another time when I remember

The Jonster wrote: Sat Nov 02, 2024 9:29 pm Nothing about Legends eh? This aged well.

Found a post from July 2023 where I said R2 was my favourite rayman game

For Rayman 1: the art. It's super pleasing, consistent, and immersive. Every sprite is pixel-perfect, and the color palettes are exquisite. Especially the PC version, which contains unique art in Moskito's Nest, and the transitional art between Dream Forest and Band Land.

Let's compare it to other games of its time. Super Mario World 2: a good game, the art was there, but I'd give the art a B compared to Rayman's A+. Donkey Kong Country 2: a super well received game, but the art is eye-gouging levels of awful. It's seriously disgusting. Megaman 7: the sprites definitely were carefully designed, especially on the characters. But it's just not consistent nor realistic. A decade later you could find hundreds of Flash games made by amateurs that looked a lot like it, but never in my life have I seen a Flash game that looked anywhere close to 1% of what Rayman has to offer.

I'd also include the music, which really shines, but some other platformers of the era also had good music.

For Rayman 2: the art and the level design.

Again let's compare it to other games. Spyro 2: the art is good on that one too. I'd say, on par with Rayman 2. But what's the difference? It's filled with empty areas. You just roam around empty fields and empty halls. Rayman 2 makes full use of "swiss cheese" level design. There's rarely, if ever, empty areas with no meaning. You don't realize it when playing, because it's so well thought it integrates seamlessly. And let's take a look at Super Mario Sunshine: came out 4 years later, and like most Mario games, the art looks as if the devs forgot that any color other than red, green and blue existed, an RGB oversaturated eyesore, probably designed to overstimulate a child's brain like cocaine, reminiscent of what brain-rotting channels like Cocomelon do nowadays.

Rayman 3 is a great game, but it marks when the series started getting caught up by their contemporaries.

Eurotool wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2024 3:19 am And let's take a look at Super Mario Sunshine: came out 4 years later, and like most Mario games, the art looks as if the devs forgot that any color other than red, green and blue existed, an RGB oversaturated eyesore, probably designed to overstimulate a child's brain like cocaine, reminiscent of what brain-rotting channels like Cocomelon do nowadays.

This comparison is totally unwarranted vibrant, oversaturated palettes are designed to attract and stimulate, sure, but the problem with addictive content like Cocomelon, certain online games or intoxicants in general, is the emptiness of the loop it traps you in.

For example artificial and genuine orange juice are both stimulating for their sweetness, and this is how the vulnerability in our brains emerged in the first place. We are supposed to be attracted to the thing we need.

Mario Sunshine is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played... Delfino Plaza, Noki Bay...

But to get back on topic, I see what you mean about art in Rayman. The crispness of the 2D games is pleasing. It's definitely a big part of the appeal. And let's face it the games tend to be mechanically rather simple, though some puzzles are creative and imaginative.

I find it hard to narrow down to a single aspect, but one thing that really stands out to me about Rayman is how they successfully made a game about something you don't really know what it is. Most mascot characters are based on animals, but Rayman is kind of like a stickman in the sense that he's born out of restraints and imagination. And Globox isn't exactly a frog; he's differentiated enough that you could only 'describe' him as frog-like.