Rayman

When the fiendish Mr. Dark traps the Electoons(adorable, fuzzy little pink balls that walk on tiny feet... and they show their gratitude to you by hearts over their heads when they encounter you) which used to gravitate around the Great Protoon(...sound familiar? Like the core of an atom), the world spins out of control. The title character is brought in, and you, as him, must free them(...all! No matter how many you get, if there are ones left, you will eventually have to get them...! Many of them have you returning to get them later, as you need an ability you only get later... those are given to you as you progress through it, and they include making a helicopter out of your hair that allows you to stay airborne, floating downwards, very briefly, and grabbing these things that hang in the air, letting you effectively swing back and forth; on that, however, there is zero replayability, with no highscores, and you basically having to do extremely well merely to complete it) from their prisons, by finding all six cells in all of the stages(there are checkpoints in them, and you can save when you complete them, as well, and there's thankfully also a password system)(each of which may have several well-designed levels(they use every idea that comes out of a setting, and if they ever re-use something, they do something different with it, nothing feels repetitive in this), totalling to 15 minutes... or anywhere between a half and a full hour! And that's if you do well), and each area(rain forest with giant berries that might be useful, goblins in tropical wear; a musical themed one with sentient instruments, and avoiding being hit by giant pencils in a painting world... all of these are surreal, colorful, fun, creative and imaginative(as the enemies are, some of which are in your way, others of which are chasing you; it is sometimes a problem to identify friend and foe, only once you touch something can you be sure, and since you start with 3 energy points and can only ever get as much as 5, that is not OK), they feel like a well-done amalgam of everything a child might think about one subject) has about 3 of such. To mix things up and keep this interesting throughout(it works!), every so often they play around with what direction you're going in, they'll have the screen itself move in on you(I think all four sides get to kill you by touch in that manner, over the course of it), you'll suddenly be able to fly upwards, etc. This is immensely addictive, and even though it is incredibly difficult(starting high, and then going beyond that), most players are going to keep trying, even if monitors and joysticks may need occasional replacement. There are two strengths of "glove", and if you die, you lose the stronger one if you had it(and it resets the amount of health), and then have to find it again somewhere, or your punches are going to be really weak. That is how you attack, and you can charge up how far it will go(and you can't send it out again until it returns... it can hit things on the way back, unless it did already on the way out), unless you're ducking/crawling, and if you're on a slippery surface(yup, one of those), you will glide in the opposite direction in direct proportion to the force... yeah... don't you just love the laws of physics? Those get cartoony(as childfriendly as this is, which is to not even have genuinely painful-looking(more likely, it'll be goofy) stuff(like Tom & Jerry, for example) and in general no offensive or upsetting content, it's not obnoxious(that goes for sound and music too, and those are really well-done; this never assaults your senses and overstimulates you), it walks the balance well, even having opponents looking menacing, and you don't have to be 7 to like or even love this), as well, with the eyes of someone you've knocked out(of the entire image!) bouncing away from that, until they hit a wall and go back the way they came, or fall in water or similar. Graphics are great, with dynamic(meaning, they move relative to when you do, making the universe feel vivid real) background and foregrounds, the latter even in 3D(everything else is 2D, of course... something that allows the pace to get extremely swift at times)! Like its brethren, this is all about hand-to-eye coordination and your problem-solving skills... figure out what to do, then do it. There is almost no room for error, and a single mistake will likely cost you an entire life. You can earn an extra ones in one of the bonus sections, where you pay a fee to enter(and can keep trying if you fail, if you have the Tings for it(100 of those will zero the counter and grant an additional try); you collect a number of those, given at the start of it, to complete), found by discovering the storytelling magician, who always hides somewhere. This took me 12 and a half hours to get through, and it could take longer, depending on how in training for this stuff one is. There's tons of platforms to jump... many types, some move up/down or side-to-side, disappear, others are like trampolines. Boss fights(the final is insane, by the way!) follow the usual pattern for these... they'll strike for 90% of it, you'd better dodge all of those or you're outta luck, then there'll be a terribly small window of opporturnity for you, which you had better recognize and take advantage of, and then that process all over again. Rayman basically doesn't have arms, legs or a neck, just hands and feet, torso and head... actually, that kinda goes for all beings in this, and then there are beings that are only a head or a set of eyes. I warmly recommend this to patient people of all ages who enjoy this genre. 8/10

Rayman was an innovative videogame at the time it was released, nearly 23 years ago, with beautiful music and good graphics. Now, talking about the gameplay, is essentially unplayable. Many times you have to take jumps that are extremely difficult, that is the case in Allegro Presto, in that level you have to take a jump that is known as ''the impossible jump''. Another aspect of the game that I didn't like was that you never get to know if you are landing appropriately when you jump, that is also the case in slippery surfaces. Nonetheless, Rayman is an entertaining and original adventure that you'll never forget.

Japan has Mario and Sonic. America has Bubsy. If Europe has someone who's been doing well in the video game scene, it's Rayman.

I never get to play the PlayStation version or the Sega Saturn version because I don't have any of those consoles. However, I do get to play the Game Boy Color version online. One may think hand-held versions are simplified versions of console games, and are less interesting. But in the case of Rayman, playing on Game Boy Color is still quite fun. The music is quite catchy, especially at the Airy Tunes stage.

Cool character, cool moves, and cool music. The fancy still images really do well for the lack of video scenes.

"RAYMAN" is the most challenging, irritating, stupefying, beautiful game I have ever played. This game has to be one of the most artistically made games ever, and by that I mean high art, because it's those mellow backdrops, bouncing mushrooms, fleshy-fleshed plants, wandering fish, pumped up villains, crazily eye-pleasing level designs, and astounding sound effects and music that always draws me back and has done since I was a little boy.

I was surprised at how quickly the brand changed from that gently charming aesthetic and hard as nails gameplay over to the uglier, darker, sillier designs of the sequels, but this RAYMAN will always be the hardest, the most beautiful, and the best.