A port of Rayman
Rayman Advance is a GBA game. It is basically a port of Rayman 1, however bears some minor changes. The evil Mr. Dark has stolen the Great Protoon, kidnapped all of the Electoons and defeated Betilla the Fairy. Rayman has to travel through 5 worlds before finally meeting up with Mr Dark and defeating him.
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Rayman Advance brings the limbless wonder's classic platforming adventure to the Game Boy Advance. With vibrant visuals bursting from the screen and a surprisingly faithful port of the original, this version suffers slightly from cramped visuals due to the GBA's smaller resolution. Yet, the whimsical world, tight platforming controls, and challenging yet rewarding levels more than make up for it.
The original Rayman on PS1 is a wonderful title & is a 2D platformer I can recommend to pretty much anyone. This GBA take on it? Eh, not as much. It’s essentially the same game, so fun can be had here, but there’s some definite drawbacks. The soundtrack is downgraded to the point where I barely recognized some of the songs & the screen crunch can make things unintentionally challenging. Rayman 1 itself is still a good time though, so your mileage may vary.
Ray Man’s anatomy scares me. Based
Pros: I kinda vibe with the Jim Henson-y Fraggle Rock/Dark Crystal aesthetic of this game. Very colorful, very sparkly, very googly eyed whimsy fantasy land of an art style, it's a magical feelin'. The platforming is decent enough, the music is okay with some fine melodies anyway, the sprites are big and detailed, with a lot of moving objects on screen too, it feels like something that SNES couldn't quite achieve, but seeing as GBA could, that was pretty impressive for a launch title! Though I haven't played the Saturn/Jaguar/Playstation original, and I imagine the GBA version doesn't quite match up to it (the screen resolution in particular stands out), it's still pretty admirable.
Cons: The game is a bit... slow, it feels a bit muddy to play. Having to stop in place to wind a punch, it just feels stiff. The graphics and sound can also be a bit crunchy too, not the most satisfying on the ears or eyes when those moments occur (though I do like the Band Land theme, which, is uhh, the title screen in this version... still feels like it's going through a rough filter though)
What it means to me: This was the first Rayman game I had ever played, and honestly, aside from the Jim Henson-y bits, it didn't leave much an impression. I recall playing through the whole thing, and I can't say anything was all that memorable. The world, the characters, the story... Nuthin stood out to me. Rayman isn't special to me.
Cons: The game is a bit... slow, it feels a bit muddy to play. Having to stop in place to wind a punch, it just feels stiff. The graphics and sound can also be a bit crunchy too, not the most satisfying on the ears or eyes when those moments occur (though I do like the Band Land theme, which, is uhh, the title screen in this version... still feels like it's going through a rough filter though)
What it means to me: This was the first Rayman game I had ever played, and honestly, aside from the Jim Henson-y bits, it didn't leave much an impression. I recall playing through the whole thing, and I can't say anything was all that memorable. The world, the characters, the story... Nuthin stood out to me. Rayman isn't special to me.
just Rayman but washed out, with a grating soundtrack and missing content. It plays okay, it's not horrible, but there is no real reason to play this
The small blue things weird me out.