Rayman Brain Games
released on Dec 31, 1996
Rayman Junior is an educational video game based on the original Rayman that was designed to teach children aged 6-8 years old the basics of mathematics and literacy.
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If you want your kids to absolutely hate math and you, be my guest. Rayman 1 is already not fun to go back to (unless we're talking 'bout Redemption), and you expect me to LEARN with these controls?
What were they thinking, making an educational game out of Rayman, a game that is already pretty difficult platformer and adding maths and language problems at you.
this game is evil. I can't imagine playing this as a little kid with how incredibly confusing and punishing it can be. If you want your child to hate the concept of learning, buy them this game
This game sure is something. If you've played Rayman, this is basically a version of that with new levels that aim to teach you math, spelling, vocabulary, and other things. However, this game is kind of weird and evil???
Okay, so let's say you're in a stage and the mission is to find the biggest number. There's a ting (think coins from Mario) under each number, and you need to collect the ting that's under the right one. If you collect the correct one, you move on to the next part of the stage and do a little platforming and fight some enemies.
Now, I want you to guess what happens if you answer a question incorrectly. The ESRB rated this game EC, for Early Child. Based on this and the context that this is educational software, you may assume that the game would just have you try again, giving you some kind of penalty like subtracting a health point, since Rayman has a health bar in this game. That makes sense, right?
I am so sorry to inform you that you are wrong. Here's what happens when you answer a question incorrectly in Rayman Brain Games. When you answer a question incorrectly, a number of things can happen, but they all end the same way. The game may spawn a giant red damaging obstacle that kills you instantly. The game may throw you into a bottomless pit. The game may lock you in a room full of invincible enemies that kill you in one hit. THAT'S RIGHT, KIDS! IF YOU GET ANYTHING IN LIFE WRONG, WE GOTTA KILL YA! THEM'S THE RULES IN RAYMAN BRAIN GAMES!
So yeah, this game is harsh when it comes to penalties for being wrong. Surely that's the last of the problems this game has, right?
Well, remember that part I mentioned about what happens when you get a question right? You get to do some platforming and beat up some bad guys like it's a normal video game. That in itself is a problem considering what this game wants to do.
Rayman Brain Games is a game that wants to be both an educational game for small children and a challenging 2D platformer! Between questions, you need to be dodging foes and obstacles, bouncing over bottomless pits, and hoping that you reach a checkpoint so you don't have to re-do whatever questions and platforming bits ALL OVER AGAIN! THIS IS A GAME FOR TODDLERS!
Okay okay, let's look past all this. Yeah, the levels have rough obstacles and ignorance is treated as something worth killing you over in this world. It's kind of like Detroit. Unlike Detroit, however, surely you have unlimited lives to use to reach the end, right? This is literally a game for children surely they couldn't mess this up, right??????
Oh, you poor unfortunate soul. You are so WRONG!
Okay, so each stage is split into 5 acts, and you get a hard checkpoint after clearing 2 acts. If you, for example, get a Game Over in act 3, you resume at the start of Act 3. You can also save whenever you want on the world map to come back to this game whenever you want to try to finish it. That's cool. It would be even cooler if not for this game's final tragic flaw.
When you start out, you begin with 5 lives, which was the standard at the time. When you game over, you'd expect all those lives to be replenished, right? Literally every normal game does that. Well, this game doesn't. When you continue from a game over, you resume with however many lives you had before you lost them all. This means that it is incredibly easy to reach a point where you get past a stage with 1 life left, save, and then game over only to realize that you now only have 1 life to beat this entire game.
Long story short, this is a terrible educational game. The penalties for incorrect answers are way too harsh, and the game itself is way too difficult for the target age demographic to get anything out of it. They'll spend more time frustrated at the game than they will actually learning. Get this game if you're some sick freak who wants to learn what it's like to be challenged by a game made for toddlers.
Okay, so let's say you're in a stage and the mission is to find the biggest number. There's a ting (think coins from Mario) under each number, and you need to collect the ting that's under the right one. If you collect the correct one, you move on to the next part of the stage and do a little platforming and fight some enemies.
Now, I want you to guess what happens if you answer a question incorrectly. The ESRB rated this game EC, for Early Child. Based on this and the context that this is educational software, you may assume that the game would just have you try again, giving you some kind of penalty like subtracting a health point, since Rayman has a health bar in this game. That makes sense, right?
I am so sorry to inform you that you are wrong. Here's what happens when you answer a question incorrectly in Rayman Brain Games. When you answer a question incorrectly, a number of things can happen, but they all end the same way. The game may spawn a giant red damaging obstacle that kills you instantly. The game may throw you into a bottomless pit. The game may lock you in a room full of invincible enemies that kill you in one hit. THAT'S RIGHT, KIDS! IF YOU GET ANYTHING IN LIFE WRONG, WE GOTTA KILL YA! THEM'S THE RULES IN RAYMAN BRAIN GAMES!
So yeah, this game is harsh when it comes to penalties for being wrong. Surely that's the last of the problems this game has, right?
Well, remember that part I mentioned about what happens when you get a question right? You get to do some platforming and beat up some bad guys like it's a normal video game. That in itself is a problem considering what this game wants to do.
Rayman Brain Games is a game that wants to be both an educational game for small children and a challenging 2D platformer! Between questions, you need to be dodging foes and obstacles, bouncing over bottomless pits, and hoping that you reach a checkpoint so you don't have to re-do whatever questions and platforming bits ALL OVER AGAIN! THIS IS A GAME FOR TODDLERS!
Okay okay, let's look past all this. Yeah, the levels have rough obstacles and ignorance is treated as something worth killing you over in this world. It's kind of like Detroit. Unlike Detroit, however, surely you have unlimited lives to use to reach the end, right? This is literally a game for children surely they couldn't mess this up, right??????
Oh, you poor unfortunate soul. You are so WRONG!
Okay, so each stage is split into 5 acts, and you get a hard checkpoint after clearing 2 acts. If you, for example, get a Game Over in act 3, you resume at the start of Act 3. You can also save whenever you want on the world map to come back to this game whenever you want to try to finish it. That's cool. It would be even cooler if not for this game's final tragic flaw.
When you start out, you begin with 5 lives, which was the standard at the time. When you game over, you'd expect all those lives to be replenished, right? Literally every normal game does that. Well, this game doesn't. When you continue from a game over, you resume with however many lives you had before you lost them all. This means that it is incredibly easy to reach a point where you get past a stage with 1 life left, save, and then game over only to realize that you now only have 1 life to beat this entire game.
Long story short, this is a terrible educational game. The penalties for incorrect answers are way too harsh, and the game itself is way too difficult for the target age demographic to get anything out of it. They'll spend more time frustrated at the game than they will actually learning. Get this game if you're some sick freak who wants to learn what it's like to be challenged by a game made for toddlers.