I really wanted to start things off with some sort of cheeky, unfunny remark as usual, but I really need to get this off my chest as quickly as possible: I cannot believe I’ve slept so hard on ‘’20,000 Lums under the Sea’’ all these years. Like, I remembered barely anything about the levels themselves before the replay and I used to think it was my least favorite world, but now it’s my favorite by an insane long shot, it ain’t even a competition here chief, and that’s taking into consideration that the other worlds ALSO fucking slap.

What was I on 10 years ago god I was so fucking dumb, LET THAT JAMES BOND ASS MUSIC KICK IN!!!

I always find it a bit intimidating to return to any form of media I loved when I was younger; whenever I like it or not, sometimes I value the memories I had with a particular thing more than the movie or videogame by its own merits, to the point it melts together with my thoughts even if those would be much more different if I played or watched it today. So yeah, what I'm triying to say is that I’m not immune to nostalgia.

Rayman Legends isn’t the only Rayman game I’ve played, but it’s the first game of the series I ever tried out and, so far, the only one I’ve full beaten, and what a game it was. I spent entire afternoons with friends where the only thing we would play would be the Kung Foot side mode, making teams and even small tourneys. I played the musical levels till I memorized them completely. I plowed through levels trying to find the fastest routes… I remembered it as one of my all-time favorite 2D Platformers, and while I hold those memories dear, I still had a though lingering in the back of my mind… was it really that good? I did not doubt the game had quality elements, for sure, but maybe my good memories were hiding the possibility that Rayman Legends wouldn’t hold up for me after all these years…

So you better believe it when I say that I’m beyond thrilled to say that Rayman Legends is just as unbelievably amazing as my memories made it out to be. And maybe a bit better than that.

Legends is a fucking feat of design; these are stages that work like a marvel both if you take them slow and if you decide to go as fast as you can, and is that freedom of movement that I only now fully appreciate: the importance of momentum and how you can long jump after a dash attack, learning to slide properly, or the simplicity of a big ol’ punch to the face, it all feels great and I found myself learning from each stage in ways I wasn't expecting. Even the ones that are completely focused on speed feel like a dream in how well they flow. That’s the key word here I think, everything just flows in Rayman Legends, even when it realistically shouldn’t.

The clear example for that is Murphy; a mechanic clearly born out of having access to a touch screen, and even tho I would love to play this game on a Wii U or Vita to see how that fares on those, I think it was translated into a single button actions with little to no problems. Sure, at first feel a liiiiitle bit tacked on, but as the game goes on and levels get more interesting, so does Murphy; I love how much he adds in some regards to the hectic nature of the fiery rains of the Olympus or how he helps you by opening paths through the sheer act of eating, I love how you need to time his actions correctly as you platform, and I specially love how he sometimes adds a bit of necessary depth to the imprisoned Teensies.

So basically... Murphy DIDN'T have a rough transition to 2D!

The small challenges to rescue the King and Queen of each level don’t feel like theY break the pace at all, even when by definition they are pace breakers, and the rest of the rescuable Teensies always feel like they are in a logical path that maintains the momentum the level has been building up, even when they realistically are out of the main path. It’s the perfect balance between being hidden enough so some can be missable and it feels rewarding each time you recue one, but clear enough so that it doesn’t feel like you need to go on a detour so you can grab ‘em. I find it funny how if you get enough of them in the first world, you basically unlock every single other main painting (aside the extra one), and as much as I usually prefer more interconnected world maps or ones that at least have a sense of place, I have to admit that the Gallery of Heroes is a damn fine hub world that does offer a bit more of leniency than usual in the order you want to do things.

And don’t even get me started on the fucking presentation holy HELL.

Have you heard this OST? Have you even seen it’s insanely charming hand drawn style? Have you fully grasped how fucking well it pulls off the use of 3D models and background detail in key moments? I just beat the game and I don’t think even I fully understand how cool, and pretty, and charismatic, and full of life this game is! It’s not even case of mere style with little substance, because not only does Legends have PLENTY of substance and shows it, its sights & sounds add way more than just a flare. The animations that inject life into every corner, the sounds the Teensies make that always make me giggle for some reason, the fact every single character costume has a description that separates them as a completely different character in some cases, or the way enemies grunt on sing along in the musical levels.

Rayman Legends isn’t just a joy to play through because of its controls and level design, tho those alone are a great argument to play it, but its colors and voice give it a particular personality I’m enamored by, one that I’ve yet to see replicated even by the series previous outings, it makes something as simple as a stage formed by small challenges that’s already pretty fun into full-on dream like. The Toads and the Demons of Olympus are to this day the funniest enemies in any platformer I’ve ever seen, I love the way they are animated so much, and a couple of the bosses are a fucking riot.

There are some things I found myself not liking this time, like how there’s a huge disparity in the way the game invites you to play through it quickly, but then locks some rewards and almost all costumes behind the lucky tickets and lums, both systems I do like in theory, but that in practice incentivize waiting due to the Creature system, and I just don’t think it feels particularly well thought out or appropriate with this style of game, especially now that the Challenges, the thing that should keep you coming back for weeks, doesn’t seem to work properly anymore, which sucks so much...

Also, the sixth world was a big disappointment, as much as I adore the musical levels and Grannies World Tour is a banger, the remixed versions all being the exact same levels with an 8-Bit sound font and a video filter on top it is a massive letdown. Funnily enough, I do like the remixed version of Grannies World Tour, but the rest of them… I don't know, they feel almost more like padding or quickly thrown together, and that being the reward for getting 400 Teensies is a bummer.

Yet, at the same time, I also found other aspects I once never really paid much attention to to be unbelievably good. I already mentioned the movement, but there’s also the Invasion levels and how they offer some of the most exciting parts in the game and feel like true proper remixes of previous levels with a time attack mode on top, the way the music feels diegetic in ways I didn’t notice the first time around, almost the entirety of the content from Origins being remade and being able to play it with the full move set from the start… the game is still the same, the fun I had with it still present, yet I feel like I got something completely different out of it all these years later.

Each painting is worth of the title of Legend, I adore this game so fucking much, and I’m still in awe of its guts to be as wild and creative as it is. A chill, intense adventure through the many impossible worlds it offers, and it reminded of how the Rayman series is one I should finally get to play in it s entirety. If I’m at least as half as mesmerized by the rest of the games, then it would all be worth it… now that I think about, now that I have beaten this, it’d be funny if I played the entire series in reverse… I mean, I’ll probably play the og trilogy in order, but still, it would be funny indeed!





…Oh wait yeah the cheeky unfunny remark… uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh……………………. Gee Globox looks like he’s on drugs am I right fellas?????111…. yeah that’s all I got.