Known for mouthwatering visuals and challenging level design, Rayman has earned its place among gaming's elite franchises. Admittedly, in recent years, Ubisoft has not exactly treated Rayman like an important license, as the series has been primarily limited to mobile devices.
Putting aside the property's recent woes, Rayman has still produced a number of fantastic titles over the years. As tends to be the case when a game series hits it big, Rayman also lent its name to some rather questionable spin-offs that did little to strengthen the franchise's brand prestige. Here are Rayman's five best and worst games ever!
10 Best: Rayman (1995)
1995's original side-scrolling platformer deserves recognition for introducing Rayman's colorful universe to the gaming world. Even today, Rayman's visuals are still nothing short of mesmerizing, boasting colors that pop out of the screen and make each stage feel like a work of art. With six worlds emphasizing their own themes, Ubi Soft (yes, that's how it was written at the time) went out of its way to ensure that each area felt distinct.
In terms of gameplay, Rayman offers little to no surprises for anyone familiar with platformers from this era. Some of Rayman's more unique moves include a glide ability and a detachable and upgradable fist to attack enemies. The level design gets a bit unforgiving in Rayman's later levels, often coming across as unfair. That said, the first half of the campaign is nearly flawless.
9 Worst: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (2007)
Rayman's main entries and mobile games are generally quite consistent; however, the same does not hold true for the spin-offs. A party game that highlights the annoying (or hilarious, depending on the person) Rabbids, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 has a wide selection of around 40 minigames, even if their value tends to fluctuate all over the place.
While not the worst project to carry the Rayman name, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 is a step down from its predecessor and cannot hold a candle to the best party games on the Wii.
8 Best: Rayman Origins (2011)
Nearly a decade after Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, Ubisoft brought the license back with Rayman Origins, which reverted back to the side-scrolling platforming of 1995's original game. The end result is a highly polished and fun old school platformer that improves upon every aspect that made Rayman such an enduring title.
Gorgeous graphics are a given with any mainline entry in the series, but Rayman Origins would be nothing without tight level design and precise platforming, two features that remain of high quality throughout the 10-hour campaign.
7 Worst: Rayman Rush (2002)
Published as Rayman M in Europe, Arena was a multiplayer party game designed to hold fans over until 2003's Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. With various playable characters and decent enough controls, the spin-off's two game modes - racing and arena battles - are somewhat entertaining.
In a baffling move, Ubisoft took the 6th generation game and created a PlayStation 1 port called Rayman Rush, only containing the racing mode. Along with obviously looking far worse, Rush is less responsive than its bigger sibling. Just a baffling release.
6 Best: Rayman Fiesta Run (2013)
Mobile games have more than earned their reputation as blatant cash grabs that are seldom worth the data required to download them. However, Rayman has proven to be a fantastic license for respectable mobile games. While Fiesta Run is the only one to earn a spot on this list, Jungle Run and Adventures are also quite good.
Transfering Rayman's basic moveset into a runner proves to be a great match, mainly due to the instantly comprehendible design of the levels. With 75 stages and a number of harder bonus levels, Fiesta Run is a sizable adventure.
5 Worst: Rayman: Hoodlums' Revenge (2005)
Serving as a continuation to the story of Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, Hoodlums' Revenge sought to bring a fleshed-out Rayman experience to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. Opting for an isometric camera, Hoodlums' Revenge retains the scoring system from Hoodlum Havoc, although it is nowhere near as satisfying in the GBA game.
Unfortunately, Hoodlums' Revenge does not quite manage to seamlessly replicate Rayman's usually weighty but flexible controls. The end result is a game that is more frustrating than fun.
4 Best: Rayman Legends (2013)
Rayman Legends is the franchise's best side-scrolling platformer, easily surpassing 1995's Rayman and Origins. 2013's game even contains a number of Origins' stages, making its 2011 predecessor somewhat obsolete in the process. With over 100 stages, Legends is a thoroughly complete and epic adventure, one that ranks among the best platformers of all time.
Legends has everything someone could ever want from a 2D Rayman game: Varied environments, impeccable level design, a robust moveset, and extremely difficult bonus levels.
3 Worst: Rayman Brain Games (2001)
Also known as Rayman Junior, Brain Games is Ubisoft's attempt to create an educational title starring its humanoid mascot. Is it fair to judge an educational game by the same criteria as the other titles? After all, its goal is firstly to educate rather than entertain, although the former is unlikely to happen without the latter.
Criticized solely on its educational value, Brain Games is way too difficult, frustrating, and lethargically paced to teach children much of anything. As a game, Brain Games controls badly, is packed with cheap deaths, and quickly overstays its welcome. So, the spin-off is a failure on any metric.
2 Best: Rayman 2: The Great Escape (1999)
A stark departure from its side-scrolling predecessor, Rayman 2: The Great Escape is the most important entry in the series, even if it has aged somewhat since 1999. While a 3D platformer, the levels are still quite linear, although there are branching paths leading to harder to find collectibles.
Rayman 2 has the perfect mix of platforming, puzzles, and enemy encounters. Rayman gradually unlocks new moves that can be used to access previously unreachable paths in levels, in turn allowing more lums to be collected to open new areas in the world. Rayman 2 is an excellent game and one of Ubisoft's best.
1 Worst: Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (2003)
To avoid any misunderstandings, we should preface this entry by making it clear that Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc is not a bad game. In fact, it is pretty decent. That said, 2003's sequel is the worst of the mainline entries in the franchise. Not bad, just not as good as what came before, specifically Rayman 2: The Great Escape.
Hoodlum Havoc refines its predecessor's platforming, creating the most responsive 3D Rayman in history. It is just unfortunate that the game prioritizes combat over platforming, while also featuring levels that are a bit too linear for their own good. For some strange reason, Hoodlum Havoc also doubles down on the voice acting. It was not a smart decision.