Summary

• The Rayman series has long been a creatively rich and visually stunning franchise, but not every single game is a winner.
• In this list, we rank every single Rayman game released, bar a few outliers, by taking a look at the various elements that made each title worthwhile.
• Many of these games are triumphant titles with vivid visuals, smooth controls, and tight platforming courses, featuring this iconic character at its best.

When it comes to platforming heroes, Rayman is one of the all-time greats. With that helicopter hair, floating torso, and winning irascible smile, he's punched and kicked his way into the hearts of gamers the world over. And while he hasn't starred in a full mainline game of his own since 2013, Rayman perfectly encapsulates the idea of quality over quantity.

All five 𝄹of his solo console adventures have something to offer, be it tight gameplay, visual flair, or that quintessentially French tongue-in-cheek humour. But which Rayman game is the🐲 best of the best?

For this list, we're ranking only mainline platformers. This means we're discounting such spinoffs as Rayman Raving Rabbids, as that's a glorified minigame collection – and the hero's handheld adventures, which consist almost entirely of pared-down versions of their console cousins.

Updated January 27, 2024 by Bobby Mills: Rayman has enjoyed a moderate resurgence of late, including playable appearances in the Mario vs. Rabbids series and a villainous role in Ubisoft's animated comedy show Captain Laserhawk. We thus figured the time was right to give our mainline Rayman ranking a new lick of paint.

5 Rayman (1995) 𒐪 ဣ

Finding Its Legless Footing

Well, we all have to start somewhere. Conceived in the late '80s when game designer Michel Ancel doodled him as part of drawing practice, Rayman would go on to star in his first adventure on the PS1, SEGA Saturn, PC, and Atari Jaguar.

Though creatively rich, and despite being an absolute cultural milestone in the gaming medium, it sadly doesn't stack quite as well against its descendants. In this inaugural outing, Rayman is tasked with liberating the Electoons from Mr. Dark – who, with a name like that, didn't have much of a career choice.

You'll navigate six worlds of varying tweeness, including one made from candy and another constructed from musical instruments. It's all very pleasant, and to be fair, for the mid-'90s, it looks phenomenal. That extends to Rayman's fluid movement, which has more frames than an overstuffed art gallery, and lends even simple jumps weight. Unfortunately, an unrelenting difficulty level, hailing from an era where games were too short to risk making them easy, scuppers the experience just enough to put Rayman 1 at the bottom of the pile.

4 Rayman 3: Hoodlum H🍎avoc (♒2003)

Adds A Dash Of Edge

One of two 3D game💮s in the series, Rayman 3 attempts to iterate on the gameplay framework established by Rayman 2. However, while in many areas the threequel improves on its predecessor, it takes an overall step backward.

Created not by Michel Ancel's usual entourage, but by an independent team, Rayman 3 was explicitly geared towards a younger crowd that might not necessarily have experienced his classic era.

This is immediately apparent in Rayman's slight redesign, which gives him a more angular, tough look – and of course, on the box art, a self-confident smirk.

Gonꦜe is much of the whimsy of Rayman 2, and a lot of the characters that became beloved after that game were replaced with broad, monochromatic environments and smug, self-aware, po🙈st-Shrek dialogue.

There's also a curious fixation with minigame stages, like a clunky snowboarding segment. Credit where credit's due, however: the story is bonkers, and makes 3 a worthwhile venture alone. Where else will you see Globox staring down a surgical dissection?

3 Rayman Origins (2011) 💃

This Is How You Do A Reboot, Disney

Rayman's triumphant return to the platforming scene after a near-decade-long absence (barring a couple of handheld games and his tenure with those Rabbids), Origins put the arm-challenged adventurer well and truly back on the map. Boasting a vivid, hand-animated style and buttery smooth controls, it set 𒀰168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a new benchmark for෴ 2D co-op platformers.

The narrative, again, is suitably unhinged, as Rayman and company's obnoxious snoring somehow finds its way down into the Land of the Livid Dead, where dwells a race of ruthless, and cranky, creatures.

Sick of losing sleep, they send an army up top, and soon the Glade of Dreams is threatened anew, with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Rubenesque nymphs imprisoned. Well, we can't be having that. Either alone or with a band of three mates, you'll dash, twirl and karate chop your way through some of the tightest platforming courses in the genre, including some high-octane chase stages and screen-filling boss battles. Rayman doesn't get much better than this.

2 🐟 Rayman Legends (2013)

A Legendary Followup

Until it did. If Rayman Origins was the appetiser, Legends is a total smorgasbord buffet of everything that made it great – and more. Through what can only be sheer dark magic, Ubisoft somehow took Origins' already-perfect art style and improved on it. It positively drips with character; it's Rayman's world as seen through the lens of a Studio Ghibli animator who'd just binged the entire Pixar library.

Luckily, the gameplay is great too, and while co-op is once again the order of the day here, you'll have just as much fun solo.

Legends was originally planned as a Wii U exclusive, and that beleaguered system remains the optimum way to experien🍌ce this masterpiece. The gimmicky Murfy levels, for example, are designed for the GamePad, and hence work best using it.

There's also a wealth of side content, like scratch cards and football matches, to break up the action – and we haven't even mentioned the musical stages. Bashing savage hordes of enemies to 'Black Betty'? Yes, please.

1 Rayman 2: The Great Escape (1⛎999)

'Great', The Clue's In The Title

Rayman 2 is notable for having been ported countless times, available on essentially every system under the sun. It's highly likely you've either played this one, seen it advertised at some point – or at the very least owned a console you could play it on. From the PlayStation 1 and 2 to the Nintendo 64, the DS, and 3DS, it's been all over the map. It's also notable for being bloody great.

A rare case of a superior sequel, Rayman 2 has everything you could want out of a platformer. When Admiral Razorbeard, leader of the Robo-Pirate clan (of course😼), attacks, it's up to Rayman and friends to set things right. You'll accomplish this by hopping through a conga line of iconic locales, hoovering up Lums, and acquiring new abilities to gain access to different bits of the map.

Stage gimmicks like throwable TNT barrels 🎉keep things fresh, and the plotline is surprisingly intense. In contrast to the too-cool-for-school Rayman 3, this tale takes itself seriously; and by the time Rayman comes limping out of the f🃏inal battle, victorious, it feels earned. What a classic, and a shoe-in for the top spot.