Rayman Advance

Rayman Advance brought a reworked version of the original 1995 game Rayman to the Game Boy Advance, prepared for the handheld by Ubisoft. The player takes on the role of the legless, handless hero Rayman, whose limbs float freely in the air, and whose task is to save the world of the Glade of Dreams from the evil Mr. Dark by freeing the imprisoned Electoons scattered across themed levels full of hazards, ranging from swamps and forests to underground caves.

The gameplay is built on precise platform jumping, ranged attacks with a spinning fist, and the gradual unlocking of new abilities, such as hovering using his ears or climbing along poles, which grant access to previously unreachable parts of the levels and unlock alternative paths. Many levels also contain hidden bonus areas and cages with imprisoned creatures, whose rescue is a necessary condition for progressing further in the story. The level design is demanding and requires precise timing of jumps and attacks, making the game one of the more difficult titles of the genre on this platform and placing emphasis on patience and repetition. Hand-drawn graphics with vivid colors and rich animation were, at the time of the original's release, among the best on PlayStation, and even on the small GBA screen retained their distinctive visual style, accompanied by playful, atmospheric music.

The handheld port was received as a faithful and technically accomplished transfer of a classic, allowing players without the old console to experience Rayman's original adventure in pocket form without having to sacrifice the source material's visual quality. Today, Rayman Advance is valued as a convenient way to enjoy a historically significant platformer of the nineties, and as a reminder of just how demanding games for the youngest target audience could really be at the time, and how long such difficulty retained its relevance.

Why play: For players without the old console, it's a faithful and technically accomplished transfer of a classic nineties platformer, though its high difficulty still tests the patience of even experienced players today.