“Looks like the old master is blowing bubbles again… Gone completely kooky!”

Beginning as a side-scrolling mascot platformer (Rayman [1995]) before transitioning to the realm of 3D with its first sequel (Rayman 2: The Great Escape [1999]), the Rayman series returned to its roots in 2011 with Rayman Origins, a tremendous blend of old-school, 2D running and jumping with the sharp animation and hyperactive multiplayer afforded by newer consoles.

Boy is it fun. Charming characters that make gibberish musical noises. Richly imagined levels marked by their clever design, unique concepts, colorful variety, crisp scenery, and anthropomorphic environments. Oh, and butter-smooth controls.

It has the all-important game feel. The player will be sliding down waterfalls, wall jumping, swimming, gliding, shrinking, riding mosquitos, loop-de-looping, bouncing off of springy platforms—all of it is brilliantly fine-tuned to provide an immersive, rhythmic, and memorable gaming experience. It is so good, in fact, that it transcends the niche of the quaint throwback. It may actually rival the brilliant quality of several long-standing classics that early Rayman aspired to be, simultaneously borrowing quite liberally from the genre as a whole and blazing its own peculiar trail. (It doesn’t quite match the mechanical ingenuity and playful swagger of the best Mario titles, but what game does?)

The difficulty is steep and some of the boss battles are a tad unintuitive if not unfair, but this is a stellar technical achievement all around. I don’t know if it recaptures the essence of the original Rayman, but as a celebration of an older style of game it’s superb and it should probably be considered as one of the touchstones for the modern 2D renaissance—that delectable wave of mainstream and indie titles that have disproved the notion that 3D has superseded 2D once and for all. Would something like Cuphead (2017) exist without Rayman Origins? A round of applause is due for Michel Ancel and his team.

I first played Rayman Origins in maybe 2013 or 2014 and have never gotten around to its sequel, Rayman Legends (2013), which some consider to be even better. One day I’ll get around to it.