Breaking Down the Best World in Rayman Legends
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 29. 01. 2018
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Letâs take a break from Nintendoâs level design - and look at how Ubisoft explored a single mechanic through an entire worldâs worth of levels in Rayman Legends.
Find Out More
Creating a World | Ubiblog
blog.ubi.com/en-GB/on-the-leve...
Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance)
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Retro Studios, 2014)
Splatoon 2 (Nintendo, 2017)
New Super Mario Bros. U (Nintendo, 2012)
Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo, 2013)
Rayman Legends (Ubisoft Montpellier, 2013)
Music used in this episode
Rayman Legends soundtrack
Contribute translated subtitles - amara.org/en-gb/videos/Xrnrko... - Hry
some people: stealth missions suck!
most people: under water levels suck even more!
Rayman legends: lol i have a world that mixes stealth and under water mechanics
everybody: Best World
I wouldn't say it's the best world tbh.. It's really hard to make a ranking of worlds in a game where every level is consistently good.
the only game were underwater levels are fun is in rayman
the mario pengiun power-up is also quite fun
@@manuman5319 Toad Story was kind of boring, but other than that, yes, the game was consisntely fun. :3
TO be fair since Super Mario Galaxy I've seen both DK and Rayman adopted the "spin" type of underwater control which greatly benefits the water levels and their experience
Rayman Legends is a platforming masterpiece.
*is a platforming masterpiece (I especially love the Coop on the WiiU Version, my second favorite Platformer in recent history after Tropical Freeze)
Corrected it :) (thx btw) and I played it on the PS4 and it's one of the best games I've ever played, still waiting for a sequel but the devs are currently working on Beyond Good and Evil 2. I really hope they go back to making another Rayman game after they're done with BG&E 2.
Michel Ancel said he wants to visit Rayman after BG&E 2
Origins is better.
Legends is way too easy.
One of the best I have ever played. Easily.
Rayman Legends + Origins are two of my favorite games of the last gen. Still holding out hope that Ubisoft will get over its open world fetish and make another proper Rayman game soon.
Same man, Those two Rayman games are just amazing! =}
Hyenaedon
Michel Ancel said he wants to do a fourth Rayman!
Nucleor Gaming i heard, im excited for that =}
They've made a Rayman leg ends definitive version
I got it. RAYWORLD! With towers, loot, side-missions, and microtransactions. You like that?
I need a new Rayman game so bad!!
Michel Ancel said he wanted to create a new 3d Rayman, but he's currently doing other projects
Rayman Adventures is pretty good and unintrusive with its microtransactions. I can recommend it.
We need rayman 4
CoolHilcieni
Michel Ancel said that he's going to bring Rayman back for his "fourth adventure" after Beyond Good and Evil 2
Nucleor Gaming yes
Every time I get reminded of the music levels from Rayman Legends, I wish there was a whole game on that mechanic
Besaccha geometry dash
I heard that Rhythm thief was built on that kind of mechanic but I don't know much more about the game
There kind of is. HarmoKnight, one of Game Freak's lesser known non-Pokemon experiments.
Yes, but they feel a lot special this way in Rayman Legends. It's so freacking cool
being here 4 years later, Hi-Fi Rush is a thing (the whole idea is doing EVERYTHING in rhythm)
I'd say Rayman Legends is one of the best 2D platformers of all-time.
Along with Origins.
Martti it is the best in my opinion
Well, most of Origins is actually unlockable content in Rayman Legends. So "along with Origins" is pretty much on point :D
FerrisK96 the origins levels have been greatly simplified though.
I'd say legends is technically better, but origins is the game that turned me from a casual gamer when I was little to someone completely invested in the community and amazed with how games are made and the culture around them. Origins has a special place in my heart for this.
Alongside Tropical Freeze.
I never realized the music level was supposed to be going back to the surface to the inflatable island! Man, they thought of everything
gloo gloo gloogloogloo gloo gloo gloogloogloo gloo gloo gloogloogloo
at 4:42 just as a side note, that enemy was seen a lot in the first game, Rayman Origins so players that had played both games (like myself) knew about the fly enemy and were able to beat that stage on there first try. I thought it was a fun Easter egg, but I can see how that would have been annoying to a first time player.
I remember dying there the first time thinking "what the heck are those!?! They look like lums!?!"
Come on man, the first time I got to that part in the level I knew they were enemies, aside from the fact they're purple, they look nothing like lums, different size, completely different face.
"JUST SHOOT THE FLY"
Thats what my brain said when I first saw them...
I knew the flys because I played some of the back to origins levels before getting to the music level with the flys but I rly cant wait to buy origins
Idk, I played Legends first and I don't remember having trouble with those enemies. Then again, I was dying a lot, so it may have just not stood out to me lol
This game... And its soundtrack! Truly a marvelous piece of work.
As a spanish speaker I loved how badly you said "Fiesta de los muertos". Huge fan of both this game and your channel, keep it up man.
Haha yeah. I haven't played the game, but for a minute I thought the developers might have made a typo.
You can tell heâs trying though, which is what counts! Nevertheless I got a good chuckle as well. (Also lums is pronounced looms, like in illuminate)
I rewind the video when I heard that, is very curious đ
"Fiesta de las mertas"
More like "Fiesta de DĂa de los Muertos"
I'm Tex-Mex
Rayman Origins and Legends are two of my favorite platformers, hands down. But also, two of my favorite games. No other game has kept me so consistently entertained, and never frustrated. Playing with my Brother and Sister, every time we died we only found ourselves laughing and being more entertained than if we rushed through the levels. In fact, more often than not we were sabotaging one another just for the heck of it.
Rayman Legends had really cool and smart puzzles. I really liked the Amazing Maze level.
Me too, i thought it was super fun and engaging.
Funny thing is there is a achievement called "Splinter Ray" which you get by getting through Mansion of the Deep without triggering a Sentry's light or a sentry laser, it's stressful as hell but pretty fun
These videos always end up with me wanting to go and purchase the game in question to try for myself. My wallet hates you, but I love your stuff Mark.
You're not doing anything wrong with Rayman Legends, tho. It's amazing.
Hey if it makes you purchase something as amazing as Rayman Legends then it can't be that bad can it? :D
TheCanadianWifier
This is a game you should definitely try.
My wallet would hate him, but I don't think it has enough substance to feel emotion. D:
bought it for 5 bucks tho
Rayman Legends is great. I never noticed that the same mechanics are mixed in throughout entire worlds, that's a really cool concept! Personally, I'll always remember the last part of Infiltration Station with the lasers. The way the fluid movement gels with the stunning animation makes weaving in and out of the lasers incredibly satisfying. I would always try and pull off sweet flips and dives just to make it that much cooler.
Super Meat Boy is probably the most obvious example of this design philosophy. Glad to see a game that's not talked about as much get some attention.
I don't think Super Meat Boy is all that analogous.
In Mario or Rayman or Donkey Kong Country, the levels are long enough to deeply explore one or multiple mechanics, while Super Meat Boy levels are a single screen and usually test player competence on only one or two twists on world mechanics. With the huge difference in level length, an entire Super Meat Boy world is comparable to a single level in a more typical platformer, albeit with much more precision demanded and much more dying as a result.
Compare to Celeste, which is basically the same as Super Meat Boy in structure except that the individual single screen challenges are linked together into one cohesive level.
The level design in Celeste and Super Meat Boy are pretty different as well. Celeste screens are always about going from one corner of the screen to another, which means most of the screens are very "linear". On the other hand, Meat Boy levels can end anywhere, which means they often loop around themselves, ask you to backtrack or explore different sections. I think The End is Nigh's design is a lot closer to Celeste's.
In defense of new mechanics being thrown in on the music levels, the point of them is to make you focus and act based on the rhythm, so while you may not know specifically what to do, your actions are constrained. Think Warioware, which similarly throws nonsense at you that you can figure out quickly because your controls are so limited. I think the point is to force some of that discovery at a rapid pace, which requires new mechanics to be introduced.
That's not to say that it's handled perfectly here, but I don't think the idea, itself, is bad.
Actually I think the music sections utilize enemies & obstacle that where used in Rayman Origins, so veteran players have a bit of an easier time
Were they? You could be right, it's been a while since I played Origins.
Going off what was shown of the 3rd and 4th music stages amongst the footage here, the flies and swordfish were common enemies, that style of breakaway blocks were in the underwater stages and the concept of travelling along a flying snake-worm was a level gimmick at least once.
Nah, there's no defense of them suddenly throwing purple enemies you don't want to touch that look awfully close to purple collectibles you do want to touch in the middle/end of a very fast moving level that sends you back to the very beginning when you inevitably screw up and die to the purple enemy you'd never seen before because it looked like a collectible.
I can't stress it enough: anyone trying to defend that bullshit can go suck a fat one.
mjc0961 k
Thank you for the Rayman Legends love. This game really doesn't get enough credit for how great it was.
This was my fave world design-wise when I watched this game be played. Obviously some mechanics don't have the flexibility to last beyond one dedicated level, but it is important to make sure the mechanics that do have more potential have that potential utilised!
A Madmanâs Creation is one of the most badass osts Iâve ever heard for a boss and itâs a crime itâs not regarded higher
20000 Lums Under the Sea is pretty much Moody Clouds and Sea of Sependipity from Rayman Origins on crack. No wonder why I loved that world so much.
Only a Rayman game can have enjoyable water levels.
@@albevanhanoy most likely because Rayman games like legends let you go quicker in water levels unlike almost every other game out there and personaly I love that
@@albevanhanoy
Tropical Freeze, the old dkc, Ratchet and Clank, and the galaxy games have fun water levels too.
4:40 I specifically remember thinking they were collectible lums in my peripheral and was beyond pissed when they turned out to be a new enemy type.
Rayman games don't get enough attention, I love Rayman Legends to the point of owning it on 4 consoles due to how fun it is and it's so easy to just pick up and play. I hope Ubisoft are looking make a new game, Rayman is easily one of Ubisoft's best series.
I know, I can't believe they haven't made any proper sequel to it.
Personally never had a problem with the musical levels. They were always the easiest imo; which I think was intentional.
fragr33f Yeah, people who had trouble with them must have been playing the game on mute. The music tells you what to do.
A Olson exactly
Well, Gloo Gloo and Dragon Slayer were kinda tricky for me.
@@Warning_OpinionAhead yeah those 2 are probably the more "oh god oh fucc" music levels imo
I recently replayed the game, and the 8-bit version of Orchestral Chaos got me. It was mainly because I wanted to 100% the game, and there was ONE jump that if you didnt do with a really hard timing you wouldnt collect all the lums. It also doesnt help that you cant see where youre jumping from
This game is really underrated: it looks good, it plays well and smooth and the music has some good moments. And yes, level design-wise, it is pretty impressive.
I don't hear enough about Rayman Legends! Happy to see it showcased on GMTK!
Good to see Rayman for a change!
My biggest take-away from these Raymans was their ability to induce flow in very high-intensity sections. Thanks for laying out how that is done!
The comment about the music levels is very valid, though I often found I was able to guess what I needed to do based on the musical track: percussive section coming up? Probably press attack a bunch.
One of the most enjoyable games i've ever played.
I cant understand why Ubisoft closed the studio
Um...
They did _what?_
@@waynetastic1746 a few years ago.
Cant believe it either
INSTA LIKE to talk about one game of the Rayman franchise, one of the reasons why I study to become a game designer
I bet âThereâs Always A Bigger Fishâ is Qui-Gon Jinâs favourite level.
Itâs mine
I absolutely love Rayman Legends, and 20,000 Lums was always one of my favourite game worlds of all time.
Boy did i love this game,the artstyle,gameplay and music just felt too good
Rayman is SO underrated! Thank you for showing some love to this game!!!
It's so nice to see this game get more recognition.
Rayman Legends is my favourite platformer, and one of my favourite games in general. The aesthetic, the music, the gameplay, the (music!!) levels. It's one of the very few games I 100%ed.
4:41 - Really appreciate you taking the time to call out a huge blunder like that one. That level was moving so fast that my first time through I just thought they were the purple collectibles. I was pretty pissed off when I touched one and died. That is some bad level/game design mixed in with an otherwise really well done game. I mean, this game is otherwise so good that you could tell me that it's not a Ubisoft game and I would immediately believe you. This game is too good, too pure, too varied to be a game by Ubisoft, a company that otherwise only craps out one game with different skins. Even The Crew, which was supposed to be a driving game, still managed to be the bog-standard Ubisoft open world game that they make for every franchise. Every franchise except Rayman, apparently. Although that's also probably the reason we haven't seen a Rayman game since Rayman Legends - Ubisoft doesn't know what to do if they can't make it a generic open world game.
Yes, I can't understand this obsession with making open world games, instead of an experience with good pacing and difficulty curve, you just spend most of the time aimlessly wandering around or chasing a marker on a mini-map instead of having fun. I'd much prefer being automatically taken to the next mission rather than having to spend 15 minutes driving through a city or running through a forest whenever I want to reach a fun place in the game. Not everyone has the time to spend 20 hours a day on video games and some of us'd rather just cut to the chase and get to the good stuff instead of having to collect 10 twigs and spend 10 minutes flipping through menus for crafting arrows before we can shoot things.
seriously, you're amazing :D
you do a really good job at explainning how the mechanics of games fits togheter and vice versa
it's almost like a documentary on video games, and i love it, there's not enough channel like you
around on youtube, one of the only channel i can think of is ahoy that is also really good, but
missing content...
long story short, new subscriber that admire your work, continue like that :D
I am in love with this channel. It is so nice to hear about all these smaller details to awesome games and even point them out in other games you play.
I really want to say thanks for that video! I usually watch all of your videos and find them all very helpful, but that one especially! I am working at a 2D platformer for mobile devices myself right now, and because I love Rayman Legends, I want to take a lot of inspiration from that game. Watching you break down some of the games levels really helped me understand how the game works, and gave me even more motivation to keep working at my game.
Rayman Origins/Legends is one of the only games where I like water levels just as much, if not more than the normal levels
Another thing I love about Rayman Origins and Legends is the clever world building that also comes with sticking a game mechanic for the longer parts of a world. It makes every place you visit feel all the more alive. Like there are actually creatures that inhabit these excotic landscapes, rather than just being a bunch of moving platforms with conveniently placed enemies on them.
Man, Rayman Legends is such an underrated game. It was acclaimed but felt like it went by w/out much fanfare. I would lovvvveee a new Rayman game...Legends is one of the best platformers ever imo.
It feels like you enjoy doing this videos, thanks a lot for creating them as it is super enyoable to watch them
Videos like this are why I love watching Game Maker's Toolkit. So cool!
Celeste also does a similar thing, but its worlds are kinda same things as levels so its hard to say if its more like Mario or Reyman in that department.
Very nice expansion on a previous topic! Glad to see you can keep a mechanic around for multiple videos! :P
Dude, this channel is so good its ridiculous. Whatever you're eating, dont stop.
I always look forward to every single video you make, just amazing work there!
I should probably note that several of the mechanics in the music levels are more fleshed out in Origins, like the swordfish in Gloo Gloo is in Angsty Abyss and the snake in Mariachi Madness is in Desert of Didgeridoos
Personally my favorite level of this world is Mansion of the Deep. It's just... So cool! The gameplay mechanics are fun to play around with and explore but what really got me so hooked on it is the atmosphere. The fact that it really makes me feel like I'm in a spy movie, infiltrating a prestigious but suspicious mansion and then have to weave my way out of it without getting caught just makes me excited.
I would like to add something to the feeling of mastery. As a chronic gamer, I have that feeling in almost every game. However, for my girlfriend and 15 yo sister, who really bad at games in general, the game made them feel they are good at it because they can keep up to my pace most of time, even in chase sequence level. When I watch this video, I start to notice how those mechanic introduced over time. Personally, I would say this is the best game I have ever played, because it helps my two important person to enjoy the feeling of mastery.
My favourite is Olympus Maximus, I love the stages where you run from the dust bunnies and have to hit the purple swords. I just 100% all of the main worlds, and theyâre all amazing, and get better throughout each one.
I love your videos Mark! They are such a huge help to me as a reviewer. They've really helped me refine my talking points when I discuss what does and doesn't work in games. Thanks for the quality content.
Can I just say: the music picks are wonderful. Especially when you used Mariachi Madness's remake of Eye of the Tiger- also used in Rocky, during the training sequence. While you talk about how the game has been training you. Beautiful!
Has anyone ever told you how -good- *great* you are at what you do? You are certainly one of the most undeservedly underrated creators on CZcams. Keep up your work!
Great video as always Mark, I really enjoy these breakdown style videos. Keep em coming :)
I'm so glad you're talking about this. I absolutely love the last two Rayman games and I had a lot of great memories playing this with my friends. The music stage has to be on of the most fun level I ever had.
God I love this channel. I got pages and pages of notes from your videos.
We're lucky to have people like you :)!
Hey Mark, just wanna say I really enjoy your content. Keep up the good work!
Cheers!
Super awesome analytics on game design of Rayman. Man! I have to go back and finish this game to see it through! Thanks Mark!
My favourite platformer :) Glad to see it getting some love. Also, very excited to hear that tidbit at the end that the level designer is working on the Ori sequel.
Great vid Mark. Always great to open youtube and see youâve uploaded. Keep up the great work. Your videos have inspired me to play these games and look for good level design on my own in the games I play.
Oh, hi Mark
I feel like I've been a backer forever, and I gotta say, I missed this. There was so much Nintendo that it feels nice to be back to games in general. And just something about this video feels reminiscent of some of the older videos.
Good stuff, Mark.
I would live for you to talk about the speed aspect of rayman as many mechanics could be intertwined to smash through levels at blistering speed
DRifted_NOS S They achieved the design goals of a Sonic game, better than any Sonic game ever did.
One of my all-time favorites! Please another sequel !
So happy that you decided to talk about Rayman Legends. It's tied for best 2d platformer of the last decade with Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze imho. Both are criminally underappreaciated.
Rayman Legends is honestly the best platformer I've ever played, its so wonderfully creative and inspired.
One of the guys who worked on this is working on The will of the wisps? Excuse me, Iâll just go ahead and buy 10 million copies of the game just to be safe.
Convinced me to play, great vid, keep it up !
I don't write a lot of comments under your videos, but they're amazing, informative and perfectly capture important aspects of games that we take for granted, but are masterful achievements in game design. Keep up the good work.
Recently i got addicted to this game, and you just make a video about it, amazing XD
Thank you so much for making this video. I love this game so much but i feel that it's always overlooked.
The music stages are so much fun! Ill go back to them three times in a row just cause i love the song and the fast paced action
This made me so nostalgic of rayman. Great video dude!
amazing observations, great video. I like your channel!
I've been hoping that you'd do a video on this masterpiece for a while!
JUst played through this game on the switch and loved it. 20,000 Lums was easily my favorite world to play through. Love to hear all these thoughts put so clearly
Thank you for this video! Thanks for your time and your work :)
I pretty much adore everything about "20,000 Lums Under the Sea" and the world is definitely a high point for me in an already fantastic game. I particularly loved the juxtaposition of Rayman's goofy playable characters sneaking through a undersea high-tech dieselpunk base while cinematic-ally satisfying spy thriller music oozed through our speakers.
Absolutely one of the most (pleasantly) surprising games to come out at the start of a new console generation. It's unbelievable how big Rayman Legends is, and how good it tends to be throughout.
Nice change of pace to talk about this style of design. Look forward to whatever random tidbit you decide to cover next (as always ;P )~
Still playing Rayman Challenges... they are awesome.
Thanks for doing a video for one of my favorite 2D platformers! Itâs worth mentioning that part of the reason 20,000 Lums is so enjoyable are the swimming controls. Rayman moves like a fish as he swims, making it a joy. If you would have told me beforehand âthe next world is underwater...and itâs stealth basedâ I would have rolled my eyes but the great design and controls make it a highlight.
This is a great video. I remember VIEWTIFUL JOE went the other way, and added a bunch of difficult and complicated mechanics as soon as the game started, creating a rough start, but also assuring that everyone playing the 2nd/3rd level would already be skilled. That's a good game too, but I do recall being turned off from it in my first few play attempts.
This game actually has enjoyable water levels
Great Video. Thanks Mark.
Just noticed the Super Metroid reference at 6:19, didn't even realize it when I played this!
Just found u, awesome work man!
Someone finally talking about this game I canât find anything about this game series anymore
A video about Rayman legends advertising superbunnyhop at the end? What a great video
Like Tropical Freeze, this is a criminally underrated game
Not watched yet, but so glad you're talking about this game! This and Velocity 2X brought back my love for Platformers
How can one not absolutely love Rayman? Such a good game. I really don't play many games, but yeah, Rayman has been made so well. Last Mario I played was on the Nintendo 3DS and it was super good too. I don't know what it is about those games, but the feeling that you got twice your money's worth from a game is amazing.
Both this game and Origins are masterpieces of level design, art and creativity. Itâs a shame how after nearly a decade of this gameâs release we only got Rabbids stuff.
I can't wait till you hit 1,000,000 subscribers
In the music level, Mariachi Madness, it teaches you that you can stall in the air with a midair attack.
Raymon legends was my first raymon game and its a blast and just gorgeous
a bit off topic but i would kill for a new UbiArt Framework powered game. When Ubisoft Montpelier and Montreal made Rayman Origins, Rayman Legends, Child of Light, and Valiant Hearts: The Great War back to back, it was the highest Ubisoft moment for me. All 4 games are masterpiece in visual, art direction, gameplay, and in case of Valiant Hearts, heart breaking story. I really hope Ubisoft won't waste this amazing engine just on average Rayman mobile game, Rayman Adventures.
Exactly! To me, those beautiful hand-drawn visuals that looked like paintings brought to life was more awe inspiring than all those "realistic" brown landscapes in all their open world games put together. I think it's a damn shame that 90% of all 2D games coming out today are generic pixel-art, i'd love to see more games like Rayman Legends or Valiant hearts.
"Because if you don't do the necessary prep-work, the player wouldn't have the skills to deal with these mechanics when put under pressure."
This applies to almost everything in life.