The Rayman series is very special to me. Not for any particularly interesting reason, mind you. It’s just a game series that I really loved as a kid and one that I’ve constantly gone back to. The original trilogy in particular comprises three of my favorite games ever made, and each one shaped who I am as a person today.

吨 他雷曼系列是非常特殊的我。 请注意，并非出于任何特别有趣的原因。 这只是我小时候真正喜欢的游戏系列，也是我不断回头的游戏系列。 特别是最初的三部曲，包括我曾经制作的三款最喜欢的游戏，每一款都塑造了我今天的个人身份。

Make no mistake — it’s totally nostalgia talking. I’m not here to make the case that Rayman 2: The Great Escape is the most perfect experience of all time or anything, although I do believe all three games hold up fantastically. It’s just a personal inclination that all stemmed from Rayman being one of the first video games I ever played. I love the characters, the universe, the music, and pretty much everything except for those damn puzzles in The Longest Shortcut. I want the Funkyboard theme to play at my wedding.

没错-完全是怀旧之谈。 我并不是要说“ 雷曼2：大逃亡”是有史以来最完美的体验，尽管我确实相信这三场比赛都表现出色。 这只是个人喜好，这一切都源于雷曼(Rayman)是我玩过的第一批视频游戏之一。 我喜欢角色，宇宙，音乐以及几乎所有内容，除了《最长的捷径》中那些该死的难题。 我希望在婚礼上播放Funkyboard主题。

With all that said, the series is an absolute shell of its former self.

综上所述，该系列绝对是其前身的外壳。

I feel like everyone has talked to death about the poor fortune of other series like Banjo-Kazooie, F-Zero, Conker, and Metroid, but when it comes to Rayman, no one is truly aware of how bad things have gotten. It’s not that the brand is dead, per se, but it’s gone in a direction that I feel is possibly worse than mere neglect. This classic platforming series which once reached the same heights as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, if not in popularity then certainly in quality, is now a mobile game franchise.

我觉得每个人都在谈论其他系列的不幸命运，例如Banjo-Kazooie ， F-Zero ， Conker和Metroid ，但是当谈到Rayman时 ，没有人真正意识到事情变得多么糟糕。 这并不是说品牌本身就已经死了 ，而是朝着我认为可能比仅仅忽视更糟糕的方向发展。 这个经典的平台游戏系列曾经达到了Crash Bandicoot和Spyro的高度，如果不是很流行，那么肯定是质量上的优势，现在已经成为手机游戏的特许经营权。

It’s interesting to look at the overall trajectory of the series; this is not the first time it’s been in a dark place. Rayman Raving Rabbids was a trilogy of games on the Wii that completely overtook the brand for a while, replacing Rayman’s colorful and diverse cast of characters with proto-Minions. It was a sad time, but in hindsight, we really shouldn’t have been too worried — after all, these games clearly had no impact on the development of a real new Rayman, being developed by Ubisoft Paris rather than the usual folks at Ubisoft Montpellier. In the end, we got some pretty fun animated cutscenes out of the deal, so ultimately it wasn’t too bad of a hit. Sure, the brand was stuck being associated with those damn Rabbids for a while, but that all changed in 2010 with…

查看该系列的总体轨迹很有趣。 这不是第一次到黑暗的地方。 Rayman Raving Rabbids是Wii上的三部曲，在一段时间内完全超越了该品牌，用原型Minions取代了Rayman丰富多彩的角色。 那是一段悲伤的时期，但事后看来，我们真的不应该太担心-毕竟，这些游戏显然对真正的新《 雷曼》的开发没有影响，该游戏由Ubisoft Paris而不是Ubisoft的普通人开发蒙彼利埃。 最后，我们获得了一些非常有趣的动画过场动画，因此最终它并没有受到太大的打击。 当然，该品牌在一段时间内一直与那些该死的Rabbids保持联系，但在2010年，一切随着…改变了。

…the announcement of Rayman Origins, which was to be a return to form! Finally, a new platforming quest set in the fantasy world I used to love. While I had some misgivings about the direction, I was just happy to see Globox and the Teensies again. I’d long assumed they were lost to the annals of gaming obscurity.

… Rayman Origins的宣布，这是对形式的回归！ 最后，在我曾经喜欢的幻想世界中设定了一个新的平台任务。 当我对这个方向有所疑虑时，我很高兴再次见到Globox和Teensies。 我一直以为他们迷失在游戏模糊的历史中。

My problem with Rayman Origins is with what it could have been. Much like the original Rabbids game, this one was originally meant to be a story-driven adventure with tons of characters and references to the previous games, as if to reward long-time fans for sticking around through the uncertain times. Luckily, unlike Raving Rabbids, this game was not hastily transformed into a Wiimote-waggle fest at the zero hour. It stuck to its guns as a platformer, but with a lot of the promised character and depth stripped away at some point during development. Early promotional material and datamined files suggest a gripping story involving the villain of the original game Mister Dark (yeah, yeah, it’s stupid, but it was important to me dammit) and lots of returning series staples like piranhas, plums, Zombie Chickens, and even the extremely deep cut Eig, a swamp monster from a single level in Rayman 2. It would have been an absolute treat for the lore-obsessed kid I was.

我对Rayman Origins的问题是它本来可以解决的。 与最初的Rabbids游戏非常相似，该游戏原本是一场故事驱动的冒险，其中包含大量角色和对以前游戏的引用，似乎是为了奖励长期迷在不确定的时代中坚持不懈的游戏。 幸运的是，与Rave Rabbids不同，该游戏并未在零时匆忙转变为Wiimote-waggle巨星。 它作为平台游戏机而坚守阵地，但在开发过程中的某个时候，许多承诺的角色和深度都被剥夺了。 早期的促销材料和数据挖掘文件显示出一个令人着迷的故事，涉及原始游戏《黑暗先生》(是的，是的，虽然很愚蠢，但对我来说很重要)的反派，还有许多返老还童，如食人鱼，李子，僵尸鸡和甚至是切得非常深的艾格(Eig)，也是雷曼2 ( Rayman 2)中单个关卡中的沼泽怪物。 这对我曾经是个绝大部分痴迷的孩子绝对是一种享受。

The final product — and I cannot stress this enough — is a fantastic game. It has breezy controls, delightful music, a wonderful art style, and some genuinely atmospheric moments. The game is packed with content and never really gets boring, especially in multiplayer. As a game, it is nothing short of a success and a marvel, and to this day we can see that it’s inspired other games like Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair.

最终产品(我对此不够强调)是一款出色的游戏。 它具有微风的控制，悦耳的音乐，美妙的艺术风格以及一些真正的大气时刻。 游戏内容丰富，永远不会感到无聊，尤其是在多人游戏中。 作为一款游戏，它不仅成功而且令人赞叹不已，到目前为止，我们可以看到它启发了其他游戏，例如Yooka-Laylee和Impossible Lair 。

But I just can’t help myself from imagining what it could have been!

但是我只是无法想象自己会是什么样子！

Debatably, the best things about Rayman 2 and Rayman 3 are their stories and characters. They are not games with complicated stories at all, and that’s what I love about them. They both have plots that might not give Xenoblade Chronicles a run for its money, but do give the player a sense of urgency and familiarity with the world they’re inhabiting. Rayman 2 probably has one of the most basic plots imaginable — main character has to free his friends from space invaders — but through the combination of worldbuilding and characterization, you end up caring about what happens anyway. You want to see the experience through not just because the game is fun, but because you want to put a stop to Admiral Razorbeard’s tyranny. In Rayman 3, when you’re not slamming Hoodlums in the face and collecting sparkly objects to rack up your level score, you’re trying to get Globox to a doctor or trying to stop André from getting to the Heart of the World. There’s always a premise behind what you’re doing at that moment in time, and no level exists just to be a video game level.

值得一提的是，关于《 雷曼2》和《 雷曼3》的最佳故事是他们的故事和角色。 它们根本不是带有复杂故事的游戏，这就是我喜欢它们的原因。 他们俩都有可能无法让《 异种之刃》赚钱的情节，但却确实使玩家对他们所居住的世界有紧迫感和熟悉感。 雷曼2(Rayman 2)可能是可以想象的最基本的情节之一- 主角必须将他的朋友从太空侵略者中解救出来-但是通过结合世界建​​设和人物形象，您最终会关心无论如何都会发生什么。 您不仅希望通过游戏的乐趣来体验这种体验，还因为想要停止Razorbeard海军上将的暴政。 在《 雷曼3》中 ，当您不猛击脸上的Hoodlum并收集闪闪发光的物体来提高等级得分时，您就是在试图让Globox找医生，或者试图阻止André进入世界之心。 那时您的工作背后总有一个前提，没有任何关卡可以作为视频游戏关卡。

Rayman Origins, for all intents and purposes, is a Mario game. There’s barely any plot to speak of, and what little story it presents is completely brushed aside as soon as it gets slightly interesting. There’s no dialogue, and the ending is just a gag about how lazy the main characters are (pretty spot-on to the original series, to be fair). It left me wanting so much more — what was up with The Magician? Who is Voodoo Mama? Where are Globox’s children — are they all grown up now? The game felt like a ten-year high school reunion where only the former Student Council showed up, and they had all become alcoholics. While it was great to see them again, it just left me missing the old days.

就所有意图和目的而言，《 雷曼起源》是一款Mario游戏。 几乎没有什么可说的情节，只要它变得有点有趣，它所呈现的小故事就被完全抛在一边。 没有对话，结局只是主角有多懒惰的插话(公平地说，与原始系列相当)。 它让我想要更多—魔术师怎么了？ 谁是巫毒妈妈？ Globox的孩子在哪里-他们现在都长大了吗？ 这场比赛就像是十年的高中同学聚会，只有前学生会出现，他们全都变成了酗酒者。 再次见到他们真是太好了，但这让我怀念过去。

While Origins itself was mostly harmless if personally disappointing, a nasty habit for the series began with it. From here on out, the Rayman series would have no story, focus purely on linear 2D platforming, and feature mostly silent protagonists. While the very first game definitely fit into this box as well, the transition to 3D brought with it a lot of charming depth that I had always assumed was permanent. Never did I expect the future of Rayman to purely consist of sidescrolling time-wasters, but here we are today.

尽管Origins本身即使让人失望也几乎无害，但该系列却开始令人讨厌。 从现在开始，《 雷曼》系列将没有故事，只专注于线性2D平台，并且大多数都是沉默寡言的主角。 虽然第一款游戏肯定也适合这个盒子，但向3D过渡带来了很多我一直认为是永久性的迷人深度。 我从没想到Rayman的未来会完全由浪费时间的人组成，但是今天我们就在这里。

During this period, another game came out — the first Rayman mobile game according to the official Facebook page, though that’s wrong. Rayman Jungle Run was basically a simplified, autorunning version of Origins for smartphones, and it was pretty darn good as far as mobile games go. Since we had just gotten a real Rayman game on consoles, this just felt like a victory lap. However, much like its big brother on consoles, this game set the groundwork for Rayman to fully emigrate to mobile devices, a fate arguably worse than death.

在此期间，又出现了另一款游戏-根据Facebook官方页面的第一个Rayman手机游戏，尽管这是错误的。 Rayman Jungle Run基本上是智能手机的Origins的简化，自动运行版本，就手机游戏而言，它相当不错。 由于我们刚刚在游戏机上获得了一个真正的雷曼游戏，所以感觉就像是胜利一圈。 但是，就像在控制台上的老大哥一样，这款游戏为雷曼(Rayman)完全迁移到移动设备打下了基础，命运也许比死亡还糟。

Rayman Legends was the sequel to Origins. It was pretty much better in every way — graphics, music, controls, amount of content, everything — except for the one thing I was worried about: the worldbuilding. This game had even less in the way of story and relied far too much on the plot of the previous game: it’s the same Excuse Plot with the same villain, only copy+pasted four times and given a different name. The characters still lack any semblance of personality, save for the Bubble Dreamer, the only character to speak fully voice-acted English lines in the entire modern era of the series. The problem with the characters of Rayman Legends is that everyone is the exact same, both personality and gameplay-wise. Rayman is a dumb guy who sleeps a lot. Globox is a dumb guy who sleeps a lot. Grand Minimus is a dumb guy who sleeps a lot and allegedly guards the Heart of the World, but we never see him doing anything that Rayman and Globox don’t do. Even the new character, Barbara, seems to be there only to fill in as a token female protagonist — I never really cared for her human design and crooked, smug smile when we have such lovable weirdoes as Rayman and Globox to choose from. Incidentally, Barbara is also a dumb girl who sleeps a lot. Murfy has a playable role in this game, but gone are his quips from Rayman 3 and his adorable whispers from Rayman 2. He’s just another silly doofus like the others.

《雷曼传奇》是《 起源》的续集。 除了我担心的一件事：世界建设之外，它在各个方面都好得多-图形，音乐，控件，内容量以及所有内容。 该游戏的故事情节更少，并且在很大程度上依赖于上一部游戏的情节：这是具有相同反派的相同借口剧情，仅复制+粘贴四次，并使用不同的名称。 这些角色仍然没有任何外表的个性，除了《泡泡梦者》(Bubble Dreamer)，这是该系列整个现代时代唯一能完整说出英语声的角色。 《 Rayman Legends 》角色的问题在于，每个人在个性和游戏玩法上都完全相同。 雷曼(Rayman)是个笨蛋，经常睡觉。 Globox是一个笨拙的家伙，经常睡觉。 Grand Minimus是个笨蛋，睡得很香，据说守卫着《世界之心》，但我们从未见过他做过Rayman和Globox不做的任何事情。 即使是新角色芭芭拉(Barbara)似乎也只能以象征性的女性主角的身份出现。当我们有雷曼(Rayman)和格洛伯(Globox)这样可爱的怪人来选择时，我从不真正关心她的人性化设计和弯曲，自鸣得意的微笑。 顺便说一句，芭芭拉还是一个笨拙的女孩，经常睡觉。 Murfy在此游戏中扮演可玩角色，但来自Rayman 3的小趣味和来自Rayman 2的可爱的低语声消失了。 他只是和其他人一样愚蠢的傻瓜。

Legends is fantastic. I’m poured hundreds of hours into it across multiple consoles, and it’s probably in my top three platformers of the decade. But much like Origins, it left me wanting more, and after this game Rayman began its transition into full residence on smartphones.

传说太棒了。 我在多个控制台上投入了数百个小时，这大概是我十年来的前三名平台游戏。 但是就像《 起源》一样，它让我想要更多。在这款游戏之后，《 雷曼》开始过渡到智能手机上的完整版面。

Rayman Fiesta Run, Rayman Adventures, and Rayman Mini are the only games in the series that have released since 2013. All are shallow 2D platformers with automated running, and all are on mobile devices. The thing is, Rayman Origins’s simple gameplay lent itself perfectly well to this platform — perhaps too well. Why release a big-budget 2D sidescroller on consoles when you can just reuse the assets from Rayman Legends again and slap a game onto the iPhone? Why bother counting on someone to shell out $60 for a single game when you can just pump it full of microtransactions and hope for a whale to come along? I’m surprised they haven’t developed a gacha game where you pay $15 for a chance to win a JPEG of Betilla the Fairy dressed as a cat. The sense of purpose and context I’d felt Origins lacked enough of is now gone completely, replaced with something more comparable to Temple Run than Super Mario Odyssey. There’s just not any investment on Ubisoft’s part anymore; they want the series to continue, but they refuse to give it half the budget of an Assassin’s Creed or even Just Dance game. It’s mind-blowing to think this was once their flagship series.

自2013年以来，《 雷曼嘉年华》 ，《 雷曼历险记 》和《 雷曼迷你》是该系列中仅有的游戏。它们都是具有自动运行功能的浅薄2D平台游戏，都在移动设备上。 问题是， Rayman Origins的简单游戏玩法非常适合该平台-也许太好了。 当您可以再次使用Rayman Legends的资产并在iPhone上玩游戏时，为什么还要在控制台上发布大型的2D Sidecroller？ 为什么当您只需要向某人花60美元购买一部微交易并希望有鲸鱼到来时，何必花一个人为它买单呢？ 令他们惊讶的是，他们还没有开发出一款gacha游戏，您需要支付15美元才能有机会赢取JPEG装扮成猫的仙女贝蒂利亚(JPEG)。 我已经感觉到Origins缺乏足够的目的感和背景感，现在已经完全消失了，取而代之的是与《 神庙逃亡》比《 超级马里奥奥德赛 》更具可比性的东西。 育碧现在已经没有任何投资了。 他们希望剧集能够继续下去，但是他们拒绝给它提供刺客信条甚至《舞力全开》游戏预算的一半。 令人惊奇的是，这曾经是他们的旗舰系列。

For those unfamiliar with the series, I would suggest a comparison with Paper Mario. A trilogy of games with exciting stories and lovable characters, replaced with a shallow, stripped-down imitation of what we once had (Rayman 1 doesn’t really fit into this comparison, forgive me). Paper Mario: Color Splash and Rayman Mini are both attempts to keep their respective series alive that have absolutely no idea what made people fall in love with those old games to begin with. The biggest difference is that with Paper Mario, you can tell someone at least tried.

对于那些不熟悉该系列的人，我建议与Paper Mario进行比较。 具有令人兴奋的故事和可爱的角色的三部曲游戏，取而代之的是对我们曾经拥有的游戏的浅浅，精简的模仿(请原谅Rayman 1并不适合这种比较)。 Paper Mario：Color Splash和Rayman Mini都试图保持各自的系列存活，但完全不知道是什么使人们爱上了那些旧游戏。 最大的区别在于，使用Paper Mario可以告诉至少有人尝试过的人。

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always just wanted another big 3D platformer like the second and third games in the series. When Origins was first revealed, I moaned and complained that it was 2D and eventually realized I was being shortsighted — but now I feel like I was a little hard on myself. Sure, I griped a little excessively, but there’s nothing wrong with having a preference. To this day we still don’t have a true successor to Rayman 3, and the creator of the series — pretty much the only employee at Ubisoft we can count on to put any passion into it — is hard at work on other projects. It’s not looking good right now, but it’s important to keep in mind that it’s never truly the end. Remember when Crash and Spyro were relics of gaming’s obsolete past? Remember when they literally took a Sly Cooper fan project and turned it into an actual game? Remember when Banjo-Kazooie was…well, okay, that series is still dead, but at least it’s in Smash I guess. Rayman’s in Smash too, as a spirit. All right, now I’m depressed again.

从我小时候起，我就一直想要另一个大型3D平台游戏，例如该系列的第二和第三款游戏。 最初显示Origins时，我抱怨并抱怨说它是2D的，最终意识到我是近视的-但是现在，我感觉自己对自己有点困难。 当然，我有点过分拘束，但是偏爱并没有错。 到目前为止，我们还没有雷曼3的真正继任者，该系列的创建者(几乎是我们可以依靠的育碧唯一的员工，我们可以依靠它投入所有精力)在其他项目上努力工作。 现在看起来还不太好，但是请记住，这永远不是真正的结局。 还记得Crash和Spyro是游戏过时的遗物吗？ 还记得他们从字面上接受了Sly Cooper的粉丝项目并将其转变为实际的游戏吗？ 还记得Banjo-Kazooie的时候……好吧，那个系列仍然死了，但我猜至少是在Smash中 。 雷曼是在扣球得，作为一种精神。 好吧，现在我又沮丧了。

I hope someday we get a true successor to those now-ancient games. Even the series creator himself doesn’t consider Origins and Legends to be proper sequels, which is surprising since he made them. I’ve always felt like my desires were too specific. When I was thirteen I wanted a 3D platformer with every character from the second and third games, an epic story involving time travel and magic and events from past games, every ability from the original trilogy, David Gasman reprising his role as Rayman, and a team-up with every prior villain that would end in an ultimate showdown at the Heart of the World.

我希望有一天我们能真正替代那些古老的游戏。 即使是剧集创作者本人也不认为《 起源与传奇》是适当的续集，这是令人惊讶的，因为他制作了它们。 我一直觉得自己的愿望太具体了。 当我十三岁的时候，我想要一个3D平台游戏，其中包括第二和第三款游戏中的每个角色，一个史诗般的故事，涉及时间旅行和魔术以及过去游戏中的事件，原始三部曲中的每种能力，David Gasman都重新扮演了Rayman的角色，与之前的每个恶棍合作，最终将在世界之心进行对决。

Now I just want to go on an adventure again.

现在，我只想再次冒险。

And also get rid of Barbara please. Tily would do her job better.

并且也请摆脱芭芭拉。 Tily会做得更好。