Level 61 - No Limbs, No Problem!

[00:00:00] Remember 64 is part of the Superpod Podcast Network. Oh yeah, we are teamed up with a whole bunch of awesome people that some you may have heard on Remember 64 already, but there's a bunch of different great gaming shows anywhere from Fine Time to Bar Silence to Retro Wildlands.

[00:00:20] You can of course find the Superpod Saga on there, Press B to Cancel, all of these awesome shows that are just here to talk about great times with games, share their thoughts with you, our experiences with you. Check us out, Superpod Network, on your podcast app of choice and superpodnetwork.com where you can find all our shows, blog posts, videos, and more. This is Rayman. This is a man called Ray.

[00:00:50] Rayman is the star of the action adventure game Rayman 2. Ray is not. Rayman can shoot, swim, swing, fly, and even water ski. Ray cannot. Rayman has friends and enemies in dozens of epic worlds. Ray has a sister in Florida. So remember, it's Rayman, not Ray. Rayman 2 for Nintendo 64.

[00:01:16] Welcome to Remember 64, where this week, where we're going, we don't need limbs.

[00:01:51] Hello everyone, welcome to the show, and hello again if you're a returning listener and viewer, and welcome if this is your first time joining us on Remember 64, where we play and discuss the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between in the Nintendo 64's library. My name is David Petrangelo, and I'm the star of what is probably the very best 2D platformer of all time. And as you heard off the top, we don't need limbs to kick ass and take names.

[00:02:18] That's right, we are talking about Rayman 2, the great escape for the N64. Jiggy look back with me again. Hello sir, how are ya? Calibru stew! That's how I'm doing. I love this game. Rayman 2. Oh my gosh, what a gem. This is one that you have been sort of screaming from the mountaintops from ever since we started talking a couple years ago. Like, just from the beginning. This was like, obviously there's Banjo-Kazooie, and there's the obvious picks and stuff,

[00:02:48] but this was like, top, top of the list for you at all times. So, I'm very excited that we're able to talk about this, and that, for me personally, I'll sort of spoiler alert, for the first time that I've played this game. So, this is great. This is cool. You're in my mind. Yeah. But of course, we also have a guest this time. We're on a streak of having guests, Jiggy. This is awesome, and great voices that join us, and faces, of course, sir. Welcome back, Josh from Still Loading. How are you, man? Thanks for coming back.

[00:03:18] I am doing fantastic. Thank you once again for having me on, Dave and Jiggy. Always a pleasure coming back on to Remember64, and I'm excited to chat about this one because I feel like there's a nice mixture of experience with this, where Jiggy had a lot of previous experience. I had a little bit. I knew about it, which is why when we were trying to figure out a game, I'm like, well, I played this. I have some recollections of this. Not a lot, but I have some recollections,

[00:03:44] and then it's your first time playing it. So we have a nice little mixture of experiences here. So yeah, I'm happy to be back, happy to be talking about Rayman, and I decided to surgically remove my elbows and knees in preparation for this episode so I could look like him. You just take this so much more seriously. Spot on. Spot on. I mean, you look great. You look great. It's really done a good... It's good for you. It really looks nice. Yeah.

[00:04:14] I don't have wrists anymore. But if anyone's not watching, he's my whole episode. Yeah. The whole episode, for those who can't see, I'm just waving my hands in front of the camera. Just jazz hands constantly? Or like Talladega Nights. I don't know what to do with my hands. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. And then like someone's arm comes in from the side. It's like... I can't fit my arms into my sleeve, so I can't do what Jiggy's doing. But people need to watch this. It's kind of tough. I'm not going to lie. Yeah.

[00:04:44] Before we get into the game, Josh, let's stick with you for two seconds here. Let's talk a little bit about your show and what's been going on. As of this recording, we're recording a couple of weeks before this gets out. So you're going to be hearing this in the middle of March of 2025. And I feel like there's something going on in March of 2025 on Still Loan. Yes. Yes. Yes. In the middle of March, well, March every single year, I do Mario Month.

[00:05:11] And this year for Mario Month, which both of you, I believe, have been guests on. I think you were both on Mario Kart last year. Last year. For different episodes. Separate. Separate. Separate episodes. You had to separate us. We were just going to... It was just going to get too violent, too heated. You had to separate us. Like kids in the first grade. You just have to be at opposite sides of the room. And those Remember 64 boys are great, but they get violent real fast. Real fast when it comes to kart games. Actually, we're mostly on the same page with a lot of these karting games.

[00:05:41] So I don't know. So, yeah. This year, it's all Mario RPG games. I'm covering Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario, the N64 Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, Paper Mario A Thousand Year Door, and Mario & Luigi Partners in Time. I have, with the exception of Super Mario RPG, it was my first playthrough for all of them. So it was a really fun experience to go through that.

[00:06:09] And since this is coming out in mid-March, and they'll be coming up quickly, in April this year, I'm doing Punch a Nazi Month for no topical reason whatsoever. Just really feeling like punching some fucking Nazis. Just feels like, I don't know, there's something in the air that makes you want to. You know? There's something about it. I don't know. Something's going on. Yeah. My fists are ready, sir. My fists are ready. Right in the mush. They're covering Wolfenstein 3D.

[00:06:39] Medal of Honor Underground and Bionic Commando. And real talk, I don't know what the etymology of saying punching someone in the mush came from, but we need to bring it back because that's just fun to say. Just right in the mush. Right in the mush. Right? That mush? Right there. Right there. Right there. So yes. Punching someone in the mush kind of makes me picture Batman punching Clayface. That's what that sounds. That's the first thing I picture from the animated series.

[00:07:09] Like anatomically, where is the mush? Where is the mush? Well, for me, it's in my midsection. Do I have one? It's in my midsection. I know that for sure. I know that. I can tell based on what my midsection looked like before COVID and after. So I just want to make sure for those who don't know, I'm pretty sure it means you punch someone in the face. But now I'm like now I'm like double checking. Like, is that is that is that correct? Etymology. I think so.

[00:07:39] I think so. It's just like a like an old school way of saying face. I think that's what I thought, too. Right in the mush. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway. Punch a Nazi, everybody. You don't have to wait till April, but the episodes will be coming out in April. Well, that's what that's what I got going on. And a certain guest on here may make an appearance on on one of those episodes. You'll have to find a way to find out or we really have to be separated again.

[00:08:11] That's what I got going on. I'm looking forward to it. I have yet to record any of those at the time we're recording this, but I actually just beat one of those games in preparation. I'm looking forward to the rest. Nice. Nice. That's awesome. OK, so before we jump into the game one more time, Jiggy, I wrote this down as a note. I told you before we hit record.

[00:08:29] And this is the section where instead of making it discreet and making it more natural, I am saying that I am going to be plugging aspects of the show, including the Patreon page of Remember 64 at Remember 64 show on Patreon, where you can get every episode, including this one early. You can get pre-show chats, access to polls. You can get some posts that come up on social media and things like that early. Just continuing to do extra things on there as much as they can. And you can even be a free member.

[00:08:59] And sometimes I'm posting stuff on there as well for free members. And every once in a while, I'm putting on a little bit of like a patron kind of lets you do like a little bit of like a promotion thing where if you're a free member, you can jump into one of the tiers for half off for a month or two. Every once in a while, I'm going to be doing that. So even if you're not ready to shell out a buck or two, which is totally fine, all up to you. It'll keep you up to date when that stuff is happening. So you could do that at patreon.com slash remember 64 show. And what else, Jiggy? What else do I always forget?

[00:09:30] Well, let's see. If you're watching on YouTube, you got to drop a like in this video and subscribe if you haven't. And if you're listening to this on any podcast platform, please rate the podcast. That would be fantastic. If there's a certain amount of stars, say one to five, just give it a five. You know, just just five. Just straight up. You don't have to think about it. Don't think twice. You don't have to listen to the rest of this number. Just drop five. It's a great number. Five is a nice number. It's got a 90 degree angle top, semicircle at the bottom.

[00:09:59] It's got all the angles. It's well-rounded. It's a well-rounded number. Studies have shown that people who hit five stars are instantly more attractive. So just food for thought. Damn. I got to start reading more podcasts. Don't you want to be more attractive? Damn. That's my problem. I got to start reading these podcasts more often. Damn. No wonder my wife doesn't like me. That's why, you know, I rate podcasts. So clearly.

[00:10:30] Please, everybody. Please help us. Help us by helping you become a better looking man or woman. Please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Remember 64. Find us out there on social media as well. Remember 64 show. Try to keep everything consistent. Mostly blue sky at this point. But as of this recording, as of this episode, who knows what's going on in the world? Anyways, enough of that. Let's talk about Rayman 2. Okay. So like I said, I have no experience playing this game.

[00:10:59] Like you said, Josh, I do have, I do. I did know of this game. I actually know a friend that had it for, I want to say Dreamcast at the time. My only buddy that had a Dreamcast. This was one of the games he had. I think I watched him or his brother play it a couple of times. Never really got my hands on it. As far as I can remember. I do. I referenced it in my intro. I do think that the best or one of the top three 2D platformers of all time is Rayman

[00:11:29] Legends from about seven or eight years ago. Something like that. Yeah. Within the last decade, maybe. I don't know. I should look it up, but I haven't. Yeah. Something like that. Anyways, that game is. I thought it was 2012. That game's incredible. I'll look it up. There was Origins. Origins. And then what's great about Legends is that it has everything that Origins has in it. And then they added more to it. You're right. It's not even just a sequel. It's like an expansion almost of it. It's amazing. It's such a good game.

[00:12:00] It's got to be earlier than what I said because it was on Wii U. Legends was or Origins was? Legends started as a Wii U exclusive. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, okay. So I've played it on Switch and I've played it on, I think, PS4, I think is where I played it elsewhere. But anyways, my experience with Rayman largely is the original off and on. Rayman I rented back in the day, which I replayed part of before I played this. And then Origins and Legends.

[00:12:28] I don't have a ton of Rayman experience. I just know it's out there and it's kind of fun and goofy and whatever. Replaying the original, I was kind of like, ooh, it's okay. It feels fine. It's just fine. At this point in 2025, it's just fine. And that's okay. That's just the time of when that game is made. I'll just say off the top and then I'll throw to you guys, this game's great. This game's awesome. It's really, really fun.

[00:12:53] And whether you haven't played it in a long time or you haven't played it at all, I definitely recommend people go check this out. Find a way to play it regardless of what platform. Maybe we can talk about some of the differences as we go along if we have those. But playing it on the N64, playing with a 64 controller felt good. And yeah, that's where I'll keep it for now. But Jiggy, let's go to you, man. This was... You know what? I think let's... I want to hear your guys' thoughts.

[00:13:22] Because I feel like this is refreshing for me to hear. Because I am filled, like, nostalgic bias for this game. It's definitely there. I do think it's, like, in general, just a good game. Like, I don't think I'm wrong about that. But I know that I think I hold it a little bit higher. Just because I have that... Like, I played the crap out of this game growing up. So I want to hear your guys' takes before I chime in. Alright, there we go. Do it. On to the next. Well, I'll give a...

[00:13:51] I'll start off with my personal experience with it. How I kind of first played it. So I actually rented this from Blockbuster back in the day. I remember getting it. I don't remember if I chose it or my parents. I think, like... I just asked if we could rent something. And they just picked this. I forget why they would have picked it. I don't know if... I just don't remember if it was me that picked it or my parents. I'm leaning towards my parents just picking it at random. It looks friendly. It's cartoony. Why not? Yeah. Like, yeah.

[00:14:19] So I've never played the original Rayman game ever. I... Well, I shouldn't say that. I've played it, like, on an emulator once. But then I got... I played this. And this is a game that I didn't get far in at all. I don't even think I made it to, like, the first... I might have beaten the first two levels tops out of, like, the 18 or 19 in the game. So I didn't get far at all. But...

[00:14:49] What really captured my imagination about it as a kid was I... Everything kind of felt very dreamlike when I first played. Like, I remember, like, Rayman being captured at the beginning of the game. And Globox coming up. Or Globlox or Globox? Globox. Globox. Globox. Globox rescuing him. And then talking about having to go get the great fairy Lai. Or Li, or however you pronounce her name.

[00:15:18] And I remember getting to her and her giving me the first power. And that, like, for some reason it just... It felt mysterious. It felt creepy. But not in a bad way. Like, it wasn't creepy because it felt scary. It was like... I think the best way I can describe it, it was like an enigma to me. I just didn't understand the world. The world felt so much bigger to me when I was, like, 10 or 11 when I first played this.

[00:15:45] Because I think at the time I played this, I had not really played another 3D platformer like it. I don't think I had quite understood Donkey Kong 64 yet. Which, you know, Jiggy and I are big fans of. We've talked about it off mic quite a bit. But, like, I just remember being really... Like, it just captured my imagination. And I... It felt so much bigger and more expansive. And just mysterious and dark. And it...

[00:16:14] Like, like a dreamlike enigma. That's the best way I can describe it. And... I didn't play it again after that one rental. Until... Oh, it was like one time? It was like... It was one time. Oh, well. Stuck with you then. Damn. It really stuck with me. Yeah. And, like, I didn't understand, like, you know, you free the lums from, like, you know, there was some stuck in the cages. Like, the fact that there was just cages dangling and you could break them open. And there was people inside. I'm like, what's happening in this world?

[00:16:45] It really just kind of, like, filled me with, like, not anxiety. Just, like, I felt concerned for what the world was. Like, concerned. Like, I cared about the characters even though I didn't understand what was happening in the slightest. I don't... Like, the best way I can describe it in this game is this nostalgic enigma to me. Where I remember the feeling I had. Now, playing it, it didn't give me... Playing it now, it didn't give me that feeling.

[00:17:12] Obviously, like, that feeling came from a sense of not understanding what video games are at all. And so when you're getting into a world, you think anything's possible. You know, you're running into walls being like, maybe I can get through on this pixel. Like, especially on the N64 where you would see, like, two polygons connect and you have, like, the jagged edge that where the rock wall would be. And I'm like, well, I wonder if I could walk up the wall if I walk in between these two polygons right here.

[00:17:38] I did that all the time as a kid or I would fixate on a single pixel on a texture and be like, that means something. I'm going to try to hit it with my attack or something like that. Because you haven't... You never saw a wall or cliff or water like that or in that way a lot of the time. So it's like, oh, I want to experiment to, like, what's possible? And to not understand game design and not that we're experts in any way of that, but, like, to not understand it at all when you're a kid.

[00:18:06] Now we have decades of gaming under our belt at this point. So, like, we have all this knowledge to fall back on. But when you're first getting into games as a kid, you got none of that. So this whole thing was just mysterious and it was just, like, otherworldly to me. And it stuck with me, that feeling of... Really, that childlike sense of wonder is what I experienced from this game. And I just remember having that feeling from the one rental.

[00:18:36] And that was it. And then years later, like, literally, like, over two decades later, I started collecting... Or, like, a decade and a half, I started collecting games. And I remember eventually getting a physical copy of it and didn't really touch it again. I was just like, all right, I remember renting this from Blockbuster and being really cool. And so now, playing it as an adult, I got a whole new... Like, obviously, I did not have that same feeling as I did as a kid. I wasn't expecting to either. Like, I knew I wouldn't.

[00:19:06] Like, you can't have that same sense of wonderment once you understand how games work. But I still enjoyed my time with it overall. I think we'll go into detail, obviously, as we continue the conversation. But overall, I enjoyed it. I think this game might be better on other platforms. I think the N64... I don't know if it's because I was playing on an upscaler on my HDTV or not. But I had so many, like, frame rate issues.

[00:19:36] Like, it was very choppy on my N64. And did you guys have frame rate issues at all? Or did you play on the emulator? You have the physical cartridge, right? I do have the physical cartridge. I played it on the EverDrive, so it might not be the same. But I actually didn't run into any issues. And I also hopped into the first stage, maybe first two, on Steam Deck, which is obviously also emulation. And it ran fine. Well, let me ask you this. Do you have an expansion pack?

[00:20:06] You probably do. Did you run it in the resolution mode? You're right. There's two different modes. Yeah. I think I turned off resolution mode. I don't remember, though. I forgot to make note of that. This is, like, the first game that I've seen from this era that had that. And I was like, wait. I thought this was, like, a 2015 thing. Like, what? Or 2020 thing. Does it run better on or off of resolution mode?

[00:20:35] I've heard that it runs better off. But I've honestly never really tested it. I'll have to see if it was on or off. I might have kept it on. Because so once you get past the opening level, which is very short, not really any enemies, no really way you can die. It's just kind of like, you know, you're collecting the lumps. It's a tutorial. It's a little tutorial area, right? And then you get to, like, kind of the hub area, which is like a creek. And, like, that lagged, like, fucking crazy.

[00:21:06] Yeah. It was so choppy. I don't know about that one. I played it. I don't remember it lagging. Unfortunately, the last time I played it, which was on stream, I played a different version. I played the Dreamcast version because I have that one, too. And I had never played that version. And spoiler alert, the creator of the game said that that is the best version. Yes. That's, I was watching, I mean, I put it in our Discord chat. There's a video you can find from Double Fine.

[00:21:35] Double Fine, I think is the studio's name? Tim Schafer. Tim Schafer, the head of Double Fine, does a, you know, game, like, play with the devs series. And, like, nine years ago, he had the director of this game, Michael, or Michel, Michel Anzel. Michel Anzel. He was on, and he was talking about it. They were playing the Dreamcast version, and it looked fucking beautiful. Yeah, it looked nice. The N64 one looks fine.

[00:22:03] It's, like, I think, you know, art direction, it looks great. But because N64 has that natural kind of fuzz to all of its graphics, it looked so much nicer on the Dreamcast version. Like, so much nicer. Oh, yeah. In the Dreamcast version, it runs at 60 frames, which is really nice. You feel that buttery smoothness. Oh, wow. The N64 version, though, was first. Yeah. The N64 version was the first version put out of Rayman 2. Whoopsies.

[00:22:34] Talking about the differences between versions is really interesting because fundamentally, the Dreamcast version, it, higher resolution, higher frame rate, adds some, like, specific areas and things and challenges. Mm-hmm. Which is really cool. But, like, all in all, pretty much the same game. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Just with those added perks.

[00:23:01] The PlayStation version, however, is pretty different. I feel like you would have to make a lot of compromises for the PlayStation version. Yeah, it does. So, the weird thing is the gibberish in this game, which is one of my favorite things just because I love Banjo-Kazooie and the gibberish is amazing. Yeah. PlayStation is full voice acting. Really? Oh, I didn't know that. Yes. The PlayStation version is full voice acting. Oh, see. Okay. It's weird. Okay.

[00:23:30] So, that reminds me of, yeah, one, I agree. I don't, I'm not a fan of that. That reminds me of, I don't know if you guys have played any or some of, like, the Lego games, like Lego Star Wars or Indiana Jones or Harry Potter or whatever, right? The early versions of that didn't have any voices. It was all based off of physical comedy. Yeah. So, goofy things happening to. It's better. It's better.

[00:23:56] Goofy things happening to your favorite Star Wars or Harry Potter characters or whatever and in Lego pieces. So, they'd fall into a bunch of different pieces and bricks and things and, like, you had, they had to be more creative almost with that. And it reminds me of that where I enjoyed that comedy better than when they started adding voices to it because now they made lots of money and they could. You know, that's basically probably the reason why, right? And that's fine. It's a choice. But I preferred it when it was just, you know, a cartoony physical comedy. So, that's what this reminds me of.

[00:24:25] And it's almost, the game's almost funnier when there aren't any voices, I think, for Rayman. Like, I think it's fun to have, like, this, what do they call it? Simish or Simlish or whatever in The Sims? Like, what do they call that? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's what it reminds me of. And it's great. It's great. I love that. That's interesting. Yeah, it's silly. Fully voice acted. Yeah, it's just kind of bizarre. It does that, but then it cuts back on, like, the amount of lumps in the game. I think it strikes out a few levels. I did read that, yeah. There's a few levels.

[00:24:55] Yeah, it's a little strange. And I think the PC version is more like the PlayStation version, if I remember right. I know it has less, it has less lumps as well. It may not have the voice acting, though. It's bizarre, but this is one of those games, too, that's been ported to so many consoles. Like, throughout time. Yeah, they changed the names of it, too. But, like, there's a, the version on the DS is not called Rayman 2. It's called Rayman DS. Yep.

[00:25:23] It's, it's weird how many times this game has been ported because Rayman 2, N64, PS1, Dreamcast, PS2, PC, DS, 3DS. I mean, it's just, like, being on a console as late as the 3DS, when this was a game that released originally on the N64, is just so bizarre to me. Yeah. I mean, it's not like we got a remake. It's like we got a remake so many times.

[00:25:52] Because they change the game, like, every time. And I'm sorry to say, if you have a DS, that's not the way to play it. The 3DS one is better. But don't, don't waste your time with the DS version. Any version is better than that version. Why? Wow. It just doesn't, it just doesn't work? It's, it's not great. Yeah. It just doesn't, it doesn't run well. It's just, yeah. Don't do it. I mean, they even, I mean, it's obviously not in 3D, but they even made, like, a Rayman 2. It says 2 and, like, almost like it's squared.

[00:26:21] Like, Rayman 2 forever for Game Boy Color. Like, they, like, it was, it was everywhere at this time. And I was just, I don't know why, like, if it was everywhere, especially on Game Boy Color. I carried that thing in GBA. I carried those, those handhelds with me everywhere. How did I not play any of these versions of this game? It actually is quite surprising when you, when I think about it. Because I'm like, it was someone I know had it. Yeah. I could have rented it, just like you guys said. Like, I could have.

[00:26:48] I mean, like, the thing is, though, like, I only ever saw this at Blockbuster as a kid. Like, I didn't see the Game Boy version. I never saw the PlayStation, or the Game Boy Advance version, excuse me, or the PlayStation version. Definitely not the Dreamcast. I might actually, I might have seen the Dreamcast in, like, a store or something like that. Yeah. But I didn't have a Dreamcast. So, it was like, you know, in one ear out the other, or in one eye out the other. It just, you know, I didn't really think about it, because I couldn't play it at the time. Yeah.

[00:27:14] So, it really just kind of feels like, I mean, I wouldn't kick yourself for not finding it when it's, like, you don't play. Just surprised. Yeah. No, no. I mean, there's so many games out there. Yeah. It's easy. Yeah. Yeah. Especially at that time, maybe I just wasn't looking for the single-player stuff too, right? Like, it was a 64. Oh, sure. It was time to play Mario Party. You know? Like, that's where it is. Did you guys ever play Tonic Trouble? No. That's another one that's been on the list where I'm just like, ooh, I hear this is fun.

[00:27:43] Like, I don't really know. So, Tonic Trouble was actually the prototype Rayman 2. Oh, you've told that before. Yeah. Yeah. So, the same developers and everything, they actually made Tonic Trouble. They were making kind of a tech demo for a Rayman game in 3D and developed Tonic Trouble. And they were just like, well, let's just make this a whole game because it was fun. And so, they did. And in Tonic Trouble, you can actually see a lot of references to Rayman, which is pretty cool.

[00:28:13] And actually, in Rayman 2, there's actually characters from Tonic Trouble as well. Oh, really? Well, even stylistically, like just looking at screenshots of that game or, you know, just sort of seeing some videos of it. I'm like, oh, yeah, this feels like that. And I don't know that much about it. But now that you say that, I could see how they could be linked and stuff. Yeah. It's almost, it's more interesting to do Rayman 2 first and then retroactively go back and play Tonic Trouble because then you see, okay, yeah, this is like Rayman. Yeah. And it's cool. It's almost like an experiment with things.

[00:28:43] That's cool. But honestly, Rayman 2 throughout the game is kind of an experiment. I feel like there's so many game mechanics. There's so much going on in this. Like every level is like totally different. I mean, at heart, it's a 3D platformer, but. Yeah. Yeah. But there's, but there's more than that happening. Yeah. I think I want to, before, before we get into some of the gameplay details, I wanted to go jump off what you guys said about the different versions and stuff. One of the first things I noticed about this, about this game was that I actually thought it looked really good.

[00:29:13] I think, I think. It looks good for an N64. Yeah. You're not saying that it looks like crap or anything. Yeah. Well, the Dreamcast, it looks smoother. Obviously, if Jiggy was saying like it runs at 60, like that's there's, there's differences there. You're going to notice that difference, especially if you have. Well, it's on more powerful hardware. Yeah, exactly. As it should look better and run better. But I, like when it starts and you get a lot of like, you know, closeups of Rayman himself,

[00:29:37] like him specifically, they really, I think, found a great way to make Rayman look like exceptional, I think. Like, I don't know if it's just, he's a little bit smoother than the rest of the characters. I don't know if it's his expressions. I just found that the way that they designed him and his, and his motion and mannerisms and all these things. Like when they get close up on a lot of characters for an N64 game, often you can see the flaws sometimes.

[00:30:06] And a lot of the time in this, it almost looks better when you're up close to Rayman. And I think that's, that doesn't happen often. Maybe it's because they don't have to render his limbs. I don't know, but they talk a little bit, they talk a little bit about it in the, in that gaming or play with the devs doc, like video from Double Fine, where the N64 was better at flat shaders. Like it didn't do well with like really complex textures.

[00:30:32] And so Rayman, if you look at his textures, they're very plain. And I don't mean that as an, as an insult. Like he's got his body, his torso is just purple. His limbs are pretty much just white with the, with the occasional line to indicate his fingers or his feet or toes or whatnot. And then his face for the most part is just one or two colors. And it's, and then like only his eyes move really. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:57] And because he has such a cartoonish design, he can be more emotive and expressive in the way they animate him. And it's just very smart art direction if you think about it, because if you look at like other games that are going for a realistic look, you know, like golden eye, perfect dark, you know, stuff like that. While I have nostalgia for those graphics, like the art direction isn't as strong. It doesn't hold up.

[00:31:23] I should say as much as this does where, yeah, you can tell this is an N64 game. You can tell it's old, but it doesn't necessarily look bad. I would say it looks that you can see its age the most in the environment graphics in the environments, but like Rayman himself, it just looks like a, like the low, it almost looks like if someone made an indie game with a low poly aesthetic and they, they with just strong art direction. It works. It works really well.

[00:31:53] Rayman looks really good in this. I mean, the game looks especially good for the time, but like Rayman still doesn't look awful now. Yeah, no, it still looks good. And I like, it's, it's a subtle details. I appreciate a lot of the time with like, you know, graphics and art direction and things like that. Like we were just watching, I pulled up someone's like long play of the video and, and they're, they're swimming in one of the parts and it's not like, oh, you swim. And I mean, this is no knock on Banjo Kazooie, but essentially like when, when you're swimming

[00:32:20] underwater with them, Kazooie pushes with the wings and Banjo's feet kind of just flutter a little bit. Rayman, maybe it's, you don't have like as many options of how you swim, but like his motion, how he, he looked, he really looks like he's floating through the water. Like extra, you know, maybe, maybe it's because he doesn't have limbs. He doesn't have legs attached to his feet, but his feet are kind of like floating a little bit when he's not using them or when you go down his, the motion on his, on his ears

[00:32:49] or his hair or whatever you want to call it. You know, are they considered ears? It's hair. It's hair. It's hair. That looks a little bit like ears to me. I think they're shaped like ears, but I think it's actually hair. I can tell you why it's hair. Please. Because in Rayman origins and the PS Vita version specifically, there is a cut scene that shows how Rayman got his hair and he was actually bald in the beginning and little creatures

[00:33:19] that look like his hair came over and like hopped on his head and his girlfriend at the time like freaked out and then he ended up like falling off a cliff or something, long story short, and the hair started twirling and like, like hovered him down. And that's how Rayman got his hair. I liked it more than the ears. I wish that wasn't the narrative that is, that does make more sense. So if you think about it, cause if he can turn his, like those things into helicopters,

[00:33:47] having it be ears would be really painful, you know, and he wouldn't hear anything. It was just, it's just whoosh right into the ear. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, I just wanted to mention that cause I, I liked, I don't know. I, the art direction is something that Rayman has kind of, it's interesting cause you go from 2d to 3d. Sometimes it's hard to sort of translate some of those characters or those worlds. I think they did a pretty good job with this.

[00:34:13] When you look at this one or you look at ones that were even after this, it's, you know, it's a choice I think from the original game and then they continued it with this. And I think it works. I think that was, they did a good job of, of translating it into a completely different dimension as they, as you might say. So, and to, to shout something out real quick, they specifically, at least in the first area, but the game, the game in general, but specifically they, they mentioned this in the first area,

[00:34:41] I think in like the jungle and like either the first level or that there were the tutorial area before you get to kind of like the hub area that, that, that area, the jungle specifically was heavily inspired by, uh, my neighbor Totoro, uh, Hayao Miyazaki's movie, my neighbor Totoro, the game's art direction in general was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki, but they specifically cited, uh, Ansel in, uh, or Michelle Ansel in that, uh, video specifically cited my neighbor

[00:35:10] Totoro as an inspiration for the art direction and a lot of things. And specifically like the, um, excuse me, like in that jungle area, you know, they didn't have a lot of processing power in order to render like trees and stuff. So that's why if you look at the, the textures on the walls, there's a lot of roots and stuff where it gives the illusion that, Hey, you're in a jungle, there's trees everywhere without them having to have detailed trees on the textures or the textures of the wall or render a whole

[00:35:39] bunch of trees, uh, polygons that are trees. Yeah. Like separately. Yeah. I noticed, I noticed a couple of times. Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's a great way to sort of, you know, dodge around those limitations and stuff, which, you know, we've discussed in a bunch of other games as well. It's just how it was for the 64 and how it was for this generation and stuff. Right. I noticed a couple of times, like when you talk about like trees specifically every once in a while, because there's not a lot of those like standalone trees that are there, there's one like sticking out of the wall.

[00:36:09] It could kind of look like a vine maybe or whatever. And I'm like, Ooh, do I have to do something with this? And I would like try and jump on it and try and figure out if it leads me to another area. And I'm like, Nope, it's just there just to show you that there's a tree. That's, that's it. That's what it is. And I'm like, I'm fine with that. But I was like, Oh, it would have been cool if that would, that led me somewhere. You know, like I was trying to, I was trying to do more with what they were, what they were showing me, but it was, it's, I like the art direction is great. It's cartoony. It's just the right kind of cartoony and stuff.

[00:36:39] So Jiggy we've, I mean, we didn't quite avoid it or whatever, but you played the shit out of this game growing up, man. Oh yeah. So did you, did you own it at like when you were younger? Oh yeah. Yeah, you did. Oh yeah. No idea how I got it, but I had it. Sure. I had it and I just absolutely loved it. And Rayman became one of my big four. Okay.

[00:37:07] And for my big four is the characters I wanted in super smash bros and was always horribly disappointed that they were never in. Okay. But thankfully I've gotten three of those four, which is incredible by the way. And those characters were Rayman, Mega Man, Banjo Kazooie and Sonic the Hedgehog. I loved all four of those characters.

[00:37:32] And Rayman was like this weird, like, I don't even know. I really, honestly, I enjoyed Rayman legends and I enjoyed Rayman origins. I wasn't a huge fan of Rayman three. I loved Rayman two to death. And I was like a little disappointed with Rayman three. And I got Rayman raving rabbits. It's like on my, we, like I was so pumped for Rayman. Yeah. Every time Rayman came out, I was like, yeah, Rayman. Oh, this is it. Based around this game.

[00:38:02] Based around this game. And every time I got a game, I was like, this isn't Rayman two. Like, it doesn't have the same feeling. It doesn't, it doesn't capture me like this one did. This is like the definitive for sure. 3d Rayman. And that's not to say that Raymond three is bad. That's not to say that raving rabbits is bad. I had fun with both of those games. Raving rabbits is definitely more Mario party. I guess. Wario where it kind of, it's just mini games over and over. Yeah. It's a weird approach. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:32] Raymond three just changed the combat. And for me, the thing that I really loved about Raymond two is the momentum, the feeling of momentum of sliding, jumping in the air and flipping. And then like you do a little roll as you land on the ground. I love that choice. Like just a simple jump. So he has like a little tumble thing. I love it. Yeah. It's a nice touch. So smooth. Yeah. It, it, it just feels right in Raymond three momentum. Nope. It's like, if you, you do a front flip and you almost don't move forward at all.

[00:39:01] You just kind of jump straight and you do like this really subtle forward movement versus Raymond two, where you just like, you went flying. Right. And he's got a very fluid motion in this, which I think a lot of the time you, you don't without like a, a deliberate run button, you know, like in Mario or I would say Banjo Kazooie as you run around with Kazooie, like those are kind of the quote unquote run buttons. This doesn't have that. And yet the, that momentum that you're talking about is still there, which is interesting.

[00:39:30] Um, that's a, that's an interesting point. I never actually thought about it that way, but you're right. Yeah. And the, the racing levels with Lee, the fairy, which I, I actually don't know for sure if it, I think it is Lee. I'm trying to remember cause I did play through the PlayStation version, but I don't remember how they pronounced it. It's been a long time. I wonder if there's a, I'll try and find it. Yeah. I didn't even get any of those levels cause those were the bonus levels, right? Yeah. Right. I've always, not all the bonus levels. I think there's like two or three of those ones, I think.

[00:39:58] Well, there's, um, yeah, there's, there's one for every stage, but they're not all like that. I haven't gotten a single one. Oh really? I got, I think I got like three or four, but, uh, I think there, I think there's two Lee races actually. Okay. And then, yeah, I think there's, yeah, I think there's two and then, and then there is like a bonus level, like with the baby glow box. That's like button mashing. Yeah. Which by the way, in dreamcast, hard as heck. Don't bother. And 64 is so much easier. Just cause of what the buttons are. It's just the buttons.

[00:40:26] It just doesn't, it doesn't mash like the 64 buttons do. They're a little, and they don't feel bad. It just doesn't like, I was, I was trying all sorts of different techniques and I won a few times, but I was like so frustrated with it. Yeah. So if anyone doesn't know, basically the way it works in this game is similar to other semi collect-a-thon type games is every stage, uh, you collect, is it, it's not always 30 or 50 lums. No, it's, it varies. Cause some, some, 50 lums, but it does vary. Yeah.

[00:40:56] Some are 30 or whatever. Depends. I some, cause some levels are just shorter than others. I think that's kind of why. Yeah. It depends on the size of the level. It depends on the size. And then there's anywhere between three to eight of the cages that you have to break open or whatever. And if you get all of both of those, you're awarded with a bonus level, which comes in. Is it just the two forms Jiggy? Cause I didn't get all of them. Is it? It's just the glow box, the baby glow box. Okay. So the baby glow box, which is basically a Mario party mini game where you just press A and B really quickly back and forth.

[00:41:25] And that's how you pick up speed or lie or Lee, you quote unquote race with her and you follow her and pick up a bunch of the, you know, yellow lums, like basically which are well, the, the Lee levels are different. The Lee levels are like, so the glow box, the baby glow box levels are like the bonus levels you get for the level to getting the lums and the cages. Yes. Yes. But the Lee levels are actually separate levels that in certain levels they're like in certain levels, they're like an alternate path. Oh, that's what it was. That's what I'm thinking.

[00:41:56] And then you can find her. And, um, I love those levels. They're great. Those levels actually spun off into their own game. Um, yeah. On PlayStation one, it was a Rayman like racing game. And I'm trying to remember what it was called. I don't, it might've actually been Rayman arena and it was just like a PS one version of Rayman arena. And then the PS two and that generation was different. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:42:25] It basically like Rayman arena on PS one is literally just those Lee races just with like multiple players. Yeah. Yeah. Those are cool. Cause those also reminded me, which I liked them. I agree. I thought there were, there were a lot of fun. The level design around them is cool. You're basically just going through jumping over a bunch of obstacles, following her. And you have a little bit of a time limit on it. That reminds me of the levels that completely blew me away.

[00:42:50] The first time I played the music stages and origins and, uh, uh, and, and legends Rayman origins and legends. Cause to me, those stages in those particular two games are perfection. They are so well done because one, it's usually music that I enjoy, which always, Oh, yeah. The black Betty one and stuff like that. And like the fact that that's like the first one, I was like, what am I playing? This is the greatest thing I've ever experienced.

[00:43:20] It's so fucking good. I love it. Anyways, reminding me of those, they're going for the same kind of idea. I wish there was a little bit of a music thing, but it's just the same music. Although you're playing the N64. I'm sure there was a limitation to it. It is what it is. Either way. I thought that the level design around those were still a lot of fun and so really good. So I'm not going to complain too much, but, um, yeah, so that, that sort of takes us to how like the game is structured, I guess, too, right. Which we haven't quite got to yet.

[00:43:47] So there's, um, those unlockables or those collectibles that you need to get in each stage. And there are, how many stages here? There are. I think there's 18 and then, or 19 and there's like a bonus one. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So there it is. So I had it up for a little bit. Yeah. I have it too, but it doesn't have the numbers beside it. I don't feel like counting. And so, um, that's fair. That's where I am. I I'm so tired.

[00:44:14] Um, and, uh, each stage is you go in there, try and collect as much as you can, uh, and, and, you know, rescue as many, bust open as many cages as you can. And then you move on to the next one. Maybe you'll get a bonus. Maybe you won't. The more you collect, potentially you might get a little bit more life. If you do bonus stages, you, all these, all these types of things that will happen in, in 3d platformers of this time kind of shares, uh, some, uh, some ideas from those.

[00:44:40] But the difference between a game like this and something like Mario 64, or especially Banjo-Kazooie, if you want to compare it to that, these are mostly much smaller and shorter stages. Um, not all of them, but some of them, especially really on some of them are really long. Yeah. Some of them are a little too long. There's a little, a little too many ideas going on, but early on, some of them you can whip through fairly quickly. Even if you're playing it for the first time I found anyway, I did. I collect everything when I did those. No, but.

[00:45:09] Um, but I, early stages, sometimes you can get through in 15, 20 minutes, even if you're taking your time later on, things really sort of build and they're doing a lot more mechanics and a lot of sort of sometimes great, sometimes not so great platforming and stuff. So I still think it's a, it's a, it's a, I know you got something to say about it. So, uh. Any level with a fucking plum can go die in a ditch. That was what I was going to get to. So there's lots of ideas here. So some of them are simple. Some of them are simple.

[00:45:38] You just, you're, you're jumping and you're just trying to not to fall down a cliff or you're just defeating the robots that have, have captured you and your friends and the lums and all these things, all those types of things. Simple idea, just enough to kind of get you from stage to stage. And then as you go further along, what's the deal with the plums? Let's talk about that. That's one of the mechanics. Okay. Oh, okay.

[00:46:00] So the plums are in, there's a handful of levels where in order to traverse, to get to the next spot in it, there's water or lava or something that you just, you cannot jump into because the water has piranhas or the lava, lava's hot. Right. Whatever the fuck. And in order to progress past it, there are these plums that, they're obvious. You can see them pretty clearly. Yeah.

[00:46:29] But you're supposed to knock them off with your energy blast and then stand on top of them and throw your energy ball. And the, the momentum from that will push you in the opposite direction you're throwing the ball. And you're supposed to traverse these levels kind of in these like weird backward, like, you know, you're, you're throwing the balls behind you. So that way you can progress forward. Yeah.

[00:46:56] The game does an absolute shit job of explaining this mechanic to you. They don't explain it to you at all. They don't. It just doesn't. Yeah. I didn't know I had to do that. I was like, what am I doing with this thing? The only thing I can think of is that, was that a mechanic in the first Rayman game? Like something where you stood on those plums and you, you hopped across a tough area. I could totally see that work in 2D as well because other games did that on the Super Nintendo and Genesis and whatnot. Not an outrageous idea in 2D, I don't think.

[00:47:25] And it's not even that. I will give them credit that while it's not taught at all, like it's awful design from that standpoint. You get a little bit of like a text at the bottom from the, from the weird guy that sounds like he's whispering to you all the time. Murphy. Yeah. What's his name? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Murphy. Murphy. There's some, there's some sounds that I want to talk about sound after we talk about this or eventually we'll talk about sound because there's, there's music and there's sound effects that I'm like, what? Anyways.

[00:47:54] So, but like you're supposed to then, uh, you know, catapult yourself across by throwing in the opposite direction. And what I'll give them credit for is that they design the levels pretty well where they don't make you do super precise platforming or movement while you are on top of that plum. Right. So while it is a pain in the ass and honestly, they make the levels with those plums way too fucking long. It's, they're too exploratory. Use it too much. Use it too much. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:48:22] It's a cumbersome, cumbersome movement mechanic that they make you use too much, but they never really kill you with it. They don't demand too much of you with it. It's more just like a war of attrition at that point. Like, do you have what it takes to keep pushing through it? So that is the most aggravating part of the game for me.

[00:48:42] I also think there's a handful of moments that suffer from a similar problem that these plums do where they introduce a pretty important mechanic to whether it's, whether it's beating or to progress through a specific level or something you're going to use later on. And they don't give you a lot of explanation on how to use said mechanic. Like, um, you know, obviously being the, the plum is, is the big one.

[00:49:08] Um, also like another thing with the plum, the, there's like those like monkey robots that like you can't damage with your, with your energy blast. Yep. You're supposed to defeat them with a plum. You throw a plum at their head and it like. It sticks to their face. It sticks to their face. Or you can. Which is a whole, which looks, which looks great by the way. It's, I think it's great. I think it's really funny, but how you.

[00:49:34] But like there's so many moments where like to take out those monkey guys specifically, you can also lure them because they'll charge you. So if you lure them to an edge and they charge and dodge off, then you. They fall off the cliff or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And that's fine, but they don't teach you any of that. They don't give you any indication that that's how you're supposed to be. Like every enemy you attack, every enemy you encounter, you can defeat with your energy balls, with your energy blasts or whatever. You can defeat with your balls.

[00:50:02] Rayman's got very strong balls in this game. So he does have very strong. I mean, his hands and feet are basically balls anyway. Yeah. But like you, he, he gives you every enemy you can do that with except the fucking monkeys. Yeah. And, or the monkey robots. And so, and then they give you no indication of what you're supposed to do. So it's like, why would I think like to use a plum? Why would I think to use a plum on that guy? I went up until that point. You've never needed to use it in any other way. Right.

[00:50:32] Exactly. That's, that's, that's the thing. At least with the, the charging off the cliff, you can, I feel like you could intuit that a little bit. Like if you see an enemy charging in your bio cliff, you could maybe come with, come up with the idea. Like, oh, what if I like, uh, you know, throw it off the edge or something like that. When, when that happened to me, I did it by accident. I was like, oh, that works. Oh, okay. So I know what, you know. And I think in that first instance, they actually set you up in a specific level where it's like a small tunnel.

[00:51:02] It is. Yeah. And it charges at you. Yeah. Yeah. So it almost could happen by accident. And you know what? Like, I definitely see what you're saying and I don't disagree with you with, with that. But also I guess there's the, I guess there's a little bit of a, um, I don't know if charm is the right way to say it, but there is something about just discovering that yourself. You know, not everything needs to be laid out for you, but I do think a little bit more of an indication would have been beneficial. Like just something.

[00:51:30] No, I think really only the plum thing is what I wish they would have spelled out a little bit more. I think the charging off the cliff. Yeah. It would have been nice to get a little extra hint, but they, they throw enough of them at you that I feel like you're almost guaranteed to figure it out by accident, which is fine. And that setup that Jiggy mentioned too does, does make a difference too. Like how that happens. Yeah. So I, yeah, there's just, there's a handful of mechanics and those are the two that come to my mind, but like there, there's a handful of mechanics.

[00:51:58] They just don't do a good job of explaining, but which is frustrating because the rest of the game is really solid. I, I, I had a little tough time with the platform because I think my controls were a little bit floaty and I don't know. So I, I recently got a retro tank five X and I plugged my N64 in through S video to the retro tank. And then obviously to the HGTV then. Right. Right.

[00:52:25] And I don't know if like that was causing some input delay. I know retro tank is known for not really having any strong input delay. But I don't know if this game, because of the frame rate issues I was having, maybe I was playing on the higher resolution mode when I shouldn't have. And that might've been causing it.

[00:52:46] But there was a lot of times where it would, it felt responsive enough, but like when Jiggy, you were talking about how it's like the motion in this is so fluid and you can, you like this sense of speed and motion through it. I didn't get that at all. I felt Rayman's controls were really stilted. I don't think they were bad. I think they worked for the game, but I thought they were like, I didn't think they were fluid in the slightest. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Cause I think the game is designed around it.

[00:53:13] Like I never felt like I was out of control of Rayman or like the, the challenges they set before me were like unfair with the exception of like a handful of levels, which we'll get to when we get to. But like, I don't know. I, when you said that you were like, when you said the movement was so fluid, I was like, did we play the same game? Cause I, I, well, you said Rayman two, right? Yeah. But then I, but I also don't know, is it because of the resolution mode that I was playing in?

[00:53:40] If I was playing in that and because of the upscaler, was there input delay? Even the retro tanks are known for not really having. Yeah. It could have been. I, I, again, I, I, my, mine was, we're both in ROM versions. I mean, I mostly played it on the actual console itself. So, you know, the ever drive runs on ROMs. It's not like you're, you're playing the actual cartridge. But you're playing, but you're not playing on an emulator. You'll get the state, like, just cause you're running on a ROM, you're still going to get the same experience since you're playing on original hardware. That's right. And, and, and I didn't play later stages on my steam deck.

[00:54:10] I just played like the first two, like the first, like, you know, 20 minutes, half an hour or whatever. Right. So it really wasn't long. So I, but I think things get more complicated. I will say though, that, that if you experienced it on the sort of like hub area down that like sort of galaxy river or whatever it's, it's called. There's, I felt like, like the first time I opened that area or got to that area, I was like, there's so much going on. Yeah. There's too many like particles almost happening. Like I get what they're going for, but I feel like there's too much happening.

[00:54:38] I don't, I don't really know why this needs to be so complicated. And then eventually I was like, oh, I see what they're doing here. Okay. Oh, I just, I just pressed forward to follow this path. It's a very small gripe. I don't think it's like a big issue per se, but like. It's very visually busy. Yeah. It's, it's too, it's overly busy. I didn't have any issues with the frame rate, but I did feel like, oh, wow. This is, it feels like they're, they're trying to do too much with this very small detail that really didn't need it. But that's funny. Yeah.

[00:55:08] In, in the Dreamcast version, they changed the menu. Oh, okay. And it's totally different. It's almost like a overhead style. Um, you, you still like move around the map, but it's like a little bit more of a traditional hub world. I prefer that. Think like Crash Bandicoot. Think like Crash Bandicoot. It's kind of like that. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, go like point to point to point. Yeah. Um, it's just not that like viewing angle.

[00:55:37] Um, I actually missed the N64 version. I actually prefer that hub world. Okay. I just like, um, I know where I'm navigating to, I guess, because I've just played it so much. So I just know that he does like the little animations where he, he's running down the branch in the background and he's, you know, I love that. Cool idea. I think that's, that's nice to have that sort of added touch. Again, it's, it's like a design choice, which are, which I, which I get, but, uh, uh, that's, I mean, that's a very minor, a minor gripe either way.

[00:56:06] Cause it's still like, it's a hub world, right? You're just selecting a level. It's not spending a ton of time there. Yeah. Um, I think it looks really cool though, which I think is, that's got to count for something, but I do wonder about the, the frame rate issues because like, are you watching the stream at all? Because like, I don't see any. No, there's none on this. This is the N64 version that you have playing in the background. Yeah, it is. Yeah. And this is similar to my experience, but this is basically what mine looked like. Yeah.

[00:56:35] But I played, I did play when I recorded it for like my, I did a mysteries video on it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, oh, I should have mentioned it off the top. I'm terrible. Sorry. Well, that'll be, that's a fun one. If you guys want to watch a mysteries video, I don't need to plug it. It's fine. You know what? If, if you guys will, uh, like, uh, tolerate this for a second, I can't think of the actual word I'm trying to say. But I can turn on my TV real quick and boot up my N64 and like mess with the settings real quick just to see. Yeah. Go for it.

[00:57:05] Go for it. Yeah. Yeah. Let me, yeah. Give me, give me a second. Let me take care of that. The thing I wanted to, I wanted to ask Jiggy, cause we haven't quite gotten it to with, with you. We, I feel bad. I feel like we kind of like skipped over a little bit, but, um, you, uh, because you had so much experience with this, like, I know it's, I know nostalgia is sort of like a, uh, a strong drug for everybody. One hell of a drug. It's a hell of a drug. Um, like, like, what do you think like latched you to this game? Like, is it the platforming?

[00:57:33] It wasn't Ray man, just the sort of art direction we've been talking about that we all kind of enjoyed. Like, I don't know. Did it just feel better to you compared to some other, some others and stuff? Like what, what do you think? Like, I don't know how stuck with you as long as it, as long as it had. Uh, well, the atmosphere is a big part of that. Sure. I felt like everything he was saying at the beginning, how he was talking about how it just captured, like, it all feels like a dream. Yeah, absolutely. I agree. I was like nodding.

[00:58:03] I'm like, yeah, that's, that is like one of my main draws to this game was just the, the whole vibes. Yeah. The whole game is just so weird. I think I never got bored because every level felt different, even though there was that familiarizing, like, 3D platforming stuff. There was some where you have to ride the shell and you have to go, like, upscale, scale a wall. And all of a sudden you're upside down and you've got to figure out, like, different gravity mechanics. And then there's, like, you scam. They do a lot with the camera and stuff, too. Yeah.

[00:58:32] They do a lot of, like, cinematic styles with the camera. Just, like, sometimes, like you said, climbing a wall. Oh, it changes and it sort of pulls this, like, weird angle. Not weird angle. I actually think it's, it's, it's interesting. They do a lot of unique things with the way you, you approach what feels like could be, like, a very simple moment. In the same way that I love the idea of Stop and Swap with Banjo-Kazooie, I love Rayman 2.

[00:58:57] It's got this, like, mystique kind of, like, there's a secret around the corner, like, everywhere. There are alternate paths. It's, you know, finding the cages that are hidden, like, that was fun to me. Yeah. Collecting things isn't always fun to me, but it is in Rayman 2 for me. Like, even this sequence right here with, there's treasure, right? You have an option to select take the treasure or don't take the treasure. I love it.

[00:59:25] And if you take the treasure, it gives you, like, a fake ending to the game, which is fantastic. It's so funny. I captured this when I was playing it here. I'm going to see, like, the video. It's right there. So, basically, you go through this, like, semi-boss fight, I guess you could call it, I would say. And then this, like, creature, which is, like, this weird, I don't know, goblin head thing with long arms. I don't know. Whatever. I just called him Mike Wazowski. Yeah. Creepy Mike Wazowski. That's, yeah.

[00:59:54] I actually know his name. Oh, what's the name? I forget. I don't even know if he says it. Wow. And now I was thinking Polakiss. Polakiss is not. That's the spirit of the world. That's the good guy. This is a... I can't remember. Oh, no. Why am I forgetting? It's like Ja... It's in, like, this creepy world, right? You're kind of, like, in, like, a nightmare world, almost, is what it is.

[01:00:17] So, anyways, what happens is you go into their treasure room full of gold and treasure and stuff. And, like, Jiggy said, it gives you an option to choose, I want all the treasure or I don't need it. And then if you say, I want all the treasure, it takes you to this, like you said, fake ending of Rayman being fat on a beach with a bunch of coins around him. I want to see if the sound comes through. I want to...

[01:00:49] And then it just says, the end, and zooms out. He's on this tiny, tiny island with a bunch of coins. And he's, like, a giant... Basically the size of a bowling ball and stuff. And then it just resets you back to that point and you basically have to choose, I don't want it. Yeah. But that is the... When you're talking about, like, atmosphere or vibe or whatever, that's the type of humor and great stuff that this franchise, I would say, in general has.

[01:01:18] But this game specifically, like, it doesn't need to do something like that. That was completely unexpected and I absolutely loved it. I figured something weird would happen and that wasn't the choice that they wanted me to make, so to speak. So I did it anyways and I'm so happy that I did. Because it was so funny. I laughed out loud. It was awesome. His name is Jano, by the way. Jano. I had to look it up, but I'm like, yeah, okay. J-A-N-O. Gotcha. Real quick, I am playing it right now.

[01:01:44] The frame rate is significantly better in low res mode. Like, it's like night and day. Interesting. Okay. Whatever the default is, is the way I played it. I've done it both. Yeah. I do remember a couple dips, but I don't remember it being, like, something that hindered my experience. Yeah. Same. Yeah. But I don't know. But I do think it, I mean, it definitely plays better at a higher frame rate because playing on the Dreamcast.

[01:02:11] I will say, though, my preference in controller is still the 64. Oh, I love the 64. Out of all. It feels good with this. Yeah. Out of all the ways I played it. I know it's cliche to say on a Nintendo 64 podcast, but this controller gets way too much shit it doesn't deserve. Absolutely. Absolutely, man. Like, I think at times growing up, I was like, oh, this is weird. Or, oh, I liked my Super Nintendo. Or, oh, I just, I'm going to have my keyboard and mouse. Or, you know. But. It is so.

[01:02:41] Listen, I always have to argue for it because I understand when people say, oh, it's dated or, you know, they're confused by it. I'm like, sure. I'm like, yes, the analog stick is not the greatest, but it's solid. Ooh, look at that. Look at that gray beauty. Look at that. Look at that. Yeah. But it's got a six button configuration for fighting games. Yep. It's got a D-pad that they never used for some reason. Which they should have used for.

[01:03:11] It still feels good in your hand. Like, it's ergonomic. Yes, gun trigger. Yeah. It's a gun trigger. The best use of those D-pads is the wrestling games because the wrestling games, you need the D-pad. That's why. Yeah. That's the most use I ever got of that D-pad is playing those wrestling games. Yeah, it's, it works for this. I think also another thing, whether it's just the, I mean, I don't think the controller is just at play here with this, but the camera is pretty good in this. It's good. Yeah.

[01:03:38] Which, which can be tough and very hit and miss with 3D platformers. I think that it really worked with this one. I think it really helps that it has that lock on mechanic. Yeah. The lock behind. I love games that have that. Like, I very often try to play 3D games in general, like any kind of action or platform or whatever. I like just being behind my character as opposed to even slightly off a bit. I don't know. Maybe it's an OCD thing. I don't know what it is, but, but I enjoy that.

[01:04:04] And the fact that there was an option there, which isn't always the case for this generation of games. That's not, it doesn't always allow you to do that. And like we said, every once in a while, there's sort of like a camera change that the game forces you to play within. Most of the time that worked, I would say I didn't have too many gripes with that. Every once in a while. I would say it's 50-50. I had a couple issues with the, with some of the camera angles. Okay.

[01:04:29] Specifically, like any time that, I mean, the game was, the gameplay was designed around it. Thankfully, it's not like they threw unfair jumps at you when they switched over to those camera angles. But there's a lot of moments where like you're having to take jumps that you're not 100% comfortable with because you can't always see exactly where you're trying to go. Which is fine. But they, they design it around, they design around it pretty well for the most part. But I don't know.

[01:04:58] I, I, when it got to the locked angles, I was not always the biggest fan. Specifically when you have like those platforming levels where you're being chased by the pirate ship and you have to like run across the, like the, just the platforms, the, the railway or the. The bridges that are collapsing and stuff. That are collapsing and everything. I was not a fan. Like the, I was, I was streaming it last night and a friend, a friend of the show, Troy, AKA Troidal Power. Yep.

[01:05:28] They were, they were watching in stream and they were just laughing at me because I was trying to tell the blockbuster story. And I was getting so fucking pissed off at those levels. Cause the, the, when you, when you're running across one of those bridges and it gets hit by a bomb by the pirate ship, it will launch off. But you can't always time it right. So if you, if you, if you jump literally like a second before that bridge goes, you don't have enough distance to make it across it.

[01:05:55] If you jump a second late, you can still get off of it, but now you're jump, you're suddenly launched to the right or to the left and you have to compensate after the jump for the landing. Yeah. Which if you're not expecting really throws you off. Yeah. You do have to do some of those, those specific sequences. You, you kind of have to do a few times. Um, I'll say this is something I forgot to mention before.

[01:06:16] And I think, um, we were talking about sort of some of the platforming stuff, semi, semi, semi related to this is that those types of sequences, which are, you know, fairly difficult at times and are supposed to be like a little bit of extra challenge. This game has a really great sort of checkpoint mechanic that I really liked where on those types of, yeah, those types of sequences or any really even like more simpler ones where there just happens to be an enemy.

[01:06:41] There's a green, uh, thing that you collect lum that you collect that basically is where you will respond. And basically if you die halfway through the sort of sequence that's ahead of you, you just respond right to that point. And you start from the beginning. All you do is lose a little bit of health and then you can just continue going and sort of learn from your mistakes. I think when they did that, I thought that was great. Some sequences are a little bit longer and are a little bit of a pain, but Hey, that's what you get from platformers. You want a little bit of challenge. That's just how it goes.

[01:07:09] So I was fine with that, but, um, just in general, that idea, it's not like you dying. Oh, we're going to spawn you back to the beginning of the level. You got to like, there are specific points, you know, that if you collected a green one, if I mess up, this is where I'm going to start from. And I, I, I really enjoyed that. I thought that was a great design choice. Unless you lost all your health. If you lose all your health, they make you start back at it though. They even, I never did. I never lost. I did a whole time. I did a handful of times. Yeah.

[01:07:38] Um, but thankfully it wasn't, it wasn't too bad. There was a couple of times. Uh, what is it? I, when I was playing last night, one of the reasons I stopped is because I kept, I lost all my life. And then I would have to start over one of the hardest sections of the game or one from, uh, sorry. We're not the hardest sections. Start over a level from the beginning that I was already super far in. And I was like, man, I don't want to do this again. I just did this. But then, uh, what is it?

[01:08:07] Before we recorded tonight, I just, uh, got to, so I guess as a disclaimer, I did not beat this game in preparation. I got three quarters of the way through. I got the third out of the four masks that you're supposed to collect. Yep. And I got the third mask and I was worried because like, uh, the, the level leading up to, up to that boss is pretty long.

[01:08:30] Like there's a lot of like, you're, you're riding like these, you get this, uh, power up, which then disappears immediately after the fucking level, which is such, so fucking mean. Like, don't do that to me. Don't give me in. What a tease. Don't give me unlimited, like hover, like where you can literally fly indefinitely. Now, since you both beat this, do you ever get that back? Or is it only just, it's just that level. It's just for, it's just for what a cock block. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. That's what it is. Don't fucking give. Don't fucking do that.

[01:08:59] That's, that's one thing about this is like, there's so much talk at the beginning of this game about, I need to get my powers back. My power. What, what powers? Then there's like no powers. What powers? You get one, you get, you get your energy balls and you get your hover. And then like, and then like a power, a powered up, uh, uh, you know, attack where you can hold on to be a little bit longer, which, which is fine. But I, I, I know, I know Rayman's not supposed to be, you know, Jiggy, you mentioned Mega Man. He's not supposed to be Mega Man. He's not supposed to have all these different moves. I get it.

[01:09:28] That's not, that's not what Rayman really ever is. It's really about the platforming. That's fine. Something. But don't, you know, but don't tell us you're going to have a lot of powers and then you don't have a lot of powers. Exactly. Yeah. Well, see, they count, they count like being able to swing from the purple lumps as a power. That's true. That's true. They count, uh, your hover as a power. And actually, if you watch as you acquire lumps throughout the game, a, your health increases. Yep.

[01:09:58] Um, but as you keep every silver lump you get, regardless of what it does, if it gives you a new power or not, your shot actually gets a little bit stronger. Oh, I didn't even notice that. And if you look, if you look at the start of the game versus like, say now on the stream, your little, the original like white energy ball that you throw, it gets a little bit bigger. Hmm. And then when you get eventually in this level in particular, you get the charge shot, which makes it golden and bigger.

[01:10:29] And then, uh, you can further max it out with the golden gloves. Yes. Which you just randomly pick up in some stages. You just randomly pick up. Yeah. And then you have, what is it? It gives you like three hits before you lose it or something like that. So. Yeah. Um, which is cool. Which, or three, or three like deaths, like not losing all your health. Or fall off a cliff or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I didn't find, I didn't find the game overly difficult. I mean, as far as like enemies go, I feel like they're just kind of in the way.

[01:10:57] It's more really about the platforming, which I think it should be. I don't know. That's the way I see it. The spike in difficulty, the last like two levels, three levels. Yeah. It's, um, it jumps. Oh, I'm not looking forward to that. Yeah. It gets pretty. There's one level in particular where you learn that the shells can actually fly. Oh yeah. Um, and when you get to that point, there is one pirate, robo pirate enemy in particular

[01:11:27] that has just a stupid amount of health. Yes. And he drills into the ground. And so like you hit him once and he just immediately drills in the ground and then pops up somewhere else. And if he hits you, he does a ton of damage. But if he doesn't hit you, the fight just takes forever because every time you land a hit, he just disappears. Yeah. You know, and that's for me, the weakest point of Rayman too, especially like replaying it now is the combat.

[01:11:56] Yeah. Um, it is, it is the weakest thing. It works and it's fine. Um, fine is a good descriptor for it. Yeah. It's just fine. That's all you need. It's fine. Yeah. It's, I think, I almost think it would be better if you could just, because you, you can spam your attack. B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B. That's all you need to do. Bro, it's super fast. That's all you need to do. But the thing is the enemies have like, uh, invincibility frames. You hit them once. They flash very long too. Yeah.

[01:12:23] It pauses for like five seconds before they can be hit again. And oftentimes they'll have like the drill thing where they'll just like move away. It just prolongs fights that I would have just preferred to have them be like two seconds. Like I would just, just let me spam it and just kill them. Like, yeah, I agree. And six more enemies. I don't care. Just let me just blast them. You just like hammer the B button. Just let me come in. Yeah. I think, I think again, like it's one of those things where I think it works better when

[01:12:50] it's simpler, which is towards the first, like, let's say quarter or third of the game when it's just as simple. Oh, there's one guy, he happens to be up on a cliff. I filmed it all right. And sometimes I like how they did that because it's like the camera locks and it kind of puts you on like a, an angle on the ground and behind Rayman and the guy's like up on a cliff and you're just, and it's really just a fun way to show you something different. I think it's not really about making it difficult or anything, but then when they do, like you mentioned that, that drill guy in particular, now that you mentioned, I was like, oh yeah, that's that one that was like, really?

[01:13:20] Do I have to keep it? Really? You know? Um, it felt, it felt too much. So I, I, I'm, I'm with you on that. Um, it's not terrible. It's just fine. I think the reason why it feels better at the beginning is because the enemies don't have as much health. Yeah. As much health. They don't need, they don't need to do more complicated things. Like it really doesn't need to be that kind of game. Like it just does. Yeah. The platforming is hard enough. Like that offers a good enough challenge and you add an enemy on top of that and like

[01:13:49] you're platforming, you're avoiding shots. You're trying to, you know, you're trying to, you know, you're trying to that's enough of a challenge. You don't have to make the enemies like take forever to defeat. Yeah. And I know it's, I know it's like riders. The spiders are like that too. Totally different enemy type, but they take just tons of hits. Yeah. It's like, come on. Or what are those? Like the black things that are kind of like shifted around those. Oh, those are, those are annoying to hit. Yeah. I think they're supposed to be like caterpillars. Oh, they look like those weren't hard to take out.

[01:14:18] I'm talking with a little individual, like soot balls that chase you around. Yeah. That's what I was thinking of. Yeah. They, they look like a, what's the, what's the super Mario ones? The little like black dudes that go up and down, like in a Bowser's castle. They look like those guys. Oh, I know. Yeah. Whatever those things are called. That's what they reminded me of. I almost wonder though. Remember I was, I said that they took inspiration from Miyazaki. They almost look like the little soot things from Spirited Away. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.

[01:14:46] There's go ahead. Yeah. I was just going to say one of the other side. So like, I'm with you that the combat is just fine. I think the platforming is really good. Just in general, good, like really solid 3d platforming for the N64. Some of the areas that I'm not a fan of. I liked, I liked this. Let me put it this way. I actually, the, any level where you are riding some sort of a vehicle, I think is hit or miss. I think so.

[01:15:13] Like when they, when you get them, sometimes they come way too fast. Like they, they make you fly way too fast. And thankfully it is still designed around it, but it, it makes you, it's very easy to kind of screw it up. The ones specifically that I hate are the ones where you have to ride those bullets because once again, it's a mechanic. They don't teach you well. Like why would I consider trying to ride a fucking bullet with legs? Like, cause it sounds like a horse. That's why.

[01:15:43] If that's the only hint, then it's the only, me too. I was like, oh, it's a horse and it gets tired. Oh, there is a sign I could have sworn in the first time that says you can ride it, but I'm like, okay. So I tried to jump on top of it, but that you just get killed. I'm like, well, what the fuck am I supposed to do? You have to run away from it until it tires itself out and then you can ride it. And then your little, your little fairy buddy is like, uh, you should, he says something

[01:16:10] about like, you should try to, to ride it or tame it, tame it. That's it. These are tame. I'm like tame. Okay. So do I, do I, you know, attack it? And then it like eventually gives up. Like, what do I do? Nope. Just keeps exploding. And it took me a few minutes to figure it out. I'm like, okay, I guess I get it. But are you taming it when all it's doing is getting to whatever? Maybe it was just a, I just looked at, I don't have time for that bullshit anymore.

[01:16:34] Like if you're like, I don't mind games that make you try to like, if it's a puzzle, I will take the time to try to figure out the puzzle. Sure. But that is a gameplay mechanic and not a puzzle. Like that is, they're, they're trying to tell you how to do, they are trying to teach you a new gameplay mechanic and they are not doing a good job. And an essential one too, because it's in multiple levels. It's the only way to get past certain points in that specific stage.

[01:17:04] Like, yeah. Well, and once you jump on top of that bullet, if you, if it's not angled in the right way, you have time to turn it. But if you don't turn it far enough in the right direction, you can like, you, you still have a chance. It'll launch. Yeah. Excuse me. And you still have a chance to direct it even after it launches. But if you're just, it's a lot slower of, it's a lot tighter of a turn. Yeah. It cannot do tight turns.

[01:17:29] So if you are not at the right spot for it to, to launch, then you're going to have a very hard time of surviving because you'll crash right into wall and die. And it explodes, which takes life off you. And like, yeah, those, all that. It's a pain in the ass. I, I, I don't mind the sections where you ride the bullets. Like the actual game, like moment to moment gameplay of those sections are not awful. I'm not a huge fan, but they, it breaks up the, the, the gameplay really well.

[01:17:58] So I like it when they have those things. I just think the execution of it wasn't the strongest. That's fair. Yeah. I'm kind of with you on that. It's takes a lot of trial and error. A lot of the times. And, and that's all part of platforming. I get that. Um, but those ones didn't feel as satisfying as like, like this is what, like what we're watching right now is one of the ones where the pirate ships firing at you. This is the one where I lost my shit that I was talking about. This is what I played. I think yesterday I got, I was at this point with like the first one I played these ones.

[01:18:28] I much preferred over those, you know, ride the sort of vehicle type types. I like these better, but again, I'm sort of like, Oh, I get this. This is what Rayman does. Cause in origins and in legends, this is, this is the type of stuff that that game is built around and I love it. So that's just my, my style. I think of what I prefer, but, um, yeah, I, I want, you know, it's, it's a choice. It doesn't work for everybody. I like the ideas and I like the mechanics in the section that we have up on the video.

[01:18:56] You know, you're getting chased for the, for the people not walking, you're getting chased by a pirate ship and you're running across all these bridges and you're having to dodge the bullets, dodge the cannonballs. And they're also exploding, blowing up the bridges. So you have to make sure you dodge the gaps in the bridges and stuff like that. Yeah. This is where I had an issue with the camera, especially when you have a early 3d platformer like this, where you're having to run in a spiral. It is so easy to go off the edge.

[01:19:26] It is so easy because like, I do think that some modern games have had a better time with like, you know, I recently beat Astro Bot. Astro Bot won't let you run off the edge. It will purposely stop you. So before you do that, then if you can still die, if you like jump off the edge, but if you're like running, it will stop you automatically and it will, it'll freeze you there. You can't keep like, if you hit forward, Astro Bot will just stay hovering like, whoa, whoa.

[01:19:56] Really? Interesting. Okay. Yeah. I'm not saying I necessarily want all games to do that. Yeah. I don't actually think it's a hundred percent that necessary in Astro Bot because it controls so well in something like this. I would have loved something like that because the, the camera angle makes it so hard to like determine where you are in relative space. Uh, and the way the camera moves, um, it's not awful just to be clear. And it's not in every sequence. It's just some of them are like that. Yeah.

[01:20:27] Yeah. It has the same issue. I just played crash bandicoot and it has the same issue when doing a almost like pseudo 2d segment. It's because you still have some depth. You don't have a lot of depth, but you have some depth. So when you're going, you want to, your brain automatically goes, okay, side to side, but you have this slightly forward, slightly back. And so when you jump from a platform to platform, especially with a joystick, you'll do these

[01:20:56] subtle, like slightly forward, slightly back movements that you may not even be aware of. And if you can't directly see your shadow, you don't, you're not aware of, you don't have like good spatial awareness and it, it does, it does screw you over. I've always had that issue with the crash games or at least the first couple specifically those games. That's why I've never really gravitated towards those early ones, especially the first, because I was like, this doesn't feel right. And, and the way that you're describing is pretty much the reason why, whether I could

[01:21:26] articulate it or not at the time when I first started playing those games, like that's, that's what it is. And yeah, it's, it's early mechanics. It's they're trying to figure things out, you know, not like, that's the way it is, but like, it doesn't, but it does. It adds difficulty for no reason. Really? It's not, but that's not the type of difficulty you want. Unintentional. Yeah. Unintentional. Exactly. Right. That's actually funny that you mentioned crash because that section. Yeah. One of the, one of the, um, one of the reasons why I, I, when I was looking up sort of some

[01:21:55] of the development stuff of this and, and when you sent us the, the video of the double fine thing and stuff too, I was like, Oh, like the first one was 2d. A lot of the more recent ones are 2d. I know it's not like, it's the same people that made the games, but Rayman too was supposed to be another 2d platformer. And then they saw that crash was coming out and what crash did like the crash bandicoot games. And they go, Oh, we got to do something similar to that.

[01:22:21] And that's why they moved this game to 3d was because they saw what crashed it a year or two before, or I probably even more three years before or something. So this game was supposed to be an early 2d platformer, maybe on the 64, maybe on the PlayStation. Like they were sort of trying to figure it out and develop it that way. And then they, yeah. And then they saw that there was the capability of doing something like this. Um, and crash was one of the first things that they referenced, at least that I saw to say like, Oh, we can do more.

[01:22:50] And that's kind of how they gravitated, at least started to gravitate early on towards what they had. And I, Oh, the, the first crash bandicoot game. Okay. That makes sense. The 97 or something. 96, 96, 96. I, for, for some reason I thought it was 95. I'm like, that doesn't make any sense. Cause Ray man one came out in 95, but if Ray man one came out in 95 crash came out in 96, it would make sense that they would use that as an inspiration towards developing your next game.

[01:23:20] Cause it'd be about two, two and a half years later that this came out. So, um, this was supposed to, this came out in 99. Yeah. It came out in 99. The initial development started in 96. So the 64 was just coming out. It was, you know, this is sort of a, you know, ladder third, you know, of the, of the 64's life cycle and stuff. And I think whether the way it controls, the way the camera is, the way it looks, the sort of choice of all the camera angles that we were talking about, like there's little things

[01:23:49] here that you're like, Oh yeah, they probably wouldn't have done this in 96 or 97. It's good that this game came out when it did, because I think it just does more and does it well for the most part that I think it, it, it goes, that does a much better job. So, um, I wanted to try and find before I keep, I keep forgetting the, some of the sound I wanted to get one of the ones I just, I had it up before any dialogue ever, any dialogue while you're looking that up real quick.

[01:24:13] I just want to shout out the, um, one thing, uh, this game was they, they, when they were designing this game, they actually purposely wanted to keep the develop development team small because at the time Ubisoft actually had teams of over a hundred people at one point in time. Um, which is a lot for that time, which is a lot. That's an insane amount for late, the late nineties. They only had about like six or eight people working on this game. There's like six or eight devs. That's it. Oh man.

[01:24:41] It's a very small development team and they built this. They, uh, Michelle, uh, was taught me. I keep forgetting his name. I'm sorry. Ansel. Yeah. Michelle. Michelle. Uh, he was talking about how they almost did this in spite of Ubisoft. They, they literally were like, we want to prove to them that we can make a game on, uh, with a small team. And when Tim Schafer's like, wait, so you were like, you were fighting to keep your team small. And he goes, yeah, that's what we were doing.

[01:25:11] And he goes, man, I feel like I'm constantly fighting for more. Like what's going on with a guy that experienced like that with that guy. Yeah. It was actually, yeah. They had to fight to make the second psychonauts game for, you know, 12 years later or something. You mentioned psychonauts. This, this game was a direct influence on Tim Schafer for psychonauts. I could see that from design, like from like, uh, aesthetic and things like textures. Textures. Yeah. He had vibe. Yeah. He said the textures in that interview too.

[01:25:41] Like he was specifically the, the cloud, like the sky box with the clouds moving. He really liked, they reused something similar in, in somewhere in psychonauts. I forget exactly where, but yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. This is one of the sound things I wanted to go is, is glow box doing his little like chance. These are hilarious. Like what is he doing?

[01:26:07] And I guess he's got a power to like summon lightning bolts and I don't know. I like how his hands are basically just flaccid the whole time. Like, yeah. Also what's great about the more recent Rayman TD ones is you can play as him. It's, it's amazing. Yeah. Glowbox is silly and he's the only person. Lee, Lee the fairy. Actually Rayman might say Lee the fairy at the very beginning, but other than that, I, he's the, like the only person that his name actually gets said out loud.

[01:26:37] Yeah. Yeah. Every once in a while there's a, or every time there's a yay or yeah. Yeah. And then the other thing too, I noticed is the, one of the first things I noticed because it's obviously at the beginning of the game is the opening has like great music. I thought like the opening sort of cinematic thing was awesome. That is. Yeah. Already. It's good. Yeah. It's really good.

[01:27:04] Like, why is, why is it like this like creepy vibe type thing? This is great. So I did this a long time ago when I made, like when my channel first started, I did an analysis video on this game. Yeah. And, uh, back before I even had like a format or anything. Right. But one of the things I pointed out, which is so true. This is one of those songs in like games as a kid where I would like sing the, the title of the game.

[01:27:34] So when it got to the music, I'd be like, Ray man to the greatest. Like, and I still, to this day, we'll do that every time I hear it. That makes sense. I could see it. It just fits. Yeah. It works. I think, I think when I, cause I played the first couple of levels on a stream and then I, I just didn't have time to sort of stream it and did it on my own time and stuff. I was like, Ooh, this is a banger tune. Yeah. As the kids say, this is great. It's so sick.

[01:28:04] Like there's depth. Here we go. You know, here it comes. I think this music might've been one of the reasons this game was so mysterious to me. Yeah. Very good golden eye there with this. I was just going to say that is, that is definitely golden eye. Yeah. It's so good. It's awesome. Yeah. Um, yeah, I, I think, I think we've kind of covered most or, or near, nearly most of, of what the game has to offer.

[01:28:32] I, I, I do think that it's, um, I do think it's a very good game. Like I, I really, I didn't expect to like, I wasn't necessarily surprised. Cause you know, Jiggy, you've talked so, so highly about the game and, and I have heard and seen other things that like, Oh, this is a really good platform or whatever. And I, again, I have the love for those more recent ones and stuff, but I was like, how do you do that in 3d? Is it, does it work? Should it, you know, what should I actually really expect? How does it actually feel? Cause not all 2d platformers work for me or 3d platformers work for me.

[01:29:02] I usually prefer the 2d approach, especially with Mario games. I'm the one, one person in the world who's like, yeah, you know, Odyssey's fine. It's fine. I love Odyssey. You know, I know every, a lot of people do. And I'm just like, no, I'd rather have, uh, you know, Mario and 2d. Super Mario world or whatnot. World or, or, you know, wonder was just incredible. Wonder was great. Wonder's incredible to me. Wonder. Oh, it's one of the best Mario games they've ever made. I think it's, it's amazing.

[01:29:31] Um, anyways, that, that's usually where I gravitate part of that's nostalgia, whatever. But I, I do think that, that, um, that this game's awesome. And I do think it looks great. It sounds good. Despite some of the mechanics that we've talked about, I, I do think it's still worth playing. And, and regardless of how you find what, regardless of whether you actually played on the 64 or not, um, you know, maybe it's, maybe it's a dreamcast one. Like, you know, Jiggy, you've mentioned that that's sort of, they've said that that's like

[01:29:57] the preferred way to play it or the best version, the definitive version, definitive version. I, I still think this plays great. It feels good. Like we said, the controller is good with it. Um, you know, when you have good camera control in the 64, I think it really does make a huge difference too. And this is one of those games that has that. So, um, I, yeah, I thought it was great. I thought it was a great game. So I'm, I'm happy we're able to play it. Um, Jiggy, you more recently played it on dreamcast. Obviously just, you know, reinforces how much you love it. I assume. Oh yeah.

[01:30:27] I sat there and I played through in one stream. Oh yeah. That's right. It was almost, it was almost eight hours long. And, uh, I, do I regret it? No. At the time I did. I honestly like was trying to remember because before that had been a few years since I played the game. Right. I got about four hours in and I had a significant amount of lumps and I was like, well, I feel like I'm almost done.

[01:30:57] And to be fair, I think I could have beaten it faster if I didn't decide, oh, I'm going to collect every lump. Oh yeah. Don't do that. I'm going to 100. Well, I did. And that's what took me eight hours. Decisions were made. I feel like I could have, I could have cranked it out at probably like five hours to be honest. A couple hours less probably. Yeah. I was, yeah, I was really, I was really flying through. I struggled with a few, like the shell level to get all the lums.

[01:31:22] Um, honestly finding certain things, um, just, just cause I couldn't remember. Yeah. Um, but I, I would say for the most part, I probably was an extreme case of like, I knew exactly what to do at almost every turn. Yeah. So that probably sped me up quite a bit. Uh, but it, it is a fun experience and I personally prefer the controls on the N64, but otherwise everything else I prefer on the Dreamcast. Gotcha. Yeah.

[01:31:51] Um, I, for me, it's mostly about the voice, right? Cause you said that the PlayStation one is no, the Dreamcast version is just like the N64 version, just higher resolution and higher frame rate. Great. And then, well, then it adds like, um, it adds glow box. It, well, it adds like these additional mini games that you get from, I'm trying to remember exactly how you do it. So it has a little glow box village where you can actually unlock.

[01:32:20] Oh, you have to find these little like gems in the levels. So it adds like an additional collectible. Okay. And every time you find two gems, two gems or three gems, you can go to the glow box village, which is in the, uh, the first level, the glade, the glades level. Where the, where the kids are like where they were. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That first level, there's like a little section that you can navigate to that doesn't exist

[01:32:46] in other versions and he can go in and it's glow box village and his wife is there and all their little kids. And every time you beat one of the mini games, you unlock like a special or two special glow box children. So like they could be like a glowing white glow box baby or like a pink glow box baby with a big bow on her head. And it's like, and it's just a collectible. Does it do anything? No, it's just, no, it's just a fun little thing.

[01:33:13] I, I want to say that there's something you can do with like your dreamcast, um, VMU, but I didn't, I didn't really dive into that too much. Gotcha. It wasn't really that important to me. I was just trying to play the game and, and get through it and get as much as you could on the way. Yeah. And if you love the shells, Josh, you're going to love the end when you're flying. Yeah. Um, that, what are the shell? I don't know if the, Oh, the shells are what you call the bullets. Oh yeah. That's what they're called. They're called shells. Yeah.

[01:33:42] Cause they're supposed to be like the, like a shell of a bullet. Like it's supposed to be like a shotgun shell or something. I think is, is the idea. I forgot. Yeah. Well, growing up, I always thought they were pencils. I could see that. I see that. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Um, but yeah. They're not clear what they are. Should be honest. Yeah. They're not. No, just because it explodes doesn't mean it's a bullet. Like, yeah. Yeah. But the flying ones you're going to love because it controls fine. Which ones?

[01:34:11] But the flying ones, like the barrels, the shells, Oh, the flying shells. I was like, sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Because you, so you, you don't have to tame them. They're often just sitting there and you can just hop on, but they fly, they fly forward. And then when you move the joystick, you can tilt up and down to go up and down. Like, like a typical, like flying a plane, like Star Fox, you know, but when you go left or right, they like pivot, like in their rotate. Yeah. It rotates more.

[01:34:41] And then you have to, you have to use, I'm trying to remember the controls. There was one, there's that one level where you have like the chair where it's like on a track and it pivots. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's that, but you're, you're moving forward. You're doing, so you're going up and down and you're spinning and then you have to use the R button and then you can kind of like rotate or tilt and whatever. It's a little convoluted. It's a little too convoluted.

[01:35:06] It feels weird, but it, it weirdly enough, after you do it enough, it starts to make sense. It's like, it's like that meme with the math equations. It's like all of a sudden you just figure it out. You're like, oh, you know, and then you're on the other side and then you just, you just blank out. You're just, yeah. Definitely a steep, deep learning curve. It's not, it's not as you go Zen for a moment or something. Yeah.

[01:35:36] Yeah. Yeah. You have to get in that groove or whatever. So. Yeah. And it's, I will say it's easier if you don't, uh, because the final boss does use it. That uses it. That's one of the levels that uses it. Um, but if you're not collecting all the lumps, it's not as big of a deal, but if you are collecting all the lumps, it, it definitely makes it. I feel, I think I got like, I don't know. I want to say like 70% of them or something. I don't know exactly what number it was. I should have marked it down, but I, you know, just going and every once in a while I backtrack and go to the other stages where it's like, oh, you can access this part now.

[01:36:05] I did that a couple of times. Yeah. I think I, I think I got most things, but I didn't like go crazy with it. And it still took some time to get through the game. It's not despite like what I said, you know, a while ago where like some of the stages to me felt early on, at least felt like short. Um, I still think that the, uh, oh, here's, here's one of the bullets. Yeah. This is a shell stages. Yeah. This one was always stupid. Yeah.

[01:36:34] This one's a little weird. It's a little too, too, 3d. If that makes sense. Well, the, it's like the gravity, your center of gravity is like weird. Um, it moves too fast for what they want you to do that. Yeah. You, oh, you fit, you figure it out that it gets wonky. Like when you start going, like you go off a ledge and you're just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I, it's like, you're almost like your gravity is lessened and you're like moving in like a circular. It's weird.

[01:37:01] It's like, you want to, you want to go forward and like, it's, it's really hard. I can't even explain it to you guys. I just saw it. Using it. It's like, it's like a super Mario galaxy when you're trying to go around a level or something on a planet, planet, planet. Yeah. And you, you jump and you, you, you get to, you get a little bit like right on the edge of that planet's galaxy or gravity, excuse me. Yes. And so then it starts propelling you around in a weird physics way.

[01:37:30] It literally looks like that. And that's what a weird idea to do this late in the game. It is super weird. And honestly though, it's kind of fun. Uh, at least you're not. Not in like a tight quarter. I think like if there was a lot of obstacles and stuff, it'd be like, Oh my God, this sucks. It, I, I would, this, this particular sequence sent me for a bit of a trip at first. And then, like you said, you get, I think you just sort of feel it.

[01:37:58] Like, I think I died once doing smack into the wall or something. You get the hang of it. I don't think it's great, but I, but it's not, it's not as bad as it looks from a distance. I think. You'll have a lot more fun if you don't collect all the lumps. Yeah. I mean, I'm just, I'm being, I'm being honest with you people. I, I collected it a hundred percent. I have a hundred percent Raymond to several different consoles, several different ways.

[01:38:25] I don't even, I don't even remember if you get anything for a hundred percent of it other than the satisfaction of knowing that you a hundred percent of Raymond to, and you have a really big health bar. And you have a really big health bar. You do get a really big health bar, which can be helpful for the final boss. It is. Yeah. But I would just challenge people to get good at the final boss. Yeah. Like just practice in the final boss rather than spending your time getting all the lumps. It's not easy, but a significant amount of lumps anyways. Yeah.

[01:38:52] It just, just by going through it, even if you, you get let, let hypothetically, if every stage had 50, if you got around in the thirties somewhere, you'll be fine. I think when you get to the end, like you're in that range, which I think kind of just happens most of the time. There's a couple of stages where I was kind of frustrated. Cause I was like, I missed one. Where did I miss that one? And I never went back. Cause I'm like, it's not, what's, what's that going to get me? That's it's, it's almost more of a pain when you're missing only one, because usually like

[01:39:18] if you're missing like four or five, they're usually grouped together in some way, shape or form. But when there's only one, then you're just checking every nook and cranny for it. So this is like, we'll talk about this when we actually get to Banjo Kazooie, but when I replayed it last summer, I want it to 100% everything. Cause I was like, I know 90% of this game pretty much without even trying. I can, I can collect almost everything later in the game. Cause you know, when you replay it as a kid, most of the time you replay it and you replay

[01:39:48] the first couple of stages, not the later ones. Right. So like the later ones, I had to think about it a little bit more. And in that last world where the different seasons, I can't remember the name of it. I was missing three or four notes and I could not fucking find them. And I'm like, I just don't have the time to search through essentially four worlds to try and find what these are. And I just stopped.

[01:40:16] And like, I think I 96% of the whole game or something. I'm like, it kind of bugs me, but Hey, I got to play it again. So I'm not that upset, you know? And, and, and this would be similar, like you have that, that love for this game jiggy that like, it might bug me, but also at least you've reached the point where you're like, yeah, it was fun, but you don't have to, you know? Like, yeah, you really don't. It's a stage of acceptance, you know? I will say one thing I do like about it is it doesn't really force you to backtrack at all.

[01:40:45] However, except one time, one time to rescue the other dude. And there's a, yeah, there's like a cage and it's in, unfortunately, one of the beginning levels. Yeah. Like you, you have to go back to the beginning level from a different side of the wall. Yeah. I tried to get that one. I tried to get that one on, on the first initial try and I'm like, what the fuck is going on? It teases you. It's like, it looks like you can make it. You can't get it. It looks like you can make it.

[01:41:14] I'm like, this is the one thing I looked up in this game was that I'm like, I don't understand. It's right there. But I know I can't make that jump. What am I missing? You don't have to go back in a level and like recollect everything like banjo. So that's, that's one thing. It's not going for it. That's right. Yeah, that's right. And at least the one level where you go and you rescue your, your buddy there, where you have to give them like the elixir or whatever, at least when that happens, it's not like you're doing the exact same level. He opens things up and you do something different after that. Yeah. And it makes the level bigger, which, which is fun.

[01:41:45] And he's kind of like a goofy character and kind of fun anyway. So I was like, oh, okay, this is worth it. Yeah. Yeah. Josh, any, any final thoughts on Rayman too? Are you, and I guess the sort of like part of the same question is, are you thinking about you're going back and wrapping it up? Like, oh, I'm going to beat it. I'm like four levels away. I'm not going to a hundred percent it, but I'll go back and beat it. I got this far. I might as well add it.

[01:42:13] Like I'm also doing, you know, on blue sky, I'm doing a games beaten list. I'm trying to see how many games I can beat this year, see if I can do better than last year. So far at the time of this recording, I'm up to 10 already, which I'm pretty happy about. Nice. Considering I, you know, I mean, Dave, you know, you're, you're a new dad. Good luck having time for gaming when you're trying to just survive, sleep and survive. Yeah. You know what?

[01:42:38] I had this really great idea that I was going to play avowed because I'm excited to play that. And I have game pass and I played it for an hour so far. So. Oh, yeah. I will not be adding that to my completed games anytime soon. That's for sure. I will say. Baldur's day three. Yeah. I mean, that game is never ending though. Yeah. And you're playing with a group too, which is, which is something too, right? Yeah. Which is fun, which is part of the fun. Right. So.

[01:43:06] I will say ever since becoming a dad though, my time management skills have gotten a lot better where I feel more productive than I ever have in my entire life. It took a little while, but. Yeah. No. So for final thoughts on Rayman too, I was pleasantly surprised with this, you know, like I knew it would not live up to the nostalgia in my head of, of it because all that it was in my head was an enigma. I didn't know.

[01:43:35] I don't, I didn't remember anything about the game. I just remembered the feeling that it gave me as a kid. So I already knew that going in that didn't detract it at all from, excuse me, didn't detract at all from my experience. I was very impressed. This is a really good N64 3D platformer, like a really, really, really good one for the era, for the era. Excuse me. Like we've talked about, it does have its flaws as, as all games do.

[01:44:02] But if you're looking for like an N64 3D platformer in the same vein of your Banjo Kazooie's of your Mario 64 is your Donkey Kong 64. You, this is different than all of those in the best way. It, it almost feels like this is a, this is a good example of like being able to make your own version of Mario 64, but because when people think of, you know, N64 platformers,

[01:44:31] they generally think of Mario and Banjo, right? Those are the two big ones. Which I think I mentioned like four times earlier, because I have so many original ideas. And if you're a fan of it, like Jiggy and I are Donkey Kong 64. Sure. But like, for the most part, like you think of Rare games and you think of Nintendo games, right? This game, I genuinely feel fits into the mold of those, but does not get the love that it deserves.

[01:44:57] I think this game is a lot better than people probably, I shouldn't say like, it doesn't get any shit. So I shouldn't say it's, it's a lot better than people say it is. It's, it's good and people should play it. People should at least try it out. It has its janky moments, but you can honestly write them off as like, that's what was normal at the time. Like, none of the janky moments in this game feel out of place for 1999 when this game first came out or whatever fucking year it came out. 90, yeah. 99.

[01:45:26] Yeah, 99. It does not feel janky at all for 1999. It feels like it fits in perfectly with the games that were out at the time. It looks good. The, the sound is like the music and moments are good, but overall, actually the sound side is pretty good in this. Like there's a lot of good atmospheric sound, soundscapes that the game kind of throws at you from what I remember. Yeah. Yeah. Just, it was a really enjoyable experience. I'm, I'm happy I got to play it. I'm bummed.

[01:45:54] I did not have time to finish it in time for this recording session, but like I said, I'm literally only, I am four levels away. I just got the third mask. I looked how many levels are left and it's literally four. Yeah. So I just have to beat four more levels. Admittedly, now, now that I know they are, the last two are very hard, but. I'm looking forward to tackling that challenge. Yeah. And it, and it's worth it. And it's like, like I said earlier, I think it's worth playing regardless. And whether you collect everything or not, whether it's that type of game for you or

[01:46:23] that type of gamer that you are play Rayman to the greatest game. I think it's, it's an excellent game. I think we're all on the same page. Um, yeah. Happy, happy we got a chance to play it. So, um, everybody check it out. Also, if you're out there looking for a physical copy, does, sorry, does Jiggy have any final thoughts? I love it. Nice. We just, we just know he loves it. That's solid, solid, solid as a rock. Rayman too. Also, like I was going to say, solid as a, as a rock.

[01:46:53] Um, I want to refer, I referenced that commercial or that song at work the other day. I don't know why. I have no idea why. Um, also if you're looking for a physical copy for collector or you want to have more games in your library or whatever, it has a green cartridge and that's always fun. It does. Um, it's not that expensive. I don't think, I don't think it's a, it's a particularly expensive game to add to your collection. Yeah. I don't know if that's, I don't know if there were a ton of them. I don't know.

[01:47:20] You know, obviously like, um, supply does change that, but like, you know, some of the games that there's a million of like Mario 64, it's not like you can find it for five bucks. Like it's, it's a lot of money to have games like that. Like this thing is worth having for sure. 20, 20 to $30 purchase. I'm just guesstimating. Yeah. No, you're right. It's a loose according to price charting. It's 22 bucks. There you go. That's even less than I thought. Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:47:48] So if you get a chance to find it just, and you have a 64, I would, I would do that. Just get it. And honestly, it's just don't play the DS one, but it's available on so many different. I mean, if you can't play it on N64, play it on Dreamcast. If you can't play it on Dreamcast, play it on PS2. Can't play it on PS2, play it on PS1. If you can't play it on PS1, play it on 3DS. If you can't play it on 3DS, play it on PC. And what else is there?

[01:48:17] There's probably a phone version. I don't know. I'm sure there's some sort of mobile version. Yeah. Rayman 2 is out there. There obviously are compromises between versions. There's, you know, like we said, Dreamcast is definitive. N64 is the original build. So it's kind of, it only gets better from there, I guess, or different from there. I guess. I mean, I didn't play the other versions, but it doesn't feel like it's less than. Like it really doesn't at all. No, no, no, no.

[01:48:46] You, I mean, you wouldn't even, you wouldn't even know. Dreamcast, like I said, it only added a few things. It really didn't change that much. Yeah. PlayStation just had to scale back things a little bit, but then it added full voice acting because it has a CD. So why not? I guess the sound is usually a big difference, but then they didn't do it on Dreamcast. So I don't really understand what that means. People like the PSU version a lot too. Apparently I could see that, but it's different.

[01:49:15] So a difference. Good. Maybe have a couple of different copies. Why not? Yeah. Difference. Good. Uh, all the different versions. And then if you're, uh, if you want, if you're, if you're loving some Rayman, check out the origins and legends game. Both of them are amazing in my opinion. So, um, lots of Rayman out there to enjoy. It's one of those franchises that feels like it's, it's quite, is quietly popular. Does that make sense? I don't know.

[01:49:38] It feels like it's one of those, one of those franchises that, uh, lives on despite not being like this massive, massive, um, recognizable name or face. Worth playing a hundred percent. Let me tell you something though. Please do. Okay. Okay. Just like all games I love, they teased a sequel and never did it. Ah.

[01:50:01] Um, Rayman is one of those weird games where they did make more Rayman games, but none of them were an official sequel. Direct sequels. Yes, because they made, they made, so the original Rayman is 2D, like we talked about on PlayStation. And then they did Rayman 2, which is amazing. And then they did Rayman 3, which is just like Rayman 2, just, you know, different mechanics. Not as great as you said. Not as great, but it's not bad. Like it's, it's fine, but it continues the story, right? It continues it.

[01:50:30] And then Murphy's in it. He doesn't whisper. He actually talks and he says, see you in Rayman 4. And that's the last we see him. Oh shit. And, uh, we, Rayman 4 became Rayman Raving Rabbids, which is not for, and became a game about mini games. Something else. And then Rabbids took over and we did get the 2D. The Rabbids are like the minions of Ubisoft. Yeah, they're everywhere now. They're even in the Mario, uh, uh, what's it called? Games.

[01:50:59] Which they were, they were before Minions. Let me just say that. They were. They were before. Yeah, years before. But yeah, they are. Um, yeah. But yeah. Great game. Just play it, people. It's worth it. Just play it. Uh, Rayman 2 The Great Escape is, is one of the ones that, uh, going through this library is one of the ones that I'm gonna, I'm gonna stick, stick to saying like, yep, this is one of those ones that I was not necessarily surprised by. One that I probably is gonna be up like in the top, top tier ones. I think it's that good.

[01:51:28] So, um, despite its flaws, like you guys said, there are flaws as are with a lot of these 3D platformers, but it's one of the better ones for sure. And I don't anticipate too, too many of them beating it unless it's Mario or Banjo-Kazooie, honestly. So, um, that's about it. Uh, Josh, thanks for joining us, buddy. Uh, one more time. Where can everybody find, uh, still loading? Sure. I do want to say one final thing though.

[01:51:55] Not, I feel pretty honored that like the games I've chosen for my episodes on here are all relatively like unknown games. Rayman 2 probably being the most known out of the three that I've been on, but they all have all been hits. So I'm, I'm really, I'm, I'm bad in a thousand so far. I don't know if I have many more at bats though left. I was gonna say good luck, good luck next time. I don't know. Yeah. I'll see what I can do, but, uh, yeah. Thank you again for having me on, man. Always a pleasure. I am. I always enjoy coming on the show.

[01:52:24] If you liked, uh, whatever the hell I did on this episode, you can find the saluting podcast. Uh, we're all podcasts are given away for free, you know, Apple podcast, YouTube music, Spotify, all that good stuff. You can follow me on social media at still loading pod, mainly on blue sky as well, but I am somewhat active on Instagram every now and again and, uh, stuff gets put over to threads, but you know, threads has is, you know, fuck sucks.

[01:52:51] So I don't know if I'm really going to go too much on that, but well, I'm mostly active on those locations and I do stream on Twitch once in a while at still loading pod over on Twitch, usually stream twice a week, Saturdays and Tuesdays, but it really just depends on my schedule. So yeah, you can, uh, check me out over there. That's where I am to be found on the internet. Amazing. Sarah jiggy. Look back. What's happening, buddy. Oh, everything's happening all the time. All the time.

[01:53:19] So tired, but I keep making content anyways. Uh, I stream once a week on YouTube. I'm a, I'm pretty much exclusively on YouTube. I mean, you can catch me on all, all the good old social medias. I am still on X. Uh, I don't really care, but I'm still there. Um, so it's fine. I'm on blue sky too. I don't know. Anywhere you can find Dave, you can probably find me. Yeah, pretty much. Um, yeah. If you want to, if you want to come and check out some of my Rayman videos, I got a couple,

[01:53:48] I've got a couple theory videos on Rayman. I've got some Rayman two videos, deep dives into the lore. I've got, if you want to see how the story progresses into Rayman three, I've got a really cool analysis video on Rayman three. Yeah. That would be a good, uh, good point to kind of jump into the Rayman series. It's, it's just a series I love. Yeah. It's just one of those. I, I just latched onto it as a kid and I've just kind of hung onto it. It hasn't really been like my favorite.

[01:54:14] It hasn't produced my favorite games, but I certainly, my love for Rayman two has just glazed over every other Rayman thing that exists. And, uh, uh, but I will say the tune Rayman games that are Rayman legends, Rayman origins. We need more of that because those are phenomenal. Please. I can't believe that we haven't had one. I do love them. The Rayman translated so well into modern 2d. I mean, his original game was 2d and I didn't really care for it. I did play through that one.

[01:54:44] It's fine. It's, it's, I mean, more power to you if it's one of your favorites. It's a product of its time. That's, that's all it is. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a little, it's a little bit of a slow moving 2d platformer for me. Whereas the more recent ones are, are super fast. Most of the time. Super fast. Super fast and just fun. And especially if you can do co-op with a buddy. Oh, so you've never played them co-op that could, that could, oh, I did it. And it was so funny. And I'll tell you one story just because it's so funny. Just real quick.

[01:55:13] Um, we were playing this level with, with my, with my pal, shout out to JP. Um, we're riding the little like mosquito things. Yep. And you have, you have to just like basically like a real shooter and just like navigate through which are in this game, by the way, which are, yes, they are. And, uh, we kept dying and he was just getting progressively more and more pissed off. And, but he was like holding it in and he was just getting mad. And then finally he's like holding the controller and he's like, and you know me, I don't swear.

[01:55:42] So it's important to the story, but he's just like, he's holding the controller. He starts shaking. He's like, he just screams it. And then he stops himself and he's like, he looks at me. He's like, I'm sorry. It's just a video game. I'm fine. Wonderful control. Wonderful. I love that. It was, it was, it was fun though. Have you played those games? Josh? Yeah. No. Oh, yeah. Go play origins.

[01:56:12] No, I just play. No, no, no. I'm sorry. I have, no, I'm sorry. It's got everything. I did play origins. I forgot. I do own origins for the Vita and I played it a little bit, but I never, I never got very far. It was good. It was good when I was playing, but it didn't like, I don't know. I don't know when I was, if I was, when I was playing, it just didn't like grab me. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Legend. The reason why I always say just go to legends is because it literally has all of origins in it.

[01:56:39] Like has everything that origins has literally bite like stages, but it has more characters to play as it has more unlockables. And then it just has like, I don't know, like it basically it's, it's two games in one. That's basically what it is. It's two games in one. It's, and it only came out like a couple of years later or something. So yeah. Damn it. Now we use bust out your Wii U's and play the best version of legends. Oh shit. I don't know how to have that.

[01:57:06] Actually, I don't own that game in any playable form at the moment. It's cool. Cause it uses the, the touch pad for Murphy. Oh, really? Yeah. So like you cut ropes and stuff and you're like slicing the ropes. Oh, which is, which is what the Vita did. Right. Didn't it? Like you use the, the back. Yeah. I think the Vita did something similar. You use the, the back touch pad to like cut the ropes and things. Yeah. Anyways, great games. Rayman, check it out. Remember 64 out there on your podcast. Platforms on YouTube.

[01:57:35] I'm trying to stream every once in a while. Having to actual schedule, having to actually schedule it is difficult. So just keep an eye on social media. Remember 64 show. And that's when I'll say, Hey, what are you doing tomorrow at a random time? That's pretty much what I'm going to do, but you can find the VODs on YouTube as well. And yeah. Patreon subscribe. Tell your friends. Rate us. Rate us. Yeah. Subscribe. Okay. Everybody. I'm exhausted. Let's get out of here. Rayman 2. Play it.

[01:58:05] Thanks guys for joining me. Thanks everyone for listening and watching. See you next time. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye.