#rayman 3 all bosses

[kolplayone]

Rayman 1,2 & 3 - All Bosses rayman 1 all bosses rayman all bosses rayman 2 all bosses rayman 2 the great escape bosses rayman 3 all bosses rayman 3: hoodlum havoc bosses rayman all bosses with kolplayone

[raygirlramblings]

OH

I just realised something about Laserhawk Rayman which I've been saying about Rayman for DECADES.

So what is Rayman's defining goal which powers him throughout all his games? It's gonna sound corny, but it's FRIENDSHIP.

And you'll say 'oh that's not uncommon, most videogame protags do stuff for the sake of their friends', but it's kinda more than that.

Rayman LIVES AND BREATHES through the love and support of his friends.

Rayman is a strange little freak guy, one of a kind even amongst his own species*, and instead of being shunned and alone he is held up and supported by his friends and propelled forward by the power of friendship. This is more of a driving force in his life than a romantic interest, a prized possession, or any kind of praise.

(*I still use the logic of Rayman 1 that other limbless beings like Rayman exist but were not created by magic. Hence why Rayman has immortality)

On the surface you have his friendship with Globox as a clear example of his devotion. Despite their differences the two are like brothers and bond through various games in different ways. saving and being saved by Globox is a big part of Rayman 2. Curing Globox of Andre is literally the driving force of Rayman 3.

When Rayman is trapped by the pirates at the start of Rayman 2 he is absolutely distraught, powerless and unable to escape on his own. Without Globox risking his life on the vague chance he'd get put in a cell near Rayman to give him a silver lum, Rayman might never have escaped the Buccaneer. Rayman's friendship with Globox trumped Globox's absolute fear of the pirates.

Rayman's friends are always the ones giving him support and gifts and powers to help him save the day, not in a 'you suck lets hold your hand as you go through the game' way but in a 'we have absolute faith in you, friend, anything we can do to help we will!' way. And in turn Rayman returns that love through his actions and compassion. Rayman is who he is because of the love and acceptance of his friends. Hence why he is always seen relaxing with them, chilling with Globox and Barbara and Murfy and the Teensies.

And it's Rayman's willingness to befriend others and turn the other cheek that betters him overall. Mosquito, Inspector Grub, the Rabbids, they have all been part of his journey despite being antagonistic to him at the start.

When Rayman is separated from his friends, or unable to make new friendships, he kinda falls apart and struggles by himself. He gets lonely, realises how small he is in the world. If he doesn't have a focus to find his friends and help them he is lost.

Which makes perfect sense when you see a version of him in Laserhawk.

Rayman is the most popular mascot in Eden but HE DOESN'T HAVE FRIENDS.

The closest connection he has is to the Counsel who run Eden and even they keep him at arm's length from what we see in the show. They are not his friends, they are his abusive, neglectful bosses that dropped him the minute he stepped out of line, and without them Rayman has NO ONE ELSE in the city he can rely on.

No wonder he's a complete mess even before the show starts. He has no one to confide his fears in, no one who understands his unique perspective. He probably has yes-men and people willing to lie about how great he is, not to mention adoring viewers and a whole fanclub of kids, but even Rayman knows that's fake. They are not his real friends. He's the picture of the lonely celebrity in an ivory tower.

You can see it in Rayman's face when he meets Bullfrog, and Bullfrog VALIDATES his feelings of betrayal and anger against Red and the Counsel. Finally he has someone showing him genuine compassion but also not mollycoddling him. Someone who is honest with him and not freaked out by/judgemental of how he looks. He's scared and angry, but there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel before him.

This and being replaced by Eden is the breaking point that causes Ray to become Ramon and fight back. He now has an end goal, take revenge on the Counsel and save Bullfrog from the electric chair. He has multiple reasons for doing this ranging from his belief in protecting hybrids in general to protecting his image to taking away some of Eden's power at gunpoint...but I also like to think he did it because he put his faith in Bullfrog.

Because as well as being one of the only people in Eden who might have an idea of what's going on behind the veil, he's probably the only person Rayman could consider a friend.

[cosmiischillin]

Cosmi’s Fan Series Asks are…OPEN!!

(Boundaries + Alternative version of the image are below the cut)

I’ve been wanting to get back to working on Asks again, especially since I wanted to do so for ENAF and Twilight Town but now Rayman and Welcome Hell has been introduced! So I decided to make this a full on post to explain all 4 Asks! I wanted to do this to showcase more lore and things about these universes

Welcome Hell: Send questions to your favorite puppets acting on Hell’s most wholesome show! You ask about character lore any of the such, (just don’t ask about anything relating to Hellaverse. I base the world on its own universe of Hell)

Twilight Town: Ruby’s Good N’ Gloom blog now has a full on podcast with her friends! Ask away to learn what it’s like on the bright side of the dark side

Rayman Heroes: Heroes got fans so QnAs aren’t too far off! These Heroes of the Glade of Dreams have aplenty to say about each other and their jobs (plus they sorta gotta pay rent)

ENAF: Wether it is the main series or the FNAF World variant, ask away for these characters! (Please refrain from asking about Mimic though Tales of the Pizzaplex and Ruin are currently noncanon to ENAF, please check my boundary list)

I hope you have a ball asking these different AUs questions! (I will make links for showing characters in each one I promise)

My Ask Rules!

1. I do have the right to refuse certain asks, whether it is for the reasons I might list below or if it’s already answered.

2. I’m gonna be doing art for my posts as much as I could. If your ask isn’t given art. It might just be because I was burnt out or didn’t have the energy to drawn. I apologize for this.

3. I won’t be drawing others OCs (except for events I plan in the future)

4. No NSFW asks. My content is Teens and Young Adults orientated and I personally am not comfortable answering that stuff.

5a. If there’s a QNA on ENAF, please refrain from asking about events that take place in Ruin, Tales of the Pizzaplex, and any other FNAF media that came out after base game Security Breach (ENAF’s canon only goes up to that game of the og’s canon)

5b. Please refrain from asking about Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss/Hellaverse when it comes to Welcome Hell. While it was inspired by it early on, I have since made my own original version of Hell.

6. Try to be as brief as possible (1-4) sentences with ask. Paragraphs usually overwhelm me (sorry!)

[stoic--rose]

over the last two weeks or so ive played through earthbound two and a half times, and mother 1 three times. replaying both back to back repeatedly has made me realize a lot of things

1.) mother 1 is a LOT more open in what it lets you do, where it lets you go, and when. once you open up the train tracks, you're free to go do the rest of the game in pretty much any order you want. hell, you can make it all the way to R7038xx without ever getting a single melody, which i find to be pretty interesting. not only that, but you dont even need to get most of the party members. strictly speaking, the only one you truly need to get is Loid, and that's just to get rid of the rock on the train tracks. and even then, with the use of an exploit i found out about only a few days ago, you can get rid of him and go fight giygas by yourself, which is pretty funny.

2.) mother 1+2 is like, wicked impressive. nevermind the fact that they crammed earthbound onto the gba, they also packaged it with mother 1 as well, and they're both the full games. it ain't no rayman advance kinda deal either where it's a super botched port, like it's a perfectly valid way to play both games, and some people even prefer the gba version of mother 1 since it makes a couple of quality of life improvements. not to mention, they rebuilt both games from the ground up, it's not like they could emulate snes on gba. (i mean, you can emulate NES apparently, since there's that nes classic line of games for the gba, but... this is cooler.) the sound department could... definitely use some work, and the colors look pretty washed out, but there are patches to fix the colors, and if you're playing the game on a real gameboy, i think the sound is the last thing you'd be concerned about. also, apparently some people took the time to apply the earthbound script to the mother 2 half of mother 1+2, and even reprogrammed the text system to have the original fonts and make it non-monospace, which is SUPER impressive. for my second playthrough of earthbound i played it with the new fantran patch, and it's pretty damn slick.

3.) man, fuck the sword of kings. i realized very recently that i'd never fully committed to the sword of kings grind, and decided that this would finally be the time i claim my birth right as a mother fan and do it. and like, it SUCKS. i mean, to begin, yes it's annoying that it's a 1/128 chance, but it goes deeper than that. the fact that it's only dropped by an enemy that you can potentially never see again, and it's the ONLY item poo can equip as a weapon is pretty fucked up. not to mention, the other enemies that they put in the starman base just absolutely suck, i hate the nuclear power robots so much. they made the grind WAY more painful than it already would have been otherwise. at the very least, i find it to be very gracious that jeff's spy command has the secondary effect of letting you steal whatever item an enemy would have dropped mid battle, just so it doesn't get overwritten by another enemy drop, which by the way YES that can happen, and YES i had it happen to me. it sucks ass. and the worst part is, the sword of kings isn't even that good!! and neither is poo on a gameplay level! you get the guy way later than any other party member, he has all these little catches like not being able to eat american food or equip anything but the kingly items, he gets taken away from you almost immediately after you get him, he just feels really weird. starstorm is pretty cool, but you only get the omega version right before the final area, and you can only use it on the handful of encounters you get there since you can't really use it in the final boss. (i mean technically you can use it in the first phase, if you want to get a biblical reflected beatdown when it hits both pokey and giygas) idk, the guy just isn't all that useful, and it's unfortunate since i really like him on a design level.

i have more words i want to say but honestly i might save them for an entry on my website instead since im very close to the tumblr word limit rn

[rainbow-wolf120]

MORE ABOUT VIVEO ALL ABOUT VIVEO TELL US MORE NEOWWWW !!! GO ON THE LONGEST RAMBLE YOU’VE EVER RAMBLED !!!!! 🔫

Ohohoho. You’re in for a real treat asker >:]

Okay, since I have so much about the TV twink, I decided to lore dump about Viveo and Rayman’s relationship. More importantly…

In College!!

Yes. And they were roommates

Me lore dumping under cut. I know not everyone cares for my OCs or ideas lol:

So, the story is that when Rayman first migrated into America, he was struggling to settle down. People didn’t like him and never really gave him the chance for… anything really.

Then, he heard about this one college (I don’t have a name for it atm), but it was very big on being “accepting to both humans and hybrids”. This was super rare for a college in what? 1950s?? 60s???

Whatever, it was a chance for Rayman.

Sadly, college was nothing like the advertisements, cause when he arrived, he was very much bullied into the ground. Turns out the college may be accepting but the students were not.

However, he wasn’t alone.

This leads into Viveo.

Viveo was harassed, yes, but not as much as Rayman. He is technically an “alien”, but he’s “human” enough to spare a beating.

Also, he’s buff

I do make jokes about Viveo being a twink, and he is. But he has jumpscare muscles. Like, when he flexes you can tell he works out.

(This is a reference to him being based off a JD coach and that burns calories and stuff idk it makes me feel buff </3)

The two met when Rayman was getting bullied. He would’ve fought back, but when last time he did he got in really big trouble because he broke someone's nose and the school sided with the bullies cause like, this is still the 1950s.

Viveo stepped in and scared them away with his tall frame and jacked body. Maybe a bit of psychological manipulation to get the point across.

(I may draw a comic about this, depends on how much y’all like them lol)

That’s how they officially met. Viveo may have heard of Rayman through rumors and drama (cause he’s a sucker for that), and Rayman heard of Viveo through reputation.

It turns out that they shared the same room! They were roommates yay 👏

They both pursued entertainment, so they shared a lot of the same classes which only made their bond stronger.

When Rayman is not trying to get a gig or in class, he takes a job at the college as a desk assistant and soon a CA (the people who patrol the dorms and tell people to shut up). Although it was only late at night, it was the only thing hiring.

Rayman doesn’t really know what Viveo does when he’s not partying, so he lets him stick around until he’s free again.

Although Viveo technically shouldn’t be there when he's on the job, let alone talking to him, it’s the only way people would actually go up and ask Rayman for assistance (even if they only talk to Viveo)

Also, it gives Viv something to do

Rayman doesn’t want to get fired, so when a boss or something comes along, Viveo acts like he’s there for help. Gotta use that acting class for something

As you know, Viveo is popular among the campus, and that popularity comes parties.

He’s a riot at these things. He’s fun, entertaining, and can sing really really good

Viveo is invited to all the dorm parties, but Rayman is not

Since Rayman is a CA, he technically works for the college and is able to rat people out

And partying is forbidden at this one

Even if Rayman is invited, he’s seen as a “stick-in-the-mud”. He tries his hardest to be “fun”, but he’s a bit too "good" to do anything crazy (unless Viveo nudges him too)

So, when Ray works, Viv parties.

(I know it’s a modern phone. If they had flying cars and fully interactive holograms in 1992, I’m sure this is likely)

Viveo is still lowkey selfish, but if he likes you, he’s a bit more lenient.

Being best friends and dormmates with basically one of the security guards, it gives Viveo a lot of power if you think about it

When he gets bored or tired of a party, he hits up Rayman to shut it down so he can leave with a "bang"

Is it unnecessary? Yes. Is it fun to see everyone’s night get ruined because you thought it was boring? A little.

It’s a benefit for them both, though

Rayman gets praised by his boss and coworkers (mostly his bosses), while Viveo gets to party with little to no consequences

Power couple at it finest

When Eden eventually becomes sort of a big name, Rayman takes Viveo with him to his job application as moral support. Viveo stands in the back supporting him, spicing his performance with sound effects, and helping him remember his lines if he slips up (Perks of a TV face)

Rayman does get the job, and he’s super pumped to tell Viv about it (Keep in mind that this is like, senior year of college). Viveo is obviously happy for him, but also a tad bit jealous.

Y’know, until Rayman drags him along.

In Rayman’s mind, he’s nothing without Viveo and vice versa. It’s a little different for Viveo, but that’s not important.

At the end of the day, Rayman gets himself a place as “Eden’s mascot”, and Viveo’s given a place of “Eden’s voice” per Rayman's request. Two aliens against the world.

That’s enough of me yapping, I don’t know who even bothered to read this far. If you did, thank you. You either really like Viveo, or have nothing better to do.

I might do more lore-dumping. This was fun. But it depends if people want to sit down and listen

Thank you for coming to my Gay Talk, hope to see you next time <3

[beesmygod]

today is webcomics day. i am bea and i make "A Ghost Story" - part 3: sketch 1

ed note from the future: this got long. its going mostly under a readmore for everyone's sake. and i didnt even finish sketching, just trying to explain what is going through my mind while trying to sketch. look, if i write down my process in exhausting detail people will realize im completely insane. this is a net benefit to anyone trying to interact with me in the future who thinks i can be reasoned with. community service. thank you for allowing me to post this shit lol

hmmm. giving up on the first few panels for right now. here's what i'm thinking about as i sketch this:

too many of my panels were talking heads or constantly relied on one point perspective. i have been trying to work against this for a while with mixed results. sometimes the result is so bad i have to scrap what i did and start over but sometimes it's "good enough for TV"* and i hit publish on it. no risks, no reward after all. can't get better if you don't try.

in this first panel, i have two people having a back and forth conversation through a weird magic hole in the floor/wall. maxine is laying on a couch with hole right above her head. homestar runner will demonstrate what i mean:

however, there are logistical problems with maxine that homestar runner doesnt have. maxine's right shoulder is dislocated, so she can't lay on that side, or any side that would put pressure on the joint. im realizing i don't actually know what position would be most comfortable in her situation or how she would instinctually arrange her body to avoid pain. i start looking up videos from physical therapists on how they recommend patients sleep for some ideas.

also i start looking up what women look like sleeping on couches. how does the human body fold up. because this isn't it.

anyway, this was my first effort with the first panels.

for reference, the last page ends like this:

the top left of the sketch would have been the hopi clown back on the shelf with the "camera" tilting above it to reveal maxine. while this keeps the relevant object from the previous page in frame as a piece of connective tissue between updates....i'm struggling to fit the second character in. the one talking from the hole. maybe there's still hope for this? it's not terrible. initially i nuked it but maybe i can make this work.

fuck! she needs a pillow or two to make this work. this video is right, that DOES look naturally comfortable compared to the standard fetal position that would pull the affected shoulder inward. i didn't draw any pillows into the stupid establishing shot of the office bc its not the kind of couch you are expected to sleep on!!! this is a man's business office!!! i thought i was so smart!!

basically every couch comes with decorative pillows though, and the shot of the room didn't include the wall the "camera" was up against. my 2-point perspective failure might have paid off here lol. if i can establish that the second character is talking through the hole, he can use his rayman hands to reach across the room and get the pillow for her. it can be part of his personal campaign to show maxine he means her no immediate harm. the pillows were just out of frame. lurking. ok let's try it again. uhhhh after i eat some lunch

---

*my friend kelly had an anecdote from working in animation that im going to retell badly from memory. her boss would take the work she labored over to meet by deadline and would laugh at it, saying "ah, its terrible! but good enough for TV". and while extremely mean, he had a salient point: it never has to be perfect. it just needs to be good enough to be seen. sometimes i seriously think about this anecdote when im dissatisfied with my own art. it's bad. but it's good enough for tv.

[spoocys-glade-of-dreams]

Something I've noticed with Rayman is that he's one of those heroes that is often getting captured somehow and some of those times he NEEDS the help of his friends to free himself. He's a hero that tries his best to help others but is not immune to either needing help himself, or that help never comes and he has to work hard to try to free himself.

Times Rayman has been captured in order (at least to my knowledge):

1. Rayman 2. When the pirates destroyed the heart of the world, it robbed Rayman of all his powers which left him an easy target for them to capture him. Globox got himself captured so he could smuggle a silver lum from Ly to him. He was able to escape with his help.

2. Rayman vs Cullcut. This was a flash game you could play on your internet browser that released around the same time as Rayman M. It was a french exclusive typing game where Rayman was at risk of being eaten by one of the robots the pirates used to make canned food. The game ends and your score counted if Rayman's cage is lowered enough for cullcut to get him. He would also have to watch Razorwife usher crying baby globoxes to also be consumed by Cullcut. Pretty dark if you ask me.

3. Rayman 3. On Rayman's quest to purge Andre from Globox's stomach, his adventures take him to the desert of the knaarens. While trying to locate Globox after he was captured by the creatures, Rayman was soon captured by them as well. He was caged then sent to the arena where he was forced to fight Reflux. Rayman was released and was made a friend to the knaaren people when he defeated their champion.

4. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Original Console Version). Rayman was captured by Serguei and was locked in a cell. He was forced to perform at their arena and was rewarded with plungers and sometimes won the freedom of the captured baby globoxes. He had to collect enough plungers to reach a window in his cell and managed to escape with enough time, effort, and a whole lot of patience.

5. Rayman Raving Rabbids (Gameboy Advance Version). The Gameboy advance version was a completely unique experience to the raving rabbids series of games with a completely different storyline that was the most faithful to the old prototype. Rayman was captured by the rabbids, locked in a cell, and they took his hands so he couldn't fight back. He was completely helpless. Murfy was the one who went in and rescued him by busting through wooden planks on the bottom of Rayman's cell. He helped Rayman locate his hands and guided him out of the base to reunite with Ly after rescuing their friends.

6. Rayman Raving Rabbids (DS version). Once again captured by rabbids while he was just minding his own business. forced to run obstacle courses in a colosseum to win enough trophies that would allow him to fight "Rabble Droid" and earn his freedom. Rabble droid being a boss version of Serguei.

7. Rayman Origins. While enjoying a nice nap with his friends, little did Rayman know that their snores were being sent through a microphone to the land of the livid dead. The Grannies, fed up with all the noise, would retaliate and start to capture the electoons, Rayman, and his friends. This would also drive Polokus temporarily mad and the glade began to disintegrate. Rayman was caged, but managed to free himself rather quickly.

[karamoonilia]

\○\ Blog Description Post /●/

Hi Guys I'm Kara,

You can call me;

Kara (Best call me Kara), Kara M. ( The letter M stands for Moonilia ) LP ( It means Leonardo Picasso. That's how my friends describe me in class. :D ) LaFo ( The Lazy Fox [ I'am not Furry ] )

I don't support LGBTQ+. This is a bit of a complicated topic but let me explain: I am not an LGBTQ+ person but when it comes to LGBTQ+ characters in games I like like Undertale and Deltarune, if I have a headcanon or something similar about them, I unintentionally seem to support LGBTQ+ when describing their orientation. And I may occasionally make LGBTQ+ jokes. But I still have respect for LGBTQ+. (If you are uncomfortable with this text, it will be deleted or shortened.

↓ Below İs İmportant ↓

During school time, Question Blogs and Original Blog, namely this Blog, will be closed. During the Mid-Term Break, only the Original Blog will be open for a limited time and both Question and Original Blog will be open only during the summer break.

↑ Above İs İmportant ↑

I don't reblog in this blog unless it's something I really care about or is about me.

Please feel free to comment on posts. I love chatting.

Fandoms/Somethings On The İnternet I'm in / I know about :

Gravity Falls, Undertale, Deltarune, Creepypasta, Harry Potter, Marvel, BATİM, Cuphead, Owl House, Amphibia, Kindergarden, Baldi's Basic's, Minecraft, Fundemental Paper Education, Vocaloids (?), Ghost and Pals, RIProducer, Vane Lily, CrusherP, The Living Tombstone, SCP, SAbluestory, This İs Not My Neighbor, The Walten Files, Disney/Pixar Movies, Glitchtale, Lords Of Rings, Rings Of Power, Bo Burnham, Hellaverse ( Helluva Boss & Hazbin Hotel), Lacey Games, Detroit Become:Human, Jack Stauber, Rayman -

I'll write more when I remember. I'am so Multifandom hehe.

Undertale AU (Monoctale) Ask Blog Here

My Persona :

If you see ↑ this guy ↑ in any post. Please leave any comments on that post.

Also, please ask or request, I will be happy to respond because it is my favorite type of post.

I also doesn't often draw trends

Also, I don't usually draw trends, I'm lazy

My OCs:

First OC showed up in here; Nathaniel Reginald Voss

"Ask Natt" all posts:

1. How's your day going?

2. Hm?

3. 24/7 Coffee

4. Comedy Company

5. Play?

6. Nervous Hug!

7. Some Sweets.

8. Relatives..?

9. Dude, u have Touchhobia :D ?

-To be continued-

What is your Undertale AU about?

- I just made some changes to the concept and story. Monoctale or Undermonoc; as the name suggests, is an AU where each character has a monochrome version of themselves, meaning a single color (black-white-shades of gray). Each character's monochrome version reflects differently in reality; a psychological distress experienced by the character can create their monochrome version, or a rare power deep within their souls can cause them to exist semi-physically, for example.

For example, the formation of the monochrome versions of some characters: Asgore: Asgore is a character with Multiple Personality Disorder in this AU. The way we separate him from the monochrome version is; We divide his name into two as "As-" and "-Gore". "As" is Asgore himself, the first and only personality that should exist in the body. "Gore" is Asgore's monochrome, aka his much more cruel version. Thanks to "Gore", Asgore was able to dare to take the lives of those little children. Making the barrier like this was actually "Gore"'s idea and "As" couldn't stop him and allowed him to carry out this cruel plan. At least the same thing didn't happen with Frisk. While "Gore" had killed other humans brutally, when Asgore was going to fight Frisk, "As" was in control and since he wanted Frisk to win, he fought in a way that Frisk could defeat him without using his real power, just like in the game.

Do you also have a Gravity Falls AU?

- Yes, but it was cancelled after Book Of Bill came out.

I got tired here, I'll add more as things come to mind.

[the-eggplantblog]

I need to talk about Mr Dark…..

Well, Razorbeard and Andre, they are simply incredible villains, what can I tell you not to know about these villains, they are charismatic but they also impose fear or a challenge, in addition to being very important in the story, appearing on more than one occasion, or complicating it life to rayman, it is not surprising that they are very loved, but then we have mr dark…. ​

The word I would use to describe it is, disappointing…… Mr Dark is not very creative in both design and concept, he is just a dark lord who wears a cape… well, I think there are many of them, this It doesn't make it immediately disappointing, because well it's still an interesting idea although not new and in the world of Rayman it's very good to want to use a concept like that, you can do many interesting things with a character like Mr Dark.

but well…mr dark does not have a history or a bit of development or anything that makes it interesting…for example razorbeard and the robo-pirates, they are extremely interesting for several reasons, for coming from outer space, for having defeated to Rayman, because they appear on more than one occasion and you can feel a real danger with them, they have personality and will not hesitate to try to kill Rayman, they are simply great, then Mr Dark…well it only seems that he takes the Seriously, Rayman's business, until the end of the game… which leaves it looking like something silly.

It's really a bit sad that you don't see Mr Dark, except at the beginning and end of the game and you only fight him in a very short battle that doesn't live up to the name of the final boss of a game like Rayman. ….

If what disappoints me the most about him, apart from his lack of personality, is that he is a great joke, look to be able to fight against Mr Dark, you have to beat the entire game at 100%, having to fight with bosses like Mr Sax or Space mom, still beat the world of candy, it is not an easy world, beat dark rayman and the curses of mr dark, you have to go through all that suffering and one would think that mr dark, THE VILLAIN WHO HAS THE MOST POWERFUL RELIC FROM THAT WORLD, it would be a really difficult and epic battle, but what do you find…..a battle that does not do justice to the name of final battle, it is somewhat difficult I admit, but come on it does not compare to space mama or mr sax in my opinion…..

It really seems that this battle is missing several phases… I mean it is unfortunate that Mr Dark, having such a powerful source of power, does not use it, leaving you to fight with some chimera bosses, what a great challenge they are, for this point in the game…..and after you defeat these, mr dark simply runs away, leaving the great protoon, this really makes mr dark look very bad, compared to razorbeard or andre, who have more final battles how epic

In general, Mr Dark has no personality, nor does he do much in history as the villain he is supposed to be, he has a simply pathetic boss battle, if he has no comparison with Rayman's other villains… Mr Dark is wasted potential, wherever you see it…

because well it definitely meant more, with the fact of stealing the great protoon, or his ability to create dark and bizarre creatures like dark rayman or the boss's chimeras, or his fire magic, but well it didn't really give much… With this I don't mean that I hate him or that he's bad, because in fact I like him xd, but I would never say that he is in the top 3 best Rayman villains, because in that place they belong to razorbeard, reflux and Andre, I just want To say why I personally am disappointed by Mr Dark as a villain in Rayman.

[xnightmare-eyesx]

Discovered and read "Glowflies in the Darkest City" all of yesterday, and it's the right amount of gradual falling-in-love that I was looking for in a Rayfrog fiction. Thank you. Something I've thought about since the end of Chapter 8: Ramon's not a trained fighter, but he is an entertainer. Something that could help him improve under Bullfrog's tutelage could be approaching combat like stage direction or dance? It may not be a skillset he wants to revisit, but it is something he can use to his advantage if it's how he can effectively learn. Use that or don't, I don't mind. Whatever you have planned, I look forward to reading.

Ooo you got some good ideas going. I've been doing all of the research I can about Rayman lore (I've been playing through Rayman Legends too) and there's a lot the show hasn't used in terms of Rayman's abilities (there's not a whole lot of funky wacky magic stuff going on besides Bullfrog's bubbles)

I might incorporate that in the fic if it flows right (I do have most of the major ideas/chapters kind of planned out already in my head but I'm always open for suggestions also since I am also kind of writing it on the fly tehe)

To step behind the scenes and into the way I think and I write about the characters though, I think Ramon's never really had a chance to realize the abilities he has. My headcanon (and this could be corrected with season 2) is that Ramon was still young when he fled his dimension, given his flashback to his college days was the version of Rayman from around Rayman 1. He hasn't fought much of the livid dead or those crazy boss battles in Rayman origins or legends. He's a novice at best.

And I also like to think he stopped showing off his abilities he did know to blend in better, sort of like learning to speak the common language and slowly losing your native tongue just to get less bullied and since most things in his world are kind of slap-stick silly enemies and objects, Rayman is used to sort of playing around and having fun instead of actual fighting for his life.

He only now knows how strong he really could be because he's an outsider officially now and it's taken this weight off of his back. He can let loose, fight a piece of himself again, even if it's been twisted and burnt by the world.

Ramon's a good person deep down, he's literally built out of Lums to be the hero of the glade dreams, but he doesn't like fighting. He just wants everyone to have fun and to be happy I think :3

[c7thetumbler]

Quick Game Reviews: September - December 2024

This is the game review post for the remaining 4 months I got too lazy to keep up with during the year! I'm going to skip my favorite game I played this year part for now, but I hope this provides some insight to someone somewhere.

Let's get it going!

Screenshot from my Gameplay

Colossal Caverns (Pikmin 2 mod)

^link to PikHacker's download site with all their mods.

Hot off my Super Mario Eclipse playthrough, I finally decided to give this a go! For those unaware, this is a Pikmin 2 hack that puts every boss, enemy, and treasure in a single, gigantic cave level and the challenge is to escape. The REAL challenge is to get all the treasure, and the REALLY INTENSE challenge it to defeat all the enemies. There are a number of customization options such as including the Onions underground, max Pikmin limit increase to 200, and some enemy health adjustment, but I would recommend you do those for one playthrough and then really try it without those changes so you really have to learn enemy behavior and feel how intense it can get.

This is a really fun hack, and I'd recommend it for Pikmin 2 vets. this isn't something you hop into if you've only played 4 though.

image stolen from a redditor

DOOM Eternal (Steam)

I'm a big OG Doom/Doom II fan, and Doom 2016 was pretty good, so I figured it was about time I played this single-player game.

Then I launched it in steam, already a layer of DRM that requires a login, and was immediately greeted with another login screen!

I uninstalled, may ask for a refund. Is it petty? Idk. The game may have a multiplayer component or online features, but there's 0 reason why I need to do that for a single player game. Hell, I feel like I have a pretty low bar given I've hooked up my Ubisoft account to Mario V Rabbids and Rayman, but that's also optional and the games work independent of it. I suspect if I looked for a pirated version, I could play this game without giving them my email address and logging in, so why are we doing this. The game doesn't even let me adjust options or take a screenshot without logging in

Splatoon 3: Grand Festival (Switch)

The final splatfest!

But not really!

This was actually a really cool in-game event. Not only did they extend the "finale" to the full 3 days and bring all 3 idol groups into play, they made an entirely new overworld map that adjusted and actively changed over the course of the three days.

The amount of love and polish that went into a very short, non-repeated in-game experience that fans from the past 10 years would absolutely enjoy is just unparalleled. In the first 2 days you could visit one of three stadiums which rotated which group was playing, but in the final day all three groups were performing together on the main stage with pyrotechnics and flying platforms and it was nuts. Over the course of the evening, the other venues actually caught fire and burned down while it continued, making it a more clear reference to Burning Man than it already was.

It did however fall to the typical downsides of a Splatfest in terms of gameplay. Even with three teams it was quite easy to get paired against your own team and have that entire battle not count towards your clout or your team score, and even though I played like 20 triple battles only 3 of them were against other teams. This is something of a long-running bug bear; I understand you want people to play frequently, but there should either be an option to say "Yes I will wait longer to fight against other teams" or a rewards incentive to play against your own team instead of just throwing it or being dissappointed when it happens. It also unfortunately suffers from the lack of matchmaking, and this was pretty clear when team past started getting prestige ranks in the double digits on day 2 vs a normal teams as well. That's a little trickier, as genuinely I can believe that people who picked Past are genuinely long-time players, but it's an unfortunate issue with competitive games with ladders.

The stage for the triple battles though was also cool. Personally I wasn't a big fan of it's layout, however if your team secured the Ultra Signal your idol group would actually come out and cheer you on, which was rad af. The whole event was just one big hypefest that really fit the style of the game, and the best send-off to date. I wish more games were able to do a big send-off like this rather than just slowly deteriorate and fall-oof, but that's an impossible standard and made me excited for the series' future.

Also, there was a Splatfest in October and they're still doing balance patches so it wasn't really a send-off but still

Image from download page

Super Mario and the Rainbow Stars (PC)

I forgot what pointed me to this game, but it's pretty good! definitely made by people who love the series and want to see a more cohesive world and Mario RPG level story inside a platformer. It's pretty fun and has a great amount of content despite only having 1 world so far!

Gameplay wise I do have some criticisms. The game tries to bring Mario Odyssey gameplay into a 2D platformer, and while sometimes that can work, it does feel a little out of place here. It's not bad, and the levels do a good job of showcasing it, but it feels a little out of place and I personally had issues with the movement options and the star throw at the same time.

Level design is another thing. I'm not sure if this was a limitation thing, a deliberate choice, or just coincidence, but basically every level has similar feel and recurring layouts. Specifically, you'll find yourself going up for a few jumps, then a part where you need to ground point or descend vertically, and then back up again in the next area. But the levels themselves aren't vertical, and in fact pretty limited in that direction, so seeing that same layout repeatedly makes it feel more like a fan game than a real one. It's difficult to describe, but picture the heartbeat line on an EKG and that's how your path typically seems to pan out. With this many movement options and gimmicks in the game, it would be cool if they took a more open-level style approach where you could skip some of these sections through some more technical, high jumps, branching paths, etc.

All that said though, it's still a very good fangame! Visuals are great, Music and Sound design are great, and there's a lot of love put into it. I'm hoping that the level design continues improving over time, and this could be a really iconic fangame.

Screenshot from the Steam Store Page

Spark the Electric Jester 2 (Steam)

This has been floating around my backlog for a while; I've tried it before but I got distracted by collectibles and didn't give it a real shot, so I figured I'd give it a go this time and just go through the game without obsessing.

Spark the Electric Jester is an indie game series that's based off of Sonic, and 2 is the first 3D one that builds off of Sonic Adventure 2's playstyle. It adds in combat as well, with combo building and timed parries which open up the attacker to your assault, but ultimately the game shines the most when it's just the classic Sonic 3D platforming.

Like real Sonic it's a little Janky; sometimes when you try and run up walls it doesn't quite stick right, some jumps are a bit strange, enemy targeting is finicky, but overall it's a fun time. The game itself is very short, taking me only 2.4 hours to beat between both my attempts, but I also didn't focus on doing the achievements and gathering the collectibles, of which each level has a few in their branching paths. Plot-wise, it suffers a little bit from taking itself a little too seriously and being a bit too complicated for my tastes, but that doesn't detract from the gameplay.

If you have a Sonic Adventure itch and this is on sale, it's worth a pick-up I'd say, but if you don't the game is just okay by its own merits. 3 is where the series really gets into its own.

Screenshot from the Steam store page

Spark the Electric Jester 3 (Steam)

This is like 2 but way better!

An actual, really well-polished love letter to Sonic Adventure 2, Spark 3 goes back to Spark being the main character and a less-linear level structure. Each level has a few challenges within them to keep you coming back and replaying, and the combat as a whole feels way better with some unlockable moves and even alternate characters to play as.

Again, the story is convoluted but you won't miss much if you skip straight to this one as they do a good job of recapping enough so you're not totally lost. I still think it takes itself a little to seriously, and I'm not a huge fan of how it gets near the end, but as a game it's a great experience.

Highly recommend this over the 2nd one for Sonic Adventure fans, though both are great games. The replayability and polish on this surpass even SA2 in those regards, imo.

Screenshot from Steam store page

Neon White (Steam)

Reminds me of Lovely Planet but with more polish and care placed into level design! I'm not too big a fan about how long the between-worlds sections can take with the plot, but I also haven't gotten very far in it.

Gameplay-wise, it's an FPS where you pick up cards to use guns/abilities to quickly defeat all the enemies and get to the end of a level as fast as you can. Replaying the level will open up other opportunities to get goodies or complete it faster by showing you a hint somewhere in the level that will save you enough time to get the highest rank. I really liked this game, but my attention span prevented me from getting very far. That's a me-problem though; this is a great pick-up for precision platforming and execution fans.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Switch)

I don't know how I feel about this game to be honest. I mean, I really like it but after I was done I was torn between "this game dragged on" and "I wish there was more to do".

To get started, this is a Zelda game where you play as Zelda, and instead of attacking directly you use a magic wand to copy and paste items and enemies to attack other enemies and solve challenges. It's a very fun concept, and I think they executed it well, but it runs into a few problems. First, when you find items and summons that let you bypass multiple things, you end up only ever using those. These get mitigated after a while with a few rooms and bosses that require specific elements, heights, wind obstacles etc. to get past, but "grab spider and climb wall" is a fairly early game discovery and a faithful one throughout nearly the whole game.

Second, narratively the game could use some work. I like the idea that Link is silent through the whole game, canonically, however Zelda really shouldn't have been. A game from Zelda's perspective has a lot of unique potential to tell a familiar story from a new angle using its own gameplay, but what really seems to have happened is we got "what if Link didn't have items but instead was kirby, and then also you can be Link normally sometimes." The game certainly shines in a lot of places with clever puzzles and copy interactions, but Zelda being the main character isn't explored upon and feels more like the gimmick than the gameplay gimmick. That on top of the entire game being about people fawning over how cool Link is and nobody outside of the castle knowing the princess of Hyrule somehow really cements that she can be done better, Nintendo. This point is also tough to bring up because it could easily be misconstrued as me saying "why ruin this game by making me play as a girl, UGH" but I would like to stress that I'm definitely not making that point; I'm saying they picked a character who is always crucial to the plot and arching theme of every game and didn't use that to the game's advantage. Also, every other Zelda game you should've been able to play as a girl don't @ me

As for the good parts though, they did a good job of world and puzzle design despite the issues with dominant solutions. I did 100% the game and run through areas multiple times to discover fun puzzles I hadn't seen before and cool hidden things that I would've missed had I not been so thorough. Ultimately this is a good game and I'd recommend it, but if possible try and find a way to play a bit of it first before dropping full price on it, as it may not be for every LoZ fan.

Super Nintendo World (Universal Studios Hollywood)

That's right; I went to a REAL LIFE VIDEO GAME!

And it was pretty cool! I'll open up top with a few caveats though:

Universal Studios struggles in comparison to Disney when it comes to immersion in their theme-parks, with their employees being not so much in character as much as people who are trying to keep a theme park going. In most areas this is fine, but SNW's facade and experience necessitates a bit more character work than they're clearly paying these people for.

Universal Studios Hollywood is cramped for space since it's actually a functioning Studio with over 20 sound stages and in the middle of an incredibly cramped city. As a result, there is only 1 ride, vs Japan's 2 (soon 3) and Orlando's 2. I also doubt they'll be adding the Donkey Kong Country to it.

This land requires that you pay $42 for the power up band, as without it you can only ride one ride, and the minigames/interactable content don't do anything if you don't have one. For families that didn't realize this, this is a huge bummer for kids who get to see a bunch of other people having a blast hitting blocks and getting coins, only for those same blocks to do an empty thud if you don't have one.

The space is way too small and without other rides. Since it's clearly USH's biggest draw at the moment and the ride easily gets to over an hour long wait and the missions encourage you riding it several times, it makes for an overwhelmingly crowded and anxious experience.

That all being said, I had a fun time there. With the power-up band and a smart phone, there are over 132 stamps to collect, including secret interactables in the world, collecting keys and coins to fight Bowser Jr (the biggest minigame in the area), completing minigames such as an interactable block wall that will stop a thwomp from falling, hitting timers to keep a piranha plant asleep, and timing a pow block hit to knock a koopa shell into a key. It's a really cool, well-done immersive experience and I appreciate that they made the whole place a game rather than a reference.

That being said, the band interactions could use some work. The Mario Kart ride is an interactable, AR 3D shooting game where you use koopa shells you get from item blocks to try and beat bowser's team, and while it's fun in its own right, the visors aren't wide enough to get a good view of everything, and the employees make no effort to tell you where to scan your band so that the ride actually counts in your app. As a result I had some fun with the ride itself, but my progress was not tracked and I was left wanting to try again only to be met with the 75 minute wait time, which we weren't doing. This would be mitigated with a much bigger park; you can encourage guests to re-run the same rides over and over again if all of them had similar band interactions, but with just the one it really grinds it all to a halt. The employees not explaining band interactions was a recurring issue; you'll spend a lot of time wondering if you're doing it right for some minigames and you don't know that somethings don't count as being completed, like character meet-ups, unless you make a point to ask and they let you scan something specific.

All-in-all, it's a fun experience but there's not too much there unless you're a freak like me, and it could still use a lot of work. I had a good time though and would go again, but the park being restricted to such a small space with only one real ride limits its potential, and on the whole it's an expensive experience.

If you do go though, I would highly recommend getting the early pass and going on a Tues/Wed/Thursday; Those are the cheapest, least crowded times, and the early pass will let you get in the Mario Kart ride without a wait if you're there on time. Avoid any times near holidays of course

Super Mario Party Jamboree (Switch)

Super Mario Party gets a sequel!... I'm not sure how this is different branch than Superstars though. I guess more sub-modes and focus on switch-only motion controls? It's fine, that's a nitpick.

I'll start out by saying that its core Mario Party game mode is pretty good! Most board have their own gimmick, but as a whole it's pretty close to the style of Mario Party everyone knows and loves without trying to reinvent things to the point of over-complication. The inclusion of "Pro mode" is also nice, as it allows you to play solo without feeling like the computers are robbing you and makes every decision you make on the board actually mean something. I have yet to play this with friends, but this feels like a fun game night experience and a good entry in the series for sure.

I will say that pro-mode feels like a necessary option in this one though. Mario Party is known for having a lot of randomness, but this game in particular has a TON more minigames, random events, and just un-counter-able nonsense than Superstars did. It's a little frustrating because I want to play with more minigames, but a lot are dominated by what are basically that exploding bowser minigame in terms of luck. No idea why "Select a key, select a door, hope for the best" is in there.

It also boasts having a ton of minigames in its own right, which technically isn't wrong, but when you split it by game mode it comes up severely lacking. On the box it says there are over 100, but when you play the main mode, exclude the completely random ones, and while I try not to personally I understand that a large chunk of players exclude motion controls, You'll be seeing repeats within the same game over 10 turns, and there are really at most 40 available. That sucks! I feel like I speak for a lot of people when I say I don't mind them bringing back more mini-games from Superstars; they add more variety, are nostalgic, and genuinely people appreciate non-repetitiveness more than they would appreciate having "new" minigames that they end up seeing way too often.

In terms of some new mechanics, the free-roaming team mode and buddy system present in Island tour and then in Super Mario Party has been replace by a "Jamboree buddy" system. Roughly half the characters (The unique, non-minion ones) have the chance of appearing on the board, and passing them initiates a unique minigame that if you win lets them follow you for 3 turns and grants you special perks. Events will proc twice when you have them, including shops, coins from spaces, stars, and even Bowser spaces, which is a fun risk-reward feature. They can also be stolen after being won, which is a bit frustrating because all that takes is passing the player with them. Would've preferred a duel minigame, boo, and/or an item to challenge them instead. But regardless, the gimmick is fun and most of their special minigames are cool because they're uniquely tailored to the character. My main issue with this is that it would've been cool to have minigames for every character, but I understand that time constraints would make that difficult.

The lack of the previously mentioned team/partner modes is a little sad though. Those modes were definitely my favorite "new" game mode the series introduced, and the unique dice per character added some fun and strategy to the otherwise simplest aspect of the game: rolling the dice. I would've preferred it over a couple of the Game modes they added, which I'll get into.

Party-Planner Trek is their single player mode, where you select a character and wander across the 5 main board completing challenges and mini-games to collect stars, each board ending in a boss minigame where you team up with characters you may have found along the way. It fine as a game mode, not too exciting and introduces you to each board, but also not really that difficult or entertaining in its own right. It'll only take a couple hours to complete, and the story itself is pretty low stakes

Para-Troopa flight school has you holding the joy-cons out to your sides like wings and flapping/gliding with them to move around in game. Unfortunately this is where my experience with it gets in the way; I have essential tremors which unfortunately means that my small, constant shaking easily meses up the sensors and I have to make much bigger movements to compensate. It's not for me, and Toad's Item Factory I've not even tried for similar reasons. Rhythm Kitchen is also similar to a Super Mario Party Game Mode, but again I found it improperly reading movements I made so I'm just passing on all these.

Koopathlon is a fall-guys esque? game mode. Not sure if "A lot of players bumble around trying to get further than the rest" is a genre yet, but also it's a little different, like Super Mario 35 was. Basically you go against 19 other players and play 3 "solo" minigames in a row where you try and rack up more coins overall before a bowser minigame that can even the playing field more, as you're playing directly against the other players and if you get eliminated you get sent back more and more spaces depending on your current lead. The minigames then come back a difficulty level harder. It's fun, but not really worth more than a couple replays, in my opinion.

And then finally Bowser Kaboom Squad has you working as a group of 8 players trying to take down imposter bowser before 5 rounds are up, running around and breaking crates to load bombs into a canon while environmental enemies and bowser himself tries to take everyone out. This is the game mode other than the main one I spend the most time in. It's not too difficult or stressful, and I much prefer the cooperative nature of this rather than the chaoticness of Koopathlon, but again this suffers from a shallow mini-game pool and only 3 levels.

Thematically this game also suffers from being a recent Mario spin-off, where they're not allowed to stray far from the Mario formula. Indeed, every NPC is aa different color toad or a basic enemy with a hat, which makes the game a lot more bland when those characters are already playable. It's frustrating that in the Gamecube era they were very willing to embrace the variety of wacky characters they had like Piantas and wacky hosts, but after Odyssey, 3D world, Wonder, all the Luigi's Mansions, Princess Peach Showtime, and their RPG games we're back to "Kamek is the host, everyone is a toad or bad guy, and we made a fake Bowser." The Mario world has a lot of creative things in it; please start using them

Overall this sounds like a bad review, but I still quite enjoyed it as a Mario Party game. I think Superstars is still a better core Mario-party experience, but this definitely stands up in it's own right. But if you're looking for a lot more variety in minigames, I'd maybe pick this one up on sale or something later down the line.

Screenshot from the Steam store page

Shadow Generations (Steam)

Ohey, the best 3D Sonic game, which previously I would've qualified since Generations, but it's EVEN BETTER?

I had a lot of things on a Wishlist for a Sonic Generations remake/sequel, but I wouldn't have ever said "side expansion about Shadow" as one of them. But lo, it was a wonderful decision! Plotwise, the story is somewhat hampered by the fact that it takes place before Lost World, meaning nothing can substantially change with Shadow's character/ knowledge in future games like Forces, but they did a great job with his characterization none the less. His voice actor, whose been on the job for a while, still feels like he's trying just a bit too hard to be edgy, but not so bad that it detracts from everything more than just being like "Haha, edgehog"

Gameplay wise it's a vast improvement over the baseline Generations. It's in a different engine (more on that in the next review), but it's close enough to stay familiar while also being much smoother. Shadow's Doom powers add the sort of progression that Sonic's been flubbing with for quite some time, offering options that both improve movement and attacks in ways that allow you to properly branch paths in ways more interesting than "did you jump when the spring wasn't visible on the screen" that Generations liked to do.

Length wise, it's also pretty decent. I would say that I would've liked one more "world", something like Prison Island from Shadow the Hedgehog and a boss fight with a GUN robot. It was actually surprising that that game didn't get any level representation, and they opted to instead shove Radical Highway in every level. It was the first level you play as him in the series, but Doom being like "That's some nice platforming you're doing, shame if it were suddenly RADICAL HIGHWAY" every time got old. I would've rather they stuck with themes in the level, like Rail Canyon could shift to have weird gravity and parts from Mystic Manor, The ark could have you planet hopping like you did in the Rouge/Knuckles levels, Forces could've had the ruby fucking with everything. It would be more novel anyway.

But for those who like the boost style gameplay of 3D Sonic games, this is the best outing yet and worth picking up for $30 at least. If you've not played the original Generations, this is a great bundle.

Screenshot from the Steam store page

Sonic X Shadow Generations (Steam)

This is for the "remake" part of the bundle, which is just a slightly updated Sonic Generations. I did 100% both of the games in here.

I consider these to be separate games mostly because even the game considers them to be separate. Instead of remaking Sonic Generations in the engine they had access to, they really only did some slight, almost mod-like changes to the version of Sonic Generations that was already available on steam to account for Sonic being an asshole to Amy (for literally no reason, originally framing Sonic shoving his hand in her face to talk to tails as "cool", so a good change actually) and then plot changes for Shadow Generations to fit better in. This version of Sonic Generations is then launched after you select it in the starting menu, as if it was a launcher itself.

On the one hand, I'm okay with this because it was likely a rights/age of the engine issue that prevented them from updating the game significantly or remaking it entirely in the new engine. On the other... Modders have used Generations as the base for like 12 years now? It would've been cool to see them add in more levels, if only just the 3DS levels that now are unplayable through any modern means. Granted, the 3DS levels weren't good, but they had game representation in there that's now just completely lost.

Adding in new levels would've also been nice. Sega re-used, and will continue to re-use assets from the Sonic Generations, so there's justification for adding more substantial content from games that are overwhelmingly popular in the series and were missing from the original, ie anything from Advanced, Rush, 3D Blast, to newer games that never made it to 3D like Mania.

Gameplay wise, it's still pretty good. It definitely shows some of its age with level and mission design, but overall it was the best 3D Sonic experience since Adventure 2, and then undefeated until Shadow Generations in my mind.

I would recommend picking it up if you don't own Sonic Generations anyway, but if you've played it at all, especially recently, don't buy it for Sonic Generations; Buy it for Shadow

Screenshot from Steam store page

Sonic Origins (Steam)

So now I'm on a Sonic kick, and while I waited a while to pick this collection due to its price and also misleading release, I'm glad I did now the plus version is out and it was on sale.

Full disclosure, I'd never actually 100% CD and 3 & Knuckles. CD was a bit to complex for me (and I had no idea you had to go back in time and destroy the generators on every level), and I only ever had &Knuckles to play with originally. The removal of lives (optional) and the ability to use medals to replay levels and specials stages really allows for exploration of levels without fearing losing all your progress, and to makes a much more enjoyable experience on the whole. The music they had to replace is definitely worse than the originals, but easily overlooked. Otherwise, the games play well, the inclusion of Amy was a good choice (though I would've liked to have seen more classic characters for the price) and the other quality of life features are good as well. The 10 Game Gear games are nice, but none of them are really that memorable or play well on their own so that's passable.

If this is on sale for $5-10 and you haven't played all these games to death, I'd pick it up, but if you own these games in another form this is certainly a more polished way of enjoying them but nothing to drop too much on

Image from srb2 website

Sonic Robo Blast 2 (PC)

After an attempt to revisit Forces to continue my Sonic 100% streak up to 7, I decided to pick up one of the most beloved Sonic fangames which started out as a DOOM mod (and I think still is? I didn't research this tbh).

Overall I'd say it's pretty fun; the multitude of characters to play as cool and the levels feel more or less true to what a 3D classic sonic would be. I however didn't finish it, as I kept getting frustrated with the thok move, camera, and controls, and after all those 100%'s I kept needing to restart to find those chaos emeralds. Ultimately, I made the experience worse for myself to achieve an arbitrary goal.

The game is free and a really fun fangame, so give it a try but also understand the controls and movement aren't for everyone

Screenshot from my only god pack pull so far

Pokemon TCG Pocket (Android)

I hate Gacha Games. Blind Boxes are gambling. Therefore, this blind box F2P game is the worst thing I've ever downloaded on my phone.

Except it's not? I really can't explain it past Nostalgia for when I was 5 collecting Pokemon cards, especially since I suck at battling as much now as I did then, but there's just something cool about collecting all the pokemon and seeing all the cool card art. I am not immune to the dopamine rush of opening 2 card packs a day and a 1/5 chance of picking from friend's packs.

Gameplay wise it's a little simpler than the in-person game, but as a result smaller balance issues make greater impacts. In most cases for example, it's much better to get tails on the initial coin flip to go second, as the energy advantage is usually way more useful that the evolution advantage that the first player gets on turn 3. Also, a large number of decks rely on coin flips going well, and that can get frustrating very quickly when you're already relying on card draws being in your favor.

This game is a dangerous gateway drug into getting into TCGs for real. Use responsibly, and understand that when you drop your first buck on any gambling game you have crossed the biggest line to cross and it will be hard if not impossible to go back.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Switch)

I was so excited to see the series not only return, but in stylized 3D! I was very concerned this series was dead after the studio shut down.

That being said, this one is just... alright. The way it's structured with the constant return to hub and the disjointed islands is not doing it any favors. It might be more... "streamlined" I suppose, but what I really liked about the series was for the most part the world was interesting to explore and really bizarre and wacky. With every dungeon essentially being a rather small island among a vast, mostly empty ocean, it kinda feels a bit shallow.

It also unfortunately suffers from the issues that prevented Dream Team from being on of the greats, mainly the constant tutorials all the way up to the final boss and cutscenes explaining what just clearly happened on screen to you in case you weren't playing during the playable section where you did the thing.

Gameplay wise it's pretty solid; It can get pretty repetitive, especially in the first half the game when you're missing a lot of your kit and mainly just focus on jump attacks. But it's a M&L game, so even that feels really solid, and the battle plug system also adds a lot to the game. The characterization of Bowser, Jr., and his minions is also really solid.

Overall this game suffers from dragging on way too long, which I can't even say is because it's just too long a game or the dialogue and constant explanations really stretch it for all it's worth. I'd place this below Dream Team, as not a bad game but one with a number of flaws preventing it from being good. Worth a pick-up if it ever goes on sale, but also not a necessary experience like Superstar Saga, SMRPG, or TTYD.

Official Update Artwork by Hibachi (@HibachiX1)

Dead Estate: GOOD NIGHT! (Steam)

The final update for this game! I decided now would be as good a time as ever to catch up on those achievements. I never did, but only because of Assignment Anya (the last update I covered earlier this year).

This update adds a Dream route, which include 4 floors, a bonus floor that can appear in the main route, and some insane bosses leading to a unique ending for each characters and even more costumes! It's a really solid cap on the game and a great note to end on; I thoroughly enjoyed almost every moment with it.

If you've not picked up Dead Estate yet, it's now "complete" and definitely worth the purchase. If it's been a while, it''s worth a revisit (but warm up on some basic runs and challenges first)

Screenshot from the Steam store page

ATLYSS (Steam)

Once again it's proven that randy furries can make some of the best content known to man (I don't know if the creators of this, Pseudoregalia, or Dust an Elysian Tale are horny furries it's a joke I should probably delete this when I proofread it).

Atlyss is a Diablo-like game combined with a 3D platformer, where you can pick one of 6 races and then 3 classes to get a variety of skills, weapons, and attacks to overcome enemies, dungeons, and complete quests. It's very fun despite only having 2 dungeons in it so far, and even better when you grab a friend or few to do some dungeon runs. I'm very excited to see where the game goes!

This game really took off of course because of its character customization, which lets you slide bars all the way to the right to get absurd proportions and wear some pretty thirsty clothes. That being said, while its character designs are definitely what you would expect with a game that lets you do that, the amount of options lets you create some really cool looking characters. The game even makes a point to give you scrolls that let you learn the skills other races have innately pretty early on, so there's really no reason not to make your favorite character look how they want and then play them exactly how you want (because imp's life drain is insanely powerful)

You could wait for more content, but honestly there's a good 8 hours in there right now to mess around with a some built in replay ability, I very much recommend this one

Screenshot from the Steam store page

UFO 50 (Steam)

I'm gonna have a couple controversial reviews on this list I think, but maybe not too controversial.

This is a collection of NES style games, with on overarching narrative about this being a found classic console with these 50 games released in order in the 80s. The games themselves for the most part feel very modern in a way that's hard to describe. They lack that classic jank that NES games used to have, like the sprite limit flicker, bad hitboxes in ice climbers, etc that make it just enough not to hit my nostalgia buttons but also mechanics that are much more polished overall.

Total I think I played 15 games before I put this one down. Each game is actually a real game in its own right, ranging from RPGs, arcade style games, platformers, puzzle games, even some strategy games in there. I've definitely spent a lot more time in some games than others, but this is unfortunately where I run into a personal problem when it comes to compilation games. If I'm not excited to try every game in the bundle, I often time abandon it pretty quickly.

I understand this is a me problem and I may have just not found the crazy good ones yet, but these games for the most part all just felt like fine. None of them really grabbed me except one of the later ones where you play as a Spaceman and gather resources like the top-down sections in Blaster Master, but even that was hindered by the design choice to make you wait for meat to regen in your town before you can explore more.

Overall, I can tell a lot of love went into this compilation and i'm not faulting it for that. Personally, I just couldn't get too into a lot of these games in the modern era, and because of that I ended up dropping this compilation early. Your mileage may very!

Screenshot from Steam store page

Black Mesa (Steam)

The Half-Life 2 update that made it workshop compatible and contain every Episode reminded me of this! But mostly my friend Blossom sharing funny videos of it actually.

I actually wasn't a huge fan of original half-life that much; I find the sequel nails the tone and game feel a lot better, but again it's not bad. Certainly this is the definitive way to play the original, and worth picking up for that alone, but if you didn't like the OG half-life you're not going to get much mileage out of this

Screenshot from Steam store page

Marvel Rivals (Steam)

Overwatch but better! I think. It's very easy to get overwhelmed in this game, and clearly takes a lot of time to understand character dynamics and what is even going on, but honestly I enjoyed what little time I spent with this way, waaaaaaay more than any time I spent with Overwatch. Sniping also doesn't seem to be nearly as prevalent; a huge plus for people like me who, on top of knowing that snipers take away any fun from a game that balances around weapon strength/reload speed/range, are correct.

There's clearly some balancing issues, but overall since I'm never going to be playing competitive it's just a good time and I can look past that.

It scratches that hero shooter itch without fomo or demanding so much of your time. Definitely worth a try (with friends)

Screenshot from DLC Steam store page

Disney Dreamlight Valley: Storybook Vale (Switch)

This is again what my Sister plays when she visits (or I visit her), so this is from the perspective of someone who watches her play and occasionally when she doesn't complete timed events finishes those up after the visits.

I'll open up by saying that the game definitely runs a lot better overall. Granted, it's very far from perfect, but the game crashes are now few and far between, slowdown is a lot less common, the music no longer skips, and a lot of item spawning issues have been fixed. Granted, the slowdowns are still there, loading times are frankly unacceptable still, and the item management system still needs to be reworked to prevent forced loading screens if they're going to be this long, but it's good progress.

This expansion specifically adds a whole new land in the form of the Storybook vale, a world shaped vaguely like a book that has 3 biomes: a ruined library in the fall, a golden Greek paradise based off of Hercules, and a fairytale forest with references to Alice in Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty. It adds in 3 new befriendable characters (will like increase to 5 later), Merida from Brave, Flynn from Tangled, and the star of the show Hades from Hercules.

The lands themselves are much better design, going from geometric walls and winding paths found in the base game and last expansion to much larger, more detailed and open areas that allow you to see further into the distance and actually take in the sightlines. It also adds in a new mechanic, a net, which you use to gather Snippets (small creatures made out of paper) which you then use to rebuild a book and create art to advance the plot.

On the whole, it's more of the same gameplay loop but better polished. It's very easy to lose yourself running around and doing tasks, but since my sister isn't one for decorating the world that specific large aspect of the game gets lost.

The new characters are neat, though I've not seen Brave myself. Flynn is also an odd choice, as now all three main characters from Tangled, what I thought was one of Disney's weakest movies, are now present in the game when other majorly successful movies like Alice in Wonderland and 101 Dalmatians are nowhere to be seen.

My older reviews still mostly stand in terms of recommending this game at all, but the expansion offers a fair amount of new content and promises to release more throughout the year so it's not a bad game.

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Switch)

Aight so I have major beef with this one, to the point where I kinda want to do an extensive write-up on all the switch ports/remasters that Nintendo's done over the past 7 years. Their record kinda sucks but this is the worst by far.

This is just a straight port of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon on the 3DS. It can only technically be called HD because of the resolution, but other than that, some lighting, and a few specific textures I cannot tell the difference between the two. Additionally, they did not fix any of the animations, something that's forgivable on the 3DS because the resolution's so small and it's a tiny console, but when you see animations in cutscenes just run out and characters freeze on the big screen it's frankly unacceptable to call this "HD." In a lot of games I review, I talk about how their jank is part of the charm, but this isn't just jank, it looks bad and lazy.

As far as new features: There aren't any. This game is virtually identical to the 3DS original, except there isn't 3D. I know a lot of people didn't like the 3D on that console, but I loved it and consider it a feature taken out. So to me, this is the equivalent of an upscaling mod on your PC. For nearly twice the price the game was 11 years ago. Absurd.

Gameplay wise, this is the weakest entry in the series by a mile. The constant interruptions from E. Gadd and the mission structure make it really difficult to get into the gameplay and environments since you're constantly being told what wacky thing just happened on screen or just straight up yanked out of the level back to the hub. It was again acceptable at the time because portable games typically get different experiences than you would expect from a home console, but on a home console it's just not an engaging experience.

I got this as a gift, and I spent the whole time playing thinking about how much a waste of money this was. Skip it and get Luigi's Mansion 3 if you haven't

Screenshot from the Steam store page

Awaria (Steam)

From the makers of Helltaker comes Helltaker but as a fast-paced arcade-like game instead! You play as a repair-lady who runs around between generators and generator part dispensers to fix them while being assaulted by ghost ladies with strange powers related to how they died. Then you smooch them at the end of each level. Pretty simple, but really addictive and easily overwhelming as parts take time to generate, you have a limited amount of time to fix generators, and you can only hold 2 items at once. As it introduces parts that take other parts to generate, it really forces you to strategize instantaneously while running around and dodging like a madman.

The difficulty is quite up there, but it wasn't anything insurmountable and I played it on Hard mode by default, which you don't have to do of course. I would highly recommend giving this one a go; it's another labor of love and insanely fun for the time you spend with it. Also it's free

Screenshot from Steam store page

Balatro (Steam)

I'm really bad at poker and I've only gotten to like Ante 4? in a run so far and that felt like a lot of luck by getting insane straight multipliers and then losing when I couldn't make a straight. Other than that, I really don't get it; it seems like a distilled rogue-lite in that they've removed core gameplay elements and turned it from a platformer/shooter/deckbuilder etc. to just playing cards, and while I typically enjoy that style of gameplay I need more than that out of a game. It just genuinely feels like luck.

Personally I would skip this, but it's also one of the most bought, played, and well-received games of 2024 so like my opinion's an outlier here.

Screenshot from Steam store page

Tower Factory (Steam Early Access)

This is a really neat idea! Basically a mix between your standard Tower Defense game and your endless factory maker (Satisfactory, Factorio, etc.) You basically have to create and optimize factory buildings and conveyor belts to get the resources you need, process them into different resources, and then use those top create the towers to defend this.

While doing this, you need to create light towers to further unlock the map and find Light Crystals, which you then use to defeat the wizard tower (enemy spawn point) which you also have to find. Maps are randomly generated, with your resource pools, obelisks that power up adjacent towers, resource/coin chests, and light crystals scatter across the map. This allows for your replays to be different every time each level, of which there are 4, progressively harder ones so far.

Despite not seeming like a lot, the replayability is high and in fact key, because you start off with very few towers and resources and may end up losing your first bout on each level, gaining coins depending on your performance at the end of the level. These coins can then be used to permanently upgrade and unlock new towers'/factory components to help you perform better on the next run.

It's pretty fun! It can get really hectic jumping between the two halves of the game, especially since resource pools can run out and you may need to refactor your factory during an intense wave, but the actual TD aspects of it are pretty simple so it's not overwhelming. It unfortunately falls into the pitfall that almost every genre crossover game has however, where if the audiences for both were a Venn diagram, the only people who would really get into the game would be at the intersection of both genres, not pools from both sides. The TD aspect is pretty simple, and the factory aspect seems so as well, and they have to be so in the intense moments you're not overwhelmed fine tuning either. Again, I like it, but it's very easy to tell it's not for everyone.

Keep in mind it's early access, but if you like TD and Factory games this might be worth a pick-up! or at least a follow to see when it nears completion if Early Access is understandably not your thing. I picked it up in the Steam winter sale.

And that's it! thank you for reading this far, and have a great 2025!

[kolplayone]

rayman 2 and 3 all bosses rayman 2: the great escape all bosses rayman 3: hoodlum havoc all bosses rayman 2 and 3 for pc lets play all bosses rayman

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

btw today i dreamt they made a new rayman game

It was a sidescroller, with an art style similar to legends, but had heavy rayman 2 vibes. Ray's sprite was like a 2D render of his raan 3 one, and had to do various tasks for the magician and globox to solve various platforming puzzles and reach for the boss of the area, a lanky blue glute who was implied worked for Ales

the dream/level ended with a boss against a giant robot serpent that rhythmically shot lasers from its tail and a big beam from.the mouth, and just like the rest of the level the fight was all a matter of solving puzzles and time jumps and movements to make sure ray wouldnt get hit while carrying a big explosive barrel he had to throw in the snake's mouth when it opened it to charge the beam

it was Fun

[pongonn]

hellooo! I'm Pongonn! But you can also call me Sunny/AJ

Series I like!

Sonic(HUGE FAN SINCE I WAS LITTLE OMGG)

FNAF

Omori

Pizza Tower

Object Shows

MLP

The Stanley Parable

Wii Deleted You

Bugbo

Hazbin Hotel(kinda)

Helluva Boss

Sugary Spire

Regretevator

Phighting!

Dave And Bambi

Rayman(every game)

Ultrakill

Lethal Company

TF2

Deltarune

Undertale

Smiling Friends(omfg I love Smiling Friends sm)

Sam & Max

Lethal League(and Lethal League Blaze too)

Murder Drones

Raggedy Ann and Andy:A musical adventure

Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun

OFF

Law of Talos(OMG OMG OMG I LOVE LOT SM)

Endzone(I LOVE ENDZONE SM TOO)

Welcome Home

Spooky Month

Sally Face

NITW

Newsies the musical(underrated movie fr)

All Mean Girls movies

Castle Crashers

ENA

Wander Over Yonder

DSAF

Tattletail

BattleBlock Theatre

DHMIS(I started tweaking when they posted a whole season)

South Park

Vs.Sonic.exe(IM STILL PISSED IT WAS CANCELLED IT WAS AND STILL IS MY FAVORITE MOD EVER)

Sonic.exe in general

Mandela Catalogue

The Walten Files

Dialtown

Cuphead

Shovelware's Brain Game

Lucky Star

Gravity Falls

aannd that's all I can think of!

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Musical Artists and people I like!

Will Wood(IM A HUGE FAN OMGCXG)

Oingo Boingo(RRAAAHHHHHH I LOVE OINGO BOINGO SM THEY'RE SO UNDERRATED)

Rio Romeo

Jschlatt

Flamingo

Mitski

Graham Kartna

Jack Stauber

Lemon Demon

Weezer

AJJ

Caravan Palace

Crystal Castles

System Of A Down

They Might Be Giants

H!tex

6arleyhuman

Odetari

Kets4eki

Nuvfr

ICP

Vertigoaway

Malice Mizer

Tv Girl

MSI(I DONT SUPPORT WHAT JIMMY DID)

and that's also all I can think of!

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Character's I love!

Sunny(Omori)

Basil(Omori)

Rayman

Ramon

N(Murder Drones)

Mari(Omori)

Home(Welcome Home)

Barnaby(Welcome Home)

Poppy Partridge(Welcome Home)

Streber(Spooky Month)

Ethan(Spooky Month)

Leon(Spooky Month)

Bon(Walten Files)

Sha(Walten Files)

Banny(Walten Files)

Henry(Wii Deleted You)

Pico

Infected (Regretevator)

Randy Jade(Dialtown)

Wally(Welcome Home)

Oliver Swift(Dialtown)

Karl(Law of Talos)

Climber(Endzone&Law of Talos)

Chimbley(Endzone&Law of Talos)

Cat Butler(Omori)(I LOVE HIM SM)

Glamrock Chica

Hanako-Kun(TBHK)

Mitsuba(TBHK)

Bandu(DnB)

Dave(DnB)

Sonic

Amy Rose

Knuckles

Scorbunny(Pokémon)

Blaziken(Pokémon)

Goh(Pokémon)

Sally Face

That fucking robot on Caravan Palace's MVs and Album Covers

Cuphead

Red Guy

Benzene (LoT)

Shadow the Hedgehog

Dipper Pines

Pest(Regretevator)

Bill Cipher

Slingshot(Phighting)

Broker(Phighting)

Mae(NITW)

Gregg(NITW)

Angus(NITW)

Phone guy(FNAF)

Dave(DSAF)

Crem(Regretevator)

and that's about it!(there's more I can't think of)

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

DNI and INT!

DNI:

Andy and Leyley fans

JustAMinx fans

basic dni

INT:

if u like any of the stuff I like!

[srarizard]

Back on my Rayman bullshit.

I literally have nowhere to talk about Rayman but the Tumblr tag seems to be popping so here goes. I am probably the only person on planet Earth who cannot stop thinking about Reflux. I will always be critical of Rayman 3 for its very surface level characters and unfunny "humor", but it still has a lot of environmental storytelling if you look for it. For example, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Knaaren are bipedal toads.

Artistic liberties were taken, of course, but it's almost a perfect match. It also explains the dot on his forehead, as most toads have warts all over. The warts only become more prominent during the final boss battle, too.

Not to mention, the tunnel system they live in is directly outside of a ravine full of poisoned water. This implies that there might have been a time when they were semi-aquatic. They also have flat teeth, with no canines. I like to think it's because they are herbivores forced to feast on whatever they can find, because they have no plants within miles to feed on. It would explain why they prefer the brain, as it's squishy and easy to chew, as well as the zombie eggs that are the only notable, reliable food source seen in the desert.

Now, what about the way that they evolved? Most of this is speculation, but I can at least tie it together. Knaaren are invincible canonically. Reflux contradicts this in two ways; he has defeated other Knaaren to claim the title of champion, and he dies at the end of Rayman 3. It can only be concluded that he isn't a "normal" Knaaren, and the best way to explain this is to acknowledge the fact that the champion receives the power of the Leptys. Not only is Reflux the only Knaaren to use magic, his boss battle is, quite frankly, insane. I just replayed it yesterday, and it came extremely close. It's possible he used his power to exhaust the other Knaaren to the point where they can no longer fight in order to claim the title of champion using those powers.

In theory, it can also be said that the power of the Leptys creates a weakness. God powers must take a lot of energy to channel no matter what sort of creature you are. So, in theory, Reflux was burning the candle at both ends, pridefully striking down challengers and assuming that he would never be defeated with how much power he has come to earn. He becomes a monster in his thirst for revenge at the end of the game, which ultimately kills him. What this implies about the Leptys is vague, but it certainly has something to do with the deity.

Now, this is my favorite part. Reflux is actually the only character Rayman has ever done wrong. I'd say he's the only one Rayman ever killed, but uh, depends on your view of canon, so I'll be focusing on what is undeniable. Rayman blasts into the desert without warning, and granted it's to save his friend, but he ruins Reflux's life in doing so. He had no choice but to become the champion and shame his opponent. Reflux made his entire identity on being champion, and eagerly accepts when André promises the ability to claim revenge. Rayman was just supposed to be a fun exercise for him, and now Reflux finds himself outcast due to an outsider who doesn't even want to be champion. It's the fault of his pride, but it is still a way that Rayman has made someone's life worse.

It's also interesting to think of them as cultural opposites. Rayman comes from a lovely dream world, and Reflux comes from a hellish nightmare that he had to claw his way to the top. Rayman was born a hero, and Reflux had to earn it. Ubisoft really shot themselves in the foot by not expanding on that, I think. They could have really made something out of the contrast of dreams and nightmares.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk. If you read this far, please stan Reflux.

[levy120]

Tit for Tat

[PART 1: Foreign]

[PART 2: Advertisement]

[PART 3: Blood Money]

Rating: M

Words: 2850

Genre: Introspection, Character Deconstruction/Analysis, Speculation, AU, Whump

Lore: Rayman 2, Captain Laserhawk speculation

Characters: Rayman, the manager, the boss, the clan shows up again

Summary: Baby's first murder

Warnings: Major Character Death, Blood & Gore, Murder

AN: Welcome to the M rating folks! Just gonna embrace everyone's Bobbypill-gore-fears a little with this one :') See also on: [dA] | now also on [ao3] ❗❗❗

See also: [Part 1] | [Part 2] | [Part 3] | [You are here] | [Part 5]

More like this: [Rayman Oneshots Masterpost]

After Rayman's emotional breakdown on live TV, Chief brings him a package the next day.

He lies on his bed, bags under his eyes when she dumps the box right on his midsection, eliciting a grunt.

"I got something for you, to cheer you up," she says.

The lesson, she agrees, had to be learned. But Rayman looks a mess. Makeup can cover his poor constitution but that won't help them if his voice keeps cracking and his acting fails him.

"What's that?" he asks as he sits up.

"Fanmail," Chief says, "Your unprofessional stunt yesterday was - for some reason - received well by the public."

Rayman starts sifting through the box. It's indeed letters. A lot of condolences for 'his' loss, partly to blame on how openly Chief had communicated his involvement with the shelter to the public.

He sifts through the box with shaking hands, card after card. There are long letters and rough drawings from children. 'Thank You's from facilities he's been supporting and photos of teams showing off what his donated money went into.

She watches his breath even out and his posture become a little less tense.

It's… a mystery to the manager how even when Rayman fucks up he winds up endearing to the crowd. He's established himself as the face of the people in what little time he's been here. Mistakes are 'charming' or 'make him human' despite him very clearly being anything BUT. Maybe some folks just consider him the same way they'd look upon a puppy and figure he's some sort of mascot. 

Whatever the case, he's weaseled himself into the hearts of Eden's citizens to a point that makes him a liability even more so than his ignorant volatility had made him before. 

He’s prolific in a way that would spark outcry if he were to disappear suddenly. Eden’s advantage has turned into a risk. 

She used to be the boss's assistant, now relegated to being this creature's personal babysitter.

But that's fair, she supposes. His impact on Eden’s image has been massive. Playing the job of his supervisor might as well be the most important task in this company right now. 

The faintest of smiles has returned on Rayman's face and he wipes his eyes with the heel of his hands before - completely unbidden - he moves in to hug the Chief.

It startles her.

She’s not getting paid enough to put up with all of his crap, but - she supposes - at least when it comes to the Limbless himself, it’s not as thankless a task as it could be. 

---

Rayman agrees to doing the second show, and while he's reluctant to talk to him again, Chief says the boss is gracious enough to grant him that second chance.

It's… easier he thinks. The format is supposed to be more lighthearted than the news, and Rayman figures that might make it just what he needs.

So he's hopeful.

Until the night of the premier. That has him nervous. And scared. And frantic. And everything in between. Why did he agree to this?

There’s a live audience waiting outside, which is so strikingly different from just reporting the news. His heart flutters from stage fright. 

Chief stands next to him with her arms crossed. Her stoic presence is a crutch. 

“You look nervous,” she observes.

“That’s because I am,” Rayman replies and chuckles in a way that almost sounds like a sob. 

"You'll do great," Chief comments like it doesn't matter, "Those people out there, they're here for you."

Rayman takes another glimpse from behind the curtain.

"Isn't that the part where you tell me to act natural?"

"You?! Hell no!"

Rayman makes a sound of acknowledgment somewhere between amusement and disappointment.

"That's the part where I tell you to put on a smile. Unless you insist on sabotaging yourself, you couldn't possibly mess this up."

She hunkers down to adjust his bowtie.

"Now get out there, and make me proud."

---

"See?" the manager says. Rayman thinks it's the first time he sees her smile, "I knew you could do it."

"Thanks, Ly."

"Who?" she asks and Rayman stiffens, suddenly realizing what he'd said.

"Oh, I…" he fumbles and backs off. He looks flustered. And a little bit sad. "Sorry. Just… you… sounded like an old friend, for a second there."

Shit. This is embarrassing. Rayman buries his face in his hands, but luckily Chief doesn't seem to mind.

"Were they a good friend?"

He collects himself. Sighs.

"Very," he replies, his entire posture sagging, "She was my mentor."

"I see," his manager replies with a sense of amusement and Rayman is so relieved she's not holding it against him.

“I guess what I meant to say is… Thank you for having my back." he tries again.

"Come on," she says and easily ruffles his hair just standing next to him. She can't stand it when he's moping and he sounds like he needs some cheery thoughts.

"I think we should celebrate this premiere with a drink."

"Yeah," Rayman agrees, "That sounds like an excellent idea. What would I ever do without your guidance?"

---

Chief has a gun to her head.

"We can talk about this," Rayman pleads with their assailant, "Let's be reasonable."

The guy had just come out of nowhere. Hijacked the car of their driver and kidnapped them into an abandoned parking facility. 

He’s rough and violent. Through it all, his manager is trying really hard to remain calm, but Rayman has seen calm on her. And anger. And right now he knows she's very much scared.

Rayman isn’t sure what’s up with the guy. Whether he’s a small fish with a small mind or if he has ulterior motives. Then he catches a glimpse of a tattoo he recognizes from the news on the dude’s neck. 

“What do you want?” 

Rayman tries to offer, his hands held up placatingly. 

Wasn’t the attack on the homeless shelter enough already?! 

“I could ask you the same thing!” the guy spits as he jostles the manager.

“Since your mug is on TV suddenly the Eden assholes look like the good guys, while poor people still starve!” 

“Is this about money again?” Rayman asks, confused, panicked. “You can have it, okay? Just let her go first.” 

“Money won't save you!” the guy yells and presses the gun against the manager’s temple. She flinches back with grit teeth. It makes her look so unusually small. 

Rayman’s hands go limp. 

“I’m here for you little Eden shits!" the man snarls.

"Did this bitch tell you the shelter raid was an inside job?"

“That’s not-”

“SHUT UP!” 

He angrily flails his gun at her. Rayman is slowly lowering his stance. He’s barely listening, too busy by now keeping his eyes on that twitching trigger finger. 

“You don’t ever wonder why there are people in need of your donations to begin with?! Have they brainwashed you this badly? I’ll tell you why! It’s because this entire system is broken!” 

He spits. Rayman has barely time to take a breath before the gun goes off. 

As Chief clatters to the ground Rayman’s world stands still. There’s evidently no helping her, she’s just… dead. Immediately. 

His posture goes lax as his breath leaves him.

“This mess can only be fixed from the ground up,” the voice echoes in the parking lot, but Rayman’s ears are still ringing from the gunshot. 

“You’re next.” 

When his weapon moves to take aim at Rayman his instincts kick in. The Limbless throws his fist at the firearm and breaks the attacker's hand. The gun clatters to the ground but the sound is drowned by a blood-curdling scream. 

Humans are just so incredibly fragile when Rayman's hands are used to breaking apart metal. For just having taken someone else's life with that silly weapon of his the dirty crook is nothing without it.

As the criminal clutches his wrist, screaming and crying - look at him, all tears and snot - Rayman approaches him.

His left hand is still squeezing down on the mess of bones, keeping the man pinned to the ground.

Rayman is small, likely a third of this guy’s statures, but he towers above the asshole by the time he's eye to eye with him. And the look on his face spells bloody murder.

A younger version of him would have stopped there. The threat was disarmed, had learned its lesson, could grow from that.

But that version is gone. He left it in the Glade. And without Chief, there's no one to hold him back.

A well-aimed punch makes sure that the bastard stays down. Rayman is upon him before he can get back on his feet.

Blood sprays and teeth go flying as Rayman beats the monster's face to a pulp.

The screaming stops, but his punches don't, even when splintered bones become crumbs of asphalt and his own knuckles break open.

When he does stop eventually, with a breathless sob and a wail, he glances down on a mess of flesh - a human body that no longer has a face to speak of.

And he feels nothing.

His thoughts are with Chief, who lies behind him, her scattered brains exposed on the asphalt. It's an image in his mind he can't bear.

But the bastard beneath him?

Rayman gets up and nudges the body with his foot. 

Didn't even put up a fight.

Rayman spits the taste of blood from his mouth. Fuck.

"Guess no one ever taught you, you need to be careful of who you choose to make an enemy of here."

---

HQ is spinning out of control when the manager's call arrives but it's Rayman speaking on the other end asking to be picked up.

Even so, his driver isn't prepared for what awaits him at the parking facility.

Rayman himself hunkers on the hood of their car, just drenched in blood, with two bodies lining the asphalt behind him.

"Finally," he says. His voice is alarmingly calm and timid. Something about it doesn't sit right with the cabby; it doesn’t fit with the rest of the picture. 

"Please, can we go home?"

"Yeah. Sure," the escort says as he unlocks the car. Rayman drudges past him. The wet squelching of his shoes haunts every step as he slinks into the car to ruin the interior with the stain of blood and stench of iron.

Slowly the driver makes out the details of the crime scene. The puddle of blood, the giant hole in the manager's skull… the… no-longer-a-skull of the other body. 

He stumbles to a nearby beam and starts throwing up.

---

"Shit. You did this?"

The boss is examining one of the victim's photos from the crime scene.

"Guess Razorbeard wasn't kidding when he said you had violent tendencies. Well, now…"

he folds the evidence into a neat stack before igniting a lighter and setting the polaroids ablaze.

"The public can't know about this," the boss orders as he gets up from his seat to bear down on Rayman. 

The Limbless is fresh out of the shower, his hair still dripping wet, but his nose is still clogged with the smell of iron. He hunches on his chair, fists tightly interlocked as he presses his forehead against them like it could make the memory vanish.

"I dispatched a team to remove the bodies and clean the site. I don't want you to mention this to anyone. Surely I don’t have to remind you what that would do to your image."

They seem oddly prepared, Rayman can’t help but think in the light of what the perpetrator had been spitting. Maybe the Limbless would have been more inclined to listen if the asshole hadn’t decided to choose murder first. 

"Did he spill anything about his motive before you broke his jaw?"

The mere memory of the boss flying off the handle at Rayman suggesting he'd bring to light just one of his dirty secrets makes the Limbless shake his head no.

He doesn't want to find out what the consequences would be if Boss were to learn of him knowing yet another of his misdeeds.

What would he target next? The food-bank? The hospital? Perish the thought he'd go for the childcare.

Rayman's foot is tapping relentlessly before his posture straightens and he dares to look the boss in the eyes. Here they are face to face finally - Rayman wishes the circumstances could have been different.  

Once upon a time, he’d toyed with the idea of giving the boss a good wallop in the face if they ever were to meet.

Right now, that very thought leaves a sour taste in his mouth. 

"What about Chief?" he asks.

"Of course, you'll be appointed a new assistant."

"Sir," Rayman tries to find his voice, "That's not-"

But Boss flicks his wrist to silence him, and Rayman goes quiet.

"You can make your own decisions for one day and NOT cause a mess, can't you?" 

Rayman's alert posture wilts until he hunkers. He’s not sure if what he’s feeling is regret. 

It's only for Chief that he feels bad.

Not for the bastard that killed her, he doesn’t. 

That one got what he deserved. 

…But it still doesn't bring back his friend.

If anything, Rayman thinks it's a shame that by hiding the evidence under a rug, the rest of the clan will just proceed as usual. They need to be sent a message. 

Damn, he just wants to be left alone. But he's very high profile. Boss has his name plastered all over town.

He knows today won't have been his last brush with extremists.

---

Rayman's perceived calm lasts up until he's led back to his room, when he's supposed to sleep and the hectic world around him slows down.

It's like all of the memories culminate and flood him like a torrent that threatens to take him under.

He lies in bed curled up and bawling, as the pain in his knuckles reaches a new boiling point.

---

Of course, it's on the news.

No one comes to pick him up the following day (obviously he can't expect Chief to suddenly show up at his door), so Rayman has no choice but to watch the news from his dorm. He's seen the guy standing in for him on set before.

They call it an 'attempt on his life' and say that the 'culprit has been apprehended' (that's cute) and that 'he'll be back as soon as possible'.

Not a single word about Chief.

It's funny - he thinks now - how he's never bothered to fact-check his own reports. It's all on the teleprompter. The only thing they need him to do is read.

But he doesn't want to acknowledge that the guy he killed might have been right.

Not when his solution to the problem was pointing a gun at Rayman when he'd already been trying so hard to offer help wherever he could. 

---

"Another job?" Rayman asks. He's so tired already. It's been nearly a month since the incident and Rayman is still trying to find his footing back with his old schedule. But here he's been pulled from prepping tonight's moderation to meet with the boss.

Truth be told though, he appreciates anything that keeps his mind from wandering. But this might be a bit excessive.

"One of our Nightclubs reports unruly customers. We thought maybe you'd be interested in a leading position?"

His face draws into a frown.

"Unruly customers, huh?"

"Violent Costumers. Drunkards who don't pay their tab. Brutes looking for a fight. Perverts who harass the female staff," The boss points at him with a dry laugh when he sees the angry frown increase steadily on Rayman's face.

"I thought that'd be up your alley!"

"Don't you have bouncers for that?" Rayman deadpans.

"That's not the point," the boss says and leans back in his seat.

"Your patronage would repel those folk, you know, make people feel safe. And possibly draw an all-new crowd."

Rayman hums to himself. How bold does he dare to be today?

"And you're offering - let me guess - more money."

The boss sighs to himself.

"I expected as much," he drawls. Rayman takes curious note of his calm demeanor. He's not disappointed. Or angry.

"No," the boss says, and Rayman raises an inquiring eyebrow, leans in a little so he can hear what the boss is going to say next.

"If you could pick any citizen from your home…" he says, and Rayman's heart begins to race.

"Just one!" the boss points out with a warning finger-

Rayman wants to fly from his seat and get up to that desk. 'Just one' means 'one for now'. If Rayman puts in even more work after-

"Yes!" he blurts before he can second-guess himself or the boss changes his mind.

"Very good."

A satisfied grin grows on the man's face as he reaches his hand out over the desk for a shake. The limbless fool doesn't even realize he's picking his own leverage.

"I'm expecting a choice by tomorrow."