Sticking with Rayman Legends through the good and the bad

When Rayman Legends was first announced, it was met with an incredibly positive reaction. Said reaction was the result of Rayman Origins gradually climbing up the sales charts and delivering one of the best 2D platforming experiences in recent memory. It took a while for the game to get there, but ultimately, it was a success that warranted a sequel. Legends was soon revealed to be a Wii U exclusive, and a particular sector of the gaming community — namely Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners — let the negativity rain on Ubisoft and Nintendo. Given just how great Origins was, though, it was hard to blame these folks for reacting the way they did.

Here we are a few months later, and Legends is now a multi-platform game. Unfortunately, that road to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 has resulted in a delay for the Wii U version. As you could probably expect, this too was met with a massive amount of criticism. This time around, it was the Nintendo fans who were upset because they weren’t getting the hotly anticipated platformer as originally planned after the game was pushed back several months. Is this fair to Wii U owners who had their hearts set on playing Legends sooner rather than later? Probably not, and you could argue that it’s equally unfair as withholding the game from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 crowd was.

So what do we do now? Personally, I think we should continue to support Legends and the Rayman brand. It’s okay to be upset with a console manufacturer such as Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo. It’s all right to be pissed off at a publisher like Ubisoft. And it’s certainly justified if you’re bummed out that a developer like Ubisoft Montpellier is being forced to sit idly by as its labor of love is rescheduled for a later launch. Video game companies will always be the primary source of our frustration.

Quite frankly, I’ve been let down more times this console generation than I ever was during the good ol’ Nintendo 64 days. I’ve certainly experienced more disappointments in one year this gen than I ever did when I was happily gaming on my PlayStation 2 and GameCube. But through it all, I’ve continued to support the games and franchises that I love. Origins is one of those games, and Rayman is one of those franchises, which is why the upcoming Legends hasn't lost a fan here. While it may not have exactly been a popular feeling, I recently grew bored with the direction of the New Super Mario Bros. games. I love platformers, and the fact that Mario — the undisputed king of the genre — wasn’t cutting it for me left me without a series to call my own. Then Rayman made a triumphant return with Origins.

Everything from the lovely art style to the incredibly rhythmic soundtrack made Origins appealing. Couple that strong presentation with some truly slick gameplay, and you’ve got one of the most solid platformers playable on a console to date. It’s this adulation that I have, not only for Origins but Rayman as a whole, that makes it just a tad bit easier to overlook this whole Wii U delay fiasco. Believe me, when series creator Michel Ancel and several other devs who worked on the game express their dissatisfaction with the delay of Legends, you know this is a messed up situation.

The only real upside to this ordeal is that now even more people get to play Legends at launch. A lot of folks were banking on this game to be a Wii U seller. It’s safe to say that quite a few individuals will be refraining from shelling out upwards of $350 for Nintendo’s shiny box now that they can play Legends on consoles they already own. It sucks for the Wii U and Nintendo, but sadly, them’s the breaks.

Of course, I already own a Wii U, and I really enjoyed the demo for Legends that was previously released on the eShop, so I think I’ll stick with that version of the game. It’s my way of supporting the original vision of the game, as well as the massive potential of the Wii U GamePad — being able to rotate spike-riddled obstacles; cutting ropes to create new paths for Rayman and company; helping out other players through the touchscreen. These are all things I enjoyed about the Legends demo, and they’re things that I won’t really be able to do on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 versions. So yeah, you’re damn right I’m sticking with Legends on the Wii U.

Like I said, it’s hard for me not to support this game and developer Ubisoft Montpellier. Yes, it’s a b*tch that we have to wait to play such a promising game, but things could be worse. I mean, it would totally suck if the game was just removed from the Wii U or canceled entirely. Thankfully, that’s not the case. Though I wish I was playing in the very near future, it looks like I’m going to have to wait a while. In the meantime, I guess I can go back and play Origins again. I never did get all the high scores and Trophies. Legends, I’ll be patiently waiting for you, even if I hate the fact that I’m not playing you right now.

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