Rayman Brain Games

Rayman Brain Games, also known as Rayman Junior, is an educational video game developed and published by Ubi Soft. It's a spin-off entry in the Rayman series. Players control Rayman, who must retrieve the Magic Book of Knowledge from Mr. Dark. The game features levels that focus on mathematics and phonics.

Rayman Brain Games
Developer(s)	Ubi Soft
Publisher(s)	Ubi Soft
Producer(s)	Gérard Guillemot
Programmer(s)	Olivier Couvreur
Composer(s)	Daniel Masson
Series	Rayman
Platform(s)	MS-DOS, Windows, PlayStation
Release	Windows NA: September 30, 2000 EU: December 15, 2000 PlayStation EU: December 15, 2000 NA: August 11, 2001
Genre(s)	Education
Mode(s)	Single-player

Since its release in 1996 for MS-DOS and Windows, Rayman Brain Games has been received positive reception. Critics praised its experience, gameplay and visuals, though criticising sound issues and difficulty.

Gameplay and premise

Rayman Brain Games is an educational game which the player control as Rayman. The game features levels in mathematics and phonics and three difficulty modes for each. The levels will include spelling, word recognition, number recognition and arithmetic. In order to complete the game, all levels must be completed.^[1] As the premise involves Rayman retrieving the Magic Book of Knowledge, which has been stolen by Mr. Dark.^[2] Besides Rayman and Mr. Dark, other characters featured in the game include Betilla the Fairy and the Magician who both of them guide the player. The player could practice their actions at Betilla's Garden.^[3]

Release and reception

Rayman Brain Games was originally published as Amazing Learning Games with Rayman for the MS-DOS and Windows in 1996,^[2] and Rayman Learning Center with three volumes in 1999.^[4]

Rayman Brain Games has received mixed reception since its release. Writer Bonnie James felt that the game mixed educational elements with gameplay well and that kids who enjoy playing games will enjoy this, though they noted that kids who aren't skilled at games might not maximize enjoyment. They went on to praise the game's aesthetic and conceptual variety and the quality of the game's visuals. They felt that the game should have more choice to what players can do from the beginning, comparing the idea to how one can do questions out of order on a test.^[1] Writer Jennifer Beam felt that the experience may captivate players, but noted that its learning elements developed too slowly and criticised sound issues, which may hamper a child's ability to hear instructions or questions clearly.^[3] Active Learning Associates praised it for its addictive, action-oriented gameplay.^[5] Author George Kalmpourtzis noted that the educational approach of "modifying and extending their game mechanisms" that Rayman Brain Games takes is a risky one, arguing that such games can result in no educational impact on players. He went on to argue that such a game does not lend itself to being used in classrooms due to being unhelpful as educational games.^[6] Writer Andrzej Sitek felt that it was an interesting approach to platform games, commenting on their issues with children's educational video games being unrefined.^[7]