Rabbids Go Home

(title card coming... hopefully soon)

They... sleep on lights?

First they invaded Rayman’s world. Then they invaded the “human world” (or something similar to it, anyway). Then, they invaded human culture. That’s when Rayman got tired of being the second fiddle, and left back to the Glade of Dreams. But we weren’t done with these guys, oh no. They are still in the human world, and they have developed a new obsession: The Moon!

Rabbids Go Home was developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and released for the Wii on November 1^st, 2009. Things are going to get weird, but hey, I’m coming for the ride, as long as it’s better than last week’s game.

"This is the biggest round street light I have ever seen!
Let's go sleep on it!" 

Life goes on normally for the humans, while their invaders have found refuge in the junkyard. It’s nighttime, and the moon is full. So large, in fact, that there’s probably another part of the world suffering from a tidal wave or something. The Rabbids suddenly notice the Moon, and (we assume) they decide they want to be on it. I’d love to analyze that train of thought, but these are the Rabbids we’re talking about: That train derails every 2 minutes. And yet, with this idea, they all decide to team up!

Rabbids Rumble

In preparation for this review and the next, I revisited the four games I reviewed back in February 2015. My criticism of them still stand. I won’t come back on them, you can just go back to read those reviews instead. Speaking of, I think I strained my arm with the cow-tossing mini-game again. Peachy.

I remember loving these games so much, I spent an extra part listing my favorite and least favorite mini-games from each title (using the abbreviations RRR – Rayman Raving Rabbids -, RR – Raving Rabbids – and R – Rabbids – to keep things shorter). RRR1, RRR2 (for DS and Wii), RRR TV Party… and of course, those were only the beginning. These were followed by Rabbids Go Home, which marked the clear divide between the original trilogy of games and every one that followed. Rayman was no longer the victim of these invaders’ antics… Nah, the humans were the victims instead.

You could call it... an invasion.

After which the franchise grew bigger and bigger, with entries for home consoles and portable devices. “RR Travel In Time”, where they take their madness to various epochs of human History; “RR Alive and Kicking”, which makes full use of the Xbox Kinect; “Rabbids Land” on the Wii U; “The Interactive TV Show” discussed in last week’s review, along with the TV show; and “RR: The Big Plan”, a VR title because you just have to have bunnies literally come at you now. But it was released only for the Google Daydream, so meh. There’s a few games on iOS as well: “R Big Bang”, “R Heroes” and “R Crazy Rush”. Oh, and a cheap Facebook game that never let you have any chance of moving forward without paying real money. Because that's how Facebook games work. Then, last year we had the massive smash hit “Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle”, released for the Nintendo Switch, and which lovingly mocked every overused trope under the sun of the Mushroom Kingdom. Put that one in the list of crossovers that worked surprisingly well. It was like Ubisoft hosting a friendly roast for a franchise belonging to their adversary.

But of course, there’s also today’s game, Rabbids Rumble. This one was developed by Headstrong Games rather than Ubisoft, and was released on November 13^th, 2012. It was released solely for the Nintendo 3DS, for a simple reason: This game makes full use of the portable console’s capabilities. You’ll notice that mini-game collections do that often. I even remember when I bought this one: January 2015, G-Anime, first convention I ever went to. Hey, what’s a convention if not a great place to buy used games? As a fan of the Rabbids, of course I jumped on the occasion to buy this one!

Just look at the box. Looks fun, doesn’t it? A bunch of Rabbids dressed in various silly disguises, ready for a brawl. And the back of the box says there’s over 100 Rabbids to collect in this game! 100 different battlers! And there are still mini-games, too! What’s not to love? Okay, enough time wasted: What’s the game like?

Rabbids Invasion: My Episode Suggestions

Okay...I’m not planning to make a full-on post about this. Rabbids Invasion has a LOT of episodes, so a Top 12 is almost impossible, and besides these episodes are too short to warrant that much text. Instead, here are some of my favorite episodes; feel free to check them out whenever you want. I’ll just say why I like these episodes.

Go here to read the Rabbids Invasion review.

“Rabbid, Are You There?” – The Rabbids set out to mimic a burglar breaking and entering into a house, and their antics prevent the burglar from succeeding in his task. Said antics also end up affecting the apartment above, in which a fake psychic is trying to scam people into giving him more money, pretending to speak to ghosts and spirits. Two plots that combine in a smart way!

This is entirely too much work for something that could
be solved in 5 seconds. Rabbids in a nutshell.

“Escalator Rabbid” – One bunny is trying to climb up a descending escalator, so he can reach the bunnies on the next floor and get some of their candy. He thinks up a dozen different ways to achieve this, yet keeps failing – while completely missing the fact that there’s an escalator going upwards only a few feet away! This one shows that the Rabbids are very stupid, but also bizarrely resourceful, even if the solutions they find are complex and ineffective, and the best solution, the obvious and easy one, is invisible to them.

“Omelet Party” – The “pilot”, in which Rabbids stumble upon a chicken coop, start racing using chicken as steads, then learn to provoke egg-laying from chickens and use them in an egg shootout… In other words, the absurd and silly stuff you’ve come to expect from these idiots.

Is that a... Jesus analogy or something?

“Rabbid Test No 98005-C: The Blue Rabbid” – In my eyes, the BEST episode of the show. John and Gina, the scientists, watch over seven Rabbids in their test chamber, and decide to paint one blue. What follows is a lesson in prejudice as the Rabbids belittle the lone blue bunny, and then the second one that Gina also paints. She turns two more blue, with the unpainted ones now the minority that the blues start belittling. This leads to a battle between both groups. Eventually, Gina erases the paint off one side of a Rabbid, making him half-blue half-white, and this one reunites the Rabbids as friends again. Touching, smart, and deeper than you’d expect from such a show.

While John panics in the Rabbid body, the Rabbid...
starts acting like a bird.

“Being Rabbid, Parts 1, 2 and 3” – Yes, the laboratory episodes are some of the best, and we have a trilogy here. In trying to comprehend the Rabbids, John switches brains with one of his test subjects. The Rabbid in John’s body gets into the control room… When Gina arrives the next day, she sends John in the Rabbid body out to the junkyard near the lab, where the bunnies regroup. Since he speaks human, the Rabbids start treating John like a king, but he manages to return to the lab… only for the brain transfer, done by Gina, to go wrong and leave Gina into the Rabbid’s body now. When she is sent down into the junkyard accidentally, she meets Lapinibernatus, the smart prehistoric Rabbid, who creates a Rabbid-to-English wristwatch translator so that she can understand him. Finally, a smart person Lapinibernatus can talk with! Unfortunately, John arrives, rescues Gina (leaving Lapinibernatus behind), and sets everything right, restoring Gina to her real body. Phew! These episodes would probably be together as #2 on my list of favorite episodes. The third one, in particular, is very touching.

A perfect Rabbids Invasion movie would have Gina
look for Lapinibernatus to help learn more about the
Rabbid species, since he's smart like a scientist.

Examples include "Diet Rabbid", in which one Rabbid tries
to slim the others down with exercise so they can enter
their makeshift machine. Problem being, they made the
entrance was too small, and no amount of exercise could
make them slim enough to go inside.

“The Rabbid Games” – The Olympic Games, in alien bunny flavor and all the stupidity they display. The running gag of the “female” Rabbid trying to sing and being constantly interrupted is a highlight.

Many episodes from Season 2 in which the bunnies try to get to the Moon. These include “Diet Rabbid” (in which one puts the others on a diet to go into their space shuttle, even if the diet is ineffective because they forgot to make a wide entrance on their shuttle) and “Green Rabbid”, which has them building a pile of stuff like they do in Rabbids Go Home.

Rabbids know Elvis? ....Impressive.

“Rabbid Anthem” – The Rabbids make a singing talent show in the junkyard, to find the perfect one to sing their anthem before they send one of theirs to the Moon. However, there’s only one participant, who tries over and over with different disguises, and he sings horribly off-key… until he inhales helium and does an adorable Elvis impersonation. And then, sometime later, the helium wears off. That one has laughs, cuteness, and drama when it all goes south.

“Ring! Bwaaah!” – After multiple episodes speaking on flip-flops as if they were cell phones, a group of bunnies suddenly gets a real smartphone… and proceed to “discover” it in true Rabbid fashion.

So wait, the Rabbids are dreaming of conducting actual
experiments on humans? Holy crap.

“Queen of Rabbids” – The Rabbids steal a magic kit for kids out of a store… and Alice, who had it in her hands, follows them. She proceeds to astonish them at the junkyard with the various simple magic tricks she knows, and they start treating her almost like a queen.

“Rabbid Dreams” – Ending this list on an unsettling episode, where the scientists attempt to comprehend Rabbids by observing their dreams. Things… get weird from there. Seriously, don’t mess with dreams.

That’s it for the list. Enjoy, seek these episodes, discover the show. This Friday: Rabbids Rumble.

Rabbids Invasion

Well! This is probably the worst title card I've ever made!

The Raving Rabbids. What else is there to say? You’re free to enjoy them, you’re free to despise them. Personally? I like them. They’re… I’m not sure how to explain it… A study on stupidity. They’re idiots, all of them. The rare few smart Rabbids would still be dumber than any American animated sitcom dad of your choice. Their utter lack of comprehension of human society leads them to screw up even the most basic of tasks, in completely unexpected and unpredictable ways. It takes a lot of creativity to ditch all logic and imagine how these creatures with failing knowledge of our customs, lacking in the IQ department, would approach each new discovery.

At least they're not the Minions.

Multiple games, a TV show, gag-per-page French comic books… the Rabbids have outgrown the Rayman series and took control of anything they could get their mitten-like hands on. A multi-media franchise. There's the games, of course, and I spent an entire month back in 2015 discussing no less than 4 Rabbid titles and the various mini-games they contain. And spoiler alert, two more Rabbid games will be reviewed this month. There’s a lot more to say about this franchise than you’d think.

I posted a quickie review of the French comic books here; at first, I was planning to add it to this review, but it would have made for a very long article. Go and look it up here.

Well, I can throw away my atlas now. It's become useless.

We can now start talking about the actual TV show, Rabbids Invasion. It was created by Ubisoft Motion Pictures and co-produced by Nickelodeon and Ubisoft Entertainment. Of note, while the Rabbids of the games are voiced by Yoann Perrier, those of Invasion are voiced by Damien Laquet, who does a mighty fine job in the art of lagomorph gibberish.

The intro sequence sets the tone: Hordes of Rabbids running around, dragging ropes, stringing up entire continents… zoom back and Planet Earth’s lands have been cut up and reshaped to form a giant Raving Rabbid. Well that’s a novel way of “taking over the world”…

No! Not the Statue of Liberty! I am fairly certain it doesn't
like getting tied up like this! ...Or maybe it does?

As for the series itself, you might think there isn’t much to say. You'd be mistaken. There is, indeed, more to be said about this silly little TV show about unintelligible alien bunnies than it seems at first glance.

The Raving Rabbids: The Comic Books

Alright! I will soon be discussing the Raving Rabbids’ TV show. However, first, let me dwell a bit on the Raving Rabbids comic books, published in France.The books were written by Thitaume and, up to Book 9, drawn by Pujol (because French and Belgian comic book writers/artists absolutely HAVE to have a one-word pen name, for some reason), and published by Les Deux Royaumes.There are English editions of the books available, though some gags have been changed.

I could see that front page as a jump scare in a FNAF-style
"Keep the bunnies away from you" Rabbids horror game.

That one time, the fourth wall resisted.

The books contain a lot of gags without any text (not counting the Rabbid language). Many, many, MANY pages actually play with meta-humor, and it’s not uncommon to see page spreads or punch lines about breaking the fourth wall. Or the comic squares. They take full advantage of the fact that this is a book, and multiple gags rely on that to work.

One book contains the best description for a Raving Rabbid that anyone could ever hope to write (I translated it for your benefit). Also note that it’s phrased as a game show question because that particular page had Rabbids watching the show and then copying it. “I am a part of the family of long-eared lagomorphs and only speak using terms such as ‘Bada’ or ‘Bwaaah’. Utterly dumb, I tend to imitate what I see in an absurd and unpredictable fashion. When an idea pops in my head, the consequences can be terrible. Who am I?”

Then the two Rabbids mimic the concept of a game show…

I know the answer to that one! It's "Badabwaaah", isn't it?

Perfect, isn’t it?

Another brilliant element of the comic book: Did you know Rabbids were genderless? I mean, they seem to default as an all-male species, mostly because they behave so often like rude, dumb boys. And yet, the books frequently feature Rabbids who choose their own gender, usually by mimicking the tertiary characteristics of the gender they desire to be: A wig of hair, eyelashes and fruits or sport balls placed strategically at the front of the shirt. The writers get quite a bit of mileage from these jokes, too. See this gag strip of a plastic surgeon Rabbid having to close his business because a fruit shop opened next door and the female Rabbids buy watermelons to replace their original fruits.

Oh, and the Rabbids comic book have probably the riskiest joke I have ever seen in any media with kids as their target demographic. Although it’s cleverly hidden as a Rabbid-centric parody. One who knows the reference would instantly go “OH MY GOD, THEY ACTUALLY WENT THERE”. I refer to one of the paintings on this page. Explaining this joke would ruin it.

Oh, and I guess the main joke is funny too.

There were 10 books published in the series. The last one came out in stores not even a month ago, drawn by Thomas Priou instead of Pujol. Some of the later books have themes or ongoing storylines: Book 7 is about fashion, Book 8 has a Rabbid stealing panels off pages (that’s pretty Meta), and Book 9 follows a hypnotist who trades minds with a Rabbid and tries to turn them both back to normal. The comic also features recurring Rabbids with their own gags, whether it’s the Sherlock Holmes one, the cleaning bunny, the Waldo bunny who never finds a good place to hide…

That’s about all I need to say about the comics: Smarter than you’d think, a lot of interesting twists, a lot of media awareness as well. I encourage you to look up some of the pages, as there’s a surprising lot of adult jokes, and if that’s your sort of thing, you could enjoy reading through those.

RABBIDS MONTH: Bottom 12 / Top 13 Minigames in Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 / Top 13 Minigames

Here it is, the final post of Rabbids Month! Boy was that a lot of work. Seriously, I think this is the biggest theme month I've done so far. Eight posts, an intro, eight lists (Seriously: I'll have discussed over 96 minigames this month!)... Truly a large project. I still hope to do something even bigger in the future... but we'll see in due time. Now that I'm done discussing February 2015, how about we end this with the final lists?

UK Box art for TV Party

An issue I quickly noticed with Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party is the lack of creativity in the minigames. Well, okay, there were also many “microgames”, but none of them actually has a title, and none of them can be accessed from a manu. On almost every imaginary channel of TV Party, there's a minigame that comes up more than once, except it's a different track/mountain/song/whatever. After calculating, I noticed that there was, in total, barely 25 actual “minigames” here, which means that I will be covering almost every single minigame in TV Party in this post. And, in fact, I'm still going to be talking about the 25^th minigame: Instead of two lists containing 12 elements, I'll have a Bottom 12 and a Top 13. Because I'm way too nice. Though, as a result, you could just revert the order of the Bottom 12 list and you'd get a list of all the minigames in TV Party, from the one I despise most to the one I like most... But I'm gonna keep the formula intact. Also, please note I won't be making a Top 12 list in March. I'll review a WiiWare game, then jump straight to a movie review. Why? I had four posts with lists in February. I think I can take a short break from those, mmm'kay?

Okay, so... Are you ready for the tears and the anger? No worries; as usual, happiness will follow right after! As a wise Italian from Brooklyn once said, let's-a go!

RABBIDS MONTH: Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

This is the last time you see it. I promise.

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 / Top 13 Minigames

This is it, the (not really) chilling conclusion! The (far from) epic finale! The game to end all games (that have already ended)! The last part for Rabbids Month! When you start playing RRRTVParty, you create a profile (with an avatar, a name, and whether you're left or right-handed), and then you're brought to the main menu. There are 4 options: Solo Mode (Story Mode, actually), Party Mode, Training and World Contest. There's also two VHS cassettes on the top-right corner of the screen. The first, which gets unlocked when you beat Solo Mode, is Credits, the second sends you back to profile selection. Let's look at the Solo Mode.

RABBIDS MONTH: Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Wii)

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 - Top 13 Minigames

An alternate boxc cover for the game.
It looks creepier than the one used in the
preceding post.
Well, that Rabbid knows how to keep his
cool.

You asked for it (not really), here it is (anyway)! As I was reviewing Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 for the Wii, I quickly realized I liked a LOT of minigames that were in it. Whenever I make a list like this, I make three columns: Minigames I like, minigames I find meh, and minigames I don't like. The level of love or hatred for every minigame will be decided later, once every minigame has been played once. While I was playing, I found it was very difficult for me to make these lists. I would frequently cross off one title from a column and put it in another, whether it's one in the “Bad” list that winds up in the “Meh” list because I felt they weren't bad enough to deserve being on the “Bad” list, or some from the “Meh” list that found themselves on the “Good” list, or vice versa... Look, I'm just saying that making this list wasn't easy, because almost every minigame had redeeming features. They were almost all either fun to play, creative, simple or hilarious. I ended up with not enough games on the “Bad” list, a bit too many on the “Good” list, and also a few on the “Meh” list, which mean I had to pick among the items in the “Meh” list to fill the Bottom 12 list. As a result, you might disagree strongly with me on many points on these two lists. You have every right to. Just don't be a jerk about it in the comments, that's all I'm asking. Okay, let's get this party started with the worst, so that we can then move on to the best!

BOTTOM 12 MINIGAMES IN RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS 2 WII

12. Snake Charmer (Europe)

Keep a good beat or they'll beat you!

You hold the Wiimote like a flute. You have to press the buttons as they light up on the in-game remote. In Easy Mode, there's only A and 1, but Normal Mode adds the 2 button to the mix. When you make long series without failing, you get more points. If you fail one button, the dancing snake bites the poor lil' Rabbid. It's a basic minigame, but I don't criticize it because the buttons to press are selected at random. I mean, the concept is fine, and there's a bit of funny – oh wait, that's it. It's not funny enough. I just had that revelation.

11. Spitter Sells (USA)

Well, this is quite the spitting image of impoliteness.

AKA Serial Spitter in RRR2DS. Yep, it makes the “Bottom 12” list once again. I've got to admit that it's actually better than the one in the DS version, but sadly, it seems it's still not good enough to escape my judgment. You must shake the Wii remote to build up sputum, and then rotate the Wii remote left or right to aim into the mugs of the Rabbids below. The Rabbids on the edges of the screen give more points. This one is actually better than its DS counterpart, because you don't need to wait for the victims sleeping, arguing or yawning. Nope. Just build up, aim, spit. And if you beat the high score, then you can consider yourself a graduate from Jack Dawson's School of Poor Mannerisms.

RABBIDS MONTH: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Wii)

By this point, you've seen it. So I'll make it smaller.

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 - Top 13 Minigames

It should be interesting to see the differences between the DS and Wii versions of Rayman Raving Rabbids 2. How about we jump into it right now?

RABBIDS MONTH: Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (DS)

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 - Top 13 Minigames

Once again, it's time to look for which minigames I like, and which ones I dislike! This time, I'm taking a look at the 36 minigames in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, on the Nintendo DS! Take note that since many of those minigames are adapted from the Wii version, some of the minigames may come back in next week's list. So, without further ado, let's begin! As usual, I prefer to start with the negative, so I can end on a positive note.

BOTTOM 12 MINIGAMES IN RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS 2 DS

12. Art Crime (USA, Europe, Japan)

Bunnies can't color.

The least bad minigame, mostly because the controls work correctly, there is no annoying mechanic, and it is not disgusting... but it's also unfunny. A Rabbid is making graffiti on walls, drawing Rabbids. You have to color the small zones that appear on the Touch Screen, without going over the lines too much. The closer you are to 100 points each time, the more points you get. The minigame ends once all the zones will have been colored, one at a time. It's an alright minigame... just kinda boring. And there's three of them, so it kinda feels like filler.

11. Restroom (Oceania)

LOCK THE DAMN DOOR!

A retread of “Bunnies Never Close Doors” from RRR1Wii. Doors to restrooms open and you have to close them before the Rabbid notices and plungers your face. Also, sometimes a Rabbid will pass by, but you can tap him to make him walk faster and get out of the way. This minigame works better than it did in RRR1Wii, but once again there's a problem: Sometimes, you may close a Rabbid's restroom door, but no score would be recorded. Indeed, to get points, you need to slam the doors once they're at least halfway open. Bad idea...

10. Simon (Oceania)

ANOTHER SIMON SAYS. I'm so tired of those. Thankfully, here, there are only four Rabbids, they make cute sounds, and they're easy to tap. You still have to be rather good to get the highest score, but it's nowhere as bad as the one in RRR1Wii. Still annoying that it's the same concept, though. 

Tee-dee! Waaah! Garglegle! Wain...

RABBIDS MONTH: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (DS)

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 - Top 13 Minigames

Oh noes! The Rabbids have invaded the real world! Sure, that now gives an explanation on why so much real-life stuff appeared in Rayman's world all of a sudden in the previous game, but still... The real world! Humans are in danger! Rayman has to save them! However, they do say that knowing is half the battle, so Rayman decides that while he stops the Rabbids from doing too much harm, he can also study them to understand what they're up to. After all, such idiots can't possibly keep their plan a secret, right? Never mind the fact that they speak gibberish...

Welcome to this review of the Nintendo DS port of Rayman Raving Rabbids 2! Get ready for hijinks, minigames, slapstick, and more! But less of all that than there is in the Wii games. After all, it's not a secret, there's less space in DS cartridges and all...

Starting with the second Raving Rabbids game, there's a theme for each new installment of the series. RRR2 has the theme of traveling (since the minigames are based on practices in other countries), TV Party spoofs TV shows and movies, Rabbids In Time mocks the many eras of mankind, Alive And Kicking plays with the idea of Rabbids invading the real world for real thanks to the Kinect... RRR2 takes place in major continents or countries of the world, with lots of jokes making fun of the culture and way of life in these places.

RABBIDS MONTH: Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames In Rayman Raving Rabbids

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 - Top 13 Minigames

Following my LONG review of Rayman Raving Rabbids, I decided a review of a game about minigames couldn't be complete without me listing my favorite and least favorite minigames. RRR1 has no less than 75 minigames, which is quite impressive. Sure, 15 of those are music minigames, 12 are shoot'em-ups, and plenty of minigames have more than one version, but it's still a large number. Since this is the Rabbids we're talking about, I at least expect the minigames to be funny, crazy or creative. But mostly funny. There's a lot to look at, so let's not waste any time! Let's start off with the minigames I hated.

BOTTOM 12 MINIGAMES IN RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS

12. Bunnies Like To Stuff Themselves (2)

I! DEMAND! PIZZA! YOU! SHALL! DRAW! PIZZA!

A bunny with a chef hat is waiting for his meal. Draw it for him with the Wii remote! On the menu today: Sausages, bananas, sandwiches, bells, bricks and other stuff that may or may not be edible! This minigame is hard because you can't be very precise. It's not easy to follow the outlines too well, unless you are insanely precise. Oh, by the way, in RRR, many minigames have sequels in which (usually) a new layer of difficulty is added to the original minigame. For this one's sequel? The item's outline flashes, disappearing and reappearing, making it even harder to be precise when drawing the line. A difficult, unimaginative minigame. Meh.

11. Bunnies have A Poor Grasp Of Anatomy

It takes a special kind of bad to suck that much at this one.

A wooden Rabbid with separate pieces for the ears, eyes, mouth and arms spins. Then the place goes completely dark except for the pieces, and you have to place them one at a time, in the correct location and angle... IN THE DARK. OooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOoooh! The result? Misplaced members. That's it. I really don't get the joke, if there's one in there. Plus, this minigame is annoyingly hard, and even in the Story Mode (where the target score for each minigame are much lower so you can beat them more easily), this game is a pain in the ass. ...It's not even funny! It's barely fun! Entertaining? Nope! Skip it.

RABBIDS MONTH: Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii)

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 - Top 13 Minigames

The game opens on a beautiful sunny day in... uh... whatever's the name of Rayman's world. Rayman was enjoying a picnic outside with some of Globox's children (I guess that weirdo is quite the breeder). Actually, I have to admit that the baby Globoxes are rather adorable. Just wait till they reach maturity, they'll be a lot less cute. Anyway, the ground starts shaking, apples fall from the tree... the baby Globoxes are pulled underground, one after the other. And then from those same holes come out creepy white bunnies. Trying to understand what the Heck is going on, Rayman tries to offer food to one of those bunnies... but then a giant, black, Juggernaut bunny with a mask comes and grabs Rayman by the body piece, dragging him away.

There's another door on the far left, by the way.

Next thing Rayman knows, he's kicked at the center of a large coliseum, with hordes of those white bunnies watching him, ecstatic. Four doors open before him. Behind each door, a minigame. He is now forced to play the Rabbids' games. Will he ever be the same again? Will it cost him his life? Well, he's probably gonna die... of laughter!

That's the modest introduction to Rayman Raving Rabbids. No dialog, no backstory, just the most bizarre happening in a world that is already pretty strange. Were those bunnies always underground? Are they aliens? Monsters? Aliens, probably not, because then they'd need to be an intelligent life form. To see that intro, you had to pick Story Mode on the main menu and create a save file. There are other options, like Score Mode and Gallery; I'll look at those later. First, the plot.

Raving Rabbids Month: An Introduction

Hello everyone! I felt like I would be better off using all the space I could in the next reviews, so I'm doing this introduction to Raving Rabbids Month in a separate post. It's not gonna be long.

They're loud, they're stupid, they're thousands, and they're ready to run amok!
Many, many thanks to ComicFury artist LeRenardRoux for this picture!
Go check out her webcomics!

Intro

Rayman Raving Rabbids - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Wii - Bottom 12 / Top 12 Minigames
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - Bottom 12 - Top 13 Minigames

Rayman's creator Michel Ancel stayed rather quiet about the creation of the Raving Rabbids. Not much happened to Rayman for a while. Then, all of a sudden, we get this odd trailer: Mr. Ancel discussing his ideas in his office, until he gets attacked by the bunnies. Then we get another trailer where an impressive army of scary-looking Raving Rabbids come out of the ground in Rayman's video game world, with creepy expressions, distorted bodies and terrifying machinery. We then see Rayman dressing up as an elderly lady, a stereotypical goth, a stereotypical disco fan, and then we see him using plenty of weapons to hurt the Rabbids... The trailer made it look like this was going to be an open-roaming Rayman Adventure where he would just go around and bash Rabbids as he liked. That sounded amazing.

The rumors say that Ancel had to scrap the original villains of what was then known as Rayman 4, and found himself having to doodle a little something that would serve as the new villain(s). So he drew a cute, if disproportionate, little bunny. The Rabbids were literally created in a rush. And they were presented this way, too: Not only were they suddenly the new villains, but they had practically no backstory (only implications that they're aliens, and that's it; even the major Rabbids have no backstories), which means they were just sneaking their way into the franchise, like it or not. The invasion was a plot point, but it was also extremely meta in the way it was presented to the gamers.

Then we found out that the new Rayman installment was actually going to be a collection of minigames, Okay, it makes a bit of sense with the previews, but many gamers still found themselves a bit angry that they didn't get their action-packed, bunny-bashing adventure. Oh well. We still got some very funny games. And as we all know, Rayman eventually split up with the Rabbids, and thus both franchises lived on as their own thing. A compromise that made a lot of people happy. By the way, if we ever get that action-packed, bunny-bashing game, it will be incredible.

But let's not be too negative. There are plenty of things to discuss about the Raving Rabbids, not just their backstory and legacy. This month, I will be taking a look at four Raving Rabbids games:

-Rayman Raving Rabbids, for the Wii;

-Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, for the Nintendo DS;

-Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, for the Wii;

-Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, for the Wii.

I will write 1 post for each review, in which I cover the plot, the type of minigames, the multiplayer options, the bonuses, etc. Of course, in each regular review I will not have enough space to properly discuss the minigames themselves, since there is so much to cover. That's why I will use a second part to each review, in which I will list my 12 favorite and 12 least favorite minigames in that Raving Rabbids game. This is going to give me a chance to take a look at the Rabbids' main draw.

This is gonna be a LOT of work.

But it's gonna be awesome.

Join me in February. If you're a fan of the Raving Rabbids, you'll like it. If you've heard of them but you aren't a big fan, maybe I'll give you reasons to become a fan. If you hate the Rabbids, well... maybe my lists of least favorites minigames will give you more reasons to. Or maybe you'll learn to appreciate them, who knows?

Either way, don't miss any of it. This is going to be great!

Oh, by the way, if you want to hear my cheap imitation of Rabbid speech, here's a video. I basically repeat everything I said in this post, except in Rabbid speech (and subtitles), and God is it one of the stupidest things I've ever done for this site. Oh well, have fun watching it.