Growing up with platformers on the original Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, I didn't just have favorite games - I had favorite levels within those games. I'd grab my friends and force them to watch me play through the Quick Man stage of Mega Man 2, or the Yellow Planet of Bucky O'Hare. I was a kid, and games were all about having fun.

I'm not sure at what age I lost the impetus to label a specific portion of a game my favorite, but as I called my wife into my office to watch me replay a level of Rayman Legends, I realized that, if only for a moment, I had gotten it back. Rayman Legends isn't just the finest platformer released since its predecessor, Rayman Origins, it's also one of the few games thus far to make me happy that I have a Wii U in my entertainment center.

Legends doesn't worry too much about its nonsensical nature, and aside from making it clear that some evil Teensies are up to no good, the game doesn't bother with a coherent story or plot points. Instead, it focuses on its massive hand-drawn environments, branching pathways, and delightfully absurd enemies. In one stage you'll be pounding belligerent frogs into the ground and in the very next you'll come face to face with a dragon that swallows up the entire screen, and at no point will this seem crazy to you, for this is Rayman's world and having fun is the only thing that matters.