I had to dig deep in order to find out what the hell Marsupilami was. I found out it was a Belgian comic book series from way back, but none of my friends, from all ages and birthplaces, had ever heard of it. The only person who knew what the hell this franchise is was my sixty-eight year old Portuguese dad, who was actually really happy with the fact a Marsupilami game existed. So this was my introduction to Marsupilami: Hoobadventure. It was a game seemingly made for no one, coming from a publisher that had recently released a pretty mediocre Smurfs game. I expected very little from it. Then I played it, and was shocked to find out it was great.

What the hell is a Marsupilami, anyway? Well, they look like a mixture between a cheetah, a dog, and a koala… I think. All I know is that you can control three different kinds of them in Marsupilami: Hoobadventure. They run, jump, wall hop, and use their gigantic tails to punch enemies, grab onto special objects, and roll around like a wheel in order to cover big distances in a short period of time. On occasion, they explore some bonus levels and partake in a chase section towards the main villain, in a role switcheroo that should happen more often.

These characters look and feel like your typical platforming mascots from the 16-bit era of gaming, moreso than actual comic book characters from seventy years ago, but the game itself features the level design and gameplay sensibilities of more modern 2D platformers, most notably Rayman Legends. It also contains the same kind of humor and garbled, warbling dialogue featured in that masterpiece of a game, as a matter of fact.

I don’t know if it’s because this game was made by a French developer, but Marsupilami: Hoobadventure feels a lot like the more modern takes on 2D Rayman, and that’s a great thing. Even if some of its movements are borrowed from the Donkey Kong Country series, the entire level design, hidden collectibles, and secret shortcuts leading to bonus stages reminded me a lot of Rayman Origins and Legends… and that’s never a bad thing. Even the soundtrack, which leans heavily on happy ukulele riffs, reminded me of those two Ubisoft masterpieces. With that being said, your character movement differs a lot from Rayman‘s, so the game never feels excessively derivative. Just a bit. Enough to remind you of a better game, but without detracting you from your current playthrough.

Marsupilami: Hoobadventure looks really sharp, runs great, and has a nice slapstick sense of humor. There’s very little that I didn’t like about it, but I feel like I have to mention some of its issues, namely its brevity. There aren’t many levels included in this game, and while it does feature enough collectibles and extra modes to encourage replayability, you will done with everything Marsupilami: Hoobadventure has to offer in a few hours. That, coupled with the slightly steep price tag, is a bummer. It’s a game that needed a bit more content to feel 100% complete. There is potential in here; maybe the devs themselves didn’t even realize how good the damn thing was and weren’t willing to risk it. Who knows…

If there was one thing I wasn’t expecting from Marsupilami: Hoobadventure, it was for it to become of one of my favorite platformers of the year. It’s not just competent, it’s actually surprisingly well-crafted. Well designed levels, great controls, pretty graphics, and a cute sense of humor results in an adorable title that, while far from reinventing the wheel, will easily please Rayman and Donkey Kong Country enthusiasts. It didn’t exactly made me want to read a Marsupilami comic, but who cares? Those dudes have a better future in gaming anyway.

Graphics: 8.0 Not only are the levels pretty good looking, but the animations are crisp, and the framerate is great. It looks a bit cheap at times, but you can easily ignore the very occasional jank.	Gameplay: 8.5 It’s really responsive, it allows you to go nuts with its physics-based platforming, and it runs at a silky smooth 60fps. Add up the pretty good level design, and there’s very little you can complain about it.
Sound: 7.5 I wouldn’t call any of the songs in this soundtrack truly memorable, but all of them sit on the same level of “pretty good, especially since they remind of Rayman Legends“.	Fun Factor: 8.0 It’s brief, but superbly well-designed and polished. It is chock-full of secrets in each level, encouraging replayability. A pretty good mixture between Donkey Kong Country and Rayman.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Marsupilami: Hoobadventure is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch.

Reviewed on PS4.

A copy of Marsupilami: Hoobadventure was provided by the publisher.