The game is well noted for its cheerfully layered audiovisual presentation and clever introduction of character abilities.

In it, Rayman sets about saving the Glade of Dreams from an invasion of hideous Darktoons. It's his own fault really, for encouraging the sort of annoyingly loud snoring that drives neighboring grannies to destruction -- but Origins doesn't let that sort of crazy thing stand in the way of a decent platformer.

Essentially, as far as the Vita version is concerned, players lose a delightful multiplayer mode but gain Rayman Origins on the move, some nice little touch-screen additions to compensate, and some extra collectibles for the Vita-owning Rayman fan who needs an excuse to double-dip.

3DS owners have at least a month longer to wait, as the game arrives on Nintendo's handheld on March 20 in North America (March 30 in Europe and April 14 in Japan).

They can, at least, comfort themselves in the knowledge that they have Super Mario Land 3DS along with another icon of the platforming genre, Sonic, as handheld console exclusives, thanks to Sonic Generations on 3DS and Sonic Colors via the wonders of DS compatibility.