Is this the ultimate Rayman collection?
Play the classic adventure across 5 versions (MS-DOS, PlayStation®, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance) now enhanced with an immersive, reimagined soundtrack, plus more than 120 additional levels from Rayman’s New Levels, Rayman 60 Levels, and Rayman By His Fans. And for the first time ever, experience the long-lost SNES prototype, offering a rare glimpse into how Rayman’s innovative gameplay first took shape.
Rayman has had his ups and downs over the years, I honestly can’t believe it’s 30 of them now. We’re getting remakes of Origins and Legends later this year, but until then we have the original game across 5 different systems to get through, plus a bunch of long-lost levels, fan-levels and interviews from the likes of Michel Ancel and the rest of the original members of the development team.
I hadn’t actually played the original Rayman before. I started the series from it’s 3D sequel onwards, but I was expecting it to be cutesy, but also for it to be fairly easy like most 2D platformers were back in the 90s. How wrong I was! The original Rayman has some of the most brutal platforming moments I have come across, I’m honestly so relieved there’s a save and rewind system in place or I’d probably have never finished it in all honesty.
There are Enhancements to make things easier, but these disable trophies so I couldn’t go down that path as a trophy hunter. The PS1 and MS-DOS version require you to collect all 120 Electoons to access the final level, as well as gaining relevant trophies along the way. Some of these Electoons are incredibly vague to make appear and you can’t even get to some of them until you get the final upgrade after beating the third world boss, then you have to backtrack to mop up what missing Electoons you haven’t nabbed.
Each version handles and looks slightly different to the other as well, so that takes some getting used to. What I don’t understand though is why just focus on the original game for Rayman’s 30th anniversary? Why not a full collection including Rayman 2 and 3? Maybe we’ll get that in the future.
I was lucky enough to get the physical copy for review. The physical edition includes a sticker sheet with reusable stickers and backdrop, 3 postcards, a double-sided poster, and a reversible cover! I was impressed with the quality and with the more recent news that Sony are discontinuing physical game discs from 2028, things like this will be a thing of the past in the next few years so it’s well worth it for any Rayman fan.
The visuals come with different filters to either look more standard or have a CRT look. Framerate depends on what version you are playing, but the PS1 is the more superior in this.
The Verdict
Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition is a nice introduction to the series for those like me who missed out on the original, but it’s got one hell of a difficulty spike after the first 2-3 levels. If you can survive the chaos and obscure hiding places for the Electoons, then this is well worth picking up, especially if you are long-term Rayman fan.
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