Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition - Review
I can still recall the first time I ever saw Rayman, it was at my local Harvey Norman, back when they had a proper games section. The PlayStation demo kiosk was set up and Rayman was the game that could be played and each time I was near the store, I would give it ago. That began a love of the character, but over the years, Rayman has dwindled, which makes this release very special. Is this anniversary edition worth celebrating, or like the character, is it one easily forgotten?
Now there is no avoiding that the collection was revealed via a ratings update, giving folks an idea of what was to come. That of course led to a lot of speculation about the content that was going to be in it, would there be all the games, or only selected platforms? Turns out it was just one game, a few times over, which sort of flies against all the other collections that developer Digital Eclipse as done. When they said this was the Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition, they meant just that, 30 years of the original game. There is no shade thrown on that game, as it is a fantastic title, but I know many were hoping for more than just that game to be included. For those who are not aware there are only 5 Rayman titles, where the character is the star, but I suspect two of those being on current platforms means they did not want to undercut those version.
So what are you getting in this Anniversary Edition? Turns out quite a bit, as there are 5 versions of the original game included, along with the original SNES prototype. Yes, it turns out that Rayman was did a Final Fantasy VII and started out on Nintendo, before releasing on PlayStation. The five platforms included in the release are Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance and Game Boy, Atari’s Jaguar, MS-DOS and of course Son’y original PlayStation. A fun fact is that this is the second time that the original Rayman has landed on a PlayStation console, as it was one of the included games in the PlayStation Classic. But where that is just the game itself, here there are a number of extra features, like multiple save files and the ability to rewind, if you need to.
The rewind feature is pretty commonplace in all Digital Eclipses, products and does feature quite extensively in their recent Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection release as well. Much like that release, there is a timeline of events that players can follow along with, including some interviews with the developers. This is where the real value comes in, because not only does this give you the game, but you can learn how it was made. There are interviews with the original creator Michel Ancel, along with more from the studio who made the early games and have worked on the recent ones. What is perhaps even better is there are countless documents, original art, magazine displays and all that good stuff, the show you how the character evolved over time. This is what makes this release worth checking out, don’t get me wrong the game is still fun, but the bonus content is where it is at.
Speaking of the game, as I said before there are five versions of the original game, well technically four and one bespoke version, which is on Game Boy. It is actually funny to see how far the industry has come, because even 15 years ago, if a game was made for PlayStation, Nintendo might get a slightly different version on home console and an even more bespoke handheld version. Now the PlayStation version is the original and while it still plays great, I was more interested in the MS-DOS version, as it came with a heap of extra levels, something I had not played before. These were great additions and broke up the repetition of having the same base game five times over. My only real complaint is that the buttons on the Switch version are mapped wrong, but each game allows for button remapping, so it is easily sorted. It is not an issue but when you play the Game Boy or Game Boy Advance games and B = A by default, it just is wrong. What I did like, apart from the usual CRT filter, was the borders for the games, letting you recreate the look of playing the game on the displays of the day.
The Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition is a wonderful little package; it offers up a classic game and a great look at the behind the scenes of its making and more. If you are coming in hoping for Rayman 2, Rayman 3 or any other game in addition, you will be let down. This is a one title product and while there are some great versions of that original game, you can only enjoy it so much before you get bored. The addition of the level packs from the MS-DOS days is a great inclusion, as it allows for a lot more variety and is a great palette cleanser between the original games. If you are a Rayman fan, this is worth adding to your gaming library, if only because of the interviews and other development materials.
The Score
8.5
Review code provided by Ubisoft
The Pros
The behind-the-scenes content, including artwork and interviews offers great insight to the character
A great original game and some amazing level packs, make for a great time…
The Cons
… but only including 5 versions of the original game feels like a missed chance
The default button layouts are odd on Nintendo hardware
