Rayman

aka: Rayman Advance, Rayman Classic, Rayman Ultimate
Moby ID: 2247
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

When a villain known only as Mr. Dark appears, trouble brews in Rayman's world. Mr. Dark captures the Toons - source of light and Rayman's friends. With no more light, evil creatures begin to roam, making the world unsafe for everyone. It’s up to you, as Rayman, to free your friends and put an end to Mr. Dark's dastardly schemes!

Rayman is a side-scrolling platformer starring the titular Rayman, a big-nosed chap with no arms or legs. Rayman can jump and use his hair to hover for a short period of time. He can also attack by throwing his fists, or winding up his fists for a more powerful punch. He can occasionally find special power ups that grant him unlimited flying power, giving him the ability to navigate through tricky mazes.

Spellings

  • レイマン - Japanese spelling
  • 雷曼 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (DOS version)

83 People (82 developers, 1 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 83% (based on 73 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 166 ratings with 7 reviews)

Everything about this game is good, it's only too hard.

The Good
On the graphics area, this game does a very good job. Everything is colorful and alive. There's a lot of attention to details. For example, there are butterflies flying around and big dancing flowers on the ground. Everything is animated beautiful and the backgrounds are simply excellent to look at. The gameplay is good too. Rayman moves smooth and as he gets further into the game, he gains more and more powers. The difficulty steadily grows and it will take a while before you get the hang of a certain level. The story is good enough too. The Evil Mr. Dark has stolen the Great Protoon, which provides and maintains harmony and balance in Rayman's world. He defeats Betilla the fairy, who is the Protoon's guardian, and flees too his hideout. Evil guys start capturing the friendly electoons. Rayman now must travel through the six worlds. Along the way you'll find cages with electoons. After you break all of the cages in th first five worlds you can go to the last world where Mr. Dark resides. The six worlds are: Dream Forest, Band Land, Blue Mountains, Caves of Skops, Picture City, and Candy Chateau. They are varied and have excellent level design. There are many fun twists such as flying on a bug, floating on a plum and sliding down cake cream. Rayman has weird and fun powers such as a power fist and helicopter hair, which he gains by reaching Betilla. Enemies are smart and not always so easily defeated. Finally, this game has amazing sound for it's time that really is atmospheric and you will soon find yourself humming along with the beautiful tunes.

The Bad
This game is far too hard, even just halfway the game, the levels are very challenging, making you feel you,ll never complete this game since the later worlds are even harder. This feeling becomes even stronger when you read the manual which says you need to break each cage in the first five worlds to reach Mr. Dark. I also found that the levels, although varied and well designed, didn't have very original themes. Themes like forests, caves, candy and music have been used in many games such as Zool, Jazz Jackrabbit, and off course Mario.

The Bottom Line
Although it looks and plays well, the levels are too hard and not very original. However Rayman's powers and characters and absolutely worth a look. If you are a platform gaming expert, and looking for a real challenge in this genre, you'll like this. If you are looking for a less big challenge but still a good challenge you'll be better off with one of it's sequels.

DOS · by Rensch (203) · 2005

Rayman, a good game

The Good
I think the good things about this game is that you earn special abilities, unlike most games, where you start out with them and then have no challenge. I also like the fact you can punch much farther than an inch. Plus,it's darn funny, for example, fish sometimes fly outta ponds or lakes to knock you down and if you punch them they smile and their teeth crack and fall out. And last, the awesome classic backgrounds, the forests and mountains are breath-taking!

The Bad
Sometimes it's a small bit...ummm...childish. Like the first boss is a bug, which is cool but when you defeat him rayman walks up, pats him on the back, they become friends so easily, and rayman rides this bug around for the entire next level.

The Bottom Line
I'd say it's the game to look for, it's just... FUN!

Windows · by scott beane (1) · 2003

One of the best 2-D platformers I've ever played.

The Good
The graphics are cartoony and great to look at. They did show of the powers of the then new Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation very nice. GO UBISOFT!

  One way the Saturn version wins SLIGHTLY over the Playstation version is the voice acting in the intro. In the Playstation version, the little hat guy sounds light and boring. In the Saturn version, he sounds more humorous. Also when Rayman gets hit by an enemy he makes a high pitched squeal. I'm not sure if this is a good thing, but not a bad one.

 The music is fantastic. Rayman has some of the best music in gaming history. CD quality sound (in gaming) in 1995 was brand new and this was a great way to start it off.<br><br>**The Bad**<br>     Nothing really.<br><br>**The Bottom Line**<br>     Rayman is a more slow paced game. It is not like early Sonic games. Nevertheless, Rayman is just one reason to get a Sega Saturn, Playstation, or even..THE 64-BIT ATARI JAGUAR!!! HA, HA, HA!!!!


 Oh Atari Jaguar, at least you are.... uh...... 64-Bit?


 Rayman is a great game. BUY IT NOW!

SEGA Saturn · by Weston Sharpensteen (13) · 2011

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Trivia

Cancelled Ports

A SEGA 32X port was going to be released, but got cancelled due to the platform's declining popularity. A 3DO version was also planned as well, but cancelled due to technical issues.

Sales

Rayman has the record for number of weeks on the UK all-formats top 40 chart with 261 weeks. That's more than five years.

Technology

  • Rayman has no joints, he just has a head, body, hands and feet. The reason for this is that it was much easier to animate him that way.
  • The DOS and Windows versions stored the opening and ending animations in a very unusual format: the video is completely separate from the audio. The audio for the animations is on the CD as CD Audio tracks. So in order to watch the intro and ending, a full install of the game is necessary, since a CD-ROM drive can not access data and audio tracks at the same time.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • September 1995 (Issue 74) - Game of the Month (Playstation version)
  • Game Players
    • 1995 Holiday Edition (Vol.8, No.13) - Best Jaguar Game of the Year

Information also contributed by Big John WV, Kabushi, Qlberts, samsam12 and Satoshi Kunsai.

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Related Games

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Rayman 2: The Great Escape
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Rayman Forever
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Rayman: Special Edition
Released 2005 on Windows
Amazing Learning Games with Rayman
Released 1996 on DOS, Windows, 2000 on PlayStation
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Released 2006 on Game Boy Advance
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
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Rayman: 10th Anniversary Collection
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Rayman Junior: Level 2
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  • MobyGames ID: 2247
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Andrew Hartnett.

Wii U added by mars_rulez. PS Vita added by GTramp. Game Boy Advance added by Kartanym. iPad, iPhone, Android added by Sciere. PlayStation 3, PSP added by Foxhack. Windows Mobile added by Kabushi. PlayStation added by Adam Baratz. SEGA Saturn added by Terok Nor. Nintendo DSi added by Ben K. Jaguar added by quizzley7.

Additional contributors: Kartanym, Unicorn Lynx, Jony Shahar, Sciere, Alaka, Kabushi, ケヴィン, DreinIX, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Roberth Martinez.

Game added August 29, 2000. Last modified March 19, 2024.