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)

Pocket gaming at its best!

The Good
Rayman has been a huge accomplishment from Ubisoft. There have been many Rayman games, but this one stands out.

Rayman Advance truly takes the Gameboy Advance and turns it into a real blaster with graphics. RA's bright colours and textures(well...not really textures) really make the game look great.

The level layout was amazing too, as all the levels are reasonably big, and it's fun guiding (the huge) Rayman across them.

Sound was no problem, the music and sound effects are good.

The game plays very well. The controls are quick and responsive, and the controls have been mapped out nicely.

The Bad
Nothing.

The Bottom Line
Rayman delivers a well fulfilled promise of enhanced pocket gaming to it's greatest. I give Rayman Advance a well deserved 5 / 5 .

Game Boy Advance · by ThE oNe (180) · 2002

More colours than your eye can register.

The Good
In the classic console war of PlayStation vs Sega Saturn, the Saturn always came out as having the more vibrant colours and running faster (at least concerning 2D games) – this game is very much the living proof of that. Rayman looks so stunning, it holds up to today’s standards with no sweat. The graphics are simply phenomenal, with a huge colour palette and very nicely done animations (some of which the PlayStation version lacks). The music in Rayman is also very good, being on par with the graphics in what concerns the overall “pretty” look the game has to offer. It has a wonderful array of instruments at its disposal, and the arrangements are lovely. The gameplay is quite adequate for the game type, and the use of newfound powers to overcome obstacles is nicely done. The bosses are also entertaining and varied, which is a plus.

The Bad
There is only one flaw I’d point to this game – the (sometimes) utterly unfair difficulty. Some areas of the game are just plain simply frustrating, to the point of making many-a-gamer to simply give up on the game. My personal advice? Don’t do it – playing the game ends up being a rewarding experience.

The Bottom Line
Rayman is a game that at first glance seems very appealing (and it is), but which also possesses the capability to steer gamers away due to its frustrating difficulty. If you are able to persevere, you will find yourself immersed into a true fairy-tale world, filled with beauty and awe-inspiring sets and music.

SEGA Saturn · by Rik Hideto (473497) · 2014

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

[ 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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Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

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.