Younger audiences might think that Ubisoft became the industry juggernaut that it is (or at least used to be) thanks to franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, but you can pinpoint the exact moment when they stopped being just an enthusiastic French studio, becoming Europe’s largest developmental and publishing company: September 1995. This is when the original Rayman was released for the Playstation and Atari Jaguar, becoming a multi-million dollar success, one of the Playstation’s most acclaimed games, and the platform that launched Ubisoft to newer heights. It is, without a doubt, Ubisoft’s most important game of all time, and one that deserved a Digital Eclipse remastering effort for its anniversary. Weirdly enough, it got just that, but a year later. Let’s see if Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition is a collection that truly pays homage to the limbless hero.

The original Rayman game was a truly gorgeous 2D platformer that still looks absolutely amazing to this very day. You have six worlds to explore, each one with a handful of levels, and each level featuring six collectibles to look for, some of which can only be accessed after gaining a new ability further down the line (it was one of the first 2D platformers to actively encourage revisiting older levels with newly acquired powers, after all), and with each world containing a boss by the end of it. You start off without any powers at all, but can quickly acquire the ability to throw a punch from a distance, hang onto platforms, glide, and so on.

Rayman is the quintessential European platformer. It’s not just meant for you to walk from left to right, until you reach the end goal. The end goal is still there, located somewhere through the level, but each course feels more like a maze full of platforms, pits, leaps of faith, and meticulously hidden secrets and collectibles for you to unveil; there is no timer to speak of, so you’re free to just explore until you can’t be bothered anymore. It all sounds neat and dandy, but there’s the issue that this game has always been infamous for its absolutely excruciating level of difficulty. A deceiving level of difficulty, mind you, as the first world as a whole is stupidly easy, with no difficult traps or memorization gauntlets to speak of, but further worlds are a true trial-and-error nightmare. Thankfully, this collection mitigates some of these issues with its QoL enhancements.

As to be expected from a modern collection of older games, Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition contains the typical quality of life bells and whistles such as save states, improved resolution and screen ratio options (it’s really important in this case, as sprites take a lot of screen space), and rewind features. For the first time since its inception, Rayman doesn’t feel infuriating. If you miscalculate a jump, or perform a wrong leap of faith, you can just instantly rewind. I wouldn’t say that this completely fixes some of the game’s unfair level and difficulty design decisions, but it makes them a lot more bearable. You can be a newcomer and still have fun with the original Rayman. You will curse at it a lot, but you won’t lose progress in the process.

Now, for the collection itself. What does it contain? Well, we are limited to the original Rayman game, not its (vastly superior) sequels, so what we have here is a bunch of ports of the same title. The DOS, Playstation and Atari Jaguar versions are, for all intents and purposes, the same damn game, with their only differences being the occasional lack of an animated cutscene before a level in the Jaguar port. The collection also includes some expansions for the DOS version, released a few years later, featuring “expert” (as in, nigh impossible) levels for the more experienced (as in, lunatic) crowd.

The Game Boy Advance port is also the same game, but a lot harder to play. The reason is simple: the GBA had a much smaller screen resolution than the PS1 or the Jaguar, but the game’s sprites were kept at the same size. As a result, there just isn’t a lot of screen real estate, turning each jumping section into a leap of faith. One that isn’t as frustrating as it was back in 2001 (remember, you do have a rewind button now), but to call this port a definitive way to experience the original Rayman is pure insanity. It’s a neat novelty, maybe a nostalgic trip for GBA early adopters, and that’s it.

A much more interesting addition to this collection is the Game Boy Color port, released in 2000. This is the one I grew up with, and I’m really glad it wasn’t forgotten. I was shocked to realize how well it holds up in terms of visuals and playability, as everything has been shrunken down in a way that still feels pretty impressive in the graphical department, but small enough to allow for the tricky level design to be kept intact.

Finally, a neat little addition is the inclusion of a so-called “SNES prototype”. For the uninitiated, Rayman was originally conceived to be released for the Nintendo Playstation add-on, that one failed attempt by Sony and Nintendo to come up with a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo. The entire prototype would then be scrapped, with development being shifted towards the Atari Jaguar. This 1992 prototype is an amazing piece of gaming history that has just been preserved to posterity, but it’s just that: a prototype. No enemies, no music, a very rudimentary proof of concept you’ll play for, like, five minutes, utter a mild “huh, interesting”, and never think of ever again.

And that’s it for the collection. A bunch of copies of the same game, two portable ports, and a prototype. Considering this collection was developed by Digital Eclipse, and funded by Ubisoft, I expected more extras, more side content, but you have to deal with it just being a way to experience the same game a handful of similar (and in some cases, different) times. Furthermore, a brand new soundtrack was added to each game, with specific instrumentation limited to each platform’s limitations, but I think those tunes, simply put, are bad. To make matters worse, the original soundtracks (you know, the ones that are actually iconic) are not accessible, meaning that you have to settle for underwhelming soundtracks in games lauded for their original compositions.

Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition is an odd collection to talk about. On one hand, I was shocked at how well its visuals have aged, and I love how the addition of a rewind feature makes these once-frustrating games a lot more bearable to deal with. I also love the fact this absolute classic of a game is now preserved to posterity. But I also expected more from it. In terms of side content, the only neat inclusion worth speaking of is the 1992 SNES prototype. No interviews, no extras, no art galleries, no nothing. So while this is, without a doubt, the best way to experience this iconic platformer, I honestly think that Ubisoft’s most important game of all time deserved a much more respectable anniversary homage.

Graphics: 9.0 It’s hard to believe that the original Rayman game is 31 years old. It still looks phenomenal to this day. Hell, even the Game Boy Color version looks shockingly detailed, considering its limitations.	Gameplay: 7.5 Truly brutal platforming is helped out by the inclusion of save states and a rewind function. It makes what was once a source of absolute frustration into some a lot less irritating.
Sound: 6.0 I am not a fan of the brand new soundtrack, nor am I okay with the fact you cannot revert back to the original (and excellent) soundtracks from the titles included in this collection.	Fun Factor: 7.0 If you are into the original Rayman, this is a magnificent collection featuring almost every single iteration of said game. If you’re not, it’s still an interest piece of gaming history, as this was the game that turned Ubisoft into a juggernaut of the industry. But I expected more from it, be it in the shape of a better presentation, extras, interviews, and so on. The company’s mascot deserved a bit more.
Final Verdict: 7.5

Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Xbox Series S.

A copy of Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition was provided by the publisher.