The first Rayman released in 1995, originally as a PlayStation exclusive, before hitting PC, Sega Saturn, and the Atari Jaguar. Despite being a 2D platformer at a time when 3D platformers were all the rage, it sold very well, especially in the UK and France. It was the first game Michel Ancel released for Ubisoft (then known as Ubi Soft), who’s nowadays working on the terminally-in-development Beyond Good and Evil 2.
Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition has been leaked for a while but today it’s official, and not only that, it’s releasing on Steam tomorrow. It’s a pretty lavish package: five versions of the original will feature, including PC, PlayStation, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance versions. In addition to these, a never-released SNES prototype will also be included. It’s a collaboration between Digital Eclipse and Ubisoft Montpellier.
The package also includes hundreds of new levels from Rayman’s New Levels, Rayman 60 Levels, and Rayman by His Fans. These were post-launch expansions and their titles are pretty self-explanatory; the real learning point here is that there’s going to be a stupid amount of Rayman levels to play. A documentary will feature 50 minutes of interviews with the original devs, and there’s also a trove of “rare concept art, early sketches, and design documents”.
Importantly, Rayman won’t be anywhere near as punishing as it was back in 1995: if you want, you can make use of a new 60-second rewind feature, as well as accessibility features like infinite lives and instant level unlock. There are also multiple save slots, which was presumably not a feature in the original.
PC Gamer reviewed Rayman well on its initial release in 1995. “If you’re an adult who’s fond of platform arcade titles, or if you have a kid you need to wean off of Doom, this is definitely the game to get,” Michael Wolf wrote. The two most recent Rayman games, Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends, are among the best modern platformers on Steam, and I highly recommend them.
Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition will release tomorrow for $20. The Steam page isn’t up just yet, but I’ll link it when it is.
