Rayman is a 1995 platform game developed by Ubi Pictures and published by Ubi Soft. Dark to recover the Great Protoon that used to keep the balance between nature and the people of Rayman's valley.

The Story Behind Rayman

Also in April 1996, a preview demo with the first of six worlds was released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. A version for MS-DOS was released in December 1995 in Europe and in North American in April 1996. Michel Guillemot eventually assigned additional developers to the project and allocated 15 million francs for its development.

The production became split between two locations: While Ubi Soft's Montreuil headquarters continued to work on technical tasks, the creative team around Ancel and Houde worked from Ancel's hometown, Montpellier. The team moved the production over to the Atari Jaguar, a console they felt could handle the graphics they aimed for. Ubi Soft made Rayman a launch title for the North American and European releases of the PlayStation, seeking to outclass competing platformers from Japan by releasing it simultaneously with a new powerful system.

How Rayman Plays

Rayman was greenlit in 1992, and Michel Guillemot gave Ancel and his team artistic freedom. After it becomes infected with a virus, Jimmy travels into the world and inhabits the body of his in-game avatar, Rayman, to defeat it. In the epilogue, Rayman takes a vacation with his friends and former enemies.

Although the presented technology was in its research-and-development stage, Hascoët pushed for the game to enter into production, which Michel Guillemot agreed to take on. A boss must be defeated at the end of each world, requiring the use of the previously gained abilities. Rescuing all Electoons in the first five worlds grants Rayman access to the final world, the Candy Château, the hideout of the final boss, Mr Dark.

Why Players Still Load It Up

Rayman was Ubisoft's first game to achieve considerable success, and it empowered the company to go public in 1996. The game is one of twenty titles included with the PlayStation Classic, a miniature PlayStation replica released in December 2018. The commercial success of Rayman established a successful franchise with several sequels, including Rayman 2: The Great Escape (1999), and some of the game's elements influenced Rayman Origins.

Push Square rated the game 6/10, praising the gameplay "[holding] up well after all these years" and the inclusion of additional levels, but criticizing the soundtrack "[cutting] out entirely, leaving large silences" and stating that the different ports "feel almost identical", opining that the anniversary package should have included other Rayman games. Upon launch, the 30th Anniversary Edition received mixed reviews on Steam, with more than half of the reviews being negative. Rémi Gazel, the composer for Rayman, sought to turn the soundtrack into a live performance titled Rayman by Rémi prior to his death from cancer in May 2019.

Rayman — Frequently Asked Questions