The developers admitted that they never bothered playtesting the game which is why it's so hard. Rayman gives me so many memories but man is it hard and one of the bad examples of "you have to 100% the game to beat it normally". You did a great job with this retrospective! It's so strange because Rayman definitely eases you into the difficulty but after a certain level (maybe after the art world or so) it just goes nuts and some of those electoon locations are really obscure. What's really scary is I swear there's one version where you only have so many extra lives you can collect during the levels that don't respawn, so you could actually softlock yourself if you lost all your lives, though some versions had built-in button cheat codes to give yourself infinite lives. It's also amazing how much cut content there is, someone made a remaster of the game called Rayman Redemption with all the cut content put back in (22:50 ah you covered it good).
Thanks so much for watching the video! I’m glad you enjoyed it! I feel like the lives don’t respawn in the ps1 version? At least in the version we got in the UK anyway as I remember having that exact issue, but I could be misremembering!
This game is so unnecessarily hard because the nice developers didn’t even bother on play testing the game 🙂🔫, A few months back when I installed the game cuz of the nostalgia I was so excited… but the more I was advancing to the game the more I realized there was no way that was a game for kids… the pencil level… no words… definitely one of my worst experiences in video games. Some people compare it to the hard souls games but ITS NOT THE SAME, those are meant to be hard… This one was SUPPOSED TO BE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY. With that being said… I’ll never play this game again.
If you think the Playstation version is hard you should try the Jaguar version, which is the first version of the game. There are way fewer extra lives, most of them are replaced with fist or health powerups. You also lose all fist powerups whenever you're hit. The physics aren't as good and hanging in particular is much more precise. You also have to hold the run button or you'll stop running. You can let it go in other versions. A few levels are completely different, including most of Candy Chateau. It is easier in some ways. There are no sliding physics, so that isn't an issue, although the levels with sliding are much more full of enemies as a result and are really hard themselves. You also get knocked back much higher, meaning that you can recover from being knocked back from enemies like the fish in Eat At Joe's. You can jump slightly higher, which is nice, and you always get full momentum from flying rings, which is great. You also get health increases when facing the Mosquito and Space Mama. I played it recently, and instead of having 35-40 lives at the end in the Playstation, Saturn and DOS versions, I used my second continue. The mosquito shooting mechanic in Rayman Redemption (that remake is which is really good by the way) is actually also from the Jaguar version. You shoot like that instead of using your fist in the last level of Anguish Lagoon, which also has a different layout. The Playstation version is the easiest version of the four 1995/1996 versions due to the password save option. It doesn't remember how many cages you have in a level unless you have all of them, so if you turn it off with five of six found, you'll have to find them all again. That said, it also doesn't remember how many extra lives you've picked up, so every time you load the game they all respawn. This makes it really easy to farm lives. Other than that the Playstation, Saturn and DOS versions are all similar in level design and difficulty, with the exception of the first stage of Bongo Hills, which is replaced with a much shorter and easier stage in the DOS version. The DsiWare port is much easier, with many more hit points and the Bongo Hills stage from the DOS version. Unfortunately it's got quite a few glitches, such as it being impossible to avoid one of the Mosquito's attacks. The photographer also actually takes your picture with the DSi's camera whenever you reach a checkpoint, which is a nice touch. Great video by the way, and I agree, it would be difficult to recommend an official version of the game to most players due to its difficulty. I'd recommend Rayman Redemption of course, and maybe the GBA version, though it's been a while since I played it.
The developers admitted that they never bothered playtesting the game which is why it's so hard. Rayman gives me so many memories but man is it hard and one of the bad examples of "you have to 100% the game to beat it normally". You did a great job with this retrospective! It's so strange because Rayman definitely eases you into the difficulty but after a certain level (maybe after the art world or so) it just goes nuts and some of those electoon locations are really obscure. What's really scary is I swear there's one version where you only have so many extra lives you can collect during the levels that don't respawn, so you could actually softlock yourself if you lost all your lives, though some versions had built-in button cheat codes to give yourself infinite lives. It's also amazing how much cut content there is, someone made a remaster of the game called Rayman Redemption with all the cut content put back in (22:50 ah you covered it good).
Thanks so much for watching the video! I’m glad you enjoyed it! I feel like the lives don’t respawn in the ps1 version? At least in the version we got in the UK anyway as I remember having that exact issue, but I could be misremembering!
I believe the term for music slowly rising in volume & intensity is crescendo.
It's always great to see more people talk about Rayman. Here's hoping we get a Rayman 4 someday.
I pray we will, love this series. Glad you enjoyed the video!
This game is so unnecessarily hard because the nice developers didn’t even bother on play testing the game 🙂🔫, A few months back when I installed the game cuz of the nostalgia I was so excited… but the more I was advancing to the game the more I realized there was no way that was a game for kids… the pencil level… no words… definitely one of my worst experiences in video games. Some people compare it to the hard souls games but ITS NOT THE SAME, those are meant to be hard… This one was SUPPOSED TO BE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY. With that being said… I’ll never play this game again.
Legit, this game is legit one of the hardest I’ve ever played, I’ll probably never play it again unless it’s redemption
If you think the Playstation version is hard you should try the Jaguar version, which is the first version of the game. There are way fewer extra lives, most of them are replaced with fist or health powerups. You also lose all fist powerups whenever you're hit. The physics aren't as good and hanging in particular is much more precise. You also have to hold the run button or you'll stop running. You can let it go in other versions. A few levels are completely different, including most of Candy Chateau.
It is easier in some ways. There are no sliding physics, so that isn't an issue, although the levels with sliding are much more full of enemies as a result and are really hard themselves. You also get knocked back much higher, meaning that you can recover from being knocked back from enemies like the fish in Eat At Joe's. You can jump slightly higher, which is nice, and you always get full momentum from flying rings, which is great. You also get health increases when facing the Mosquito and Space Mama. I played it recently, and instead of having 35-40 lives at the end in the Playstation, Saturn and DOS versions, I used my second continue.
The mosquito shooting mechanic in Rayman Redemption (that remake is which is really good by the way) is actually also from the Jaguar version. You shoot like that instead of using your fist in the last level of Anguish Lagoon, which also has a different layout.
The Playstation version is the easiest version of the four 1995/1996 versions due to the password save option. It doesn't remember how many cages you have in a level unless you have all of them, so if you turn it off with five of six found, you'll have to find them all again. That said, it also doesn't remember how many extra lives you've picked up, so every time you load the game they all respawn. This makes it really easy to farm lives. Other than that the Playstation, Saturn and DOS versions are all similar in level design and difficulty, with the exception of the first stage of Bongo Hills, which is replaced with a much shorter and easier stage in the DOS version.
The DsiWare port is much easier, with many more hit points and the Bongo Hills stage from the DOS version. Unfortunately it's got quite a few glitches, such as it being impossible to avoid one of the Mosquito's attacks. The photographer also actually takes your picture with the DSi's camera whenever you reach a checkpoint, which is a nice touch.
Great video by the way, and I agree, it would be difficult to recommend an official version of the game to most players due to its difficulty. I'd recommend Rayman Redemption of course, and maybe the GBA version, though it's been a while since I played it.
Thanks for all the info on the Jaguar version, sounds like a nightmare, glad you enjoyed the video!
I totally agree with you, Rayman 1 is too hard for a child game
I learnt after finishing the video that it wasn’t actually play-tested! Suppose that explains it but still
Awesome vid. Justice for Rayman
This game was So Hard! I had to take a 5 year hiatus in order to beat it
*cough cough* Rayman redemption *cough cough*
Title really is apt ayy?
Me when I saw this video in my subs: 3:58
Me when I saw you left a comment: 3:58