Rayman 1

[RaypersonNikol]

Update 1.1 for 30th Anniversary is now live on every platform, except Switch (most likely due to the slower review process)!

Unfortunately yeah, Nintendo has to approve the update before it can be issued to the Switch I dunno how long it will take, but maybe soon it'll be out.

 

[Mortamon Saturn]

Seems like the Switch update is now out, I just received one for the game!

 

[RaypersonNikol]

Seems like the Switch update is now out, I just received one for the game!

Mine got it too, though I didn't realize until literally just now XD Seems Nintendo approves updates weeks later than other platforms, but that might be incorrect.

 

[hardback247]

The sound on the MS-DOS games on the 30th anniversary edition is so full of crackling. Is there any way to fix them?

 

[Game Ze 2]

石破惊天！

53年前，盟军在法国诺曼底登陆，彻底改变了二战的格局
今天，法国UBI和北京LINK联手，让风靡全球的雷曼在中国着陆，力图改变中国游戏软件的格局。

在欧美，百万大军玩Rayman
如今，Rayman来到中国
如您没有她，有光盘机岂非遗憾?

I think R1 was introduced to Chinese Mainland in December 1996.

 

[Hunchman801]

That's quite different from the other source that states April 1996! Maybe we could mention both?

 

[Game Ze 2]

That's quite different from the other source that states April 1996! Maybe we could mention both?

I remember that the source on Wiki only introduced R1, and did not say that it was officially released in Chinese Mainland.

 

[Hunchman801]

I see! It might be worth replacing it entirely, then.

 

[Droolie]

I changed my mind on the Rayman 30th Anniversary soundtrack.
Today it received an official release on streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube music.
Also a full-length video on Youtube.
And you can buy high quality versions of it for 6.99€ on qobuz.

I must say it's an incredible homage to my RayTunes rip of the original game, I'm very honored that the work I did on this is now official. The track titles are word for word the same, and even the prototype tracks and PS1 MIDIs in this have been remade, despite not being used in-game. We truly have a feedback loop. Incredible to see.

 

[Hunchman801]

Let's be honest, your titles have been in use for so long so that they were already kinda official in most people's minds. I guess that just makes it officially official now.

By the way, they must have felt people weren't confused enough, because Rayman's evil double is called both Bad Rayman and Dark Rayman in the track titles.

 

[Droolie]

You're right, "Dark Rayman" does appear in the GBC track titles. These seem to be original titles from Kabcorp, the composer of the new Rayman GBC soundtrack.
I suppose this now makes Dark Rayman the new name for the evil clone in the GBC version? (Or did he have an official name before?)

For me, the funniest thing about this soundtrack is probably that there is a remake of "Cakewalk (Prototype)", a different track than "Cakewalk".
So the RayTunes rip was not just used for the track titles, but even as a basis for the tracks to remake. This prototype track was simply an early version that was replaced for the final game, but it seems Ubisoft/Héral didn't realize that or simply remade both versions (with similar differences) for fun!


This makes me wonder if even my notes about who composed what (included in a .txt file in the RayTunes rip) were used to determine which tracks should be rearranged and which should be done from scratch...

 

[Mortamon Saturn]

Congrats, Droolie!
It seems they're really imitating our contributions, like RayCarrot's code!

Thankfully, they didn't wrongfully label the GBC Time Attack world map as "Ubi Cliff" like we did (as I managed to play said level and it actually uses the bonus stage music), that's definitely something to fix for a future RayTunes update

I suppose this now makes Dark Rayman the new name for the evil clone in the GBC version? (Or did he have an official name before?)

...There's also this one, but I don't think anyone should ever use it

...Unless we're talking about Rayman Black!

For me, the funniest thing about this soundtrack is probably that there is a remake of "Cakewalk (Prototype)", a different track than "Cakewalk".
So the RayTunes rip was not just used for the track titles, but even as a basis for the tracks to remake. This prototype track was simply an early version that was replaced for the final game, but it seems Ubisoft/Héral didn't realize that or simply remade both versions (with similar differences) for fun!

This makes me wonder if even my notes about who composed what (included in a .txt file in the RayTunes rip) were used to determine which tracks should be rearranged and which should be done from scratch...

Dang it, if you would have labelled all the songs as being composed by Rémi Gazel, we would have got the full original soundtrack without any issue!
Who knows, maybe we even did a mistake somewhere and they'll get in some legal trouble all thanks to us!

So it's really like Bzzit on RayWiki, we just have to rewrite history ourselves so Ubisoft can do everything we want!
Time to rewrite all the "plot" of Origins and Legends and to remove the Rabbids from existence




By the way, as I never liked how you can't download your music files on Spotify etc., this release made me find out about Qobuz's existence, where it's sold DRM-free along many other soundtracks from Ubi's games, so seems like a great place to grab it!

 

[Haruka]

Given that the physical edition of the 30th Anniversary Edition of the game is two weeks away from its official launch date I guess it's safe to say that the soundtrack problem wasn't sorted, which disappoints me. Despite of that I'm not cancelling my pre-order as I want a playable Rayman 1 in the Nintendo Switch console.

I was excited when the new release fell from the sky back in February and it was the first time in a long time I was playing Rayman 1. It wasn't just a perfect experience because of the altered music. My problem isn't on the Rémi (peace to his soul) remixes that were done, they sound great; it's the tracks that apparently no one knows very well who were the authors or their whereabouts. Like Hunch pointed out, I don't understand why this wasn't a problem with Rayman Classic. And the original OST is still available in GOG's Rayman For Ever, or even in PSN's PSOne Classics and PlayStation Classic release.

The tone of the new music don't suit Rayman 1, my brain was constantly thinking I was playing Rayman Origins and that's a red flag. What was that weird shower singing in Space Mama's Crater (Yes, I still remember of the credits artwork of hers)?... I admit that when I replayed the game on Steam for the achievements I had to turn off the music, it was distracting me too much. Héral is a very professional musician, but I feel this project didn't work that effectively (I believe in having had limiting executive directions to be able try other things). Those who experienced the original title as it was in the past are all consensual that the soundtrack was one of the highlights of the game (even the specialized critique remarked that in 1995). I'm not fond how we can't choose the covers (Sonic Origins allows players to toggle between the North American, Japanese and European covers.) or even the Magician voice acting but knowing how the game files look like, it would just steal a lot of storage space.

Moving on to positive observations about this celebration release:

• It was a good surprise for me to see how the obscure Atari Jaguar and even the MS-DOS expansions were included. The latter can be a true headache for people to setup if they don't have the GOG release and even for this one it lacks the 60 Inédit Levels pack. I'm happy it made these extra levels more accessible for people to try out, even if two of them were blocked out due to crashing issues according to what I've read once.

• I spent a few hours to read and watch through all the Making Of section to learn about the developers retrospectives on the work on the game. I liked the story about the Raysona drawing scaring the primary school teacher.

• Having a full 1993 game design document available for a free read for the first time ever was not in my bingo card. We had so much few information about the 2D prototype, and suddenly this guide was made public! I spent two hours alone reading all those nearly 80 pages and I do find both fascinating and haunting how some ideas are still in the final game, while others were a nightmare fuel if they carried on. That storyboard of the game's intro looks so ominous with all those shadows, I feel it would look creepy if 3D-rendered at the time. When I finished to read everything I kept wondering if the original concept of the human that travels to inside a computer would have been as successful as the final product. I do think that the key elements that changed everything were Alexandra Ancel and Éric Pelatan joining the project by bringing the iconic visual identity that stuck around until Rayman 3.

• I still didn't go through the whole Atari Jaguar with the altered songs but the few I heard were already a completely different vibe just because the kazoos weren't there. I didn't find terrible.

• Congratulations to Droolie for having inspired Ubisoft to use the RayTunes track names on the new soundtrack release.

 

[hoodlumsworld]

Given that the physical edition of the 30th Anniversary Edition of the game is two weeks away from its official launch date I guess it's safe to say that the soundtrack problem wasn't sorted, which disappoints me. Despite of that I'm not cancelling my pre-order as I want a playable Rayman 1 in the Nintendo Switch console.

It really is a shame that the soundtrack situation couldn't be fully resolved in time for the physical release. I completely agree with you regarding the new tracks, Haruka. Christophe Héral is undeniably incredibly talented, but the bouncy Origins/Legends style just clashes with the much more surreal, almost melancholic vibe of the original game. It's a completely different atmosphere, so I totally understand having to turn it off.

That being said, the inclusion of the 1993 game design document is honestly one of the best things to come out of this anniversary edition. It's an absolute goldmine for preservation. Seeing how drastically different the tone and mechanics were initially conceptualized makes you appreciate the final product even more. The early concepts are fascinating.

Also, belated congrats to Droolie! It’s hilarious but genuinely amazing to see how much RayTunes and this community have cemented themselves as the de facto official sources over the years. To think they even remade the prototype track based on your rip and notes... you really can't make this stuff up! Who would have thought we'd end up basically curating the official releases?

 

[RayGamer99]

Quick reminder for those who don't already know: the physical version of Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition released today! It comes with the game, a set of 3 postcards, a few stickers, a double-sided poster, and a reversible cover (or so I've seen). I held out on this one for a while due to all the controversy and save-related glitches, but since they've dealt with the latter by now I'll be sure to pick up a copy for my Switch 2 sometime soon!

 

[Mortamon Saturn]

Got it!

Yes... within just one year, they got me to buy the same bloody game thrice
I truly am part of the problem.

I can finally decorate my home with some Rayman 1 goodies

(I just wish the poster was higher quality as the seams are already whitened... meanwhile, by comparison, my collector poster of Zelda Majora's Mask 3D from 11 years ago* still looks to be in perfect condition, and I even got some 20+ years old crappy posters for some toylines that are better preserved than this brand new thing!... *...OH GOSH... It's already been 11 years!... )
I got the Switch version, and looking at the picture shared by RayCarrot, it seems the PS5 release got a different format for the poster (it's more like a square)... Welp, I guess that had to be expected with the Switch's box sizes

That aside, I haven't tried the sticker set yet, but these cards sure are marvellous! It's so good to have authentic content from ~30 years ago being remade into faithful modern goodies!

 

[hoodlumsworld]

It really is a shame about the poster quality. You'd think for a 30th anniversary physical celebration they'd invest in sturdier paper that doesn't immediately show wear and whitened seams along the creases... But hey, at least those postcards look absolutely gorgeous!

 

[PluMGMK]

The BG&E 20th anniversary poster has the same problem

 

[Mortamon Saturn]

It really is a shame about the poster quality. You'd think for a 30th anniversary physical celebration they'd invest in sturdier paper that doesn't immediately show wear and whitened seams along the creases...

I'm genuinely disappointed now, I really wanted to decorate my wall with it but the flaws look so distracting, even my most deteriorated low-quality posters from game boxes of the 2010s don't look this bad...

The BG&E 20th anniversary poster has the same problem

Ubisoft try not to suck at everything they do Challenge (ULTRA IMPOSSIBLE)

 

[Haruka]

My copy is currently crossing Spanish territory before it reaches me. Amazon says that by Thursday I should have the Switch game .

EDIT 1/07: It's a good way to start July!