Well that coupled with tapping the A key to jump and the spacebar to attack can be really clunky for some. Plus using ctrl to strafe didnt always work right.
Ctrl, A, Spacebar is not a common control scheme for games, and not one that I prefer, but when you think about it, it is not so far-fetched. The three keys form a triangle, and they are sufficiently spaced apart to prevent hitting one over the other accidentally, yet not too far out of reach. Depending on how big one's hand is, it seems natural either to use pinky, middle finger and thumb (like hitting a simple triad on a piano), or ring, middle and index fingers (for big-handed folks).
The original Windows version of Rayman 2 is the one I played first, and within a couple of levels, the controls felt natural enough to not think about them. One thing that I always forget to mention is that you need a better-than-rock-bottom keyboard, because the worst keyboards out there may jam if 3 keys are pressed at the same time.