Rayman 1

[Hunchman801]

So I'm curious, which are the your most and least favorite tracks in this new version? This sounds like a mixed bag, according to what I'm reading.

[Chilistudios]

Someone managed to restore the original soundtrack to Rayman PS1 by simply swapping the PS1 version's new .bin file with the original one. According to the video description, this solution is rather broken.

I must ask: does Ubisoft own the compositions, but not the original arrangements?

[mattriochka]

It's hard to tell what exactly happened with the music. Héral says that "everything that Rémi composed is in the game" and that he was asked to make music in replacement to the other composers tunes. We know for sure that "Betilla the Fairy" and "Deep Forest" tracks are by Frédéric Louvre and both are missing in the 30th edition, so it should make sense that they had the rights to use Rémi music but not the ones made by other composers.

Héral must have arranged Rémi songs so they fit together with the new tunes he composed for the game.

[DaveRattlehead]

Totally surprising! I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the physical edition. I prefer to have the game this way, even if it means waiting a few months (which is actually ideal in my case)

The little I've seen in videos has seemed quite interesting, especially the SNES prototype, although the soundtrack... I wouldn't say it's bad or disappointing, I just think it doesn't fit on many levels.
My only complaint is with Betilla's song... What the **** is that? Seriously, who thought changing this was a good idea?

[metalflygon08]

My only complaint is with Betilla's song... What the **** is that? Seriously, who thought changing this was a good idea?

The new Betilla theme sounds like it was made for the Origins/Legends Betilla, with that soothing sexy saxophone to match the curves.

[MakaryGlobsky]

The compilation itself is... okay? I don't really mind anything, although it's missing the Sega Saturn version. I guess it's not that different from the PS1 version, but still.
Another thing I noted is that it's lagging, at least for me. This is a fairly small game and shouldn't do that (obviously).

But my main complaint is the OST.

Now, Christophe Heral is a fantastic composer, that's for sure. In my opinion, his work on Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends is phenomenal (I even love the Rayman Mini OST but that's only me). He clearly has his own style. But that style is simply not fitting with Rayman 1! Some of the tracks, like "Pink Plant Woods" or "Anguish Lagoon" sound nice, and are faithful to the original. That's what ubibubi promised. However a lot of other tracks are... good, I guess, but they are neither catchy, nor faithful. I haven't yet heard the full thing, and I'm excited to do so, but I miss the mysteriousness of "Deep Forest" or the nostalgic chord progression of "Harmony". I hope that in the future, there will be an option to keep the original soundtrack, but I hope even more that some tracks will be replaced with better covers. This one simply doesn't do Remi Gazel justice.
I really like Pixel Mixers' album "Harmony". It has mostly great covers of the music from Rayman. It'd be amazing if the OST was something like that.
This is definitely not Christophe's usual territory. I don't blame him for anything. But I wish it was better. The soundtrack was my main reason for purchase, and I was left disappointed. If only Remi was still with us...

[Jhspecks]

So i blasted through the playstation version and about halfway through the DOS version. Gotta say playing with that superwide aspect ratio is all i ever wanted. The interviews and concept art is brilliant really wraps the whole collection in a nice bow. Solid 8/10.

Something i noticed and not to bump my own thread about the Pixelophonia's lost media Rayman medley but this explains why it had been removed from streaming. As that contained renditions of Band Land/Blue Mountains/Picture City which seems to be in some sort of legal limbo. Probably because Remi didn't compose those songs. Either Ubisoft owes some hefty royalty's from all the releases and are being cheap or the original composer of those tracks is not wanting to play ball. Its a shame. A toggle between original and new would have been fantastic. The new tracks aren't bad either its just when you spend your whole life eating the same comfort meal but someone adds a different ingredient it can throw you off. Please don't let the new music throw you off from purchasing this game the original music still exists and will continue to do so. Enjoy the new renditions!

[PluMGMK]

So I finally get to play the Janky-wer version (thought of that as the game was downloading ) after all these years of admiring it! The colours are indeed beautiful… but it's bloody hard… Things like the falling waterlilies not giving you any pause before dropping really throw off my rhythm! I'm not sure how much of the difficulty is genuine differences in mechanics, versus slow emulation and use of a keyboard with a version originally designed for a controller…

From what people are saying it sounds like the Jaguar version has a different soundtrack to the others? I haven't tried the others yet, so I'm not sure, but I can say that they used "First Steps" instead of "Suspense" in the seed-planting level, which is already ridiculous

[MOV_Games]

We know for sure that "Betilla the Fairy" and "Deep Forest" tracks are by Frédéric Louvre and both are missing in the 30th edition

It's been years since I was actively keeping up with info relating to Rayman 1's OST, so I was blissfully unaware we had seemingly obtained further confirmed composer credits for non Rémi tracks? If you don't mind me asking where did this info originate from and is it 100% concrete (for example word of mouth direct from the remaining composers), or is this still part of the educated guesses that I know existed years back?

I'd love to be able to fill more tags out with proper track by track credits.

[The Jonster]

The new Betilla theme sounds like it was made for the Origins/Legends Betilla, with that soothing sexy saxophone to match the curves.

I just listened to it, yeah that makes sense now. Definitely doesn't sound magical to me at all but hey that's just me

[Mortamon Saturn]

I'm in the process of recording and uploading all of the bonus menu from the collection so we can work on documenting all of it! Until anyone actually rips the assets, I'm probably also gonna go take screenshots of all the pictures if that can be useful for RayWiki!
Here's the version with French texts and subtitles for now!

(SNES proto also included as an extra at the end, I forgot to show the fist animations in the previous one )
Hopefully I didn't miss anything! We might also have to translate some of the documents like the game design bible (I don't think a translation is provided in English mode, there's none for the English documents when playing in French), which will be a bit of a hefty task with its 85 pages!

But yeah like everyone is saying, the music is really a shame - especially because there is a very large chance that Ubisoft will use this for any future rerelease of the game. So from now on we're probably stuck with:

Mr Stone's happy "ho ho" battle

Space Mama singing out of tune (cool idea, but uh... )

I don't blame Christophe Héral for making this alternative soundtrack - that's on Ubisoft for choosing this solution (most likely because it was cheaper) instead of solving whatever issues they had - but this is not really his best work. He missed with Rayman Mini, he missed with the new tracks (and also many of the remastered ones) in the BG&E remaster, and now this... can't say I'm looking forward to what he'll do for the Rayman Legends remake.
I don't even want to add this to RayTunes (not that I would otherwise, since apparently this will get an official OST release?)...

Wha-... WHAT IN JANO'S NAME IS THAT!?
Oh, sweet Polokus, it's gonna be difficult to get through the rest of this bundle...

And as Rayman GBC had its music replaced (which was Rayman 2 music in the first place) and Héral was recently said to work on Rayman games (plural), the same disaster could happen with Rayman 2 if any remake/rerelease is in the plans... You can't even hear its music either during the few bits of R2 footage in this history museum...
I can't blame him, and I certainly have nothing personal against him regardless of my deep distaste for most of this new soundtrack. He really wasn't in his element with classic Rayman despite how much goodwill he expressed, and looking at his interview in the bonuses, now I understand why only a few specific tracks like the Magician feel so great and true to the original as he actually practiced this one with Rémi Gazel and wanted it to be on the pedestals of his musical career!
I just wish he would have held back a tiny bit on his "small personal touch" , but how I can blame an artist for wanting that?

In my opinion, I think it would have been better that they got a composer with a style that feel more consistent and in line with Rayman 1, while Héral's take would have been both a separate album similarly to the Rayman by Rémi project and a bonus in-game toggle/DLC for the collection as his personal homage to Gazel.
Sadly, that's just how it is for now...


As for the music licensing, as hinted by Héral himself in his Instagram responses, it seems it's indeed all about the fact other composers worked on the game, so it's probably in legal limbo because of this...
RayCarrot has also shared an explanation that sounds very plausible to me and explains why this wasn't a problem for past ports of the 2010s, as the branding on this new special release makes it a distinct new game in terms of licensing.

[Droolie]

It's been years since I was actively keeping up with info relating to Rayman 1's OST, so I was blissfully unaware we had seemingly obtained further confirmed composer credits for non Rémi tracks? If you don't mind me asking where did this info originate from and is it 100% concrete (for example word of mouth direct from the remaining composers), or is this still part of the educated guesses that I know existed years back?

I haven't heard of any concrete info regarding this, so it's probably still part of the educated guesses.

RayCarrot has also shared an explanation that sounds very plausible to me and explains why this wasn't a problem for past ports of the 2010s, as the branding on this new special release makes it a distinct new game in terms of licensing.

I think this is probably close, but wasn't "Rayman Classic" also new branding? I think it might have something to do with how this version is not published by Ubisoft themselves but by Atari.

Anyway, it's probably complicated but I remember that Gameloft had been in a similar situation with Rayman 2 iOS where they had hired a new composer to redo the soundtrack, but they were still able to get the license for the original music later. Maybe because they realized people were never going to accept that. So I wonder if this isn't a similar situation where, with enough pushback, Ubisoft & Atari will find a way to get the license after all.

So I'm curious, which are the your most and least favorite tracks in this new version? This sounds like a mixed bag, according to what I'm reading.

I already posted my least favorite tracks earlier, but another special mention goes out to the Blue Mountains, which has some of the best music in the game originally but now sounds like the Wild West.
Generally Héral did a decent job with Rémi Gazel's tracks, especially the Magician's theme. As for original tracks, I like his versions of the "Suspense" tracks (like for the rising water sections) which appropriately capture the feeling of approaching danger, as well as the ambience tracks which can be unsettling.
So yes, it's not all bad on its own - but in a rerelease of a classic game it's very hard not to compare to the original music. Héral might say thank Ubisoft for trusting him with this job, but in reality he got handed the impossible job of replacing a soundtrack that to many people is irreplaceable.

[Hunchman801]

Mr Stone's happy "ho ho" battle

Space Mama singing out of tune (cool idea, but uh... )

Man, those are bad... Not bad compositions in themselves, but such a bad choice for Rayman 1. Did they really feel they were staying true to the original music?

As for the out of tune singing... who would listen to that track just for pleasure? No need to put it on RayTunes for sure...

I think this is probably close, but wasn't "Rayman Classic" also new branding? I think it might have something to do with how this version is not published by Ubisoft themselves but by Atari.

I also don't see why this would be different with this version. Or maybe they're just being more careful nowadays?

At least, I started skimming through the game design bible, and it's a gold mine!

[Mortamon Saturn]

Oh, by the way, happy Valentine's day, everyone!






So... Would you?

Man, those are bad... Not bad compositions in themselves, but such a bad choice for Rayman 1. Did they really feel they were staying true to the original music?

As for the out of tune singing... who would listen to that track just for pleasure? No need to put it on RayTunes for sure...

Indeed
Sometimes, it feels like they handed Héral the old pic of Rayman 1 remade in the UbiArt style (don't remember where it can be found now), and that he pictured the whole game like this!

I'm still probably gonna get the OST if they do release it separately... but I doubt I'll be listening often to many of these tracks!

At least, I started skimming through the game design bible, and it's a gold mine!

We'll get to expand RayWiki so much with this!

[Hunchman801]

So... Would you?

Is she going to sing?

And does the answer to this question really matter anyway?

Indeed
Sometimes, it feels like they handed Héral the old pic of Rayman 1 remade in the UbiArt style (don't remember where it can be found now), and that he pictured the whole game like this!

I'm still probably gonna get the OST if they do release it separately... but I doubt I'll be listening often to many of these tracks!

By the way, I also remember hearing that nobody remembers who composed some of the original music, so this could definitely be part of the reason they decided not to use it. Still doesn't explain why it wasn't a problem with Rayman Classic, but I can understand that.

But then... couldn't they just keep Gazel's tracks and have someone create others in the same style, rather than redo the entire thing in a different style?

We'll get to expand RayWiki so much with this!

Most certainly! I already added the content from the scans included in L'Histoire de Rayman a few months ago, but I think this might warrant entirely new articles...

[Droolie]

At least, I started skimming through the game design bible, and it's a gold mine!

Speaking of which, I'm a bit confused about the language of this game design bible. I've only seen images of an English version in the game's assets, but I recall the version that l'Histoire de Rayman contained scans of the book was in French. I suppose that was the original one, as the English bible seems to contain a few parts that feel weirdly translated. I hear it has been translated to various different languages for this collection, but I haven't seen any other language version personally. If the original French document is readable in the game somehow, then we should probably base new RayWiki articles on that.

[Hunchman801]

Speaking of which, I'm a bit confused about the language of this game design bible. I've only seen images of an English version in the game's assets, but I recall the version that l'Histoire de Rayman contained scans of the book was in French. I suppose that was the original one, as the English bible seems to contain a few parts that feel weirdly translated. I hear it has been translated to various different languages for this collection, but I haven't seen any other language version personally. If the original French document is readable in the game somehow, then we should probably base new RayWiki articles on that.

They translated it for English speakers, but if you select French as a language in the settings, you should see the original scans.

On an unrelated note, Tings are now just called "blue spheres" in the list of achievements. Was someone too lazy to look them up on RayWiki? It also looks like some of the translations in other languages might have introduced new inconsistencies, but I've yet to go through the whole thing.

[RayGamer99]

Sorry that I'm still ranting about the OST, but I still have a few things to say about it.

When I first heard that Héral was recomposing the soundtrack, I was excited because I thought that he would re-arrange the original songs, not make brand new ones that, for the most part, sound fine at best. A good chunk of the new songs just sound jumbled and don't have a natural-sounding melody for the ears to latch onto.

From what I've gathered, the only songs that are actually remade are First Steps, The Magician's Challenge, Bzzit Attacks, Flight of the Mosquito, Hold on tight!, The Red Drummers (which is just a bunch of percussion anyway), Duet with Mr Sax (that one's more of a soundalike than a proper remake), Lurking in the Darkness, Party at Joe's, Venomous Mr Skops, Creepy Clowns, Mr Dark's Dare, probably Once More, End of the Line, and the life lost jingle (Oh no!).

Notably, in quite a few of the rearranged songs I've heard so far (Party at Joe's, Creepy Clowns, and Mr Dark's Dare are a few examples), I can clearly hear the original song playing behind the new instruments. So what's that all about?

Finally, I can't help but mention that Héral's use of certain instruments in the soundtrack often feels rather forced. Even in UbiArt games like Origins, Legends, and Mini, their OSTs (all of which are bangers btw) had a fairly wide range of instruments and vibes to their songs, making them sound unique and great to listen to. Meanwhile, the music featured here often has ukuleles, jaw harps, and kazoos thrown in there for seemingly no reason. Christophe is such a talented composer with such a wide variety of music styles from the UbiArt games (though some of those were from Billy Martin ), so why does it feel like he's generalized them all into sounding like the Jibberish Jungle and not much else here?

Sometimes, it feels like they handed Héral the old pic of Rayman 1 remade in the UbiArt style (don't remember where it can be found now), and that he pictured the whole game like this!

You mean this one, right? I uploaded it to the RayWiki a while back, though it isn't in the best quality. For the record, I think that a set of levels from Rayman 1 remade in the UbiArt engine could be a pretty neat idea for a Legends expansion or DLC pack or something.

We'll get to expand RayWiki so much with this!

Most certainly! I already added the content from the scans included in L'Histoire de Rayman a few months ago, but I think this might warrant entirely new articles...

Now this is something I'm excited about! New Rayman information always tends to be rather interesting for me, and honestly the game's design Bible is probably one of the biggest draws for the collection.

[The Jonster]

Wha-... WHAT IN JANO'S NAME IS THAT!?
Oh, sweet Polokus, it's gonna be difficult to get through the rest of this bundle...

Well at least you can let me know when/if I decide to get this game, which places have good tracks and which ones to keep the volume off. I would prefer to keep my ears safe from bleeding, thank you very much /j
(i regret clicking on that space mama link hahahhaa)

[metalflygon08]

Looking at all the stuff in the anniversary edition brings up a memory I can't find.

I had the PS1 version growing up, I have a very distinct memory of the Skops in Dream Forest picture, in black and white, in the manual.

Looking at the manual online shows no such screenshot though.

We did not have internet yet and I was in rural nowhere USA so gaming magazines were not a thing.

Where would I have seen that black and white screenshot of Skops in the dream forest as a kid?