The Ultimate Rayman Port Guide [Seeking Feedback!]

[RayLord]

Introduction:
Hello everyone, I have been a Rayman fan for decades now, ever since I discovered Rayman 2 on the N64 then the DS port.
I never finished Rayman on PS1 (through my PlayStation 2) as a kid (who did honestly?).
Rayman 3 (Gamecube) is probably one of my favorite games of all time.
I did love Origins (Wii) and Legends (PC & Switch) but I was quite late to do these ones.

Anyway enough about my background on the franchise we all love here. I created an account on this forum to share with you the guide I've written in the end of last year and hoped to get some feedback directly from the community.

What's theses guides about?
It's not about walkthrough or solutions, the idea is to have a simple lightweight website (no JavaScript, no ads, no tracking) to recommend people different ports of each games of the main franchise (the one I talked about in my introduction). As you probably all know not all Rayman games are the same, a port could be a drastically different experience on different systems. So I did a curated list of the best ports of each game. I kept three versions of the game for each one (ranking from 1 to 3 and sometimes having bonuses), explaining why I selected that version in a small paragraph to help people choosing which one they would like to play.

Then I linked to official store to buy the game if it's still commercially available but I also linked to dedicated emulation software (I love emulation, FPGA and game preservation in general) mainly because I can't recommend to anyone to buy an Atari Jaguar + CRT TV + The cartridge of Rayman in the current market simply to enjoy what I find being the best version of the game.


Here is the link to the guides: https://rayman.bearblog.dev/

Yes it's simply a bearblog (based on HUGO)


Looking for feedbacks:
So what do you think of my selection? You have the right to disagree of course and while I feel confident my selection is golden I would happily argue with anyone that have great arguments and hope they can change my mind.

English is not my mother tongue so I would probably have mistakes here and there, you can submit corrections if you see some.

I want this website to be used by the community as reference for their friends (I created it for my friends), so it's important for me to get kind of an approval. As you can see I've linked this Forum and the RCP repo directly in the nav because I think these two projects are important for the franchise and current userbase.

What's next?
Blog articles
I might try to find the time to write articles about each ports and why I choose them to go more in depth with each choices.

News coverage around the franchise
I did an annoucement in december about a huge Rayman sales happenning at GOG (Good Old Games) and might also post about the upcomming game or similar stuff.

Weird port reviews
There is many games/ports around the franchise I didn't tried yet I might write a review when I tested them

Fan games or projects reviews
The community have done incredible works around Rayman, I did mention three fan projects in my guides but these are more remakes than real fan projects. Here I would write articles on the fan projects, games, animations, comics, frameworks whatever.

Maybe not
Maybe I'll abandon this and never does the previously mentioned ideas but who knows, today I feel motivated.

[NastyShrimp]

Finally someone else that find the Jaguar version to be the ultimate edition of the first Rayman game even though there is nice things about the Playstation port. I wish someone would make a version combining the best of the two world. I didn't liked Redemption that much probably because I didn't understand it was a reimagination when I played it for the first time.

I have bought the Jaguar game (with the box) for my collection but have no Jaguar for the moment. Same for the Rayman 2 on the Dreamcast everybody seems to agree this is the best port (with Revolution) but I don't have the Dreamcast yet, I might do it on emulator, I only played the DS, 3DS and of course the PS2 ports.

For Rayman 3 I think that nostalgia is speaking but yes Gamecube was awesome, I am so disapointed about the HD remaster ports...

I never finished Origins (shame on me) but I have a 360 but I'm not sure it is still working. I didn't knew it was better than the PS3 port (the one I played on). I got it on GOG for less than 5 bucks in sales even maybe less than $2 it's crazy. I don't understand why the cinematics would be more compressed but okay...

I have to do Legends on switch I only played on PC and I have the console so I should just get the game second hand and start again.

[PluMGMK]

I must say that's a beautiful-looking website! Not sure about the admonition to "avoid keyboard and mouse" though, since I've literally never played Rayman any other way in my 25+ years as a dedicated fan… I noticed a few typos as well, like "personnal" and "responsability"

[Fifo]

CrocDB.net is gone, you might want to remove/replace links to it

[Raynic]

Guys i'm new to this topic...
What does "Rayman Port Guide" even mean?

[RayGamer99]

It appears that this is a guide to what RayLord views as the 3 best versions of each of the mainline Rayman games (Rayman 1, 2, 3, Origins, and Legends) and where to buy/play them. Not very relevant to me, but I'm sure it'll be helpful for those who are interested.

[Hunchman801]

Welcome to this place, RayLord! That's a great initiative, and the website looks really nice.

Choosing which ports to feature is never completely objective, so it's natural for any selection to be slightly biased toward the author's preferences (though I've yet to hear of anyone recommending Rayman DS as the ultimate version of Rayman 2 ).

However, I do think the section on Rayman Revolution lacks a little nuance. You highlight the shortcomings of the PlayStation version and the advantages of the PS2 release, but not the other way around. Quite a few people actually consider the PlayStation version superior to Revolution; despite the cut content, it feels more cohesive as a whole. In contrast, Revolution's added content sometimes feels out of place, and the changes like the mixed-up level names are quite controversial.

Overall, Revolution is certainly an interesting version to include in your list, but it might be worth mentioning its flaws to give a more balanced view. It's definitely the most divisive version of the game.

[The Jonster]

I must say that's a beautiful-looking website! Not sure about the admonition to "avoid keyboard and mouse" though, since I've literally never played Rayman any other way in my 25+ years as a dedicated fan… I noticed a few typos as well, like "personnal" and "responsability"

So far it’s the same for me here, I’ve used the keyboard for all the Rayman games I’ve played (other than mobile ofc). I’d go even further into the minority and state I’ve played them all in the default keys.

[RayLord]

Hey thanks everyone for the feedbacks!

I'll rewrite my intro on keyboard and mouse as I might have let my personal preference bleed in my text too much. To me 2D platfomer and third person games are usually more enjoyable with a controller.

I'll do my best to correct the typos.

Yes I've read about the sad news regarding CrocDB and its DMCA but I have some faith in it's return. However I will try to find good alternative trusted links. It should always have a backup link per ROM, that's exactly for this kind of situation that I have added them.

For Rayman Revolution on the Playstation 2 I understand the take on "out of place" content. I'll work on a more nuanced paragraph for my selection because I think you're right it deserve a more balanced description which is the reason I've put it third place and not higher. But honestly I would prefer the PS2 version over the PS1 every time. Personal preferences again