Rayman 1 Retrospective

Aw right let's go!
Rayman 1 is probably one of the best 2D platformers released during the Playstation one's lifecycle, but that doesn't mean it's flawless.
Also ooooops, I forgot to change the aspect ratio to 4:3 pleasedon'tlynchmeokthanks!
A lot have been going on behind the scenes, which is why this video was so late. Still though, I'm INCREDIBLY happy with how it turned out in the end.
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Links:
The tweet of the guy who found and dumped the incomplete Rayman Snes rom: / 881876378056085505
VGDecide's comparison between the Jaguar and PS1 version of Rayman: • Rayman 1 (Atari Jaguar...
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Twitter: / fromherot0zero
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#Rayman #Ubisoft #Ps1 #FromHerotoZero

[@touhouguyII]

27 deaths in Space Mama boss. It is so true about her difficulty!

[@novicenoobtube450]

Eh shes not that hard when you play here all the time I've played rayman 1 40 times and space mama gets easier and easier

[@RobertK1993]

Space Mama first female President of United States of America.

[@Sad-Lesbian]

@@novicenoobtube450 Yeah uh, that's typically how it works. The more you do something the better you get at it. Doesn't mean it's not difficult.

[@forestingboard1042]

Fun Fact: I couldn't figure out how to beat Mr. Skops as kid but still wanted to beat the game. I figured out there is only ONE level bevore Mr. Skops, you can collect all 6 cages in this level and then go back to the map, progressing without this boss fight. :D

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That's a pretty nice tip for those who can't deal with that BS boss battle

[@unclegrandpagaming165]

The most detailed Rayman 1 review I’ve seen yet, also space mama’s crater without the 99 lives cheat code is a challenge only real men face 🤫

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Now that I know how it works I could maybe manage, but the first time through? Never. The 99 lives code is a godsend for this game

[@littleman7514]

On my third time playing through, I was able to beat her without losing a life.

[@videocrowsnest5251]

Watching this, I had a sudden realization. Rayman 1 (one of my favorite games of all time, and the first game I ever played) is probably why to this day I enjoy playing games on the very hardest difficulty setting after getting the hang of their mechanics. Also, scrolling through the comments sections, I was also very happy to find others who beat the game as a kid, cause usually these videos tend to just have people who got stuck or find it impossibly hard. Which of course I won't knock anyone for, as it is a challenging game, but it's great to see others managed to also get through this game as a kid without cheat codes and have a blast. To my fellow Rayman 1 champions (naturally including all who have beat the game) here's to you! (To this day, I sometimes amuse myself with an emulator run of it and do a flawless no death run (or as close to one as I can get.) Haven't done one in a while, though.)

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, huge gamer-props to the people who dedicated enough time to beat Rayman 1 without the 99 lives code. It's a frustratingly hard game at some points, but it's still really fun!

[@Mastercheeks17]

Alongside Rayman 1, the other that would give me taste for Hard games was Jak II

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

@Mastercheeks17 That one on-rails turret section can burn for all I care. I stopped playing the game at that point on my first playthrough and never finished the game until years later when I replayed it

[@Mastercheeks17]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT that mission was not that hard, the part that i got stuck was the Race against Errol in the city, Man that mission sucked

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

@Mastercheeks17 haha yeah that too

[@Nipatz]

Boi this is really epic👉👉 i enjoyed this alot honestly you deserv alot more subs! Keep up the good work!:3

[@superwhatbrosdes5064]

I love your Rayman videos so much they always fealy very personal to you like you love making these they make me feal so nostalgic and at home there some of my internet happy places grate to listen to when playing games.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thanks a lot! I really did put my heart in them so it's nice to hear that people can tell :)

[@MrDark086]

Pretty good job on your retrospective man! The only thing i see commonly left out is the reason behind Raymans sadistic difficulty. The origin of the games soul crushing difficulty spikes comes from the game never being properly playtested. Without it ever being playtested we're actually fortunate that the game is able to be finished at all and shows the value of dedicated play testing to any game

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thank you! Been a while since I made this but I thought I mentioned it? Either way I'm glad it still turned out fun, for the most part

[@MrDark086]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT you may have and i missed it somehow lol i owned the game as a kid and got about midway through Bandland consistently before having to give up lol as an adult i can get to Joes before im ready to throw the controller

[@BurnBird1]

This is my favorite game of all time and I have played it quite a few times, so I don't really find it that difficult (I admit that I might have a slight bias) By the time I get to Eat at Joe's, I usually have around 60-ish, lives from having collected tings and one-ups without dying through out the play-through. Those fish at the end always end up costing me around 20 lives every single time I play and is the only section, that even I (A person who loves this game to death) absolutely hate. Props on you being one of the few reviewers who understand how to fight Mr.Skops. I've seen too many reviewers think that the energy balls follow Rayman and that you have to dodge them at the right time to make them fly back at Mr.Skops, thus making the fight 10x harder.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Haha yeah, Joe's balls are horrible

[@annacollier1931]

0:26 I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY BEFORE...

[@mrwii5741]

Hey Great Job On This Video Of Rayman Keep Up The Good Work!

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Heeeeeey thanks a lot dude, this honestly means a lot to me :D

[@Barakon]

You gotta wait for the hunter to polish his gun.

[@marcstutsman4861]

For the rope cutting I learned from the game's Title Screen demo reel how to pass it. The demo reel also shows you what to do against Skops.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I always forget that those demo screens used to be a thing lmao

[@daphne1065]

GREAT recap! I loved the game but it was WAY to hard for me. My keyboard has perished once in the proces. The atmosphere is so mysterious yet with so many goofy elements. I loved to see it all again. Gave u a follow.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thank you! :)

[@nigelhighlands3131]

Fantastic review, the best I've found on KZbin of this game. There is a surprising lack of content on here about this one and I suspect it's partially due to the fact that most people were never able to complete the game haha. Your narration is excellent and the level of detail you went into was fantastic. Felt like the perfect way to wrap up my experience! This is one of those games that makes you feel like you've leveled up as a gamer. So many games I might have found challenging before will pale in comparison to the beast that is Rayman. I absolutely whored out the 99 lives cheat but still generally had a great time despite some very frustrating moments. I feel like the save/continue system was the biggest flaw. I would have been way more okay with the difficulty spikes and unfair enemy placement had I been able to save whenever I wanted or have unlimited (or at least more) continues. Rayman's generally great control, the art style, interesting level gimmicks, and the music definitely kept me motivated to see what was going to come next and I'm happy to have seen it through, cheating be damned.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Glad you liked it! Even though there aren't many people talking about Rayman 1, the ones who do are mostly great so that means a lot!

[@wifiwaifu5243]

For context, the game was developed for the Jaguar first, but the PS1 version was released first.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I'm 100% sure I saw lots of conflicting information when I did research, but yeah I think you're right

[@wifiwaifu5243]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT Another bit of misinformation here is that the mixed up enemies in the Mr. Dark fight. Those transformations are in fact Mr. Dark himself.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Woah, really? I always figured he was the one that made the bosses and as such could freely combine them as he pleased. If he can transform himself into stuff like this, that makes him kinda scary. Too bad they never explicitly showed that in the game though

[@wifiwaifu5243]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT Well, they did in the Jaguar version. While they knocked off the space mama mosquito phase, when you defeat the other phases, they sweat, panic and leave. The bosses also share only 1 health bar, making it more obvious that it's all Mr Dark's doing.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

@@wifiwaifu5243 Huh, that's kinda interesting. Thanks dude!

[@touhouguyII]

Grind lives on Allegro Presto, no game-overs at all

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

But it's soooo booooooriiiiiinnnnnnggg. I get where you're coming from but since the 99 lives code exists that's by far the better option, especially when you're going for some of the harder cages. Oh, and thanks for watching :)

[@touhouguyII]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT 10 lives in 30 minutes

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Well, if you're someone that really doesn't want to use cheats for some reason then that actually doesn't sound too bad

[@touhouguyII]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT For me I needed that. Died 27 times to Space Mama on my channel!

[@touhouguyII]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT I don't like cheat codes, 4 hours of total grinding. Felt more satisfying when I beat it

[@thorwilhelms9635]

The text foreshadowing Mr. Dark's return technically did lead to two sequels, though, both of them are edutainment games. In Rayman Junior, Mr. Dark steals the Book of Knowledge, a book which contains information about everything in the world, which, of course, leads to math and english. The second one is interesting. It's a game where you learn a language, but what language, depends on the version you play, but I'm gonna stick with English with Rayman, since that's the original version and the version that was released here in Finland. In it, Mr. Dark steals an ice cream recipe from the Magician, sent to him by his English cousin Andrew. Oof, Dark really dropped the ball on his third try.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That ice cream recipe must have been vital to the balance of the world. No doubt did it's theft lead to the pirate invasion in 2, somehow hahaha

[@Lefurmage104]

Man this video is fantastic

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Thank you!

[@kryskiller666]

Beated this game on the Gameboy Advance when I was around 11 years old and holy fuck, it was both fun and tough. I didn't even know there was a life cheat at all, though that port might have been rebalanced in some way.

[@unclegrandpagaming165]

Yeah the GBA version was tweaked to make some parts of the game easier, most notably giving Rayman 4 base hit points instead of 3, and adding a floor to the swinging section of space mama’s crater to make it less of a hassle

[@KopperNeoman]

@FireyGarfield The DSi version goes even further. Rayman has double health.

[@drifter402]

Yea I played that version. Even then it's still tough as nails

[@Mike14264]

The Small Livingstone didn't get hit when you punched him because he ducks when you try to hit him from the front, but yeah, it's kinda bullshit to make him appear almost on top of you when you get a speed power-up.

[@BurnBird1]

They're also immune to damage when they are "shoving" you, like how the hunter is immune to damage when he has his gun raised.

[@Barakon]

What if you had all of Rayman’s abilities from the start but you had to practice them until a certain point to get him to be good at it?

[@Eurotool]

That's what happens in Rayman Redemption

[@Barakon]

@@Eurotool Yeah

[@bubblemage]

Huh, it's weird. I had no problems at all with space mama, but had a lot of problems with mr. stone! Maybe it's because I played Rayman Redemption, and not the original game. Edit: Oh... yeah, the boss is VERY different and more fair. Okay.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

There's one called Rayman Redemption? Man, there's like no way to keep track of all the different versions lol

[@bubblemage]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT Redemption is like a "fangame" that recently came out, it's the original game but more fluid, more fairness over all, it even has skins for Rayman! You definitely should check it out, it's free

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

@@bubblemage Ooooh interesting, I just might do that. Thanks!

[@bubblemage]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT No problem ^~^

[@dakuru]

what's the song at the very beginning? great vid, love Rayman, this is the game that propped me to become a game developer.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I think that track is called "The Magician's Challenge", it's the song that plays in the bonus levels Glad you liked the video :)

[@xXxGlitterGirlxXx]

I played it on the Sega Saturn but yes it truly is difficult. It took everything in me to complete it.

[@c4ti225]

I think that mr dark tranforms in the fusions and thats why he doesn't reappear at the end

[@larajanesen8795]

Finally someone who sees the trumpet section as a fun and genius Challenge, instead of annoying and unfair. Really liked this review, good job

[@greengoop]

46:43 what PC version is that? Is it rayman forever because I have that edition. I haven’t found any actual footage of that screen, all I know is in the Atari Jaguar version it shows a sprite of him flying across the screen saying “see you soon”

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I'm sure I saw something like that in a wiki page or something, might even have watched a video of it at one point during research, but I can't remember and I also can't find my notes. I might have confused it with the Jaguar version but either way I'll do some more searching and get back to you if I find anything

[@greengoop]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT I know for certain on mr darks raywiki page it mentions him flying across the screen on Jaguar saying “see you soon” which some may have interpreted how you said, but I didn’t see any mention of it on the PC version either

[@RobertK1993]

PS1 is best version.

[@leesydreamy]

Mr. Dark does returns in Rayman mini, but as some sort of coach/game manager than a villian. Weird.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

If there's one series where I expect the weird it's Rayman lmao, but yeah that is super weird

[@marcellszigeti-benedek25]

About the fishes in the caves, I found out almost TWENTY YEARS after I first played the game, that you can actually kill them with a punch

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Brb gotta go back and kill all of them 100 times over

[@marcellszigeti-benedek25]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT 😂😂😂

[@SuperJM9]

I played the original Atari Jaguar version recently. It's overall harder, but easier in some sections. You lose your fist powerups when you get hit. Around half the extra life pickups are absent in the Jaguar version. The physics are still very good, but not quite as good. A major one is hanging, it's much harder to do. Super helicopter is even harder to pull off. One of the biggest differences is that there are no sliding physics, so levels like Allegro Presto and Mr. Sax's Hullabuloo are very different. Their design is much harder generally though, so I don't know if the lack of sliding physics makes it easier overall. Another huge difference is the lack of the blue elves that make you small. These were first introduced in the Playstation version. On the other hand, you jump noticeably higher, which makes one of the jumps in the second stage of Bongo Hills much easier. You also get knocked back a lot higher, which makes sections like the fish one at Eat At Joe's much easier, since you can land back on the ball if a fish knocks you off. Space Mama's washing machine also only take half the hits to beat, and there are no hits that seemingly do nothing. You get a health powerup in the Mosquito boss fight. A few levels are completely different. As mentioned, the sliding physics levels in Band Land are different, but not as much in Picture City. The last level of Allegro Presto is missing and, you'll be glad to know, so is the falling rock stage of Mr. Stone's Peaks. The last stage of Eraser Plains is a completely different one, so are the first two stages of Mr. Dark's Dare. The first stage of Eat At Joe's isn't dark, it's lit like a normal level. The Mosquito flying section is different too, in a largely different level with the Mosquito shooting like a sidescrolling shooter. The final boss is also different. The Mr. Dark part of it is much longer and harder, but the remaining parts are easier. Mr. Skops/Mr. Stone walks away after half his health is gone, and the Mosquito/Space Mama combo is absent. You're big for the last part of the boss fight, and since you just fought Mr. Skops/Mr. Stone, you'll likely be at the left side of the screen instead of in the middle. The boss also has the same health bar as the Mr. Skop/Mr. Stone, so you only need to finish off the second half of it. This suggests that these bosses are actually Mr. Dark shapeshifting, instead of being his minions. After you beat the game you get a code you can input to access Ray Breakout, which grants you unlimited continues if you beat all nine levels. This is very hard to do though. Overall, it's definitely harder. I went from having 50+ lives by the end of the other versions, to using my second continue on Mr. Dark. One other thing. If you like Rayman, check out the expansions that were released for DOS between 1997 and 1999. Despite the name, they are standalone and don't require Rayman 1 for DOS. They are Rayman Designer, Rayman By His Fans and Rayman 60 Levels. Overall there are 121 levels between them.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

I can't imagine Band Land without the sliding physics wtf? Also, are those expansions included in Rayman Forever or Gold or whatever those were called or are they the same thing?

[@SuperJM9]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT Yeah, it feels really weird. There’s a few videos of it online. The levels are adjusted for it. For example. The trumpets part has clouds to land on in addition to the platforms. The PC releases are really confusing. So first there was Rayman 1, in 1996. This is like the PlayStation and Saturn versions but the first part of Bongo Hills is different. All the PC releases also have slightly worse colour, different sound effects and the non-level-specific music, meaning that there is one track for each world that plays from the start of each level, instead of level-specific music, though there is a patch that fixes this. All PC releases support controllers. In 1997 Rayman Designer was released. This allows you to create and play user-made levels. It comes with 21 levels and you can download others. You must collect all the rings to proceed in these levels. Later that year Rayman Gold was released. This contains Rayman and Rayman Designer. Later budget releases of this do not contain the soundtrack. In 1998, Ubisoft held a Rayman Designer competition. The 40 winners had their levels released as Rayman By His Fans in France. Some of these levels are more collectathons than anything else, but some are linear levels. Later that year all three games were released in Rayman Forever, which is available in English. This contains a cut down soundtrack. In 1999, Rayman 60 Levels was released in France in Rayman Collector, which also contains the other three games. This is available in English in Rayman Compilation. You do not have to collect all the rings in this version. The levels are marked from Very Easy to Very Hard (and they are really hard). These are all linear levels. This has the full soundtrack. Today, you can get Rayman Forever on GOG, which comes with a Dosbox launcher you can run on modern PCs. If you look up Rayman Forever on the PCGamingWiki website you’ll find fixes to implement the full soundtrack, level-specific music and a way to add Rayman 60 Levels to it.

[@BeautyThief87]

pretty entertaining video but I kind of winced when you went super indepth about the guy you knew growing up... I think that was way too much information/detail.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Haha, sorry about that but it's a big part of this game for me. Also, hey, what's a KZbin video without some cringe, am I right?

[@BeautyThief87]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT D'aw, I didn't mean it in a bad way or anything like that - I just meant it in a review comment kind of way. Everything else was awesome, but you're right. You aren't a youtuber unless you make at least one person wince, right?

[@tovick1643]

So on ps there was sort of a trick you could do. in the early days not everyone owned a memory card, and both Rayman, and for instance Croc too, had passwords. Now if yous aved, all lives were gone but all cages you gained kept saved, however, with passwords, it kinda only saved your level progress, which meant everytime you reinput your password, you were where you last elft off but you had to refind all cages, AND all lives became back available. Sooo we used this to farm lives in the first level, and getting a password afterwardss, kept repeating it.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Oh I had no idea. That's pretty smart!

[@YourKingPyro]

Hey dude don’t mean to be rude or anything this game is really hard since it wasn’t game tested and all but you struggling with defeating the enemies on the first stage is just a skill issue 😭 the punches on the smaller guy went completely past him (I recommend charging your punch so they stop ducking before it comes back around to you) and with the guy who shoots guns you just kept hitting him when the gun was up (probably best to just punch regularly, without jumping or charging up so you can do it as quick as possible unless you’re in a spot where you don’t need to duck under the bullets, you can take them out with one hit if you have power ups but otherwise they’ll normally take up to 3 I think) It took me a while to figure out how the gun guys work as well tbf they’re really annoying lol Edit: great video btw!!! Don’t wanna seem like a downer, this is a fun watch so far :) will be checking out your more recent videos after lol

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Part skill issue, part just the game showing the hit graphic without the punch registering! It's these kinda mixed signals that makes trying to fight enemies so confusing, it's the same with the gun dude, they should have used a different graphic for when they block lol Thanks for watching though! And don't worry, you did not come off as rude at all!

[@RobertK1993]

Montpellier not Montreal

[@skykongstar6984]

That is why Rayman redemption is better version than the original game itself !

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Still gotta try out that version some day, thanks for the reminder

[@JP_Soup]

Have you played Rayman Redemption? It's a fan remake of the original Rayman.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Haven't gotten around to it yet, but I plan to

[@dmas7749]

i never finished this game because of the limited continues, if it weren't for that i feel people would be way less harsh on this game.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

If you didn't get to play all the levels I highly recommend using the 99 lives code to get through the worst parts. Most levels are pretty great

[@dmas7749]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT i'll use it as a sort of practice mode for the game, then i'll consider not using it when replaying it. the platforming is incredibly satisfying when you nail it. and of course i have to ask if you played rayman redemption? its a fan remake of Rayman 1

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That should work And no, I haven't played Redemption. Not yet at least

[@venomherlet2825]

Today I lost 3 continues on Washing Machine Space Mama and ultimately lost the game. I could never get past her once she hid behind that machine...

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Yeah, it's a mean fight

[@someonejunior4564]

I don't know what you mean by saying you the games wasn't really a thing at any point in your life they have been for 40 years

[@Barakon]

I wonder what if Rayman had all of his abilities in the beginning but all but running was terrible and you had to literally practice said abilities. You have to wait until the hunter starts polishing his gun.

[@axemansjazz6670]

Coming from someone who has played this game since the late 90’s/very early 2000’s, I’ll say that it is completely acceptable to use cheats to get through this game lol. It’s not even that fun without them.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

Hahah yeah, TRUE gamers can manage to get through without tho

[@Doc.Fedora]

12:48 it is because he is ducking. you have to hit him from behind

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

It's not. You can see the graphic for the fist hitting him multiple times when he's not ducking but it still doesn't work most of the time

[@Doc.Fedora]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT weird it doesnt happen to me

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

@@Doc.Fedora Yeah and that's kinda my point. It's really weird how it'll just randomly not work

[@HiroyukiXz]

@@FromHerotoZeroYT it's because their hands will block Rayman's fist. You have to time the attack right or miss on purpose and hit from the back as the fist returns while they are ducking too. You can do this with jump and duck, or shoot fist and duck. Charging your fist forces them to duck.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

@@HiroyukiXz Yeah, I figured, but it's still weird and quirky. Seems like the invincibility activates just as the animation for the enemy raising it's hands starts instead of when they're fully up, as it should have!

[@lucaschannel1113]

I loved the beta plot I wish they went with it but didn't change one bit about the platforming

[@airbornemuffins9385]

Kinda hard to take something like this seriously when the footage is stretched to all hell.

[@FromHerotoZeroYT]

That's probably a bug on your end, I only stretched it to one hell