Rayman is a Ubisoft 2D platformer masterpiece with splendid art direction and Rémi Gauvain's memorable soundtrack. Levels feature exceptional visual beauty and gameplay is demanding but fair. One of PS1's finest 2D platformers, often underrated against its 3D contemporaries.
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Platformer1 player3+
Description
Cult Ubisoft Montpellier 2D platformer designed by Michel Ancel, where limbless hero Rayman frees the Great Protoon from the Magician Mr Dark's grip. Created by Ubisoft, released in 1995 in Japan, Europe with EDC edition and Playable Game Preview demo, in 1996 in the United States under the Rayman title. Over sixty 2D parallax-scrolling levels, hero with progressive powers including telescopic punch and helicopter, hand-drawn environments and cheerful orchestral soundtrack. Multi-regional edition with EDC and Playable Game Preview demo under the Rayman title.
The Japanese version of the original Rayman, predating the Western releases and markedly rarer in a market where the Western platformer struggled to take hold. This native edition appeals to collectors of cross-region releases of a 2D-animation showcase in Japan. Its desirability rests on this limited local run, noticeably harder to find than the PAL and American versions.
Is Rayman still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 1995 on PS1 at the console launch, Michel Ancel and Ubisoft Montpellier's project remains a high point of the decade's two dimensional platformer scene. The hand painted backdrops, the precise gameplay and the gallery of inventive bosses install a real identity. The nervous, sometimes unfair difficulty is part of the folklore and the music stays catchy. A few pixel perfect jumps demand real patience today. Recommended for authorial platformer devotees, for patient families and for Ubisoft Montpellier fans curious about the studio's earliest steps on Sony's first home console hardware.
