Its hard to believe that its been 30 years since the original Rayman game came out on the original PlyStation console. Rayman came out back in 1995 which was arguably a solid year for the platform genre of gaming in general. Rayman was a game that had around 30 levels across six different worlds. The original Rayman game was considered very difficult back in the day and one of the common complaints about the game involved stiff controls. While Rayman was not nearly as difficult as games like Super Mario Bros. Lost Levels it was still harder than other 2D platformers like the Donkey Kong Country trilogy from the ’94-’96. Rayman was one of the first mascots outside of Sega and Nintendo that attempted compete with Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario on the original PlayStation console. Despite, not being nearly as popular as other gaming mascots at the time Rayman was known for being the precursor to names like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon who became very popular PlayStation during the mid to late 90’s.

The first Rayman game was stood out mainly for its unique colorful level designs and crisp 2D graphics. Even though, the 2D platform genre of gaming was becoming stale towards the mid 90’s Rayman the game ended up becoming a commercial success following its release. It was reported that the original Rayman sold at least 3 million copies becoming one of Ubisoft’s best titles of 1995. Despite, Rayman’s initial success the popularity of the franchise slowly began to fade following the release of Rayman 2: The Great Escape. While Rayman 2 from ’99 was praised for having 3D graphics and gameplay there were more popular 3D platform games that overshadowed it. The Rayman game from ’95 is one that could have easily have shined on consoles like Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis if it came out a few years earlier than it did. While Rayman was on the Atari Jaguar the console itself ended up being a commercial failure following its ’93 release and was ultimately discontinued in 1996. The original Rayman game is something that most younger generation gamers are unaware but it has a cult following among people who grew up during the 90’s.