Rayman

The first game in the popular Rayman series is a 2D side-scrolling adventure developed and published by Ubisoft. It was released in 1995 for PC MS-DOS, Playstation, Sega Saturn, and other platforms.

It was the first game in the Rayman series and my first computer game. Don’t judge me too harshly; we didn’t have a home computer until I was in the 7th grade. I remember it being so hard because I was more used to console controls. Playing as Rayman himself, the no-limb-having hero, you must save your colorful world from the evil Mr. Dark. Mr. Dark has kidnapped the great Protoon and his smaller electoons and plunged your world into darkness. Out of the darkness flow evil minions, making the world a dangerous place. Starting out, Rayman’s strongest abilities are jumping, crawling, and making silly faces. Don’t worry, he gets much stronger later one and learns new abilities. He will learn to fight, grapple, and even hover with his hair (think Earthworm Jim). You must jump, climb, and fight your way through the levels to free the electoons, restoring light to your world.

Rayman has no limbs simply because he was easier to animate that way. And, as it turns out Rayman wasn’t just difficult because of my console gaming, it’s just a difficult game. It is the most challenging one in the series. Rayman enjoyed commercial success and holds the record for number of weeks on the UK all-formats top 40 charts with 261 weeks (5 years). This fun and challenging platformer is a good way to test your skills.