Was it Good? - Rayman 1 

People who beat Rayman 1 back in the day are the same people now claiming that the new Doom's Ultra-Violence difficulty is easier than they anticipated. For a reason.

Fun fact: the devs didn’t actually set out to make a hard game. Because deadlines were tight, the game wasn’t properly play-tested and since the devs were playing levels over and over themselves while designing, they all got extremely good at the game and knew what was coming. They only found out the game was punishingly hard when reviews came in

I forgot how gorgeous this game looks, even now it still looks really clean.

This game broke me as a kid. My mum had to put in the 99 lives cheat for me all the time. 25 years later and she still remembers the button sequence. Good times

When I was a kid, I used to call in reinforcements from the other kids at school. They'd come visit, we'd get combat rations from my mom, and we'd spend multiple afternoons taking turns defeating this game. Some of us would show themselves as the most skilled, so eventually some fellow players became viewers, and they could get a turn again if we had to reset to an earlier level, with maximum backseat gaming enabled. Great times.

Josh: "A question mark sign" Me: That's an exclamation point.

It always bugged the hell out of me how Rayman is smiling throughout the whole thing. I'm constantly struggling, dying over and over and occassionally squeeze through danger, one hit away from death, and he just smiles and walks like he's on a relaxed stroll.

I remember my grandma getting me this game for my birthday. She misunderstood and got me Rayman instead of Tomb Raider. Regardless, I loved the gift and I loved my grandma. But oh boy, was this game a pain for 9-year-old me to get through. I'd play this with my brother and sister, just to share the frustration of dying over and over again. Who knew Tomb Raider was going to be the easy between the two? 😅 Oh, nostalgia

Thanks for making this video, believe it or not the speedrunning community actually learned something from you. At 33:55 you took a accidental hit which boosted you into the shrinking fairy, when optimized this can save a little bit over a second compared to grabbing the ring which is how we used to do it. :D

Suddenly I dont feel so bad at never finishing this game as a kid, it was hard after all.

I love the detail of the binocular silhouette on the overworld map. When you're selecting a level, you're watching from the POV of Mr Dark tracking Raymans's progress

I never got very far in Rayman, but I remember we also had Rayman junior which was an educational game for math and language, so you can imagine the brutal platforming that requires quick reactions but now they also go “Quick what’s 3x9?!”. Was very much LEARN OR DIE. I didn’t get far in Rayman junior either

This game was brutal as a kid, I’d always have to ask my sisters to help me

Now I don't feel bad anymore that I never beat this game as a kid :,D Great video!

I'm late to this, but I wanted to add because you used the passcode to skip all cages, and you probably didn't see it. There are 2 cages in the mid to late game on the Ps1 that require PIXEL PERFECT timing jump and grabs to reach. This was edited in other versions to be easier, which is one of the other reasons why it's rated so high on the hard to beat scale. For some people, it was physically impossible to collect all cages.

There's a fan made reimagining of this game that makes it so much more stomachable and actually really good I really enjoyed it. Can play it like the old one or have failure just make you replay the level/checkpoint also the fact you didn't mention how much of a masterpiece the bandland song is and how jumping on the drums adds to that music and fits in with it perfectly. Such amazing design there

Man this game is gorgeous to look at. Makes me think of European comic books and prog-rock album covers

There exists a PC fangame called Rayman Redemption which is heavily based on Rayman 1 that does something revolutionary. It adds infinite lives toggle.

When I was a kid, my CD for this game had some issue and it would crash after about two stages. Now watching this video, I am really glad it did that lol

I remember this being hard, and troubling. As a child, when I couldn't get all six thingies, I thought I'd messed up, and I'd assume when I couldn't reach something I wasn't good enough. Also, just hearing that "hic!" noise when Rayman gets hit is enough to make me shudder. ugh. Thanks for doing this so that I don't have to!

I remember getting Rayman as a kid for my 6th birthday, my mum thinking it looked like a game aimed at kids my age. My dad, after watching me play and seeing how brutal it actually was spent countless weekends helping me as we struggled to eventually beat this nightmare of a game.

Man even after all these years the game still looks fantastic

I've been playing though *"Rayman Redemption,"* a fan remake of this game, despite never playing the original. I knew it made improvements, but WOW, I had no idea how much easier it made the game! It makes the slightest alterations to turn a nightmare difficulty, into a fun challenge! Unlimited lives, and not having to find every cage to beat the game are the obvious biggest improvements, but the level designs have been noticeably streamlined, and it plays way better, plus it has new levels, unlockable upgrades, widescreen, skins, cheats, and more! I highly recommend Rayman Redemption to anyone, it really seems to be the definitive version of the game.

13 mins into the video and I’m already like “I’ve never seen this stage before” lol

The map is literally the bad guy spying on rayman's progress it's such a nice detail!

my parents bought me this when i was like 4 years old. I remember making my mom defeat the first boss, the insanely scary mosquito. The mosquito terrified me so much I was unable to play, and had to have my big strong mom squash it for me. Thanks mom, love you!

This is what happens when a developer adjust the difficulty to their own skill level at playing their own game

I throughly enjoy listening to your game analysis. Always hilarious and informative

This game is brutal to an absurd degree. Ubisoft's CEO has gone on record saying Rayman 1 wasn't beta tested at all, only by the developers themselves, and it shows. Bullshit cage spawns, hitboxes, the placement of many obstacles, it ridiculous. Not to mention you HAVE to 100% the game in order to beat it. I beat it but had to use the 99 live code once.

Also you're probably already aware, but a very small team (mostly done by 1 person) recently made a Rayman 1 fangame called 'Rayman Redemption' and it's an absolute must play if you like some aspects of Rayman 1. It fixed every single issue i had with the original game (both gameplay and unsatisfying final boss wise) and added a bunch of brand new content that feels right at home within the game's design. I can't recommend it enough.

8:45 Haha, I feel you man. Those who knew this game could never forget it! Yet, this game had a special place in my heart as it was my childhood and this music and design art man! Awesome! Great video btw! Keep doing it! =)

I'm 1:45 mins in aaaaand you got a new subscriber! Super stoked to watch the rest of your videos in this series!!!

Easily one of the most artistically beautiful and unique looking games i played as a kid and still to this day cherish dearly. The big chunky sprites, color palette, vibrant unique worlds... Without a doubt Ubisoft should have made Rayman their main mascot because for many people it certainly is and i am sure we would see so many more sequels than we got so far. You actually blew my mind by covering this game. Really awesome surprise to see it here and thank ya for that!

thank your for this video, josh. i had this game as a kid and was stuck at the very first water rising level and even then i found the game to be incredibly hard. so i'm glad to now know that it was not my lack of plattforming skill that made this game impossible for me to beat :D good job beating it tho!

Holy shit, I had the demo and these god damn musical notes just triggered some deep down memories. This helltrial is also the reason I completely avoided the Rayman franchise most of my life until I finally played Legends on the Ps4 - which is an awesome game. Thanks for the great vid.

Lol this game was so hard for me as a kid that this is literally my first time seeing what the game looks like beyond level 1

Fun fact: From the level with the art supplies forward the game was never play tested by the devs because of a lack of time. There is one bit that I remember a dev saying was edited last minute because the final play test session proved you couldn't advance and that's where it spawns in a platform or something in the art area by standing in a specific spot. After that the devs just prayed that what they had created worked because the game was being printed and they wouldn't be able to fix it.

I don't think I ever got past the second world back when I was a kid . I remember asking for it for my birthday because it looked so colourful and fun.

Dude, you put up some of the most highest quality gaming content on youtube. It's like you naturally know what people want because you're putting out the content you want. Mad props.

This is the game that both started and ended my mothers gaming addiction. I never realized untill now that she was the one who unlocked all the stages. When I saw the boss fights in this video I could not for the life of me remember having ever seen most of them. It was far too hard for little old me.

Oh the memories as a kid, raging through home haha. My dad always got pissed because he couldn't understand the fact we got angry about pixels as for 2 hours later he yelled at the TV because Michael Schumacher didn't won the Grandprix.

This along with the Ms-Dos platform game Xargon, was tough as nails. And I almost destroyed my IBM computer several times playing this. But what a nostalgic travel back to my childhood. Thank you for these videos!

Loved this game. Found it easy till about 1/4 of the way through, then it hit you hard. You feel a true sense of achievement completing this masterpiece.

I found your channel a few days ago and have been watching it none stop since. Why did it take so long for yt to show me this amazing creator?!

What doesn't come across in the video is how gorgeously funky and uplifting the music in this game is. The Betilla Magic is my favourite track

This channel is taking me back to the best of my childhood!

Brilliant video, brought me up so many childhood memories

The most hilarious thing about this is that they later released an education edition of Rayman that very much *was* marketed towards kids. The only problem? It was just as brutally difficult. From what I can remember all these years later, they basically slapped some simple math problems onto existing levels, which resulted in a lot of stages being the same ridiculous platforming, just with arithmetic occasionally replacing an enemy or hazard.

i was watching this video thinking i'd never played rayman but thought woah this is all so familiar,,, asked my mum about it in case she remembered and she said it used to be her favorite game on the ps1. she completed it multiple times to perfection without any tips/the internet, WHILE raising 3 kids on her own. i told her it's considered one of the hardest games released and she literally laughed and said that i have to be joking, she'd play the later levels to relax after a hard day at work. RELAX?? i don't know whether to be impressed or scared but what this video has taught me is that my mum is more badass than any of us will ever be

All those memories as a kid struggling to beat the game... That was a great journey, ty

I actually remember this game being in my elementary school's computer lab. I really took this game for granted, looking back at it, god damn. What a masterpiece of a game

This is one of the first video games I've ever played. Our ps1 had no memory card so when ran out of lives we had to restart the entire game over. My siblings and I were TERRIFIED of the mosquito battle. Took us a long time to beat that and the next stage where you rode it around. Farthest we ever got was the musical land with the slippery platforms that dumped you into spikes.

This was a great in-depth review. I love it when people really chow down on Rayman 1 and try to figure it out because it's my all time favourite game. I was one of those crazy kids who actually managed to beat the game as a kid without cheats. It did cost a bunch of blood, sweat and tears (literally) and almost a year of on-off playing.

The trumpet level was the only part I could contribute to when playing this game at slumber parties as a kid. Even now I still have the muscle memory for it, just like hog wild in crash bandicoot.

My family had a ps1 for many months before I owned any games, my siblings just played FIFA and F1 games. Eventually Christmas came around and I could get 3 games, so I get Worms, Croc, and this absolute nightmare. It really is a beautiful game though, the artstyle is so memorable and the character design is loveable. Great video Josh

Prior to 46:13 I was watching this and every time you said "I skipped this cage" or "I started avoiding cages all together, finishing the level was what mattered." I cringed because I knew that this requirement was part of beating Rayman. I didn't use the cheat for every cage but I sure did use the 99 lives cheat probably about 7 times

Now this is weird, You just covered Tomb Raider which I was playing a lot last week and also I randomly picked up Rayman cause I hadn't played it in like 20 years, and here you are again haha. Great work ! :)

So thankful to have watched this. I never understood as a kid why this game was too hard and questioned my own skills in video games. Thanks for settling that thought for me :)

I remember this game making me cry even though I put in the cheat for 99 lives, I still got through them all. I was very young.

I never beat it as a child but man I have some unforgettable memories with it. I was so was happy i became friends with that mosquito guy. I distinctly remember feeling happy about becoming friends and getting to fly around together. And sticking enemies with a plum on their head and then standing on their head and riding around was funny to me. What a phenomenal experience.

The one thing that i think is overlooked in games now is just how good the sound is in this game

This was such a great game. And i realise that when i played this game, i had not learned english yet, so seeing that intro scene and actually understand what ues saying was so mind blowing and nostalgic to me ! My whole childhood right here!

I remember playing the rayman gold version of this game on the family windows 98 computer with no sound card! Had to put subtitles on 😂😂 really loved this game back in the day! I felt so submerged into the world of Ramyan and was amazed by the graphics 🙌🏽

I laughed a lot in the beginning, because Rayman 1 was actually my first ever game I played. My parents got it for me when I was around 4/5 years old due to me liking the cover of the game. Even until this day, whenever the talk about Rayman 1 comes up, my dad reminiscences how often my siblings and I begged him to clear something for us. As a child I just thought I was bad at the game due to being a kid and I didn't understand why my dad who was very into video games and good at them to the point he attended events in the early 2000s couldn't beat it. We never finished the actual game, because we got stuck at the scorpion. Fast forward to 2020 I picked it up again only to realize that this is probably the hardest freaking game I ever played. But it's a fun memory and it's nice how the first game of my life was most likely the hardest I've played. Really great review and I'm super happy to see people talk about Rayman all the way into 2022. Edit: Random fun fact as someone who digged up a lot up this game. Apparently it's so hard, because the developer's never play tested it. I don't know which documentary that was that I watched years ago and if this was true, but there's a ton of information for the first game out there, such as how Rayman only has no limps because the engine couldn't handle it etc.

Mate, you absolutely have to check out Rayman Redemption on Gamejolt. As the name suggests, it's a fan project dedicated to redeeming the original Rayman and make it an experience that's actually fun to play, which it achieves magnificiently. It doesn't just change a few levels either, it's a _complete overhaul_ of the entire game. New areas, enemies and mechanics were added on top of several quality of life improvements. The level of polish this project has genuinely makes it feel like it was an officially released Rayman game, not just a fan game. Seriously, you need to see this. It doesn't just need more attention, it _deserves_ it.

Loved this game so much! Glad it wan't just me finding it so difficult!

I remember being in love with the games art and atmosphere as a kid. It tickles a part of my brain even after all this time.

Watching speedrunners doing this game is a trip.

when i played this game as a kid, it never occured to me that it was "sadistic" or "brutally difficult". i laughed when i punched an enemy, i laughed when i died, i was happy about every little bit of progress and the mosquito crying and rayman befriending it by patting it was the cutest thing. and every new level or change in tone/difficulty was just a new adventure. yeah, it got very hard, but it never felt like that was the focus that kept me playing. i think as a kid i just wasn't so dependent on NOT dying in a video game to NOT feel bad or getting to the end of a level as quickly as possible - in order to have fun or be fascinated by the whole thing. i felt the same way about dark souls 1 as a teenager. yeah, the difficulty (which really is just an illusion most of the time) was the selling point, but it was something else about its world that kept me playing. later with ds2 and ds3 i feel like that initial thing about ds1 wasn't really there anymore, it was just like an in-your-face "oh it's so tragic, you die over and over, it's a circle, the world is bleak and unforgiving and dark and diseased blabla". yeah, i know ಠ_ಠ

this game was my childhood. not only I as a small child loved it but so did my older brother, my mom and everyone else. they were all so supportive in me beating the game haha I have really fond memories on this game and am happy for everyone else that does so

God I love this game, the art is fantastic and the soundtrack is just phenomenal. The difficulty definitely makes it frustrating more so than not especially as you said at times just not fun, however I’ll always come back and remember it fondly.

I have very fond memories of this game. It actually was my first real game - HA. My parents thought it was a kids game. I never beat it because I was not patient enough but my older sister did without using any cheat. I remember watching her play for hours - me just watching - and cheering her on (and also mocking her when she died). She was really good in platformers. So when I think back I only remember stunning scenery, tense moments and listening to the beautiful tune. So in a way I only remember the good parts of rayman. I think she finished the game 3-4 time over the years....

Something I love about "Was it Good?" reviews is how you review each world and give the game a good analysis, giving spotlight to different parts of the game, it feels like you're really diving into the game to give a proper view on it

Watching you progress through this naturally woke up a hatred thanks to just how hard this game was and not being the only one who thought so too

I remember getting this game as a kid and i wasnt ready for how difficult it was. The lack of a save feature was annoying but finding the codes for the stages much later was a godsend

Really enjoying this "Was is good" series, would love to see one on the original Abe's Oddysee and Exoddus games.

This game was one of the first video games i ever played as a kid, i never really thought about the difficulty and just had fun :D

I remember coming home from school to play this, absolute gem!

Always enjoy your videos!!!

I'm actually shocked at how much of this game has been blocked out of my mind, I defo did all the levels except the final one (never found all the cages). Great vid.

I distinctly remember doing the blue mountains flight sequence at my grandmother's house while eating a bowl of pecan ice cream and biting something incredibly hard. I spat it out and it was one of my baby teeth. Now every time I think of Rayman I think of the feeling of teeth in my mouth.

This was my very first PS1 game. I got it on christmas when I was maybe 7 years old.

I remember this game being so fun! Was the first game I got with my PS1 was so lit

This game. It is *stunningly* beautiful, the art, the music, the atmosphere, it's so aesthetically pleasing. With that said, I've tried to beat it since I was 6 years old, 20 years ago, 20 years of agony, and I have violently chewed and eaten at least 10 controllers.

other people have probably said this, but if not: The bitey fish at Eat at Joe's are piranhas. Like those from the first world, they can be punched Also, the energy balls from Mr. Skops don't home in on Rayman but rather on his fists. So you don't need to actually punch them, just make sure they follow the fist immediately back into Mr. Skops' face. That aside, i barely know who you are but this video has been *really* fantastic. There aren't many like it out there, perhaps spare for Hippocrit's/Gibbontake's three-part series on it and that was really flipping high quality as well. I'm very impressed with this and can't really imagine how much time and effort it takes to create a video like this. Thank you for having made this video, it's been a really great ride. Part of me hopes that one day you may do a video on Kya: Dark Lineage, but as a stranger on the internet i wish you fun and good luck on whatever future videos you might have planned.

60 seconds in and it sounds amazing! Imagine all those kids that finished it back in the day and what they made of themselves after completing such trials

your content never fails to entertain me i tend to watch while i build my warhammer 40k models

I can literally replay the frustrations of that second level in my head as I watch this video. Those slippery surfaces and musical notes are some of the most PTSD inducing concepts ever concieved in a video game...

This was the first sidescrolling game I ever played. Fucking loved it Edit: How I made it past the music zone is beyond me

I never made it to the scorpion, but seeing all the levels made me so nostalgic. The game was absolutely brilliant.

This explains a lot. Rayman 1 was the first video game I had ever played as a kid. No wonder I got so frustrated by it. I often had to call in my dad for reinforcements.

This is the only “rage” platforming game that’s actually fun, also for some reason I can’t get mad at it because I love the rayman series

I JUST realised why I as a kid NEVER found the first mario all that tough despite so many others having a hard time with it....It was because I was used to this evil EVIL game... I don't believe I ever made it past the 5th level...but still played it a lot as a kid before I got mario a few months later and that took over. (I got games in a weird order.)

This is an era of fun, challenging, ingenious, carefully thought out and amazing games. I have played Rayman 1, but I believe that I have never come to an end, because of the difficulty. Nevertheless it is an amazing game that I would gladly play again if I have the time.

I remember there was some cheat code to get 99 lives, which I used a lot, but even entering the cheat code was a challenge in it self. You had to press (and keep them held down!) R1, R2, L1 and L2 in a certain order, and then release the buttons in some different order. Repeat this process a few times and press some more buttons. Managed to keep it all in memory.

This was my favorite game growing up! I used to play it with my dad on our old Windows 97/2000 or whatever it was. When it broke in a disc drive when I was 5, I was inconsolable. Flash forward to Christmas when I was 14, and lo and behold - a brand new copy sitting in the tree! My dad had found an old copy online. No gift has made me feel better before or since.

I didn't realise how far I made it through this game as a kid, this video has reduced my anxiety greatly

Blue Mountains and Caves of Skops are my favourite worlds. I think i just love the csve/mountain aesthetic, plus, both have some really beautiful music in places.

I tell you, there was nothing more satisfying than finally finding the cage in a level you were missing after hours, sometimes even days, of searching! Rayman was my very first PS1 game, during a time where you couldn't just look it up easily online. As a side note, it was the UK/PAL version I grew up with and definitely prefer that Magician's voice, but I prefer that movement speed is faster in the NTSC version- probably due to the old 50/60hz difference between regions.

Something Nitro Rad brought up in his review that I absolutely love is that Rayman doesn't have a pulling up animation you have to wait for after hanging. You gain control and can jump off right after hanging. It's super smooth and helps keep momentum and flow.