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So we all know now what Rayman is and what it's all about from Part 1 where we looked
through arguably the best and well known version on Sony PlayStation. In this part we're gonna
take a glimpse at the other ports of the game.
Before we look at the more obscure versions, take a second to note that the SEGA Saturn
and PC versions of the game are pretty much identical to the PlayStation version that
we went through on the first section of the review. The PC's handling of audio was slightly
different but the game itself is noticably the same.
The Atari Jaguar version which was stored on a cartridge had some slight differences.
The music is, of course, of lower quality since the cartridge features considerably
less storage space than that of a CD-ROM. Some levels are totally missing and some of
the game dynamics are missing. I noticed the whole shrinking business with the small fairies
and being able to slide on metal or ice are missing too. Apparently later versions of
this game have these missing dynamics re-added, but I don't really know for certain.
There's a Game Boy Color version worth mentioning. This one's a wildcard in my opinion; it's
a Rayman game alright, it's got all the familiar enemies, the punching and grabbing tings that
you come to expect from a Rayman game and the music is certainly accurate too, but it
doesn't really feel like a Rayman game. At least that's just my opinion. In all fairness
trying to knock a 32-bit game down to just 8 bits really takes its toll, but if Super
Mario Land 2 can look both fantastic and be incredibly playable, there just isn't any
excuse.
A few years later we have a port on Game Boy Advance. One of my favourite ports despite
the lower quality music and there's levels missing again. This game was edited to be
easier, you have an extra life point and your invulnerability time when hurt is longer.
But it was bundled free to anyone who bought Rayman 3 for Game Boy Advance. An absolute
bargain.
There was a few more ports I could mention. For example the recent re-release on DSiWare,
which is just another easier version of Rayman, similar to the GBA port Rayman Advance and
the game was re-released on PC several times including Rayman Gold and Rayman Forever.
The game is also buyable on the PlayStation Store, for PS3 and PSP, but that's just the
PlayStation version anyway.
You all know my views on the Rayman universe from Part 1 of this review; how the entire
storyline drastically changed to incorporate new characters and gameplay mechanics, but
there does of course exist the more recent Rayman Origins, which takes Rayman back to
his roots of 2D platforming. We'll be covering that in the upcoming Part 3 of this Rayman
review!