Introduction
Most PC games in the Rayman Series through the years have been ports of the mainline console versions, or developed simultaneously with them. In some cases there were minor content differences, and there has been a small handful of PC exclusives as well. Every game in the series has seen multiple releases, due to different locales, bundles and collections, etc. This write-up summarizes what I know about the PC release history of the franchise.
The first Rayman game, expansions and spin-offs
PC/MS-DOS was the last main platform to receive Rayman, after PlayStation, Jaguar and Saturn. The gameplay is similar to the PlayStation version, except cage/life locations have been altered in most levels and one level has been completely remade. There have been releases for the European, North-American and other markets; some came in a box, some as a jewel case only, and with different color CDs. As far as I know, gameplay is identical for all of them, but cheat codes may be different.
All versions of the game have the music in CD audio format on the game disc. For the world music, the shorter individual tracks from the PlayStation version have been merged together into single track per world, which loops for every level (rather than specific sections playing for specific levels), and the special sound effect tracks were removed. All versions support English, French and German languages; the corresponding intro/ending speech is also encoded as CD audio – one track per language.
Rayman Designer and other level packs
Released in 1997, Rayman Designer (German title Rayman’s World) is not really an expansion pack, as it is an independent game, and does not require the original. Nor is it a proper sequel, as it features identical gameplay, no story, no new characters; just new levels and a few new objects that were not present in the original game. It also came with the “Mapper” program that the levels were created with, and could be used to create additional custom levels.
Two more similar level packs using the same engine were released in subsequent years – Rayman By His Fans (1998, French title Rayman Par Ses Fans) and Rayman 60 Levels (1999, Rayman 60 Niveaux Inédits in French). There is a total of 24 new levels in Designer, 40 in By His Fans and, well, 60 in 60 Levels.
All three packs (Designer, By His Fans and 60 Levels) allow the UI to be set to English or French (if other languages are available, I have not seen them), but some releases include the files only for one language. In Rayman Designer, changing the language also affects the level names. In By His Fans and 60 Levels, the level names are embedded in the map files, so completely changing the language requires a different set of maps, and cannot be done within a single release.
Multiple bundles were released, combining some or all of the packs with the original Rayman. In some cases additional multimedia content, mini-games and demos were present. These are summarized in the following table:
|
Release Title |
Rayman |
Designer |
By His Fans |
60 Levels |
Extra |
|
Rayman Gold |
✓ |
✓ |
|||
|
Rayman Forever |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
||
|
Rayman 100 Levels |
✓ |
✓ |
3 minigames |
||
|
Rayman Collector |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
3 minigames |
|
Rayman Compilation |
✓ |
Rayman 2 demo |
A downside to the versions of Rayman bundled with any of the packs (Gold, Forever, Collector) is that the intro and ending videos, as well as their corresponding audio tracks, have been cut to save space.
The original Rayman Gold came in a telescopic box, and included the game CD and a manual covering the original Rayman game, Rayman Designer and detailed instructions on using the Mapper for making new levels. This release still appears on eBay here and there, but much more common is a UK budget re-release, by Focus Multimedia / Revival Multimedia. It comes in a keep-case with no manual, and a major blunder – no music tracks whatsoever. Local releases of Rayman Gold in other countries do not suffer from this problem, to the best of my knowledge.
Soundtrack issues have been seen in other releases as well. The North-American release of Rayman Forever had two of the main level tracks shortened drastically and a third one completely wrong (playing ambience instead of level music). This problem was “inherited” by the English version of Rayman 100 Levels, which was, funnily, released exclusively in the Netherlands. That release is also missing the 3 minigames, despite mentioning them on the package.
French releases seem to be more common and more complete. None of them has any soundtrack issues that I know of. The French Rayman 100 Niveaux includes the mini-games, as does Rayman Collector – the most complete bundle of Rayman and all 3 level packs, which, unfortunately, has never enjoyed an English release.
Finally, there is the strange Rayman Compilation release, which was bundled with a package of Sony CD-R media in 2000. It seems to be the only release to feature 60 Levels without the other 40 of By His Fans, and in English too. All audio tracks are intact, and in addition to the Rayman 2 2-level demo, there is bonus content like screensavers, wallpapers and a desktop theme.
All the aforementioned packs and bundles are PC-exclusives and have not been released on any other platform. The games themselves are DOS programs, but the Mapper, the mini-games, and the Rayman 2 demo are all Win32 applications. Furthermore, the installers provided also require Windows (and have compatibility problems with modern versions of the OS). Fortunately, the DOS game files and are decompressed on the disk, and can be simply copied over to the hard drive.
Rayman Educational Games
In addition to the level packs, Rayman has also seen many educational spin-off games. The most common of them is designed to teach kids basic arithmetic and English, while navigating obstacles in a way much similar to the original game. It was released in many locales under various titles – Rayman Junior, Rayman Brain Games, Maths and English with Rayman, Amazing Learning Games with Rayman, and other localized titles in non-English speaking countries. A different game with similar properties also exists, known as English with Rayman or French with Rayman or other names. Apparently the localized versions of this one teach languages other than English, unlike Rayman Junior. In any case, I have not owned any of these educational games, and lack the knowledge to categorize the different releases.
The 3D years – Rayman 2, M, Arena, 3
Rayman 2: The Great Escape for the PC was first released in 1999, in a big box with a manual, and re-released several times since, in various collections and bundles. The PC version was more or less identical to the Nintendo 64 one, albeit with better graphical fidelity. The original release entirely lacks joystick/gamepad support and the keyboard controls are not customizable (although they kinda make sense). Both issues have since been fixed with community patches. All retail releases come on a single CD-ROM, unfortunately, protected by SafeDisc, which prevents easy backup and does not work on Windows 10 without cracks. The game also has native 3dfx Glide support, but normal DirectX mode is sometimes buggy. The digital GOG release fixes both the copy protection and the graphics issues, as it is bundled with nGlide, which emulates Glide over DirectX.
Retail versions support English, French, German, Italian and Spanish; the language can be selected every time the game is launched. As the characters all speak “gibberish” (Raymanian), it affects text and UI only. Apparently, an official Polish localization exists, but I have never come across it.
The next game in the series was Rayman M in 2001. Not really advancing the story (and considered more of a spin-off than a main game in the series), it was oriented towards multi-player (hence the ‘M’), with races and battles between the player (or two players in split-screen mode) and computer-controlled “bots”. Several characters are selectable, including Rayman, some friends and some villains as well – mostly from Rayman 2, but some new ones as well. Localized retail versions with UI and text in other languages also exist, even more than for Rayman 2.
In the US the game was rebranded as Rayman Arena, in order to avoid confusion with the ‘M’ (‘Mature’) ESRB rating. There were minor changes to the gameplay, some levels and the UI, and a few bug fixes (seeing as the game was released almost a full year later). The biggest differentiating feature is the four-player LAN mode, which remains exclusive to the PC version of Rayman Arena, and was not ported to any console.
Initial releases of Rayman M and Rayman Arena come on two CDs – an install disc and a play disc. Some of them have SafeDisc, while others are DRM-free, but may still require the CD in drive. There exist patches for all versions, which remove the protection, improve compatibility with modern operating systems and widescreen monitors.
The third main game of the series, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, hit the shelves in early 2003, almost simultaneously for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. The original PC release spanned three CDs, and included English, French, German, Italian and Spanish languages, with full translations of the audio, text, manual and user interface. Czech, Hebrew, Polish, Russian and Slovak translations were also available, in retail releases in the respective countries. Unfortunately, like most games in the series, the initial releases are SafeDisc-protected; fortunately, there exist no-CD patched executables, which seem to work both for the original and the localized releases.
The common European releases were in DVD keep-cases, with a similarly sized manual booklet. The North American edition came in a big box with 3 CD and a manual booklet in a 4-CD jewel case. The box art and manual language are somewhat different between the two, but the game is the same. There is also an Asian big box edition, styled after the American one, with box art in Chinese, but as far as I know, the game is the regular retail version in European languages.
There have been many special releases as well, which at this point are very hard to find. I know of a “Limited Edition” that included a USB gamepad, and a “Collector’s Edition” that came with a backpack, a notebook and a Rayman 3 Print Studio bonus CD, where you can design and print cards, stickers, bookmarks and calendars with art and characters from the game. The Print Studio was also available for purchase standalone. On the other end of the spectrum you will find budget re-releases with Focus/Revival or Ubisoft eXclusive branding. These also came in a keep-case, but on differently styled media and/or without the printed manual.
As DVD media started phasing out CDs, later re-releases of Rayman 3 came on a single DVD instead of 3xCD. As a bonus, the DVD was often DRM-free. These can be distinguished by “PC DVD-ROM” written at the top of the keep case, instead of “PC CD-ROM”.
Collections, Compilations and Bundles
There have been quite a few bundles spanning games in the Rayman 1, 2, M, 3 era. Most have them were released in specific locales and obtaining them outside those may be challenging, especially today after many years have passed. Off the top of my head I know of Rayman 3-Pack (1+2+M), Rayman Experience (2+M, French), a US budget release by Encore including Rayman 3 on a DVD with “bonus” Rayman 2 CD, a Rayman L’Integrale (French 2+M+3 bundle with a bonus gamepad), and a UK Rayman Collector Edition (2+M+3+Print Studio), which exists either as a big box or a keep case, with Focus-branded media.
The last one was re-released in 2005 as Rayman 10th Anniversary, in what is probably the most widespread Rayman bundle ever. Released worldwide it contained Rayman 2, Rayman M, Rayman 3 and Rayman 3 Print Studio. The French release was different, replacing Rayman 2 and the Print Studio with Rayman: The Animated Series DVD. It can still be found on French eBay sometimes.
Most European releases had 5 discs (2 for Rayman M and 1 for each of the others, where Rayman 3 was on a DVD). Some UK editions had everything but Rayman 2 dumped on a single DVD for a total of just 2 discs. The US release had 7 discs as Rayman 3 was the early 3xCD version; it also had different packaging, box art, and Rayman M replaced with Arena. Bundles with the same name have been issued for some consoles as well – PlayStation 2, GameCube and Game Boy Advance – with the content adjusted to what was available on each platform. Much later, in 2011, the UK 2-disc version was re-released in France, under the “Just for Gamers” brand, relabeled as Rayman Collection.
The Rabbids takeover
Between 2003 and 2011 there were no new mainline Rayman games released. The “Rayman universe” was taken over by the Rabbids, and gameplay shifted from traditional 2D/3D platforming to a bunch of random mini-games. The first game in the series – Rayman Raving Rabbids – came out in 2006, for the PC as well as contemporary consoles (Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 – the latter in 2007). The PC releases typically came in a keep case with a manual, usually on one DVD, rarely on two CDs. As with most Rayman games, there were localized retail releases in Israel and some Eastern European countries. The main release contained English, French and Spanish, and in Europe also Dutch, German and Italian.
The sequel, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, has also seen some PC releases, but these are far more obscure, rare, and content has been greatly reduced compared to the Nintendo Wii version – only 16 mini-games instead of 50, and in some releases these were split onto 4 individual CDs. The same fate was met by the next sequel, and the first non-Rayman game in the Rabbids universe – Rabbids Go Home – which was also reduced to just 16 mini-games. The quality of the ports is quite average, with no proper support for high resolutions or different aspect ratios.
While the first RRR game is easily obtainable (as digital or physical copies), the PC versions of the sequels are quite hard to find. One bundle that pops up from time to time (at least in the post-Soviet countries) is the Russian “Premium Games” collection that has all three games (localization by Buka). Everywhere it appears in the title, “Raving Rabbids” is translated as Бешеные Кролики.
Other than the above, the PC enjoyed an exclusive spinoff of the series – Rayman Raving Rabbids Activity Centre – which contained 4 small games, a print studio and a wallpaper studio, and later the Rabbids Coding! educational game (free through Ubisoft Connect, formerly known as Uplay). In between, the Rabbids Big Bang mobile game was also ported to the PC, through Microsoft Store.
The UbiArt Era (Origins / Legends)
Rayman Origins not only was the first game in the main series in more than 8 years, it was a return to the classic 2D platforming style of the original Rayman. Released in 2011 for the consoles (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii), it was ported to the PC in 2012. The game is almost 100% identical, except the PC version lacks the console-specific “achievements”. It runs great on every version of Windows from XP to 10, and the best part is that it is completely DRM-free, and does not even require the disk in the drive. The retail release comes on a DVD in a keep case with a manual booklet, in the local langauge. However, the game itself natively supports multiple languages and frequently includes scanned, searchable PDF manuals in all of them on the DVD. Localization has to do with the text only, as all the voices in the game are “Raymanian” (actually English versions of Ubbi Dubbi or Pig Latin) and are not translated.
Language is selected during installation, but can be changef post-install by means of an undocumented registry key. Strangely, it seems that all languages are present in the data files of all releases, but the main program file differs between the generic US/EU releases and the localized Eastern European versions, and selecting a language not intended for the particular release will cause the text boxes to be blank. For example, the main retail release could not display Russian, whereas the Russian release could not display anything other than Russian, for reasons unknown.
The digital versions seem to have a patched executable that supports all languages. The GOG version provided a small application that change the language, by controlling the aforementioned registry key.
The PC platform generally did not get the Collector’s Edition releases that were offered for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, except in Russia. The Russian PC Collector’s Edition lacked the soundtrack and the cardboard pop-up display, and instead included a sticker page and a fridge magnet.
The release of Origins inspired Ubisoft to release yet Rayman Collection bundle, in 2013. It was released almost world-wide, and may have been confusing to French players because of the earlier release by the same name. Common to all releases were Rayman 2, 3 and Origins. Outside of France you would also get Rayman 1 + M (Czechia and Slovakia) or Rayman Forever (rest of the world).
The last game in the franchise that hit the PC so far is Rayman Legends, in 2013 (very shortly after the aforementioned collection). It was released simultaneously with all main console versions, even though for a while there has been talk that the PC released would be delayed or skipped altogether. It is the first game in the series that utilizes online DRM – Ubisoft Uplay – and a permanent internet connection. Retail copies exist that come, like Origins, in a DVD keep case with a manual, but the installation media is convenience only – it still requires the Uplay client (rebranded in 2020 as Ubisoft Connect), and can be activated with the online key code, which also permanently ties it to a given account. Funnily, even if you get the game at a different digital store (Epic/Steam), you will still need Ubisoft Connect, which means you get “double DRM”.
There was a passing attempt at a “Collector’s Edition” for Legends, but it was just the standard retail release + empty Steelbook case. The steelbook can be found on eBay from time to time. And, finally, in 2015, a Rayman Legends + Rayman Origins Double Pack was released, for the PC as well as PlayStation 3, Vita and Xbox 360. It was a very modest bundle – just two game DVDs, the online key for Legends and a instruction leaflet explaining game controls. The PC version disc for Origins is not the original retail DVD, but the one from the 2013 Rayman Collection. It is still DRM-free, which is good.
Digital Releases
As of mid-2021, the following Rayman PC games are available from digital retailers:
Ubisoft Store: Rayman Forever, 2, 3, Raving Rabbids, Origins, Legends
Steam: Raving Rabbids, Origins, Legends
GOG: Rayman Forever, 2, 3, Raving Rabbids, Origins
Epic Store: Origins, Legends
Prices vary and there are frequently sales/bundles, but on average, it seems that Ubi Store offers the best prices, then GOG, and then the others. One advantage of GOG is that all their games are DRM-free by choice. This is probably why they don’t offer Rayman Legends, since Ubisoft never issued an official release disconnecting the game from the online client. Players looking for a fully offline experience in Legends must, therefore, resort to cracks. Ironically, the PC servers for Legends have long been discontinued, so there is absolutely nothing to gain from online play.
Cloaked Thargoid 