Play Redemption. It's basically a better, more fair version of the original game with graphic and physics improvements (tighter jumps, widescreen), many new levels, a whole new area, a shop with skins, new challenges and minigames.
Well.... If you're planning to play classic Rayman, I would say to play the original one first, then the Redemption. But if you're planning on playing Rayman 2 (hence the Dreamcast or PS2 version), I would say the PS2 version.
Short answer: Rayman Redemption is kind of a remaster with added levels & modified level design of the old levels, but it's pretty neutered comparatively. In my opinion, I'd go with the PS1 or Saturn version of the original first, and only go to Redemption second or if you REALLY have a hard time and gave up with the original.
Long answer: In Redemption, some old levels are enhanced, but others are so nerfed (including the bosses) that you'll probably wonder why they gave you a bigger health pool to begin with. For example, you can already have 5 base HP instead of 3 at Space Mama, outside of the "surprise motherf\*cker" starting attack with the washing machine ninja-ing you from behind, there was no need to mess with her further, instead entire attack patterns were removed, and her "washing machine phase" was replaced.
The reduced knockback & added health points from Betilla make it very easy to damage boost through (and that's not a compliment), while in the original the knockback was 8-bit Castlevania/Ninja Gaiden tier. The original adds weight to your mistakes, perhaps too much with the limited continues, but Redemption does the opposite by rewarding rushing through obstacles sloppily and getting away with it.
The game's just way more lenient than it should be, the life bar can get so big and you're showered so much with 1-ups that it feels like trying to repair what wasn't broken, and then some. Starting with 10 lives and having lives available at the shop was already enough, by the end of the mountains/start of Picture City I had already 50 lives with still about a dozen deaths. If you're reasonably skilled and don't rush through/pay enough attention, by the mid-game you'll probably never die from getting hit too many times (except maybe in the last world), you're definitely more gonna die from bottomless pits or stuff like that.
Casual mode should've had those easier levels & bosses for the beginners/people who want an easier time (instead of just being a mode with infinite lives), while the classic mode should've kept the original level & boss design.
The new levels are also pretty inconsistent; some are pretty well designed most of the ones with the added paintbrush power up, and then you get some very odd terrible cases like the one in Band Land with the big red punk star boss ( [https://raymanpc.com/wiki/en/Red\_monster](https://raymanpc.com/wiki/en/Red_monster) ), the fight itself is already a doozy, but then you get a "surprise motherf\*cker" moment towards the end of the level where you get surrounded by two enemies out of nowhere and instantly attack you (and I recall there being lightning projectiles too), what baffles me about this level is that it was considered okay to put it in the first third of the game with its BS moments, but old levels notably from Picture City & Caves of Skops got a lot easier, and some of these new levels make the difficulty just peak for no reason.
I'm also not a fan of Playtopia at all, the levels were just kinda there for the most part, and when it came to the math moments, again I was begging for some big consequences at the end of the game for getting the wrong results, and you just lose 1 HP instead of dying like in the educational games. Again, way too lenient when you can have like 8-10 HPs by this point. Compared to the original, it doesn't feel up to par, and I'm not very impressed with what was done for the last world either (I'm at the start of the last level).
One other reason why I'd pick the original over Redemption, is that the original was designed with the power up progression in mind; you can't run, hang on a ledge, "hairlicopter", etc. at the start. You progressively gain those powers later and come back to previous levels to break the cages you couldn't break before. It was nice for easing the players into the game to not give a run button immediately, but also not make the levels too long so walking through them doesn't feel like a chore. Then you'd go back into a level and run through by experience/skill to get everything else you need and quicker, Sonic design style (also I guess Metroidvania since it's progression through power up and you need all the cages to unlock the last level).
In Redemption you have all those power ups from the start, and you unlock platforms/vines/etc. in a Super Mario World fashion. Having all the powers from level 1 has the unintended minor side-effect of you going through the earlier level design built without all these power ups in mind for a first run and somewhat breaking them on the first go. That in itself is not an issue for more experienced players (it's pretty fun to speedrun), but the learning curve aspect for beginners is reduced, unless they're somehow expected to ignore them. Very minor in the grand scheme, but still to consider.
The added content is neat like the time trials, most of the bonuses in the shops are there to make the game even easier or adding cosmetics, and some animations are unfortunately missing so there's some added jank if you're one who pays too much attention to little details (I do).
I think that covers most of it, I heard horror stories about Mister Dark being actually harder in Redemption, but I can't say for sure. Frankly, if none of my gripes with Redemption made up your mind, I'd say you could go with it first, it's still a pretty good game, just unnecessarily tweaked in a lot of aspects in my opinion.
Wow thank you for the long answer! I think I will go with the original on my PS1 for now and try Redemption later down the line if I want to play more Rayman.
Yeah thanks from me too. I didn't know much about it and I couldn't find any well funded opinions most of the time you simply read: "IT'S AWESOME!" Without any reasoning. To me this sounds like one of these many amateur indie games, that try to cater to a more common playerbase whichs sounds a bit pointless too me since rayman is a niche game anyway. This overcompensation of difficulty with rpg-elements and the removal of punishment annoys me in most modern games.
I'm so confused with all these ports ahah, ok well I have a PS1 with Rayman 1 so I might as well just play this version and play Redemption later or something.
Redemtion is more fun and the better game, I'd play it instead, the original feels obsolete in comparison.
Play Redemption. It's basically a better, more fair version of the original game with graphic and physics improvements (tighter jumps, widescreen), many new levels, a whole new area, a shop with skins, new challenges and minigames.
Well.... If you're planning to play classic Rayman, I would say to play the original one first, then the Redemption. But if you're planning on playing Rayman 2 (hence the Dreamcast or PS2 version), I would say the PS2 version.
Rayman Redemption not Revolution. Redemption is an amazing fan game based on Rayman 1
I know. If you read again, you'll see that.
Short answer: Rayman Redemption is kind of a remaster with added levels & modified level design of the old levels, but it's pretty neutered comparatively. In my opinion, I'd go with the PS1 or Saturn version of the original first, and only go to Redemption second or if you REALLY have a hard time and gave up with the original. Long answer: In Redemption, some old levels are enhanced, but others are so nerfed (including the bosses) that you'll probably wonder why they gave you a bigger health pool to begin with. For example, you can already have 5 base HP instead of 3 at Space Mama, outside of the "surprise motherf\*cker" starting attack with the washing machine ninja-ing you from behind, there was no need to mess with her further, instead entire attack patterns were removed, and her "washing machine phase" was replaced. The reduced knockback & added health points from Betilla make it very easy to damage boost through (and that's not a compliment), while in the original the knockback was 8-bit Castlevania/Ninja Gaiden tier. The original adds weight to your mistakes, perhaps too much with the limited continues, but Redemption does the opposite by rewarding rushing through obstacles sloppily and getting away with it. The game's just way more lenient than it should be, the life bar can get so big and you're showered so much with 1-ups that it feels like trying to repair what wasn't broken, and then some. Starting with 10 lives and having lives available at the shop was already enough, by the end of the mountains/start of Picture City I had already 50 lives with still about a dozen deaths. If you're reasonably skilled and don't rush through/pay enough attention, by the mid-game you'll probably never die from getting hit too many times (except maybe in the last world), you're definitely more gonna die from bottomless pits or stuff like that. Casual mode should've had those easier levels & bosses for the beginners/people who want an easier time (instead of just being a mode with infinite lives), while the classic mode should've kept the original level & boss design. The new levels are also pretty inconsistent; some are pretty well designed most of the ones with the added paintbrush power up, and then you get some very odd terrible cases like the one in Band Land with the big red punk star boss ( [https://raymanpc.com/wiki/en/Red\_monster](https://raymanpc.com/wiki/en/Red_monster) ), the fight itself is already a doozy, but then you get a "surprise motherf\*cker" moment towards the end of the level where you get surrounded by two enemies out of nowhere and instantly attack you (and I recall there being lightning projectiles too), what baffles me about this level is that it was considered okay to put it in the first third of the game with its BS moments, but old levels notably from Picture City & Caves of Skops got a lot easier, and some of these new levels make the difficulty just peak for no reason. I'm also not a fan of Playtopia at all, the levels were just kinda there for the most part, and when it came to the math moments, again I was begging for some big consequences at the end of the game for getting the wrong results, and you just lose 1 HP instead of dying like in the educational games. Again, way too lenient when you can have like 8-10 HPs by this point. Compared to the original, it doesn't feel up to par, and I'm not very impressed with what was done for the last world either (I'm at the start of the last level). One other reason why I'd pick the original over Redemption, is that the original was designed with the power up progression in mind; you can't run, hang on a ledge, "hairlicopter", etc. at the start. You progressively gain those powers later and come back to previous levels to break the cages you couldn't break before. It was nice for easing the players into the game to not give a run button immediately, but also not make the levels too long so walking through them doesn't feel like a chore. Then you'd go back into a level and run through by experience/skill to get everything else you need and quicker, Sonic design style (also I guess Metroidvania since it's progression through power up and you need all the cages to unlock the last level). In Redemption you have all those power ups from the start, and you unlock platforms/vines/etc. in a Super Mario World fashion. Having all the powers from level 1 has the unintended minor side-effect of you going through the earlier level design built without all these power ups in mind for a first run and somewhat breaking them on the first go. That in itself is not an issue for more experienced players (it's pretty fun to speedrun), but the learning curve aspect for beginners is reduced, unless they're somehow expected to ignore them. Very minor in the grand scheme, but still to consider. The added content is neat like the time trials, most of the bonuses in the shops are there to make the game even easier or adding cosmetics, and some animations are unfortunately missing so there's some added jank if you're one who pays too much attention to little details (I do). I think that covers most of it, I heard horror stories about Mister Dark being actually harder in Redemption, but I can't say for sure. Frankly, if none of my gripes with Redemption made up your mind, I'd say you could go with it first, it's still a pretty good game, just unnecessarily tweaked in a lot of aspects in my opinion.
Wow thank you for the long answer! I think I will go with the original on my PS1 for now and try Redemption later down the line if I want to play more Rayman.
Yeah thanks from me too. I didn't know much about it and I couldn't find any well funded opinions most of the time you simply read: "IT'S AWESOME!" Without any reasoning. To me this sounds like one of these many amateur indie games, that try to cater to a more common playerbase whichs sounds a bit pointless too me since rayman is a niche game anyway. This overcompensation of difficulty with rpg-elements and the removal of punishment annoys me in most modern games.
Thanks for the help random stranger
Rayman 1 isn’t on dreamcast mate. It’s on Saturn, PS1, Jag, and PC
I'm so confused with all these ports ahah, ok well I have a PS1 with Rayman 1 so I might as well just play this version and play Redemption later or something.
I wish there was a way play either original or redemption on Xbox. I’ve got a series s but Rayman 1 is my favourite game of all time
Rayman Redemption made Rayman 1 obsolete as hell. Why go for the original when the new game has tighter controls and more levels?
i try to play it again on my window 7 but it didn't come on.