Nutshell: It's basically Sonic Mania but with Rayman. Great alternative way to revisit the original game. Irons out some of the more controversial and punishing aspects of the original. Via doing this however, it loses a little bit of the mean soul of the original but to compensate it also adds a vibe of it's own, especially towards the late game which ends very abruptly in the original game.

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I have a big nostalgia factor towards the original Rayman on the PS1. Along with Crash Bandicoot it's the first big platformer I encountered that had truly big production values from music and sound design to the artwork itself. Even to this day it oozes the mid 90's "multimedia" ambition of the very early days of that generation where packing in high quality music, video and 2D sprites was possible.

While I wouldn't say it was one of my absolute favourites from the console, I still really quite like it warts and all. As a kid I never originally managed to beat the game due to the brutal limitation of continues (at least without cheating) and the fact that you had to find all the collectibles to even access the final boss, some of which were very well hidden. Only years later along with a guide I managed to finish it on the PSP, but that didn't mean I didn't have a good time as a kid getting to Picture City/Cave of Scops multiple times and running out of lives.

So here comes this reimagining/remake of that game. In very simple terms, it plays exactly like the original game with few key changes.

First off, most of the brutal difficulty that was related to the amount of lives and continues is eased up considerably. On normal difficulty (which I played) the continues are unlimited and the amount of lives you collect are probably around triple compared to the original. Also 1-up pickups now respawn in case there is any need to do some farming.

Secondly, there is making the game feel a bit more modern via widescreen and an array of options. Also compatability with modern machines, getting it to run on a Steam Deck was surprisingly easy and it looked perfect and ran perfect.

All the movement based powerups from the original are unlocked from the start so you can run and glide right from level 1. I never had a problem with having to unlock them, but running especially gives bit of a boost to the early game pacing.

And finally, there is all the new content added to the game. Mainly 1 new world, new levels in the old worlds, some new boss fights, challenge levels and expanded last world and ending.

Overall the new content is quite good and fits with the flow of the game. Sometimes the art and music does not touch the quality of the original, but it's good enough not to make them feel worthwhile additions.

The small faults it has, which there are not many in context of it being a Rayman reimagining, are easy to forgive due to it mostly being done by one guy. Makes it more impressive, really. If one has any affection for the original Rayman, this game gets a warm recommendation from me. I do not think this will make the people who disliked the original change their mind though.

The good:
- It's free. And this does not reflect the quality at all.

- Most of what made Rayman charming is found here as well. The art and music is still incredibly charming.

- Even though some of the art in the new content can't quite
touch the original levles, it's still decent time to actually play. The new world is fine and all, but the reworked ending portion and post-game is a very nice bonus and the biggest improvement over the original in terms of pacing the content.

- No need to read a guide to find the hidden collectibles, the game features a compass for that stuff later on.

- Game is a labour of love and it shows. Probably the best fan made thing in recent memory.

- Collectables actually unlock new stuff instead of just locking the final story boss away like in the original where until you got every single cage, it didn't affect anything.

The bad:
- Not neccessarily a "bad" for all. As someone who appreciates short games, the new content can make the blazing speed you could finish the original game in something you might miss if you are looking for a quick dive. The game is still relatively short, but definitely meatier than the original.

- Some of the wonkiness from the original game is still here. Momentum while swing jumping on higher platforms, knowing if a drop down to a hole leads to a secret or a death and stuff like that.

In a nutshell, what happens when you combine Crash 2 and 3 and make it a portable game for the GBA. Not as good as the games it emulates but probably close to as good as it could have been given the platform.

Given the even shorter lenght than the games it's based on (4x5 main levels instead of 5x5) it works as a quick pallette cleanser and interesting quick visit for a Crash fan that didn't own a GBA back in the day. Also fun to see the origins of Vicarious Visions working on the series before they made the remaster trilogy over a decade later. Weirdly enough Nintendo didn't make a single original Mario platformer for the console, instead relying on ports, while Crash of all things got multiple original games.

A game I was glad to complete, but won't have a reason to return to in the future.

The Good:
- Good ol' Crash gameplay in portable form. I would have loved this as a kid on car rides and such.

- Definitely does not overstay it's welcome. By the time you feel like you have seen enough you are basically done.

- Collecting all the gems and relics actually rewards you with a bonus level, which is nice. The original games only changed the ending.

The Bad:
- Basically nothing original. Every level style, character ect. is from the older games. The most original new assets could be summed up with a few enemies and like one song.

- Considering there are less levels than most Crash games, it boggles the mind how many of them are gimmick levels. There was no need for multiple flying levels. Also could have cut down the underwater levels by one.

- Controls are not quite as tight as the console counterparts. Mainly affecting the slide-jump not always working as you'd hope.

- The narrative is absolute nothingburger, even by the series standards

- Being GBA, the audio quality is the biggest issue in the presentation front. It lacks the chiptune charm something like a GBC game would have. Instead it chooses to adapt the music from older Crash games, with mixed results.