Lots to say about this one. This is both a review of Rayman itself and the DSiWare port of the game.
Rayman itself is fine for the first 2 worlds. Most of the hidden cages feel well designed and like I earned them. It was difficult, but I still felt like it was manageable (probably helps the default health is 2x the PS1 version). It's both lame and cool that you unlock moves, because it actually teaches you that running and punching aren't always the best moves at a certain time.
After that, the game immediately starts to just get more frustrating. Enemies will start spawning instead of triggering cages and such, and sometimes the placement is super frustrating. I heard the devs apparently didn't playtest the game very much, and it clearly shows. The balancing gets super bad, especially in Eat at Joes.
I'm sure I'm the first person to say the requirement of all cages is stupid. It actually bumps the game down a whole half star. I went ahead and got them all (I used a guide, since there was no way I was going to experience some of the levels again). For all of that work, the final level was a solid eh. Used some skills but other levels were definitely more difficult (or just stupid bs).
The DSiWare Port specifically is actually pretty nice. I don't have a frame of reference to the PC/PS1 ports, but the game definitely retains much of it's artstyle. Some songs are cut from the soundtrack which definitely sucks, since the few on display start to repeat a lot and get a bit grating. However, the quality of the songs is perfectly manageable.
The screen crunch is definitely real. Luckily, they put a map on the bottom screen at all times (that you can even scroll around on!) but it doesn't help that Rayman is glued to one side of the screen, so if something happens on the other end (like an enemy spawning), it is impossible to see. I wish they had put the effort in to making Rayman's sprite just a tad smaller to fit more on screen, but that probably would have required a lot of change.
The game is significantly easier. You only need half the tings for a life, you keep them when you die, your health is doubled, etc. I actually like this change, because it still never felt like I was just damage boosting through enemies (I think there's fewer I-frames?). It just felt more fair. I did end up grinding for lives in Allegro Presto just because the requirements were more relaxed, however (positive for me, maybe not for you).
Any problems I had with the DSiWare port were able to be overlooked by me. Sadly, the one thing holding this port back is the one new "feature" it has to claim for itself. Everytime you get your photo taken by the photographer, the game takes a photo of yourself in real life. Maybe the novelty is just different in 2023, but it just feels creepy. Even though the photos aren't saved, it just feels weird to have the game take a photo, even if you know when it's going to. The worst part is the DS/3DS makes a shutter noise that you can't turn off. This makes the game impossible to play in public, which feels dumb considering it's on a handheld. I wish there was just an option to turn off the camera feature entirely.
Overall, Rayman on DSi was fine. It's probably the best version to start with just because it's the easiest with fewer compromises compared to the GBA port. I would recommend trying it out, but if you don't like 100% completion in games, then you may want to skip this one. Or hate games that are wildly unfair at times.
I've heard Rayman Redemption on PC is good, so maybe start there. But for that original experience, this is also a fine enough choice.
Rayman itself is fine for the first 2 worlds. Most of the hidden cages feel well designed and like I earned them. It was difficult, but I still felt like it was manageable (probably helps the default health is 2x the PS1 version). It's both lame and cool that you unlock moves, because it actually teaches you that running and punching aren't always the best moves at a certain time.
After that, the game immediately starts to just get more frustrating. Enemies will start spawning instead of triggering cages and such, and sometimes the placement is super frustrating. I heard the devs apparently didn't playtest the game very much, and it clearly shows. The balancing gets super bad, especially in Eat at Joes.
I'm sure I'm the first person to say the requirement of all cages is stupid. It actually bumps the game down a whole half star. I went ahead and got them all (I used a guide, since there was no way I was going to experience some of the levels again). For all of that work, the final level was a solid eh. Used some skills but other levels were definitely more difficult (or just stupid bs).
The DSiWare Port specifically is actually pretty nice. I don't have a frame of reference to the PC/PS1 ports, but the game definitely retains much of it's artstyle. Some songs are cut from the soundtrack which definitely sucks, since the few on display start to repeat a lot and get a bit grating. However, the quality of the songs is perfectly manageable.
The screen crunch is definitely real. Luckily, they put a map on the bottom screen at all times (that you can even scroll around on!) but it doesn't help that Rayman is glued to one side of the screen, so if something happens on the other end (like an enemy spawning), it is impossible to see. I wish they had put the effort in to making Rayman's sprite just a tad smaller to fit more on screen, but that probably would have required a lot of change.
The game is significantly easier. You only need half the tings for a life, you keep them when you die, your health is doubled, etc. I actually like this change, because it still never felt like I was just damage boosting through enemies (I think there's fewer I-frames?). It just felt more fair. I did end up grinding for lives in Allegro Presto just because the requirements were more relaxed, however (positive for me, maybe not for you).
Any problems I had with the DSiWare port were able to be overlooked by me. Sadly, the one thing holding this port back is the one new "feature" it has to claim for itself. Everytime you get your photo taken by the photographer, the game takes a photo of yourself in real life. Maybe the novelty is just different in 2023, but it just feels creepy. Even though the photos aren't saved, it just feels weird to have the game take a photo, even if you know when it's going to. The worst part is the DS/3DS makes a shutter noise that you can't turn off. This makes the game impossible to play in public, which feels dumb considering it's on a handheld. I wish there was just an option to turn off the camera feature entirely.
Overall, Rayman on DSi was fine. It's probably the best version to start with just because it's the easiest with fewer compromises compared to the GBA port. I would recommend trying it out, but if you don't like 100% completion in games, then you may want to skip this one. Or hate games that are wildly unfair at times.
I've heard Rayman Redemption on PC is good, so maybe start there. But for that original experience, this is also a fine enough choice.