Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition was announced and released this week, and while it’s great to see the franchise return, it’s receiving a somewhat mixed reaction – in part due to a change in music.
One of the more iconic elements of the original Rayman was its soundtrack. Some of the music is still retained here, but notable swaps were made in certain areas. There are flat out replacements as well as new arrangements.
Here’s a comparison of the different versions:
Original
New Version (starts at 17:29)
And here’s another comparison:
Original
New Version
It’s not currently clear why the final version made changes to the soundtrack. Some are speculating that it comes down to rights issues, but that’s not confirmed presently. Rémi Gazel, one of the original composers, passed away in 2019.
Christophe Héral was brought in to handle new music for this release. He previously worked on Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends as well as other Ubisoft titles like Beyond Good & Evil.
Based on comments wrote on social media, it sounds like this was a passion project for Héral. He wrote the following:
“Here’s an outing that touches me a lot because I spent my summer re-recording the music of my eternal friend Rémi Gazel, and composing new music for this game. I tried to do my best. OST coming soon with my brother Patrice Heral on drums and my friend Pascal Corriu on guitar. Thank you Ubisoft for the confidence you show me.”
Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition is out now on Nintendo Switch digitally with a physical release to follow. We have more information about the release here.
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