Game Rave Presents: Battle Mode 4: Rayman vs. Himself!

The Introduction
Rayman was a launch era game for both the PlayStation and the Saturn, coming off of its release on the Atari Jaguar. With its breathtakingly gorgeous 2D artwork and creatively designed stages, it became an instant classic.

While it only saw one release on the Saturn, it was so popular on the PlayStation that it spawned 4 of the 5 possible case variants. While Game-Rave is currently seeking the missing Long Box release, we continue forward with a direct comparison of the game's two 32-Bit incarnations.

Evidence A: Cinematically speaking...

This is an unfair category, if not painfully obvious in almost any Battle Mode concerning true FMV (Full Motion Video) footage. The PlayStation will always have the larger, better resolution video footage.
Some games, like the Saturn's Street Fighter Alpha 2, used tricks to get past the FMV issue. In the case of Alpha 2, the Saturn version simply used real sprites, rather than the crappy FMV used in the PSX version (I'm still bitter about that...)

Conclusion: PlayStation

Evidence B: It's the small things...

I'm one of those people who love the little details.Those insignificant, you-would-have-missed-them-if-you-moved-on type additions that just make you smile more than you normally would. In this case, the animated Rayman running across the screen on the Saturn sets up the cutesy, mischief-like atmosphere of the game perfectly. Meanwhile, we're left cold with nothing on the PlayStation.
This small feature leads us into the main separation factor between the two versions, which we'll discuss below.

Conclusion: Saturn

I have to admit, this one took me a second to realize what I was looking at. The obvious mention is how the Saturn actually has various transition tricks appear before each area; watch the ball form at the end of this clip. While this does appear as a nod to the Saturn, in a way it means there is less loading time between areas on the PlayStation.

The important and more subtle realization is in the tiny details. Note that the butterflies that fly around are only a single color on the PlayStation - on the Saturn they vary. Also of note that the two versions share a common problem - the foreground graphics do not match up to each other. The Saturn's front most graphics appear earlier than the PlayStation's, along with the background image being slightly off mark between them. These trends continues through out the game.

It's essentially nit-picking - the Saturn has more color and creativity, the PlayStation has less load times.

Conclusion: Draw

Evidence D: Control

This is probably the easiest of them all - with only 3 or so buttons to worry about, Rayman controls amazingly well on both platforms. In fact, to a very small degree I kind of like the Saturn D-Pad better in this instance, merely for the full pad feel rather than the separate arrows on the PlayStation pad.

Conclusion: Draw

Final Verdict: Too close to call
When all is said and done, there really isn't a clear winner. Graphics and detail enthusiasts like myself will pick the Saturn, but those who like their full screen video and faster load times will pick the PlayStation version.

Either way, everyone's a winner when it comes to playing the game - it's still one of the most beautiful, if sometimes brutally difficult, platforms games in history.