Rayman (video game)
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| Rayman | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Ubisoft Montpellier |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Designer(s) | Michel Ancel (lead designer), Alexandra Steible (characters), Vincent Gréco (lead programmer) |
| Platform(s) | Atari Jaguar, PC, PlayStation, Sega Saturn,Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Gizmondo |
| Release date | September 1, 1995 (Jaguar) November 1995 (Saturn, PS) |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E OFLC: G |
| Media | CD-ROM, Cartridge |
| Input methods | Control pad |
Rayman is a video game designed and published by Ubisoft. It was originally released in September 1995 for the Atari Jaguar and MS-DOS, and in November 1995 for the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. A port of this game was to be released for the Sega 32X, but when the system died off due to low popularity, the port was canceled. Rayman is a traditional side-scrolling platform game which revolves around the titular character's quest to save his world from the evil Mr. Dark.
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[edit] Gameplay
Rayman is a traditional side-scrolling 2D platform game. The object of the game is to free all the electoons and defeat Mister Dark's minions across five worlds. Only when every electoon is freed will Rayman be able to enter into Mister Dark's hideout Candy Chateau. Overwise, the player must traverse the levels and reach the goal (a signpost with an exclaimation mark on it) at the end. But usually, since all of the levels in the game are divided into several parts, said goal post usually acts as a transition to another part of the level.
Scattered around each level are little blue spheres called Tings. If Rayman picks up a hundred of them, he gains an extra life, but they can also be used to pay the Magician, and enter a bonus stage. When Rayman dies, he loses all of the Tings he collected.
As well as Tings Rayman will come across a variety of other power-ups and bonuses, among which a golden punching fist, a faster punching fist, power to restore Rayman's lost life energy and flying blue elves that will shrink Rayman down in size.
[edit] Rayman's powers
Rayman obtains a number of different powers during the game. Some are given to him permanently by Betilla the Fairy, while others are obtained temporarily for certain levels.
- Grimace
- An ability that Rayman possesses at the beginning of the game, mapped to the "run" button. When this "power" is activated, it merely causes Rayman to grab both sides of his mouth, open it wide, and stick his tongue out, making a strange sound. It can only be activated when Rayman is standing still. Its only use is to scare Livingstones (the tall explorers in the Dream Forest) and acts as a means of humor and as a temporary substitute for running ability, the latter of which permanently replaces "Grimace" when acquired. He gains the same power in Rayman 3 after defeating Reflux in The Desert of the Knaaren. The Explorers (tall) flee in terror if Rayman grimaces near them.
- Fist
- Allows Rayman to punch with his fist.
- Hang
- Allows Rayman to hang onto platform edges.
- Grappling
- Allows Rayman to grab onto the pink and red rings with his fist, as well as grab trophies (lives) from a distance.
- Helicopter
- Allows Rayman to use his hair as a propeller to decrease the rate of descent for approximately one second during a jump.
- Running
- Allows Rayman to run, and permanently replaces "Grimace" when acquired.
- Magic Seed
- Allows Rayman to make plants grow out of the ground, which he can stand on. This is a temporary power given to Rayman by Tarayzan in the Swamps of Forgetfulness. However, one plant cannot be planted on another.
- Super Helicopter
- An enhanced version of the helicopter power, allowing Rayman to fly around the level. This power can only be obtained temporarily in Mr. Stone's Peaks and in Pencil Pentathlon.
- Gold Fist
- Allows Rayman to smash walls, break objects, and defeat enemies in fewer blows, but slows Rayman down and depletes the Helicopter move.
- Speed Fist
- Allows Rayman's fists to fly faster and further.
[edit] Plot
In Rayman's world, nature and people live together in peace. The Great Protoon provides and maintains the harmony and balance in the world. One fateful day, the evil Mister Dark steals the Great Protoon and defeats Betilla the Fairy as she tries to protect it. The electoons who used to gravitate all around it lose their natural stability and scatter all over the world. In the now unbalanced world, strange phenomena begin to occur: freaks and hostile characters appear, capturing every electoon they can find.
Rayman to the rescue! As the guardian of this world, he must free the electoons, recapture the Great Protoon from its mysterious kidnapper and reassemble them all to restore the world's harmony.
But will the bad guys let him do it?
[edit] Characters
Voiced by David Gasman, Rayman is the main (and reluctant) protagonist of the story, defined by his off-beat flair and limbless appearance. His main weapon is throwing his clenched fist at his enemies, but as his quest toughens, Betilla the Fairy will bestow him with additional powers.
- Betilla the Fairy: Betilla the Fairy once acted as the protector of the Great Protoon, before it was stolen from her by Mister Dark. Her main function in the game is to aid Rayman by granting him additional powers as his quest unfolds.
- The Magician: This quirky man is often hidden away in the scenery. With his help, Rayman can enter into secret worlds. In these bonus stages, the player's skill and rapidity will allow Rayman to earn an extra life, but a fee of 10 Tings is required for entry, as the Magician bargains at a price. (He also tells the story in the opening intro.)
- The Photographer: The Photographer is here to immortalize Rayman's feats. When he loses a life, Rayman starts again where his picture was last taken. In other words, the Photographer acts as a checkpoint.
- Tarayzan: This madcap roams the jungles of the Dream Forest. Tarayzan is the first friend Rayman will come across, in the Swamps of Forgetfulness level, and helps by providing him with magic seed. (Magic seed sprouts tall flower-like objects, for the purpose of Rayman being able to reach ledges to escape the flood.) He is a parody of Tarzan.
- The Musician: High in the mountains of Rayman's world is where the Musician lives his life of peace and music. When Rayman frees his guitar from a giant boulder, he gets a magic potion in return, allowing him to stay afloat indefinitely.
- Joe: Joe, the sad extraterrestrial, lives near the coast of the Crystal Caves and owns a snack shop. Rayman helps him restore power to his neon sign and defeats Mister Skop while he's at it.
- Moskito: This giant mosquito rules the Dream Forest. He is the first of Mister Dark's minions Rayman will meet. As Rayman watches out for falling fruit, he punches Moskito until he gives up and reforms for good. On Rayman 2: Revolution, he goes by the name "Bzzit".
- Mister Sax: The deafening Mister Sax dwells high in the clouds of Band Land. He blurts out more than a few false notes, but Rayman can use it to his advantage and fire the explosive notes back at Sax, defeating him.
- Mister Stone: A stone-faced madman with a temper to match, Mister Stone is immediately out to crush Rayman the minute he enters the Blue Mountains, but the technique backfires and Rayman crushes Stone instead.
- Space Mama: This denizen of Picture City descends straight out of a science fiction film. Space Mama is a tough cookie with a deadly rolling pin. Rayman dodges the pin, and punches Space Mama out.
- Mister Skops: This menacing creature sleeps deep beneath the Caves of the Skops. His armour is impenetrable but his own tail proves to be his undoing, as Rayman deflects the tail-beams back at the tail and defeats Skops.
- Mr. Dark: This diabolical character is Rayman's arch-nemesis, with wizardry to match Betilla's and more than a few tricks up his sleeve. He hides in the sugar-coated world of Candy Chateau. After Rayman defeats everything Dark throws at him, Dark flees. As of right now, his whereabouts are unknown. In Rayman Arena, Mr. Dark is an unlockable skin for Rayman, but he has another appearance than Rayman in Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Rayman Rush, Rayman Arena and Rayman Raving Rabbids 2.
Another villain, Mr. Clay (a parody of Batman's Clayface), was designed to appear in the game, but the idea was dropped and Mr. Clay was not involved.
[edit] Patches for Rayman
If people are having trouble running Rayman, Rayman Gold, or Rayman Designer on newer operating systems, there are patches available. Link.
[edit] Development
This is an early story during the game's development, sent to some magazines promoting the Atari Jaguar version:
Join Jimmy, a 10-year-old who escapes reality by entering Hereitscool, a fantasy kingdom he has created within the realms of his computer. When an evil power takes over Hereitscool, Jimmy becomes Rayman, a super hero who must save his friends before it's too late!
However, this idea was obviously scrapped, and Rayman is his own being in his own world in the final version. (There were a few comments in the story, like "Sorry folks, this appearance can't last. Do you want to play or what?", but they were cut for the final version.)
[edit] Updated Versions
[edit] Rayman Gold
Later, on September 28, 1997, Ubisoft released an updated version of the game for the PC. This bundle had the original Rayman in its entirety, as well as a level editing package, known as Rayman Designer. The package contained 24 original levels, with the same gameplay but a few new concepts: now Rayman has to collect 100 Blue Tings in a level before he can finish it. A few other interesting features were added, like colored tings that trigger special events, additional objects and a timer to show the player how fast they can complete this level. With Rayman Designer, players could make their own levels and share them with others via the internet, a feature that didn't particularly catch on.
The British Focus Multimedia edition of Rayman Gold does not include the music tracks at all; the game should have redbook audio tracks. Since the soundtrack was quite popular with fans, this is a significant error of omission. [1] [2]
[edit] Rayman Forever
Around a year after that, Ubisoft released Rayman Forever. It was the same as Rayman Gold, except it contained a bundle of 50+ new levels, a level editor, and strangely, a fridge magnet. Also various sections of the soundtrack were erased to save space on the 500 MB disc. This was a great disappointed to fans who enjoyed the exceptional music.
[edit] Rayman Collector
Another level set, similar to Rayman Gold and Rayman Forever, was released by Ubisoft in late 1999. This one featured sixty levels, many of which were considered, by fans, to be very short and dull.
[edit] Game Boy Color version
Ubisoft also released Rayman for GBC, which was more of a Rayman 2, since it contained all the Rayman 2 music and worlds, but had the storyline of Rayman.
[edit] Rayman Advance
This version for the Game Boy Advance was identical to the original Rayman with a few very minor changes (such as the ink flood in Eraser plains is gone and the first level of Bongo Hills is gone) and considerable degradation in graphics and sound quality (due to GBA hardware limitations). During various boss stages, the AI behavior was considerably different since they re-programmed it, and to some, proved more difficult since the screen was shrunk (due to the small GBA screen).
[edit] Jaguar Version
The first, Jaguar version adds new areas and removes some of the ones available in the PC/Playstation/Saturn games. For example, in Blue's Mountain, the level Mr. Stone's Peaks is missing the second area entirely where Rayman has to cut 2 ropes with his Helicopter Hair before a stone ceiling crushes Rayman into the water. Also, in Picture City, the level Eraser Plains retains the 3rd area but it has been changed to a completely different place. The last world (Candy Chateau) also features completely restructured areas compared to the other ports. The Electoon cages found on the removed areas were moved to previous or further areas of the stage. The ability to shrink is also missing from this version and one of the last boss phases (Space Mamas) has been completely ignored. Also, Rayman can't slide on bells in Band Land and ice in Blue Mountain.
[edit] PSP 'Version'
On 29th May 2008 the original PS One version of Rayman became available on the UK Playstation Store for £3.49. This is the same as the PS One version and runs on the PSP under emulation.
[edit] Sequels
Rayman 2: The Great Escape was released for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, and PC systems. The PlayStation 2 version of the game is titled Rayman 2: Revolution. The Nintendo 64, PC and DS versions are identical in terms of gameplay. The DS version was named "Rayman DS". The PlayStation version has fewer lums (200 less than the other versions) and smaller levels.
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc was released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, N-Gage, and PC. All versions are identical in terms of gameplay. In addition to that, a Game Boy Advance game with the same title exists, but it is a 2D platform game, nearly identical in style to the original Rayman and to Rayman Advance. Series creator Michel Ancel dropped out of work on Rayman 3 to work on Beyond Good and Evil.
Several spin-offs have also been released, including Rayman Arena and Rayman Rush. Remakes of Rayman 2 have been re-released with enhancements or minor changes for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS as Rayman Revolution and Rayman DS, respectively.
Rayman Collector's Edition was released around October 10, 2005. It includes: Rayman 3 (with a few extra bonus levels and movies), Rayman 2, and Rayman Arena. Rayman Forever was not included due to the fact it ran on MS-DOS. It was only released for PC.
[edit] Reception
Rayman is the best selling PlayStation game of all time in the UK, beating titles like Gran Turismo and Tomb Raider 2.[3]
[edit] External links
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