Raving Rabbids

This article is about the series. For the characters, see Rabbids. For the video game, see Rayman Raving Rabbids. For the televison series, see Rabbids TV show.
Raving Rabbids

A rabbid model at Otakon in 2007.
Genres Party
Developers Ubisoft Montpeiler
Publishers Ubisoft
Platforms Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 3DS
Platform of origin Wii
Year of inception 2006

The Raving Rabbids series, known in France as The Lapins Crétins, is a videogame franchise formerly part of the Rayman series, which consists mainly of party games, though also includes some platform games. The series focus on crazy large rabbits known as Rabbids, who like to cause havoc and mischief and are best known for yelling "BWAAAAAAAH!" whenever they experience adrenaline rushes. Though initially shown as part of the Rayman series of games, the popularity of the characters, aided by various viral videos and media appearances, led Raving Rabbids to become its own separate franchise, dropping the Rayman name as of 2009's Rabbids Go Home. [1][2] The Rabbids have made several appearances in non-Rayman games as well, such as Red Steel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction. The song "Here Comes The Hotstepper" in Just Dance 2 includes a rabbid who attempts to dance with the choreographer. There has also been a Raving Rabbids themed version of the card game Jungle Speed which was released in France.

Contents

Development of Rayman 4

The earliest Rayman 4 trailers depicted menacing and zombie-like rabbits, simply appearing from underground with a blank stare in various shapes and forms, smaller eyes and furry. At this point, trailers showed the game as an adventure game with fight stages, where Rayman would need to punch and kick himself kung fu style through a horde of zombie-bunnies. As the game concept evolved, from one of a central objective to minigames, and viral videos were created, the rabbits slowly evolved into the Rabbid figures, which were much more conscious and amusing, changing from merely being enemies to fight through into more memorable characters with various traits and quirks. Rayman creator Michel Ancel described the bunnies as "vicious, but at the same time [...] totally stupid".[3] In a recent video review, project lead Loïc Gounon confirmed the possibility of splitting the Rayman and Rabbid series apart, mentioning that the Rabbids seem to appeal more to younger gamers, due to its slapstick humor and minigames deviating from the Rayman series' more fantasy-oriented gameplay.[4]

Characters

Main article: Rabbids

Back Story

Rabbids originated from rabbits that were bred for extensive experimentation for the international space programs to collect the medical knowledge to support human space exploration. Unfortunately the rabbits became rabbid with rabies like symptoms and were transported to the quarantine center. It was there where an unsuspecting janitor was cleaning, that the rabbids reached through the cage and grabbed his plungers, escaping to the space shuttles and began creating havoc throughout the universe.

TV series

In October 2010, Ubisoft and Aardman announced a partnership to produce a TV series pilot and several shorts based on the franchise.[5] One year later, it was announced that 78 7-minute CG animated episodes will be made solely by Ubisoft Motion Pictures, and broadcasted as 26 half-hour episodes by Nickelodeon beginning in 2013.[6]

Reception

The Rabbids from the Raving Rabbids series became massively popular both through the teaser trailers and the game itself. IGN has stated that the Rabbids have "more personality and charisma than 10 of the most popular video game mascots combined",[7] and that the bunnies have literally "upstaged Rayman himself".[1] GameSpot has noted, "The Rabbids themselves are almost exclusively responsible for [selling the game's humor], as they are, without a doubt, hysterical. They're adorably designed, with their dumb stares, high-pitched shrieks, and a penchant for taking comedic bumps."[2] There has been speculation by reviewers[2] that the success of the Rabbid character will probably inspire the developers to create more games of the franchise, possibly even without Rayman. This was first hinted in the launch trailer of the first game, where Rayman, despite being the title character, only appears for a fraction of a second, only to be squashed flat by a couch taken over by the bunnies, and became evident in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, in which case Rayman disguises himself as a Rabbid, causing the game to put more emphasis on them than on Rayman himself. This was then proven to be true with the announcement of Rabbids Go Home.

Before the game's release, the director Jacques Exertier was asked about why Rayman was omitted, Exertier confirmed that after Rabbids Go Home, Rayman WILL return for more action-adventure video games.[8] And it looks like Exertier was true to his word, because a Rayman-only game was released on March 1, 2010. However, it was only another re-release of Rayman 2 (this time on the Nintendo 3DS.)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Matt Casamassina (2006-10-13). "Rayman Raving Rabbids: Impressions and Video". http://wii.ign.com/articles/739/739035p1.html. Retrieved 2007-11-12. "The bunnies in the game are so well-designed, animated, and voiced, that they have actually upstaged Rayman himself to become the spotlight of Ubisoft's marketing efforts for the title." 
  2. ^ a b c Alex Navarro (2006-11-19). "Rayman Raving Rabbids Review on GameSpot". http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/rayman4/review.html. Retrieved 2007-11-12. "It might have Rayman in the title, but the real stars of the show are the adorably bizarre raving rabbids." 
  3. ^ Matt Casamassina. "Rayman Raving Rabbids Interview". http://wii.ign.com/articles/709/709614p2.html. Retrieved 2007-11-12. "The Rabbits are hundreds and they are vicious, but at the same time they are totally stupid." 
  4. ^ "Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 interview". 2007-06-26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBZNdU5wM5A. Retrieved 2007-11-13. 
  5. ^ Ubisoft & Aardman to Create Pilot for Animated Television Show Based on Raving Rabbids, IGN
  6. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (October 6, 2011). "Nick licenses 'Raving Rabbids'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118044007. Retrieved October 6, 2011. 
  7. ^ Matt Casamassina (2006-11-16). "Rayman Raving Rabbids Review". http://wii.ign.com/articles/746/746378p1.html. Retrieved 2007-11-12. "Although we could honestly take or leave Rayman himself, Ubisoft has with the bunnies created characters with more personality and charisma than 10 of the most popular videogame mascots combined." 
  8. ^ Matt Casamassina (May 5, 2009). "Why You'll Love Rabbids Go Home: Two and a half years in development, a brand new engine, no mini-games and it's a full-blown comedy adventure.". IGN. News Corporation. http://wii.ign.com/articles/979/979811p1.html. 

External Links

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