| Rayman | |
|---|---|
Solo art of Rayman from Rayman 2 |
|
| Series | Rayman series |
| First game | Rayman (1995) |
| Created by | Michel Ancel |
| Voiced by | Steve Perkinson (Rayman) David Gasman (Rayman 2 and onwards) Billy West (the animated series) |
Rayman is the protagonist of the Rayman series, a video game created by Ubisoft. He is limbless and attacks by throwing his fists (although he shoots lums in Rayman 2 and M). First appearing in 1995, Rayman debuted on the Atari Jaguar, PlayStation, Saturn and MS-DOS in Rayman where he had to defend his home from the clutches of Mr. Dark. Rayman reappeared in 1999, this time having to fight off Admiral Razorbeard in Rayman 2. In Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc Rayman has had to deal with André, the leader of the Black Lums. Soon afterwards, Rayman had to rescue his good friend Globox in Rayman: Hoodlums' Revenge. Rayman was a major character in the Raving Rabbids series. He is Ubisoft's mascot, though (thanks to the Rabbids) this is subject to change.
Contents |
Rayman is typically found wearing white gloves, a red scarf on a purple shirt (which was replaced with a red and purple hoodie) with a white Ring on it, and yellow sneakers. The Ring appears to have magical properties. Whenever he earned a new power in Rayman, sparkles would appear around the Ring; in Rayman 2, it was used to open the stones holding the masks. One part of his character design is he has no neck, arms or legs, but rather his head, torso, hands and feet appear to float in midair relative each other as though they were attached. His hands and feet usually act like normal appendages (running, using objects, etc.), but some of his abilities involve separating them from his body.
He has however been known to change outfits, beginning from his third adventure against the Black Lum André in Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. Players in Rayman Raving Rabbids can dress Rayman in a variety of costumes. They start with the choices of Disco, Gangsta, and Granny; as they unlock more minigames, more costumes, such as Rock 'n' roll, DJ, Gothic and eventually a bunny suit, become available.
In Japanese versions, Rayman's suit is changed from purple to blue, since purple is seen as the color of death in Japan.
Rayman's abilities consist of attacking his enemies by winding up his fists and throwing them at his enemies, floating through the air and descending slowly by using his hair as a helicopter propeller, and the ability to live and survive without his body parts attached. In Rayman 2: The Great Escape, he was granted the ability to attack his enemies with energy balls, rather than throwing his fists. Late in Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, the Leptys granted Rayman the ability to turn Black Lums into Red Lums with a grimace. Also, there were combat fatigues in the game with could give Rayman Heavy Metal Fists that could increase his attack power, a propeller that could make him fly into the air, a missile attack that could make turn Rayman's fist into a powerful missile, a chain that could latch onto anything it could latch on to, and many more.
Not much is known about Rayman's past. Supposedly he was found by fishermen on a beach by the Sea of Lums. In Rayman 2 this idea is further elaborated on when Rayman is revealed to be the only creature living in the world who was not dreamed up by Polokus, as well as the only person who can convert the Silver Lums made by the Fairies into powers. It is speculated (in the game) that Rayman could in fact be a 'chosen one' selected by all the gods of all the worlds, destined to fight against evil. Despite this, Rayman has not allowed it to dampen his views on life and continues to be witty and rather energetic. The games take place in seemingly unconnected areas. The original, 2-D Rayman games take place in what is called Rayman's home world - a world that is kept stable by the Great Protoon. Most of the games after that take place in a seemingly different, more realistic world of a god named Polokus, while the Raving Rabbids take place in more contemporary settings and eventually Earth itself. The Protoon has not been spoken of in the games since, so whether or not these settings are of the same world or different ones remains a mystery.
Throughout his adventures, Rayman has accumulated a number of allies. These include bumbling Globox, helpful flying greenbottle Murfy, the numerous Teensies, and mystical Ly the Fairy, who has oddly not been seen since Rayman 2 except in handheld spin-offs. Rayman is also friends and allied with Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, Abe the Mudokkon, and Croc the titular character from the Croc series. They were featured together in a copy of PowerStation magazine.
The original story from the Atari Jaguar version of Rayman claims he was originally a boy named Jimmy, brought into his game and set in a world called Hereitscool to fight the evil. This idea was quickly abandoned in enough time for the game's Jaguar release, and Rayman would remain a mysterious figure in his own world in the releases of the other versions of the game. (Saturn, PlayStation, etc.)
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||