Ray Breakout
Ray Breakout is a hidden minigame which can be played only in the Atari Jaguar, PC and mobile versions of the original Rayman game. The minigame is essentially a Rayman-themed version of the Atari-developed arcade game Breakout, replacing the paddle with Rayman and replacing the bricks with plums.
Accessing the minigame
Atari Jaguar version
In the Atari Jaguar version of the original Rayman, Ray Breakout is unlocked by entering the code 1364 during the introductory animation in which Rayman is seen chasing his various body parts and assembling himself. The code is given after the player has beaten Mr Dark, at the end of the credits. However, the code is also hidden in the main game in the third part of Anguish Lagoon. While Rayman rides Bzzit, the friendly mosquito, four clusters of Tings in the shape of the numbers '1', '3', '6' and '4' are passed, giving the player a hint as to how the minigame is accessed. These Ting clusters are only present in the Atari Jaguar version.
PC version
In the PC version of the original Rayman, Ray Breakout is accessed by inputting a specific cheat code on the map screen. The cheat code varies, depending on the version, and on whether the player has defeated Mr Dark or not.
Mobile version
In the iOS and Android versions of the original Rayman, Ray Breakout is unlocked once all levels have been completed, including Mr Dark's Dare. It can be accessed from the map screen by tapping on the new button featuring the Magician's hat.
The Ray Breakout on the map in the mobile version of Rayman
Description
Atari Jaguar version
In the Atari Jaguar version, at the beginning of Ray Breakout, the player finds Rayman doing a handstand (an ability which he had in early versions of the game) on a pink, square-shaped platform that is floating in a dark area. The minigame is themed around the character of the Magician, with his theme playing throughout the minigame. The floor of the platform is decorated with yellow moons and stars, and its walls are decorated with yellow stars as well as images of the Magician's hat and baton. A large image of the Magician's hat, set in front of a large pink star and surrounded by four orbiting spheres, is also the only visible part of the otherwise black background.
With his feet, Rayman is balancing a white ball which, like the yellow buoys in the game's Eat at Joe's level, bears the name of Joe the Extra-Terrestrial, while a number of identical balls to the right of the screen indicate how many tries Rayman has left. A formation of plums of various colours – red, purple and orange, the same colours as spiky fruits – is floating at the top of the screen. These plums all have the standard green leaves. When the player presses the 'jump' button, Rayman kicks the ball, setting it in motion; after this point, the gameplay is almost exactly like that of the original Breakout game, but with a Rayman theme. When the ball hits a red plum, it changes to a purple plum; when the ball hits a purple plum, it changes to an orange plum; when the ball hits an orange plum, the orange plum disappears. The goal of the minigame is to get rid of all the plums.
The player moves Rayman from left to right. He acts as a ‘paddle’ – if he misses the ball and it reaches the floor, it is lost, and Rayman must use one of his spares. Rayman gives the ball a hard kick whenever it comes to his feet. If Rayman is within a short distance of the ricocheting ball, he will automatically lunge for it in an attempt to stop it from reaching the ground; this cannot be controlled by the player, and has the drawback of temporarily pausing Rayman's movement as he recovers. Occasionally, a plum will start flashing with vibrant colours for a few seconds; if Rayman manages to hit a flashing plum with the ball, it vanishes and releases a Ting, which descends slowly to the ground. If Rayman manages to catch the Ting, he will gain a spare ball (although the maximum number of spare balls which can be seen on the right of the screen is three, it is possible to have an even higher number; however, additional spares will be invisible). When Rayman causes all of the plums to disappear, the next stage begins. There are nine different stages of progressively increasing complexity and difficulty; once they are all complete, the previous stages are replayed randomly – it is not known if they ever end. If the player loses all their tries, the message "You lose" is displayed, and they must restart the entire minigame from the very beginning of the first stage.
As Rayman reaches more and more advanced stages, new types of plum appear. There are green plums with grey leaves, which cannot be vanished (and thus do not need to be vanished in order to finish the stage); Rayman's ball simply bounces off green plums without affecting them. They serve mainly as obstacles to the goal of vanishing the red, purple and orange plums. There are also blue plums with pink leaves; these are similar to the green plums, in that they cannot be vanished, except that they are much bouncier, causing Rayman's ball to speed up whenever it hits one of them. Finally, there are pinkish-orange plums with brownish-red leaves, which also cannot be vanished; in the stages where these plums appear, the entire formation of plums slowly descends towards Rayman, and hitting this special plum causes all the plums to temporarily reverse their descent. All three of these special types of plums flash when hit with the ball.
If the player manages to complete the entire minigame, they are granted infinite continues.
The first screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
The second screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
The third screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
The fourth screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
The fifth screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
The sixth screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
The seventh screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
The eighth screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
The ninth screen of the Breakout minigame in the Atari Jaguar version
PC version / Mobile
Compared to the Atari Jaguar version, Ray Breakout's scenery is of slightly higher quality, and the chip-generated rendition of the Magician's music is replaced with the CD-quality version. In the bottom-left corner of the screen, there is now a counter telling the player how many vanishable plums remain in the current stage. The special plums are recoloured in this version – all plums now have green leaves; the pinkish-orange plums are now grey; the orange plums appear more yellow in this version, due to slight palette differences. The special plums play unique sound effects when hit, but do not flash.
There are also differences in gameplay mechanics. Rayman decelerates much slower, and hitting a plum that is too close will cause the ball to fall through his feet; executing a quick lateral motion at this point may cause Rayman to lunge and save the ball. The green plums grow darker and eventually vanish if the ball hits them enough times; however, it is not required to do so to complete the level. Flashing plums are now more common – there is almost always a flashing plum in this version. Because flashing plums disappear immediately when hit, regardless of their normal color (red, purple, yellow), focusing on flashing plums allows levels to be completed faster. However, Tings released by them no longer replenish the player's spare balls, instead merely adding to Rayman's normal Ting count. In certain levels (seemingly at random), instead of Tings, flashing plums release Golden Fists, Speed Fists and Big Powers.
There are seven stages in the PC version, but two of them use exactly the same layout, except that the entire structure is shifted very slightly sideways. Five of the six level variants have corresponding levels in the Atari Jaguar version; the last layout is unique. The starting level varies every time the game is played, but after that, the stages progress in the same (circular) order. Rayman announces ‘Yo, dude!’ every time a stage is completed. If all seven are completed, Rayman exclaims ‘Yeah!’, and the message ‘Great’ is displayed. If the player runs out of balls, or hits Escape to quit the game, the message ‘See you soon’ is displayed, while the sound effect for the Hunter's laugh is played. Regardless of whether the game is completed, or ended prematurely, the player is returned to the map of the valley, and no other bonuses are granted, except whatever Tings or Power-ups Rayman has collected along the way.
In the mobile version, Ray Breakout is the same as in the PC version. There is, however, a bug that makes it impossible to move before releasing the ball when not using a controller. This makes the mini-game a lot harder to beat, as the player may be forced to release the ball under a plum, having it bounce right down. Completing the minigame will, like the PC version, take the player back to the world map.
Trivia
In the DSiWare version, the Ray Breakout minigame level exists in the files with all of its objects intact, but it cannot be accessed through normal means. Accessing it by hacking the game shows that the scripts to start the minigame were either disabled or never ported over from PC, resulting in the level playing as a normal level. The background is also not included in the game, resulting in it appearing glitched out.
External links
- Breakout minigame playthrough at YouTube (PC)
- Breakout minigame playthrough at YouTube (Atari Jaguar)
- Other Breakout clones at Wikipedia