Rayman (Game Boy Color)

[RaymanM64]

Perfect, I'll wait for your confirmation before I make further changes.

I took in screen :

- hearts ( which fill all your gauge to the max no matter the health level )

- The lives

- All the stinging balls that swing (with their different appearances and as you can see, they appear in ALL the levels
The small stinging balls swing automatically and you just have to jump over them, but the big stinging balls need to be hit
so that they can swing in 360 degrees to be able to pass. )

- All the platforms and their different appearances, I attach an image on Paint that describes their actions and their skins in the levels.

CORRECTION:

- The carnivorous plants appear only in Arcane Forest, I redid the 4 levels of Dark Legacy and I did not find them, knowing that there are no cages to find
and neither of challenge, except the bats (that it is the one which turns around the platform or with rings to hang) there is no other enemy on the spot.

- The HP of the carnivorous plants is 3 (I was well mistaken), by typing "normally" on their heads, it took me 3 hits.

- On the wiki, in the category of unused animations, next to the "smiley", there is an animation of "Rayman's body that bounces" for the map, this animation
is well and truly used in the game (proof in screen) since this animation is used as an icon for the Time Attack and Dark Legacy.

The link to download the file with all the screens you need : https://www.mediafire.com/file/whe1clkz ... e.zip/file

If you need any help , im here !

[Hunchman801]

Thanks, this looks perfect and should contain everything I need.

I have uploaded some of missing pictures and finished the article for Arcane Forest. Well, that's besides the name of the platforms, but now that you've provided with me all the information I need, I should be a able to take care of that, too.

Clouds and bongos already have their own articles, and I already plan to create a single article for all four kinds of "head platforms" (for lack of a better name). The only thing I'm still not sure about is what to do about the rocky platforms found in Rocky Peaks and Fiery Depths. Spiky platforms and stalactite platforms are rather specific objects and it probably doesn't make sense to bundle the GBC rocky platforms with them. So, maybe bundle those together, separately from any existing type of platform? What name to give them, then? All opinions welcome!

[Xtof60]

I see you ended up bundling the rocky platforms together, it makes sense.

[Hunchman801]

Yes, and I think we're pretty much good for the coverage of this game on the wiki. Maybe there's just the sections about its early development which could be expanded, given the screenshots found in the manual that show differences with the final game.

Also, a Chinese fan recently got his hands on the Japanese manual for the game. Sorry for the bad quality, he doesn't have a scanner. But what's really interesting is the map, and the fact that Japanese is the only language to have the level names translated from English. Even the French version never got a proper translation.

[Mortamon Saturn]

So, we've been updating the RayWiki with what we discovered on the early development, and I noticed many interesting things!
Seems like the game would have got some sort of recurring enemy in most worlds as there are entities with a reoccurring shape: big head with yellow feet!
-The one in the Spellbound Forest seems very totem-like and appears to spit some projectile (which I confused for a fist at first), that may be some gas or some fire (same colour as the fire traps in the final game and "Blowing Fuffy gas"... [DON'T. MAKE. ANY. JOKES. ]).
-We can't fully see the one from Airy Tunes as it's hidden behind some decoration, but I assume it may have a trumpet as its mouth due to its similar appearance to the vertical trumpets.
-Finally, the one we already saw before in the picture with Beta Bad Rayman seems stone-like or maybe ghost-like.







Also, don't you notice anything curious about that "Flying Ring" in that first picture on close inspection? That's right, it doesn't seem to be a ring at all! It even seem like mosquito's beak, like those of the Rayman characters! Could "Bzzit/Moskito" have been made into a regular Rayman GBC enemy like the many mosquitoes in 2D Madness?
That or it's just a weird worm-like tentacle and I've been overanalyzing things.
That would also explain why the final Flying Rings got such a different design, as they're most likely recycled sprites.

And there are many other things such as recoloured backgrounds and graphics (with Rocky Peaks appearing colder and so closer to the Blue Mountains), small nenuphar platforms, blue spiky balls on chains like in Rayman 1, or objects standing on platforms with no actual tiles (like an Antitoon on a cloud, which should be impossible).

It's not on the Wiki yet, but I've also noticed in the screenshots of the Japanese manual that there seems to be a different rocky platform (and level design) featured in Fiery Depths!

[Game Ze 2]

哈哈！我认识那个中国人！
Haha! I know that Chinese guy!

Yes, and I think we're pretty much good for the coverage of this game on the wiki. Maybe there's just the sections about its early development which could be expanded, given the screenshots found in the manual that show differences with the final game.

Also, a Chinese fan recently got his hands on the Japanese manual for the game. Sorry for the bad quality, he doesn't have a scanner. But what's really interesting is the map, and the fact that Japanese is the only language to have the level names translated from English. Even the French version never got a proper translation.

[Hunchman801]

It's not on the Wiki yet, but I've also noticed in the screenshots of the Japanese manual that there seems to be a different rocky platform (and level design) featured in Fiery Depths!

Which screenshots are those? They would be a great addition to our "Early development" section.

哈哈！我认识那个中国人！
Haha! I know that Chinese guy!

Indeed, thanks for getting him to take the pictures and sending them to us.

[Mortamon Saturn]

Hi again, here are some videos I've made on the Flash demo of Rayman GBC, including a more recent one showing some specific features and various glitches/oddities!
I should have shared the latest one about a month ago, but we're moving house and so I barely got any time for anything else than paperwork and cardboard boxes!





Here's my old summary of some of my discoveries:

I've made some discoveries today which I didn't get to showcase in the video yesterday:
-You can bypass the initial instructions by simply controlling Rayman instead of touching the text.
-Moving your mouse cursor to (most of) the Game Boy's buttons while there are no instructions on screen will highlight them and display relevant instructions for the controls.
-You can crawl... but you can't seem to be able to move.
-You can softlock yourself in some areas. This happened to me in two spots, the first being one of the first platforms (which is tight enough around the ground to cause Rayman to get stuck) and by jumping into the tree.
-You can take FALL DAMAGE! YES! Fall damage... in a 2D Rayman game! To do so, simply jump/fall off from the vine or the tree at the end. Doesn't matter how high you are or if you glide... you *will* take two hearts of damage by landing on anything other than the tree, even if the fall is one pixel high!... What's up with that, does Rayman got a rare condition that causes him to get hurt if he specifically falls off from a plant?
-And even worse: jumping INTO the tree while on the ground hurts you too! Running out of hearts works exactly like drowning so you can't game over by losing health either even if you have 0 lives.
-You can safely leave the vine or the tree by pressing down while at the bottom of the vine, which will allow Rayman to get back on the ground without any damage... Those rules don't make any sense!
-Losing a life near the tree can cause the music to duplicate once the level resets... Probably an emulation issue tho.
-The collisions can get wonky as I fell through the floor and drowned while jumping left while next to the vine. I think this specific location is cursed.
-Punching the Cage once adds it to the Cage tally even if it's not broken.
-Punching the Cage once then leaving by going far enough and returning to the Cage will reset its hit points, allowing you to punch it some more. It will not increase the Cage tally as it never goes beyond 1.
-The Cage's collisions are seemingly way taller than they actually are: you can actually hit it even if you're near the bottom of the vine despite Rayman's fist going through the tree like two meters below the Cage... Also works from the top of the vine, which is slightly above the Cage.
-Rayman can look different while climbing and dancing depending on what his last animation was (climbing, jumping, gliding...). This means he can even dance forever in mid-air or climb while his helicopter sounds and hair animations keep playing!
-Looking at the demo's files through a decompiler, there's a lot more content which can't be seen in the game (perhaps some due to emulating the demo)... including a loading screen, various differently colored GBCs interfaces, unseen animations, the Ting counter going up to 3 (with 2 and 3 being a red number over the 1 added in Paint ), and an identical map except the tree is a bit taller and the vine gets an extra decorative limb... Why is that one even a thing?
-There are also some texts I couldn't trigger, like one for failing despite no game over happening in my case.

On a positive note regarding the house move, I've found a pleasant surprise... I still have Rayman GBC's manual! In mint condition! It was stored alongside a few other GBC manuals in the box of my Nintendo DS Lite for some reason
But I'm afraid we still need the Rayman 2 Forever manual, I suppose...

It's not on the Wiki yet, but I've also noticed in the screenshots of the Japanese manual that there seems to be a different rocky platform (and level design) featured in Fiery Depths!

Which screenshots are those? They would be a great addition to our "Early development" section.

Sorry for the extremely late answer, but it was on page 10, with the map.
From what I can see looking again, there's also a cage below the tree's leaves in the Spellbound Forest despite this being an impossible spot usually. And this location is suspiciously *very* similar to the web demo's map, specifically the unused variation with a bigger tree... (It's a bit similar to another beta screenshot but it's clearly not the same one)
I also notice a Livingstone with a plum head in the Rainy Forest, and I don't recognize that spot either so it's probably not in the final game... and there might be even more differences I can't spot right now! I think the Ancient Forest is also not the same.

[Hunchman801]

I can see that you've documented the demo on the wiki, thanks for taking care of that!

On a positive note regarding the house move, I've found a pleasant surprise... I still have Rayman GBC's manual! In mint condition! It was stored alongside a few other GBC manuals in the box of my Nintendo DS Lite for some reason
But I'm afraid we still need the Rayman 2 Forever manual, I suppose...

That's right, it looks like we're missing that one too. Maybe it also has an obscure Japanese version?

Sorry for the extremely late answer, but it was on page 10, with the map.
From what I can see looking again, there's also a cage below the tree's leaves in the Spellbound Forest despite this being an impossible spot usually. And this location is suspiciously *very* similar to the web demo's map, specifically the unused variation with a bigger tree... (It's a bit similar to another beta screenshot but it's clearly not the same one)
I also notice a Livingstone with a plum head in the Rainy Forest, and I don't recognize that spot either so it's probably not in the final game... and there might be even more differences I can't spot right now! I think the Ancient Forest is also not the same.

All right, let me know when you're sure which ones are different from the final game and I'll upload the selection to the wiki and add them to our early development section.

[Mortamon Saturn]

All right, let me know when you're sure which ones are different from the final game and I'll upload the selection to the wiki and add them to our early development section.

Alright, this is what I can confirm about these pictures after some very close looks at the game's final maps:
-I looked at all of the Spellbound Forest maps and didn't find anything matching this in the final game, so it just resembles the web demo's level even if it's not identical.
-Airy Tunes appears to be identical to the early picture we already got on RayWiki. Definitely an unused area even if it shares a few similarities with a bit of level design found in this world's final level.
-I couldn't find anything matching the setup seen in Rainy Forest, and there are definitely no Livingstone in this world (but there were was another one in an early picture for Rainy Forest).
-Rocky Peaks is the same as the RayWiki one, except we see a tiny bit more of it. Still unused stuff.
-I couldn't find anything matching the Ancient Forest one, but an area (below the three big totems with the final blowing fuffies at their top) in the second bonus level looks suspiciously similar to it at least when in comes to the way the graphics are placed, so it may have been recycled into the final game. Also, it seems the manual's picture has a Ting inside the totem, which is normally impossible as they're solid tiles.
-Definitely nothing like that level design setup in Fiery Depths, and that spiky platform isn't in the game.
-Arcane Forest is the same as the RayWiki one, except we see a tiny bit more once again. Not in the final game.

Sorry for replying exactly one month later, I'm really a snail again!

[Hunchman801]

Thanks, I still haven't gotten to uploading them to the wiki but at least I know which ones are relevant now.

Also, following up on this (I might as well stop hijacking the Rayman ReDesigner thread again):

It's not really a screenshot but actually a compilation of every level banner file from the cutscenes (I took the files provided by RayCarrot, and used them as the basis for my custom titles).
Those level names do show up in the game alongside their symbols (generic circles alongside English text for the worldwide version, and unique symbols alongside the Japanese text that you see in this picture for the Japan version), appearing at the end of every world's introduction in both the worldwide and Japanese version.
For example, you can see the English Airy Tunes in the time I've stamped in this longplay.

However, what I did forget is that they actually appear colored in-game and not like mine! In the worldwide version, Spellbound Forest is completely purple while the others are a mix of white and sky blue. Finally, in the Japanese release, the Spellbound Forest is completely purple again while the others have a light yellow text with blue symbols! I'll have to create accurate colored versions later... (but of course, I'm not scrapping the previous custom ones)
I didn't get to play the Japanese version myself so I can't really comment on any differences besides these levels banners, but there's thankfully a longplay of it on YouTube should we need to check any changes!

Thanks for the clarification! I need to update our article then, as it doesn't mention the presence of the level names in the game itself. One last thing: what about Dark Legacy? I don't see it in your image, and while it doesn't appear to have an introduction sequence, its name is still present in the world map, at least in the international version of the game (and just like every other level name, it seems). Any idea how the Japanese version handles the world map?

On a side note, it's interesting that the error present in the manual (Arcane Forest is called ダーク・ワールド, literally "Dark World", and Dark Legacy 秘密の森, which translates to "Secret Forest") is also present in the game. Not sure how those two got inverted in the first place!

[Mortamon Saturn]

And now I realize that I also forgot about the names appearing in the World Map, and this time with the same yellow colours as the files I got and without symbols...
Dark Legacy does have a "banner" from the map (which is actually "Dark Legacy Extra"... so in a sense, the name we've always used for this world is "wrong" ), but the "Dark Legacy" part of the text is pretty much no different from my custom one (symbols excluded) as I made sure to respect the pixel spacing rules for every characters.

As for the Japanese version... No idea, and the only playthrough I already found doesn't have it or even Dark Legacy...
I doubt they handled it differently (aside probably from Dark Legacy... Sorry, I meant "Dark Legacy *Extra*" ), but you can never be too sure...
Though I just realized by looking at the files that they bothered to edit most of the Japanese cutscenes to give every character an extra finger (Because the number 4 is just that evil! )... But they forgot to do it in the Helicopter scene for Fiery Depths specifically! Let's ban this game in Japan right away, we cannot stand to allow such offensive material on the shelves!!

On a side note, it's interesting that the error present in the manual (Arcane Forest is called ダーク・ワールド, literally "Dark World", and Dark Legacy 秘密の森, which translates to "Secret Forest") is also present in the game. Not sure how those two got inverted in the first place!

They were probably too busy counting the numbers of digits on Rayman and Mr Dark's hands to realize! (...And they didn't even get it right either )


All of this also raises similar questions for the PDA versions, but I couldn't find any file related to level banners... Though, I did find a bit of footage from the Pocket PC version where you can see that the World Map uses generic pink texts for the names.

As for Palm OS (color), the titles appear above on the screen and are white with purple/pink borders. I miraculously just found a longplay of it (Dark Legacy included... and this time *no* "Extra"! Pure heresy!! ), although it is recorded with a camera!
This version uses save files, it appears to be referred to as "RaymanGo", Time Attack is referred to as "Bonus World Map"... and it manages somehow to be more painful for our fingers than Rayman DS!

I always found it interesting how these versions seem to use the World Map between every level whereas you have to unlock it in the GBC game by finishing the adventure... Possibly due to limitations related to its password system...

[Hunchman801]

Yeah, the thing about the fingers is documented here, though it doesn't mention the exception in Fiery Depths.

Those are some interesting findings regarding the Palm OS version too, the "Bonus World Map" name is probably worth documenting as well.

Anyway, I don't think that the world map "banners" are present in the RayCarrot's asset archive, so I cannot confirm Dark Legacy's in-game Japanese name at the moment. I'll have to further investigate!

[Mortamon Saturn]

As insignificant as it is, it's impressive how they managed to make the Fiery Depths mistake when they could have just copy-pasted the identical Rocky Peaks picture which they did update...
In a sense, they also "forgot" to change some other pictures (namely world introductions), but the fingers are too hard to really notice in those and so they most likely had no reason to bother adding unnecessary pixels.

For the sake of convenience, I did a direct comparison of all the worldwide/Japanese screens where I noticed differences:
Spellbound Forest to Fiery Depths
Arcane Forest and various menu screens

[PluMGMK]

I thought it wasn't that the number four was (supposedly) evil, but that four-fingered characters look like they've been punished by the Yakuza? I've heard that's why the Simpsons never caught on in Japan…

[Hunchman801]

That's indeed the reason invoked by the localization team who worked on the Japanese version of Rayman 2 for the Dreamcast, although they did eventually reconsider their decision, unlike in Rayman for the GBC.

[Hunchman801]

I only noticed now, but the walkthrough from the old Rayman Pocket website provides some interesting information that I hadn't noticed before. Among other things, it confirms the name of the carnivorous plants, but it also consistently says "Blowing Fluffy" when referring to those air-blowing creatures, indicating that the term Blowing Fuffy" on the other page might simply be a typo. What do you guys think?

[Rsandee]

I only noticed now, but the walkthrough from the old Rayman Pocket website provides some interesting information that I hadn't noticed before. Among other things, it confirms the name of the carnivorous plants, but it also consistently says "Blowing Fluffy" when referring to those air-blowing creatures, indicating that the term Blowing Fuffy" on the other page might simply be a typo. What do you guys think?

I have no idea, as I never got past the second or third level as I found the game kinda boring..... but can I assume this is the answer to your Riddle of the Glade?

[Mortamon Saturn]

Well, as long as there are more occurences of Fluffy rather than Fuffy, that makes the first more likely to be the intended spelling.
But even then, it could be a case of different people writing the pages or someone falling into the habit of typing the same mistake because they forgot themselves what the right spelling was... it's something that did occur to me a few times while working on Rayfanpedia!
I don't know on what RayCarrot, Droolie or anyone else working on Ray1Map based themselves for the ID on the site, but they are indeed "BlowingFuffy" there... So it could be the game's internal name.


I guess the best course of action would be to move the page with a redirect, and we could possibly mention "Blowing Fluffies, or sometimes spelled Blowing Fuffies", or something similar.
It could make a bit more sense for their name as maybe their strange design was meant to convey something fluffy like cotton (and the yellow "gas" they expel could be a lot of pollen! )... although it may be too far fetched as their "blowing" parts appear much more metallic/trumpet-like... or maybe it's plant-like mouths/lips inspired by the flower tentacle's! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Their design always oddly reminded of Jumpluff from Pokémon, so who knows, could be an inspiration especially as both came into existence during the same era on the same console...


Regardless, very good find, I didn't notice it when I stumbled upon the archive some years ago!

[Hunchman801]

I have no idea, as I never got past the second or third level as I found the game kinda boring..... but can I assume this is the answer to your Riddle of the Glade?

Indeed, this turned out to be a good source of inspiration.

I don't know on what RayCarrot, Droolie or anyone else working on Ray1Map based themselves for the ID on the site, but they are indeed "BlowingFuffy" there... So it could be the game's internal name.

I'm pretty sure those are internal names, which means that it's probably best to keep Fuffy as main name and give Fluffy as an alternate one. I'll update the articles with the relevant references!