Rayman Legends Retold

[Chilistudios]

Looking at Rayman's new design again, I feel that whoever was in charge put a little too much detail in his eyes. I didn't notice it at first because I had a rather small screen. Here's my crappy attempt at a paintover.

[Sabertooth]

Looks like Rayman's design for his cameo in the third Mario movie.

[SuperSinge]

I don't mind it too much because this level of detail won't really be visible in the game, but I feel that a lot of his identity gets lost when they try to over-render his face like that. Making everything hyper-detailed and glossy isn't always better.

[Noodle]

Hey I've got a question.

Is there now only one Grand Minimus instead of the four like in the previous games?

[RayGamer99]

Probably not. Even if he's the only one that shows up in Retold, there were always more than one that fought over the crown, and I don't see why they'd retcon that cornerstone of their character. Even Legends and its spin-offs mention that in their description for the playable Grand Minimus!

The Teensies are the tiny wizards who guard the secrets of the Glade of Dreams, and this fellow is one of their kings (yeah, they have a lot of them).

[Hunchman801]

It's always been a bit confusing what this term exactly refers to. For example, the Rayman 3 press release states that the Grand Minimus are the four Teensie kings:

Leading the Teensie peoples as the caretaker of the Heart of the World, the Grand Minimus is the greatest little king of them all. Or kings, that is. Recent reports claim that no less than four Teensies squabble over rights to don the Minimus crown. Now, the evil Hoodlums are threatening to seize the Heart of the World – will the real Grand Minimus please stand up?

But then, the official French website for the game called them "an order within the Teensie population" (translated from French):

The Grand Minis represent a special order within the Teensie population. They are responsible for guarding the Heart of the World, which gathers all the energy of the Glade of Dreams.

And indeed, there are more than just four crowned Teensies in the game, although it could very well be an oversight.

[Noodle]

Ohh okay then!

I like the idea of only one Grand Minimus always tagging along with Rayman and his friends. Kinda makes him stand out as being the most physically active out of the four kings!

[Haruka]

Ubisoft just posted a character bio of Globox and his scale colour trivia from Origins still stands but on an ambiguous tone:



Considering most of his children are blue, were they also stung by the mosquitoes? The Knowledge of the Yellow Lums states that Globox and his family were created by Polokus... So what's the actual stand? I still prefer to think that all Vita mosaics are Teensie folklore tales.

[Hunchman801]

I like that they're keeping it ambiguous! I'm not a big fan of the mosaic stories, but I'll happily tolerate them if they're meant to be taken as folklore. Kinda like this quote from the Origins manual:

The mystery surrounding how the Glade’s all­-time undefeated champion snoozer became blue is a matter of some speculation among the magic peoples. The other Red Wizards of his Vubooduboo­-practising clan whisper of venomous bubeastietubbis, while the Teensies favor an epic tale of high-comedy featuring Globox’s fondness for sacred plum juice.

[RayGamer99]

Nice to see another bio! If the pattern persists, it looks like they're going to release these every Wednesday. I think we can expect bios for the Grand Minimus, Barbara, and maybe Murfy and the Bubble Dreamer in the coming weeks, but I wonder if they'll do that for characters like Betilla, the new villain, the returning bosses, or any returning/new heroes.

Back on the topic of Globox's bio, I vaguely remember him having solid strength in Hoodlums' Revenge, but I didn't know that Globox was extremely strong! Also, it's a bit odd that they didn't mention Globox's cowardly streak, considering how prominent it was in Rayman 2 and 3. I take it he's grown more confident as time passed, hence why he doesn't appear to be scared of the enemies in Origins or Legends, but I thought it would at least be worth noting how he's overcome his fears.

It's pretty interesting that they kept the origins of Globox's color ambiguous here, especially since Red Globox's previous descriptions seemed to double down on the mosquito story. Personally, I don't have a strong opinion on his mosaic story being true or not (the same cannot be said for Rayman's mosaic, however ), so I wouldn't mind if this really was just another Rayman legend.

[daniel careon]

I always found the blue berries and mosquito story hilarious, but keeping it as an in-universe "legend" rather than a hard fact is a smart way to handle the Origins mosaics without locking everything into strict canon.

Really hoping your prediction is right and we get a villain bio soon! Seeing an official modern write-up for Betilla would be awesome too.

[Hunchman801]

I just came across these pieces of Retold concept art shared by Ubisoft Montpellier on LinkedIn a few days ago:

[hoodlumsworld]

Seeing these really makes me want to see how they redid the Mysterious Inflatable Island and the El Luchador arena in 3D.

But notice how the Kung Foot island from the world map is a thing now in that third image. I imagine they'll replace the steppe backgrounds in the game too?

[daniel careon]

But notice how the Kung Foot island from the world map is a thing now in that third image. I imagine they'll replace the steppe backgrounds in the game too?

I thought some of the gameplay we saw still showed a steppe landscape?

[MakaryGlobsky]

I WISH they just further enhanced the UbibubiArt look. These just look so goregous, I didn't know that was ever an option. Although, the lighting on Rayman does still look forced... It really does remind me of RO and RL concept art, even makes me a bit nostalgic! I wonder what made them go 3D? Maybe 2D was never an option and I'm being a fool? Maybe budget restraints (yeah probably that)? Maybe they think people are bored with UbiArt (they are it's just me that's not)? This all just makes me sad. From what I understand we could have gotten another Moner Liser - instead of... raytracing (pun not intended) amalgamation? Huh.

[RayGamer99]

Looks like the Rayman X/Twitter account decided to give us the Grand Minimus bio a day early! Seems like they're referring to his name as that of a singular person rather than as a title.

Since when did all Teensies have shamanic powers? And since when was he so bad at using them?

[Hunchman801]

As if it weren't confusing enough that some sources list "Grand Minimus" as a title and others as a Teensie order, now it has also become a proper name.

[RayGamer99]

As if it weren't confusing enough that some sources list "Grand Minimus" as a title and others as a Teensie order, now it has also become a proper name.

Consistency has never been this franchise's strong suit, so at this point I guess they're just embracing that fact...

[hoodlumsworld]

I find the Grand Minimus really creepy now with his bug-eyes and teeth.

[RayGamer99]

I find the Grand Minimus really creepy now with his bug-eyes and teeth.

I find it easier to get used to his eyes in-game than in detailed artwork like this where it looks kind of weird. The same can't quite be said about his teeth, however; that's gonna look strange no matter where I see 'em.