Rayman 1: Moskito and Bzzit sprite mixeup

[Outerbeast]

Im sure you guys know in the 3rd level of Moskito's Nest where he chases you with a giant red grape, Moskito uses the wrong sprite using Bzzits instead and better yet, in the pc version the boss level uses bzzits sprites for moskito so moskitos sprite is never used for the pc port (or is non existent). The only port where all instances with moskito have the correct sprites is the Jaguar port, and thats the worst port of the game (gba doesnt count because its an inferior peice of hardware)

Bzzits sprite


Moskito chasing with incorrect sprite (all ports)


Moskito boss fight with correct sprite (PSX+Saturn ports)


Moskito boss fight with incorrect sprite (PC port)


Anyone ever attempted to fix this or even if its possible to fix this??

Please note this post isnt asking for a patch or bugfix of any sort and is purely for disscussional purposes.

[PluMGMK]

I'm not sure if the phrase "discussed to death" would be appropriate here.
Anyway, the PC version in fact does use a different set of sprites for the Moskito boss, but if I recall correctly, the inferior technology used to run the game on DOS can use a palette of only 256 colours, unlike the other versions, which can use 65,536 colours. Hence the sprites look exactly the same due to palette limitations.
As for the chase sequence, it's tougher to figure that one out. I think there may be some other kind of palette mistake involved.

[Outerbeast]

I'm not sure if the phrase "discussed to death" would be appropriate here.
Anyway, the PC version in fact does use a different set of sprites for the Moskito boss, but if I recall correctly, the inferior technology used to run the game on DOS can use a palette of only 256 colours, unlike the other versions, which can use 65,536 colours. Hence the sprites look exactly the same due to palette limitations.
As for the chase sequence, it's tougher to figure that one out. I think there may be some other kind of palette mistake involved.

Couldnt they just use the sprite for when moskito carries the giant grape in the boss fight in the chase level?

[PluMGMK]

I don't know. I'm thinking they did that, but screwed up the palette somehow. Of course it's also possible that there was a Bzitt sprite holding the giant fruit which they used by mistake. Considering that there's a sprite of BadRay grimacing, I suppose that's a serious possibility. In which case they just made a very simple mistake, albeit one that's caused much frustration to people like us down through the years!

[Master]

Though it is curious that both porting teams ended up screwing up the detail at one point, I'm more curious about the PS1/Saturn team ending up having Bzzit instead of Moskito. Given that palette limitations probably wouldn't cut it in this respect.

[PluMGMK]

The object code used in the editor for the Rayman 1 engine is highly numeric. Using one set of sprites over the other would have involved writing "MST2" instead of "MST" as part of a long and convoluted series of numbers. If they had to rewrite this particular code for any reason it would have been a very easy mistake to make, and one that probably wouldn't have been noticed until it was too late, if at all.

[Outerbeast]

The object code used in the editor for the Rayman 1 engine is highly numeric. Using one set of sprites over the other would have involved writing "MST2" instead of "MST" as part of a long and convoluted series of numbers. If they had to rewrite this particular code for any reason it would have been a very easy mistake to make, and one that probably wouldn't have been noticed until it was too late, if at all.

So your saying, this can be remedied?

[PluMGMK]

Unfortunately no, unless we could hack into the world/map files of the PS/Saturn versions. (Which could also potentially be done I guess, but nobody has done it yet)

[Outerbeast]

Is there any tools that can be used to access the map files available?

And for the PC port is that pretty much unfixable? You would think that in the release of Rayman Optimum with all the updated graphics and sound quality etc they would look into fixing errors like that.

Ive also noticed in the pc version of rayman 1 the sound effects are lower pitched than the rest of the ports, but the rayman designer, rayman 60 levels and rayman by his fans the sfx sound correct. Is there a possibility this could be fixed? I did ask emshomar on his channel a few months ago if its possible to fix this but he never replied to me

[PluMGMK]

Someone has looked into hacking the sprite files of the PC version with some success, and it's possible that the map files in the other versions are encoded the same way, so someone with a bit of free time could try to develop a tool.

As for Rayman Optimum, it's still pretty much the plain old DOS game running in an optimised emulator. It might be possible to hack the palette used in the boss level but not the chase one.

I'm not sure about the SFX, but I kind of like the low-pitched ones for some reason.

[Outerbeast]

I'm not sure about the SFX, but I kind of like the low-pitched ones for some reason.

Could the sfx files for rayman designer be used to replace the sfx files for rayman 1? Or is it far more complicated?

[PluMGMK]

It is indeed far more complicated. As far as I know, the way in which the SFX are stored is not even understood.

[Outerbeast]

I wished i had some tools to edit the files in rayman 1 to fix these problems.

[PluMGMK]

BUMP!
I used to be one of the most vocal proponents of the two-mosquito theory, but since playing Rayman Origins and Legends, I've found it to hold less water than I once thought. The biggest hole in it is that most of the community now accepts that Bzzit is the mosquito fought in Anguish Lagoon, when there actually isn't a shred of evidence for that. On the contrary, Bzzit is mentioned only in a game that is at best semi-canon and the design differences are huge, arguably moreso than those brought in by Origins.
I'm still willing, for now, to accept that two different mosquitoes are fought in Rayman 1, if only because up to four can appear at once in Origins and Legends. But the idea that the first one is named "Bzzit" is too much of a stretch for me.