Rayman himself

[THEdragon]

Well, lucky him.

[Cairnie]

It's from the Italian language select of Rayman Junior and IDK why Rayman had a beard but maybe it was to teach Italian babbys about what a beard is IDK

that feel when no wifi for weeks

[THEdragon]

Well, the Italian babbys need to learn what a beard is sooner or later, and what better way to teach them than through Rayman?

[Haruka]

OK, so it is from the Italian language.

@Omar Oh my god. xD

[THEdragon]

Makes me wonder how many more hidden gems are in other language versions of Rayman's edutainment games. Like that image of Rayman riding the rocking horse on French with Rayman. That wasn't in English with Rayman.

[MilesTheCreator]

RAYMAN! RAYMAN IN EVERYWHERE!
Very bad quote, isn't it?

[THEdragon]

Sounds like my place to be.

[Adsolution]

I like how something only 3-4 words long ended up sounding so ridiculously lame and broken it's hilarious.

[Alex Hofstadter]

Um... How does one submit a new topic? There's no "New Topic" button.

[incognito]

Oh, i guess you are Leonard's brother

[Lofty]

Yes hello I have arrived and am a little bothered by things, avatar things

BUT that has nothing to do with the topic at hand!

Rayman from Rayman 1 seems almost like a child and is practicaly a floating bean with a head, hands, and feet. But he's adorable, anyways, even if his hair is ridiculous to try and draw. :T

I saw earlier in the topic that the subject of the SNES version was being broached, and, if I may, I'd like to add my two cents. Frankly, I'm curious, and I do wonder if there ever was more than just those screens. More importantly, I wonder just who that second, female character was (at least, it can be assumed as much, given the prominence of the eyelashes, and even maybe the smaller body design than that of her fellow's), and if she'll ever show up again.

And I wonder why Rayman has so many edutainment games to begin with, and why he doesn't have them now. (I suppose the latter could easily be chalked up to them simply not being popular anymore... a shame, really.)

[PluMGMK]

Rayman was (and still is, technically, I think) UbiSoft's mascot, so his franchise was basically the best candidate for turning into an edutainment series, which I can assume was quite lucrative at the time. I think at one point their intention was to churn out a whole new Rayman once a year, since the genre was so easy to work with. Thank God they decided to go down a more creative route.

As for avatars, we use a ranking system here, your avatar is determined by your number of Tings (you get 5 per post and can earn extra ones in contests etc.), and winning certain contests gives you the right to a custom one for a month (or longer, if it slips the admins' minds ).

[Lofty]

Ah, that is a strange system! I suppose I'll just have to be happy with what I end up with... and leave any customization to my signature, I guess. I think I had guessed as much, at least a little bit. Not about the contests, though...

I'm not very used to forum communities anymore, I guess. But I think that this one is probably a little more involved than the ones Ive been to...

Anyways. I suppose it's good that he went the route of a proper gaming mascot. Though it honestly wouldn't have been too bad to have a little job on the side, as it were, as an educational tool for children. The popularity of a gaming icon could easily be exploited in this aspect, and probably still has a potential to be lucrative, even today. Plus, people kind of have a problem with being stupid these days, and school sucks the fun of living out of everything, as I understand it (I was homeschooled after elementary, so my information is second-hand), let well enough alone learning, so this might help to remedy that.

I actually think that Rayman could stand to have a little bit more character development- or at least some world development. I haven't actually played most of the games, if any of them (I can't remember if I got to try it on my brother's PS1 years ago or not; not even sure if he still has the game somewhere), so much of my experience is second-hand, regrettably; but as far as I can tell, the second game is the only one that truly expands upon the lore at all.

Also, I have a huge problem with his nebulous origin story. It was never actually referenced in the game itself (why it still gets to be called "Origins" I've no idea; it's not even the first in the series chronology- although I can't remember which games it goes between), except for the weird and vaguely disturbing cutscene from the Vita version that I could only suffer a few moments through before diving into the comments to find out precisely "what the hell".

It just seems... dumb to me, to have him be made by Betilla when a huge part of his deal was the "what is he, and where did he come from?" part. It's some seriously cruddy retconning, if you ask me. But then, I'm a fan of more extensive lore in videogames, and enjoy it in the few I get to play. I like the idea of worlds actually being, well, worlds; involved places with their own histories and inner workings. But I digress; I fear that his own history is becoming a bit muddy and confusing. I'd like it if the thing that was never actually shown in the game in the first place, be retconned for a more satisfying conclusion- one that has more build-up, maybe even to the point where it takes several more games to explain.

I'm kind of rambling here; it's not like I'd actually get to play any of these hypothetical games, anyway. I simply cannot afford it- believe me, I'd like to... I really would. I can't even play the games from series that I have had a far greater, more lasting devotion to, than this current resurgence of interest and affection for a relic of my own past. (Although I suppose I have known him for longer!) But, I can't help but babble on in a somewhat sleep-deprived state about how I feel he has a lot of character potential. He doesn't have to be all deep and brooding; he just has to be... well, a person, basically. He needs a bit more fleshed out personality than what he's got, one that's consistent (not that what's already there, however inconsistent, is a bad base to go on).

I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time making sense- or rather, I'm having a hard time understanding what I'm saying, myself, and therefore, am probably meandering a bit, as it were. I'm having issues concentrating.

[Haruka]

http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90 ... of-rayman/

I should check Bertrand today and see if they have got this magazine issue.

EDIT: Oops, it seems it is an older magazine. I guess I'll have to buy of from the internet somewhere...

[saerleiya]

I actually think that Rayman could stand to have a little bit more character development- or at least some world development.

He actually has some character development, but of course it is adapted to his category as a character. With his own personal appearance and the ambiance of each game that wen out about him, I really don't see the interest of going deep into his lore. It also makes him even easier to discover, what is good for a mascot: a mascot has to be recognised by the mass and appeal to them, and not necessarily by the lore of this character. Look at Mario, for example: yes, his universe is a bit developed, but by looking at the insame amount of games about the plumber and his friends, you can quickly guess that he isn't that much more developed than Rayman. Companies chose them because of the overall feeling they were communicating through their design, expressions, and animation.

But then, I'm a fan of more extensive lore in videogames, and enjoy it in the few I get to play. I like the idea of worlds actually being, well, worlds

That is clearly not the objective of most Rayman games, which prefer to focus on overall ambiance and gameplay through great environments/musics on one side, and gameplay balance on the other. I personnally don't know if I would like a very lore-oriented Rayman game. A more important development in this way would be rather nice, but not at the cost of the impact of design, music, and gameplay.

he just has to be... well, a person, basically. He needs a bit more fleshed out personality than what he's got, one that's consistent (not that what's already there, however inconsistent, is a bad base to go on).

I see what you are meaning here. I invite you to check out Adsolution's fan game about Rayman, "Revenge Of The Dark". He's had a lot of ideas about how to give more consistency to Rayman's personality, while not altering the overall feeling of a Rayman game (although it's really close to Rayman 1 in terms of ambiance, being colourful, eerie, funny, and dark at the same time).

[Shrooblord]

I like to think we can interpolate the lore of the Rayman games from between information that's been given us. I've been doing this for a while now and have discovered there's a great deal of stuff we can learn from 'reading between the lines' - I do realise that most of those speculations I make are just that, speculations, but I tend to try and stay as close to the source material as I can, postulating upon facts rather than expanding upon them. And I use those theories to synthesize my own lore about Rayman's universe and its worlds. From the Knowledge of the Worlds, I have derived my Theorem of the Energies (lol can I get more pretentious); from artworks I have found that I believe very strongly in Rayman and Ly being together; from the Pirates and their effect on the world, the in-game text and gameplay of the several games, story events across multiple titles and how characters react to the villains, I have discovered how balance is one of the key elements that drives the nature of Rayman's world, and I have made this very important in my scripts.

Basically - Rayman games have a lot of implicit lore, but less so explicit. You could call that 'perceiver's freedom' or 'lazy writing', but I'd like to think of it as the former. You're free to interpret art however you like - and games are as much as a form of art as a story or a painting would be. In fact, they even contain both of those in themselves inherently. Games try to shape worlds that make sense to themselves and try to take you with them into these worlds. This is one of the cool things about games: you can lose yourself in an otherworldly story. It's like active dreaming!

[saerleiya]

Basically - Rayman games have a lot of implicit lore, but less so explicit. You could call that 'perceiver's freedom' or 'lazy writing', but I'd like to think of it as the former. You're free to interpret art however you like - and games are as much as a form of art as a story or a painting would be. In fact, they even contain both of those in themselves inherently. Games try to shape worlds that make sense to themselves and try to take you with them into these worlds. This is one of the cool things about games: you can lose yourself in an otherworldly story. It's like active dreaming!

Nice theory: I usually like to see video games as very similar to books. A lot of people won't tell you that, especialy since now games are very detailed visually, but they are doing the same: they give you an imaginary world and a story. You can either choose to see it as it is, or try to develop it even more and imagine things the game is not presenting you in its content. A lot of people say that video games are bad because they deprive its player from the ability to imagine the environment the writer wants him/her to enter into. But in that aspect, it's not different at all from movies adapted from books. These movies impose a very specific vision to you. But, like books, video games give content and backbone for an universe. You can choose either if you want to leave it like what it is or change it.

Main difference between books and video games, probably, is that video games impose very specific visuals to you. It doesn't mean they are not as good as books, they just give less possibility in terms of imagination to its user.

[Cairnie]

http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90 ... of-rayman/

I should check Bertrand today and see if they have got this magazine issue.

EDIT: Oops, it seems it is an older magazine. I guess I'll have to buy of from the internet somewhere...

Didn't I already scan that article or did Megaupload take it with them?

[Snagglebee]

http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90 ... of-rayman/

I should check Bertrand today and see if they have got this magazine issue.

EDIT: Oops, it seems it is an older magazine. I guess I'll have to buy of from the internet somewhere...

Haven't read that article before! Many thanks for sharing

[Alex Hofstadter]

Oh, i guess you're Leonard's brother

...
I hate it when people mock my last name.

Back to the topic, why does Rayman 2's Rayman look like a 3D version of the original Rayman?