Rayman M Hebrew Version
Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 8:53 am
As part of my research into localized Rayman releases (e.g., Rayman 3), I recently obtained the Hebrew version of Rayman M from a retro game store. It is the first game in the series which had been officially translated, back in 2002.
As there is no voice acting in Rayman M, it is only a UI / text translation. It is pretty good, although not flawless. Observations are below.
Appearance
Click the thumbnails below for larger versions comparing the UK release with the Israeli one:
The box art is fully translated and mirrored (except the screenshots), just like they did later with Rayman 3. I would say the discs even look a bit nicer, with the full-color logo.
Disc Contents
Compared to the UK release, Disc 1 contains extra data files to support all localized languages in the installer (Hebrew, Czech, Brazilian, Hungarian, Polish). However, the Ubi.ins is configured to support only Hebrew, and I could not get the game itself to display anything other than Hebrew as well, but I might research it later. There are also differences in various LVL/PTR files (not all of them), in TEX16.CNT and TEX32.CNT, some in SetupUbi.exe, and RaymanM.exe is different too (more on it below). The date on RaymanM.exe is 26-May-2002, which suggests the game was released a full half-year later than the original retail version (November 2001). There is a RAYMANM.SAV file on the CD, although it does not seem to have any saved games in it.
All files on Disc 2 are completely identical to the UK release, down to the Yamakasi.bik strange trailer.
Copy protection
Here things get interesting. Neither ProtectionID nor Alcohol 120% could detect any form of protection on the discs, but when dumping them, they were complaining about read errors in a few sectors on both CDs. I presume these are bogus ''bad sectors'' for copy protection purposes, as there were no errors installing the games, copying any files manually, and the original and copied files read identical. There must be some copy protection code in RaymanM.exe (which would explain some of the different file contents), because it refused to run with a disc image demanding that the original CD2 be inserted. Replacing it with RaymanM.exe from the (unprotected) UK release allowed the game to run from the mounted CD image.
Compatibility
Unlike with Rayman 3, the UK and Israeli releases of Rayman M have the same installation ID, so the installer of either of them would detect the other already being installed. To install side by side, you could use Rayman Control Panel, or something similar. The save games are compatible between the two, as well - I did not notice any strange effects like in Rayman 3.
Translation
Since the characters in the game speak some sort of Raymanian (no real-life languages), and there is not any meaningful dialog - the only thing that had to be translated is the UI, character names and level names. As far as I could see, most of the translations seem reasonably accurate. I spotted nothing major, except one weird glitch - the words "Race:" and "Battle:" in the corresponding mode selection screens are written backwards - left-to-right instead of right-to-left. So מרוץ became ץורמ and קרב became ברק. You can see it in the screenshots below. I have no idea what could cause this glitch only in this one spot. Maybe the colon (:) messes up the text direction?
Names
The most interesting part is, of course, how the character names were translated. I superimposed all of them on the screeenshot and summarized in the table below:
So Globox being made into "Mogol" started here and carried into Rayman3. All the other characters have lost a great deal of their personality. Tily is simply "a fairy", the Razorbeard couple have been given descriptive, but impersonal names, and the Henchmen are diminished as well. Although "roboton" may be a word play on "automaton", who knows. The Teensies are reduced to insects!
Another unexpected thing is "lums" are translated to "diamonds" (יהלומים). This did not continue into Rayman 3, where call them "lums" (לומים).
Further research
It's interesting to me whether the content for other languages is somehow present in the game data files, and can be unlocked. Certainly in Rayman Origins this turned out to be the case - all localized content is always present, but is just disabled in certain versions. However, these were very different times, and that localization was done directly by Ubisoft.
Another thing I have no answer for - was there a manual booklet in Hebrew included with the game? The back of the case mentions "refer to the booklet for information on phone tech support". However, the retro game store I got it from had four different copies, and none of them had the booklet. An unfortunate coincidence? Or an error on the publisher's part? I don't know. There are also no digitized manuals on the disc, Hebrew or any other languages, just the Readme file.
As there is no voice acting in Rayman M, it is only a UI / text translation. It is pretty good, although not flawless. Observations are below.
Appearance
Click the thumbnails below for larger versions comparing the UK release with the Israeli one:
The box art is fully translated and mirrored (except the screenshots), just like they did later with Rayman 3. I would say the discs even look a bit nicer, with the full-color logo.
Disc Contents
Compared to the UK release, Disc 1 contains extra data files to support all localized languages in the installer (Hebrew, Czech, Brazilian, Hungarian, Polish). However, the Ubi.ins is configured to support only Hebrew, and I could not get the game itself to display anything other than Hebrew as well, but I might research it later. There are also differences in various LVL/PTR files (not all of them), in TEX16.CNT and TEX32.CNT, some in SetupUbi.exe, and RaymanM.exe is different too (more on it below). The date on RaymanM.exe is 26-May-2002, which suggests the game was released a full half-year later than the original retail version (November 2001). There is a RAYMANM.SAV file on the CD, although it does not seem to have any saved games in it.
All files on Disc 2 are completely identical to the UK release, down to the Yamakasi.bik strange trailer.
Copy protection
Here things get interesting. Neither ProtectionID nor Alcohol 120% could detect any form of protection on the discs, but when dumping them, they were complaining about read errors in a few sectors on both CDs. I presume these are bogus ''bad sectors'' for copy protection purposes, as there were no errors installing the games, copying any files manually, and the original and copied files read identical. There must be some copy protection code in RaymanM.exe (which would explain some of the different file contents), because it refused to run with a disc image demanding that the original CD2 be inserted. Replacing it with RaymanM.exe from the (unprotected) UK release allowed the game to run from the mounted CD image.
Compatibility
Unlike with Rayman 3, the UK and Israeli releases of Rayman M have the same installation ID, so the installer of either of them would detect the other already being installed. To install side by side, you could use Rayman Control Panel, or something similar. The save games are compatible between the two, as well - I did not notice any strange effects like in Rayman 3.
Translation
Since the characters in the game speak some sort of Raymanian (no real-life languages), and there is not any meaningful dialog - the only thing that had to be translated is the UI, character names and level names. As far as I could see, most of the translations seem reasonably accurate. I spotted nothing major, except one weird glitch - the words "Race:" and "Battle:" in the corresponding mode selection screens are written backwards - left-to-right instead of right-to-left. So מרוץ became ץורמ and קרב became ברק. You can see it in the screenshots below. I have no idea what could cause this glitch only in this one spot. Maybe the colon (:) messes up the text direction?
Names
The most interesting part is, of course, how the character names were translated. I superimposed all of them on the screeenshot and summarized in the table below:
Code: Select all
Character Hebrew Pronunciation Meaning
Rayman ריימן Rayman
Razorbeard מסורון Masoron Little (male) saw
Globox מוגול Mogol
Henchman 800 רובוטון800 Roboton 800 Little robot
Teensies דו חרק Du Herek Bi-insect
Henchman 1000 רובוטון1000 Roboton 1000 Little robot
Tily פיה Feya Fairy
Razorwife מסורית Masorit Little (female) saw
Another unexpected thing is "lums" are translated to "diamonds" (יהלומים). This did not continue into Rayman 3, where call them "lums" (לומים).
Further research
It's interesting to me whether the content for other languages is somehow present in the game data files, and can be unlocked. Certainly in Rayman Origins this turned out to be the case - all localized content is always present, but is just disabled in certain versions. However, these were very different times, and that localization was done directly by Ubisoft.
Another thing I have no answer for - was there a manual booklet in Hebrew included with the game? The back of the case mentions "refer to the booklet for information on phone tech support". However, the retro game store I got it from had four different copies, and none of them had the booklet. An unfortunate coincidence? Or an error on the publisher's part? I don't know. There are also no digitized manuals on the disc, Hebrew or any other languages, just the Readme file.
Did some of the original DVD copies use transparent plastic too?
