Prickly ball

Spiky balls, also known as prickly balls, are dangerous stage hazards which feature in the Rayman series.

In Rayman and its spin-offs

The spiky balls exist in various sizes. The most common kind, of small size, possesses eyes and randomly looks around itself: they are found in all worlds but the Dream Forest and Picture City. The other kind, of much larger size, has no eyes and is sometimes attached to a chain, which is made of three small ones with blank eyes. If it is not already spinning, Rayman can knock it with his fist but he must be careful not to get hurt. They are only found in the Blue Mountains and the Caves of Skops.

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  Rayman on a sprinkler, surrounded by spiky balls.
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  Rayman can punch those giant spiky balls to make them spin.
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  A large spiky ball.

In Rayman Junior

In the Rayman Junior games, there are also red spiky balls of both sizes, and if Rayman touches them, he will instantly lose a life. These red spiky balls usually appear on top of Rayman, or otherwise unavoidably in his path, when he selects an incorrect answer to a question. Occasionally, they instead block his path initially, then disappear after he selects the correct answer.

Red spiky balls fail to kill Rayman if he has just obtained a new life in the same frame when he touches them. This can be demonstrated in Rayman Designer by simply placing a life near a spiky ball. It can also occur in Rayman Junior if Rayman collects a Ting corresponding to a wrong answer while his Ting count is at 49. The fiftieth Ting will cause him to obtain a new life, triggering the glitch.

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  Red spiky balls must be avoided at all costs.

In Rayman Designer

In Rayman Designer, a green version of the small spiky balls appears in the Jungle world. Except for the color, there are no differences with the blue ones. The blue ones however still appear in the other worlds, except for the Image world, with several variants.

• Steady prickly ball (known simply as Prickly ball in the Jungle world where it also appears green and as Stationary prickly ball in the Cake world.) - Appears in place.
• Horizontal prickly ball - Moves horizontally.
• Vertical prickly ball - Moves vertically.
• Prickly ball in rotation - Moves in rotation.
• Zigzag prickly ball - Moves in zigzag.
• Prickly ball - A big Spiky ball.
• Constant prickly swing - A big spiky ball which constantly swings.
• Activatable prickly swing - A big spiky ball which swings when punched.

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  Green spiky balls, exclusively seen in the Jungle world.

In the Game Boy Color version of Rayman

In this game, spiky balls come in four colors and two sizes and share the same function as the ones which appear in the original Rayman game.

The smaller version can be either static or follow a predefined trajectory, often horizontal or vertical but sometimes more complex. The larger version is only found attached to a chain, and Rayman can make them spin by punching them.

Blue spiky balls do not have a large version and are only found in Airy Tunes. Brown spiky balls come in both small and large versions and appear in Rocky Peaks. Orange spiky balls also come in both versions and are found in Fiery Depths, with a unique variation of the large spiky ball which swings on its own like a pendulum, similarly to spiky fruits, and only appears in the second part. Finally, yellow spiky balls, both small and large, are found in Dark Legacy on all platforms, as well as in the last part of Rocky Peaks on Game Boy Color, but not on Pocket PC or Palm OS where they are brown like in the rest of the level.

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  Blue spiky balls in Airy Tunes
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  A brown spiky ball attached to a chain in Rocky Peaks
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  An orange spiky ball attached to a chain in Fiery Depths
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  Yellow spiky balls next to a red spiky fruit in Dark Legacy

In the Game Boy Color version of Rayman 2

A subset of the spiky balls found in the Game Boy Color version of Rayman also appear in Rayman 2 Forever, the Game Boy Color version of Rayman 2.

They include the small brown spiky balls and the large, orange spiky balls that swing on their own like pendulums, similarly to spiky fruits. They are only found in the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire.

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  The large orange spiky balls behave in a similar fashion to spiky fruits from the original Rayman game.