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* Rayman also makes a cameo in the Ubisoft title ''[[Academy of Champions]]'', in which he is part of the Ubisoft team which features characters from other Ubisoft franchises such as ''Beyond Good and Evil'', ''Splinter Cell'', ''Prince of Persia'' and ''Assassin's Creed''.  <small>[[http://academyofchampions.uk.ubi.com/the-game/players/ 1]]</small>  In this team, Rayman is the goalkeeper. A hat based on Rayman's head is also available from the game's Item shop.
* Rayman also makes a cameo in the Ubisoft title ''[[Academy of Champions]]'', in which he is part of the Ubisoft team which features characters from other Ubisoft franchises such as ''Beyond Good and Evil'', ''Splinter Cell'', ''Prince of Persia'' and ''Assassin's Creed''.  <small>[[http://academyofchampions.uk.ubi.com/the-game/players/ 1]]</small>  In this team, Rayman is the goalkeeper. A hat based on Rayman's head is also available from the game's Item shop.
* Due to a Rayman's reaction during an activity in ''[[Rayman Premier Clics]]'' and due to the cover picture in a Joystick's magazine about ''[[Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc]]'', it is presumed that Rayman loves chocolate although it is not confirmed if it is his favourite food or not.
* Due to a Rayman's reaction during an activity in ''[[Rayman Premier Clics]]'' and due to the cover picture in a Joystick's magazine about ''[[Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc]]'', it is presumed that Rayman loves chocolate although it is not confirmed if it is his favourite food or not.
* Rayman can play the harmonica, as shown in [[Rayman Activity Centre]].


==Gallery==
==Gallery==

Revision as of 19:39, 1 February 2011

Rayman
Other names {{{other names}}}
Alignment Good

Appears in Rayman, R2, R2: Revolution, RM, RA, RR, R3, RRR, RRR2, RTAS, RJ RK, RB, RG, TT, RO
Location {{{location}}}
Portrayed by {{{portrayed by}}}

Sex Male
Species Unknown
Status Hero

Relatives {{{relatives}}}

Unlock criteria {{{Unlock criteria}}}

Rayman is the main protagonist in the Ubisoft video game series of the same name. He is the creation of French game designer Michel Ancel (who had first designed Rayman in the early 90s), and with his trademark lack of limbs and helicopter hair, he has become a popular and recognisable video game character over the past decade, making his debut in 1995 on the Atari Jaguar and appearing in several titles for many different platforms up to the present day.

Character description

Appearance

Rayman soon had to have his limbs removed due to graphical processing problems

Rayman was originally designed to simply be an athletic character and to have a full body, but because it could not be fully rendered even on games consoles in the mid-90s, he was left without arms, legs and a neck – his hands, feet and head float around his body. He has a huge round nose, and strawberry-blonde hair which he divides into two fronds (three in Rayman). He has the ability to use his hair as a helicopter, which lets him glide across large spaces and make soft landings. His eyes are dark blue in colour, though in most official artwork they are coloured black; two pictures in Rayman showed him with lighter blue eyes. While Rayman is unique in most of the games, other members of his unknown species are seen in Rayman, notably the Magician, Tarayzan, the Musician and his wife and child.

Rayman is almost always seen in white gloves and a purple torso with a mysterious white ring on the chest, through which he gains new powers from Betilla the Fairy. The symbol can also absorbs the Silver Lums created by the fairies, and magically opens the pillars containing the Four Masks of Polokus in Rayman 2. Up until Rayman 3, he wore a red neckerchief, which was then replaced with a red hood. He also wears shoes that are typically yellow and white, though the actual designs have changed throughout the series. Rayman Raving Rabbids is where he is seen wearing different clothing that has raised a few questions about his ‘limblessness’ as he sometimes looks as if he has knees, such as the Disco costume with its trousers/pants. In Rayman Origins, his Rayman 3 attire was used, even though Origins is set chronologically before the original game.

Physical

Rayman is a very laid-back character, as he is often seen snoozing either on a hammock or up against a tree, but he is also very athletic and shows great gymnastic skills (able to scale wall sides, and in the Game Boy Advance version of Rayman 3 he is able to do a "body shot", kick enemies and can do monkey bars), especially since being given the power to run in Rayman, and then get noticably better from Rayman 2. He is also strong enough to carry things such as baby Globoxes, Magic Spheres, plums and kegs. He can run while carrying the kegs in [Rayman Revolution]] if he purchases an optional upgrade at the Magic Well. Rayman is also right-handed.

He started out as a very poor swimmer, as in the original Rayman he would lose a life the instant he'd fall into any body of liquid, but he soon develops this skill fast by the time Rayman 2 is set in, although all he could do was a simple dog-paddle. In Rayman Revolution he is taught this by Murfy and a baby Globox at the beginning of the game. In Rayman 3 he is a keen swimmer, capable of using his helicopter hair to propel himself through the water, and he no longer seems to need any Blue Lums or air bubbles to breathe.

Personality

Rayman's true personality isn't very well looked into throughout the series, though most of the time he is a cheerful character with a good sense of humour. He is also very helpful, and is willing to take on whatever challenges face him for the sake of the safety and harmony of his world. Sometimes he can be a little childish, especially in Rayman 1, as he often pulls grimaces as a form of defence. Lately though he has become somewhat self-absorbed, especially in Rayman Raving Rabbids, as the Rabbids start to treat him like a celebrity during his captivity, though he remembers and worries about the baby Globoxes that he left behind. That however seems to be put behind him as the Rabbids continue to harass him in Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. But it was revealed through interviews with Michel Ancel that Rayman was meant to be a bit of a show-off who doesn't take himself seriously, though this side of him was overlooked during 'Rayman 2 because of Ubisoft's focus on the environments of the game. It was in Rayman 3 that Ubisoft tried to show Rayman's true colors, giving him a new look to match his personality and add to his charisma.

One of Rayman's first appearances in the series

Rayman's Origin

The following short story is taken directly from the manual of Rayman 2: The Great Escape. It tells of Rayman's first appearance in the Glade of Dreams, sometime before the events of the original Rayman game. He is discovered by fishermen, who for some reason do not seem to have encountered his species before.


Rayman is a unique character of unknown origin.

No wise man or magician can say by what twist of fate or whim of the gods Rayman came to appear at the Glade of Dreams.

All we know of him comes from the fishermen on the Sea of Lums. After a particularly stormy night they found him sleeping peacefully in the shade of a palm tree. Frightened by this strange creature from the sea, they called on the people of the forest, the skies and the waters for help. And the sun had not yet reached the zenith when a host of beings, each one more bizarre than the next, came tumbling over the violet sand dunes. They watched him for a long time. “What kind of a man can he be who has neither legs nor arms?”, they asked one another. “Can he possibly be alive?” wondered one of them when Rayman stretched and yawned loudly.

It didn't take Rayman long to convince the people of the Glade of Dreams of his good intentions. His energy and good humour, his fantastical powers and love of life and nature won over even the most distrustful of creatures. And when he triumphed over the evil Mister Dark, the truth was undeniable: Rayman was the bravest of them all, the ideal hero, the man for whom friendship and laughter are more important than anything else, for whom the greatest victory is measured by the extent of the celebrations that follow it.


Rayman's ultimate origin was finally revealed at the E3 expo of 2010, when Ubisoft showed a trailer for the upcoming prequel Rayman Origins:


‘Conjured from the magnificent moonbeams of the second summer solstice, woven together by [the] nymphs, destined to preserve the equilibrium of the sacred universe: the one we call... Rayman!’

The ‘nymph’ who creates Rayman in the trailer may be a younger version of Betilla the Fairy.

Trivia

  • When Rayman 2 was released in Japan and China, Rayman's purple clothes and the stripes on Ly's suit had to be changed to blue, because in those countries purple is the ‘colour of the dead’.
  • One of Rayman's hobbies is painting, which was revealed at a later point in Rayman 1 and in Rayman Junior.
  • Rayman also seems to like basketball. In Rayman 2, he would sometimes take his body off and play with it like a basketball whenever he is left idle. Also, in the Game Boy Advance version of Rayman 3 if the player decided to continue at the "Game Over" screen, Rayman would throw his body through a basketball net and catch it.
  • In Rayman 3 he seems to also show interest in football, as when he is left idle, he kicks his body around and can also kick turtles and plums.
  • Some of Rayman's gymnastic skills include handstands, somersaults and back flips.
  • Rayman makes a cameo appearance in both the credits of Tonic Trouble and the Ski Slope level.
  • Rayman also makes a cameo in the Ubisoft title Academy of Champions, in which he is part of the Ubisoft team which features characters from other Ubisoft franchises such as Beyond Good and Evil, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed. [1] In this team, Rayman is the goalkeeper. A hat based on Rayman's head is also available from the game's Item shop.
  • Due to a Rayman's reaction during an activity in Rayman Premier Clics and due to the cover picture in a Joystick's magazine about Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, it is presumed that Rayman loves chocolate although it is not confirmed if it is his favourite food or not.
  • Rayman can play the harmonica, as shown in Rayman Activity Centre.

Gallery

See also

Miscellanea