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Rayman, known as Rayman Yo! Electoon o Sukue! (レイマンよ!エレクトゥーンを救え!) in Japan, is a 2D platform game developed and published by Ubisoft for several consoles including the Sega Saturn. It features a limbless character named Rayman (supposedly a lack of limbs meant he was easier to animate) tasked with saving his friends from the evil Mr. Dark. The game was originally released for the Atari Jaguar, and was updated to take advantage of disc-based systems including re-balanced levels, Red Book CD audio, and higher quality sound.
At the time of release the game was noted for its vibrant and detailed graphics, setting it apart from most other 2D platformers at the time. It was followed by Rayman 2: The Great Escape.
In the planet in which Rayman lives, people are harmonious thanks to the Great Protoon. However one day, the evil Mr. Dark steals the Protoon, causing the Electoons, other tiny beings that maintain harmony on Rayman's planet, to scatter all over the world. Betilla the Fairy, a guardian of the Great Protoon, battled Mr. Dark to get back the Protoon and Electoons, but failed, so Rayman decides to go and find the Electoons, free the Great Protoon and defeat Mr. Dark. Betilla the Fairy frequently interacts with Rayman as needed to give him additional magical powers along his journey.
Gameplay
Betilla the Fairy
The game is split into six worlds, each one containing three to four stages each except for the final world, Candy Chateau. In each stage, the goal is not only to find the exit that lies at the end of each sub-stage, but also to find the six hidden cages per stage that hold Rayman's captured friends. While the game will continue to a certain point if all the cages are not found, Rayman can not enter Mr. Dark's hideout until all the cages are destroyed.
At the beginning of the game, Rayman only has the ability to walk, jump, and crawl. At certain points at the game, Rayman will receive new powers from Betilla the Fairy, which will allow him to progress further into the game as well as re-search previous levels to find new secrets and cages. Some of these abilities include Rayman throwing his fist to attack enemies, forming a helicopter with his hair to slow his descent, and hanging from ledges.
Rayman starts each life with three hit points and a slow fist, but finding power-ups in the levels can increase his maximum health to five hit points, as well as increase the speed, power, and range of his fist attack. Blue spheres called tings are also scattered across the levels, collecting one hundred of these will earn Rayman an extra life, and they can be also used to pay a magician hidden in a few of the stages to transport Rayman to a bonus area.
Design: Michel Ancel, Serge Hascoët with Bruno Bouvret, Sacha Gentilhomme, Michaël Guez, Christophe Thibaut
Animation: Alexandra Steible with Kamal Aitmihoub, David Gilson, Sophie Esturgie, Jacques Exertié, Grégoire Pons, Véronique Rondello, Béatrice Sauterau, Philippe Vindolet, Christian Volckman
Backgrounds Creation: Eric Pelatan, Sylvaine Jenny
Computer Graphics: Jean Christophe Alessandri, Sophie Ancel, Nicolas Bocquillon, Jean Marc Geffroy, Laurent Rettig, Olivier Soleil
Programming: Gilles Vanwalleghem, Yann Le Tensorer, Daniel Palix, With, Cyril Cauchois, Olivier Couvreur, Sebastien Davie, Antonio Ferreira, Benoit Germain, Bertrand Helias, Frédéric Houde, Yves Le Bras, Yann Le Guyader, Jean Georges Levieux, Richard Lopes, François Mahieu, Guillaume Michel, Christian Mihalache, Sébastien Morin, Bogdan Radusi, Daniel Raviart, Olivier Rozier, Michaël Ryssen, Jozef Skrabo
Sounds Effects and Music: Stephane Bellanger, Didier Lord with Sylvain Brunet, Nathalie Drouet, Dominique Dumont, Kamel Founas, Rémy Gazel, Didier Léglise, Jean-Marc Litchmann, Frédéric Louvre, Olivier Mortier, Frédéric Prados, Stéphane Ronse, René De Wael, Olaf Zalcman
Voices: Emmanuelle Cosso with Mitsuyuki Bando, Chris Bénard, Patrice Dozier, Douglas Rand, Stephen Perkinson, Christian Stonner
Tests: Serge Hascoët with Bruno Barone, Thomas Belmont, Nicolas Bocquillon, Bruno Bouvret, Christophe Cavelan, Gunther Galipot, Sacha Gentilhomme, Marc Gioan, Benoît Maçon, Lionel Rico, Emmanuel Texandier, Christophe Thibaut, Dorian Thibaut
Project Management: Agnès Haegel
Marketing (USA): James Hare, Carrie Tice, Shannon Wolfe
Producer: Ludimedia : Gérard Guillemot
Development: Ubi Studios : Michel Guillemot
Publisher: Ubi Soft : Yves Guillemot
Special thanks to the many others who worked on the project.
The game makes use of the Saturn's internal battery back-up as well as the Saturn Backup Memory to save data for system configuration as well as progress. You can save a total of three games on the system RAM and three games on the Back-Up Ram Cart.