Rayman Origins



A Rayman game released in 2011, Rayman Origins is a sequel to the long-dormant Rayman series. As the story goes, it takes place in a world called The Glade of Dreams created by a being known as Bubble Dreamer(Polokus from Rayman 2), who was so attached to his world, that his emotions directly impacted it. Rayman was created by Betilla from the magic of Nymphs to be a guardian of this world.

Our story begins proper sometime after Rayman 2 The Great Escape, when our heroes (Rayman, Globox and two Teensies) snore loud enough during a nap to literally awaken the dead. Their underground neighbours (residents of the Land of the Livid Dead) retaliate by invading the surface en masse, imprisoning the heroes and capturing the peaceful Electoons, which in turn causes the Bubble Dreamer to go cuckoo and have terrible nightmares which further threaten the stability of the entire Glade. Rayman and his pals set out to free all the Electoons, cure the Bubble Dreamer's nightmares and save the Glade before it vanishes like a bad dream. You can watch the trailer here, and the official blog here.

This game started life as a downloadable title for the Xbox 360 and Play Station 3 but as it grew in size and scope it is now sold as a full retail game on the two aforementioned consoles and Wii, with Steam, PC, 3DS and Play Station Vita versions coming early 2012. It also has 4-Player Co-Op, though it is removed from the portable versions.

A sequel is in the works called Rayman Legends, retaining the first game's gameplay, art style and 4-Player co-op, but going in a more fantasy-based direction, with worlds based off fairy tales and Greek Mythology. They're also giving it a major Art Evolution, with the 2D characters lit by 3D lighting, lending it a unique painterly feel. The Wii U version will take advantage of the controller's touch screen and NFC capabilities, in a similar way to Skylanders Spyros Adventure. See the trailer here.


 * A Winner Is You:
 * Acrofatic: Globox
 * Action Duo: Rayman and Globox.
 * Alliterative Name: A few of the worlds, such as Jibberish Jungle and Angsty Abyss.
 * All There in the Manual: The website gives some added back story on some of the characters, such as why Rayman has no limbs ( The Nymphs got distracted and lost some of the Lums they needed.) and where the Darktoons came from (The Bubble Dreamer had a nightmare for the first time that created them by the dozens).
 * The website also reveals that Jano from Rayman 2 The Great Escape was created as a product of the Bubble Dreamer's first bad dream.
 * Animation Bump: LOTS. The whole game is basically one big advertisement for the UbiArt Engine.
 * Arc Welding: The first and second Rayman games were almost completely different in terms of characters, story, and even the general way the world works. This game seeks to remedy this, by tying together the elements of the first Rayman game (Betilla the fairy, the Electoons, The Magician) with the second one (Globox and the Teensies, the Lums, the general makeup of the land).
 * Artifact Title: The name indicates a prequel of some sort, but this was removed midway through development for a Rayman 2 The Great Escape sequel. While the game reintroduces characters from the first game, the title otherwise makes no sense in the game's current form. (Unless you think of it as Rayman returning to his origins as a side-scrolling platformer character.)
 * Art Evolution: Legends moves away from the Thick Line Animation of Origins in favor of a more painterly look, to show off the latest version of the UbiArt engine's ability to light 2D characters in real time with 3D lighting.
 * Art Shift
 * Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever: One of the royals is turned into a humongous dragon.
 * Balloon Belly: Occurs to anyone before they die.
 * Beautiful All Along:
 * Blank White Eyes: Rayman grabs himself a pair whenever he dies.
 * Blood Brothers: Rayman and Globox are said to be this.
 * Bonus Level of Hell: The Land of the Livid Dead.
 * Book Ends:
 * Boss Rush:
 * Bubble Pipe: The Bubble Dreamer has one.
 * Canon Dis Continuity: The game never attempts to acknowledge that the Rabbids ever set foot in the Glade of Dreams, or even mention them at all. Even Rayman 3(made without Ancel's direct involvement) gets a mention, in the form of The Land of the Livid Dead, even though the two levels don't share much in common besides the name and general theme.
 * Possibly justified, as Ubisoft retconned the Rabbids out of the Rayman universe and into a different one, as seen in Rabbids Go Home.
 * And now possibly subverted, as Rabbids appear in the trailer for Rayman Legends.
 * Cool Old Guy: The Bubble Dreamer. Cool Shades? Check. Bubble Pipe? Check. Badass Beard? Check. Laidback attitude? Oh, most definitely.
 * Cloudcuckooland
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Pretty much everyone,
 * Cool Shades: The Bubble Dreamer has a pair.
 * Co-Op Multiplayer: With Rayman, Globox, and two Teensies. First time in the series, and one of the bigger selling points.
 * Coy Girlish Flirt Pose: Each Nymph does this before granting a new ability.
 * Creator Cameo: Michael Ancel makes a cameo at the beginning and end of the Dragon trailer.
 * Cutscene Boss:
 * Dark Is Not Evil: The Dark Teensie, who wears black and red wizard robes.
 * Dead Person Impersonation:
 * Dead All Along:
 * Deranged Animation
 * Development Gag: The appearance of Rabbids in the Rayman Legends trailer could be a bit of a reference to the cancelled Rayman 4, where they were the main mooks of the game before it turned into Rayman Raving Rabbids. The level they're shown in even looks like a 2D version of early screenshots of Rayman 4.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: During the Score Screen of each level, if you get above the first bonus, the teensie will jump up onto the lum meter and starts doing... peculiar things with it as it continues filling up.
 * Eldritch Abomination:  complete with multiple eyes, tentacles and huge mouth lined with sharp teeth.
 * Ethereal Choir: Several songs are full of it, with a choir of Lums and a single gravel-voiced singer in the background singing utter nonsense.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Magician.
 * Everything Trying to Kill You
 * Everythings Funkier With Disco:
 * Face Heel Turn: The Four Kings due to being corrupted by the Bubble Dreamer's nightmare
 * Fan Boy:
 * Teensie Ray, who is president of the Rayman fanclub, and Globteen, a Teensie who cos-plays as Globox.
 * Teensie Ray, who is president of the Rayman fanclub, and Globteen, a Teensie who cos-plays as Globox.


 * Fantastic Light Source: The Grumbling Grottoes has gongs that look like faces. Attacking these lights them up, and protects the player(s) from the deadly gnats.
 * In a few water levels you have to stay in the light of angler fishes to avoid dying.
 * Fairy Sexy: Betilla, well as her sisters. The instruction manual doesn't call them the "Bodacious Nymphs of the Glade" for nothing!
 * Freudian Excuse:
 * Gainaxing: The Nymphs.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: A minor example, but they managed to sneak the word "badass" into the manual.
 * The Nymphs are a subversion, as the game lists "Suggestive Themes" in the ratings descriptor.
 * On completing a level if the player collects above a certain number of lums king teensie will straddle the tube the lums are collected in and stroke it suggestively.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere:
 * The Goomba: Possibly the Darktoons, seeing as they are a reinvention of the Antitoons of the first game, which were that game's 'Goombas'.
 * Goomba Stomp: One of the many ways to defeat enemies.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: You got three Electoon cages in most levels, up to 300 Lums per level needed to get two more Electoon cages, a time trial which you need to beat to get another electoon cage, a multitude of Skull Coins in each level, and Skull Teeth, all of which is contribute to getting the true ending.
 * Hailfire Peaks: Almost every level in the game is some combination of level design factors. For instance:
 * The Desert of Didgeridoos, which is part Shifting Sand Land, part Gusty Glade, and part Band Land.
 * Gourmand Land, which is a Level Ate that also uses parts of Slippy-Slidey Ice World, Lethal Lava Land, Eternal Engine, and a little bit of Palmtree Panic.
 * Helpful Mook: The air-blowing birds in the Desert of Didgeridoos. Although they are often placed in such a way to screw you up, their gusts can also be used to reach high places if you manuever yourself correctly. One Skull Coin requires you to let them hurt you.
 * Similarly, the dragon waiters in Gourmand Land. You can stand on their serving trays and ride them places with no ill effects.
 * Hitbox Dissonance: All the characters have it, but Globox has it even more.
 * Hobbits: The Teensies.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf:  Listen as long as you can stand it.
 * Hotter and Sexier / Fan Service Pack: Betilla, compared to the original.
 * An Ice Suit: Helena's dress.
 * Idiot Heroes: Explained by Michel Ancel thus: "They're the kind of characters who look... stupid, really, but they're not stupid, just... simple. And all they really want to do is just focus on doing their job, no matter what.".
 * Impossible Hourglass Figure: The Nymphs, to varying degrees. As if it weren't obvious already, they give their hips a little shake before granting you new powers.
 * I Surrender, Suckers:
 * Its Pronounced Tropay: "Pronounced Looms, as in ilLUMination, and not Lums, for dumb"
 * King of All Cosmos: Bubble Dreamer.
 * Kraken and Leviathan: One of the royals is turned into one of the leviathan type.
 * Kung Fu-Proof Mook: The robots in Moody Clouds can't be defeated with conventional attacks, just pushed around. On the flipside, they can be knocked into obstacles that will harm them.
 * Lighter and Softer: The game is the least serious in the franchise.
 * Marilyn Maneuver: Betilla, in the first trailer.
 * Mickey Mousing: Many, many levels use this. The game's intro make a long, funny scene using it.
 * Ms. Fanservice: All of the nymphs.
 * Mythology Gag: There are numerous references to the first two games, such as Moskito and the Electoons, as well as the Glade of Dreams and
 * Never Say Die: The game text refers to defeating enemies as "bubblizing" them. See Balloon Belly above. It's all Played for Laughs, though.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
 * Nintendo Hard
 * Non-Indicative Name: Some of the worlds' names don't make sense, given their setting. Ticklish Temples doesn't have a temple to be found, Grumbling Grottos is in an open desert, and Luscious Lakes is more like an ocean, and has some fiery kitchen areas.
 * Non Standard Character Design: The bulk of the characters have a simple, hard-lined design, but many bosses have a far more detailed look. They still move just as fluidly as the rest of the characters.
 * No Plot, No Problem: The manual and in-game dialog imply the world is in danger. Actual gameplay doesn't make this the case. Nobody cares.
 * Offscreen Start Bonus: Many levels include a few extra Lums or a heart if you turn around from your spawn point and (usually) do a wall jump.
 * One-Hit-Point Wonder: Every character.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: The Dragons in Rayman's world are all short, have no wings, and are all apparently chefs and waiters. They still breathe fire, though.
 * Palette Swap: All of the playble characters play exactly the same. Special mention goes to the Teensies and the Nymphs, who are all the same but with different colors and clothing.
 * Perky Goth: Goth Teensy and
 * Pig Latin: The nymphs and The Magician all speak in this manner. The Bubble Dreamer speaks in Ubbi Dubbi
 * Platform Hell: The Tricky Treasure levels, as well as the Land of the Livid Dead.
 * To give you an idea, the former levels require immense precision, the level is usually falling apart as you chase after the treasure chest, and the level seems hellbent on trying to kill you. And that's just practice for the Land of the Livid Dead...
 * Poke the Poodle: The Hunters end up doing this to the Lums.
 * Pretty in Mink: Helena, the mountain nymph, wears a dress and hat trimmed with thick, white fur.
 * Princesses Prefer Pink: One of the Teensies is a princess Teensie, with pink robes and a pink crown.
 * Punny Name: All the Nymphs have names related to the area you save them in (except Betilla ).
 * Holly Luya is the nymph of a music-themed desert.
 * Edith Up is the nymph of the Glade's local Hailfire Peaks, which is crossed with a food theme. She's also somewhat chunkier than her sisters.
 * Annetta Fish, nymph of the ocean world.
 * Helena Handbasket is the nymph of a huge mountain. Given that said mountain is technically the game's Disc One Final Dungeon, the trip there would probably be best described by the idiom her name's a pun of. "to Hell in a handbasket".
 * Origins Game: Originally. See What Could Have Been below.
 * Rapunzel Hair: The Nymphs.
 * Raymanian Limbs:.
 * Globox has Raymanian legs, and eyes.
 * The rock monsters are as limbless as they were in the original.
 * Recycled Trailer Music: The music used in the Rayman Legends trailer came from How to Train Your Dragon.
 * Retcon: All of the characters from the first game actually have limbs now (except Rayman himself, of course).
 * The Reveal: the level called, well, The Reveal!
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Grand Minimus.
 * Rubber Band AI: The creatures caging the nymphs and the Tricky Treasure Chests sometimes slow down (if you're lagging behind) or speed up (if you're too close).
 * Save Your Deity: Rayman and friends are trying to cure the Bubble Dreamer's terrible nightmares, which, if not cured, threaten to tear the world apart.
 * Scenery Porn: Just look at some of the backgrounds.
 * Shout-Out: Miami Ice.
 * One of the boss levels is called "To Bubblize A MockingBird"
 * One of the secret cages in Mystic Pique is a reference to the Donkey Kong
 * One of the Secret areas in the Jibberish Jungles is based off of Angry Birds.
 * The bird enemies and platforms of the Desert of Didgeridoos also resemble their counterparts in Angry Birds.
 * In the E3 demo, there was a level very blatantly inspired by Tetris, complete with Korobeiniki. It could also double as a shout out to I Wanna Be the Guy, which had a very similar (and just as hard) Tetris-inspired jumping section.
 * Soprano and Gravel: The music used in the "Kitchen" segments of Gourmand Land. It combines the squeaky voices of the Lums with a completely gravel-voiced (and totally deadpan) singer. Like this.
 * Speaking Simlish: Par for the course, as it's Rayman, though some characters speak Pig Latin instead.
 * Singing Simlish: This also extends to the background music as well, funnily enough.
 * Spike Balls of Doom: Someone on the design team must have an abnormal fasination wih spikes, because they are EVERYWHERE. On enemies, on fish, on birds, in cheese and on oranges.
 * Squishy Wizard: Apparently, Globox is a Red Wizard that turned blue from eating a poison berry.
 * Steampunk: Moody Clouds, which is not only a large steampunk city, but a large steampunk city floating in the clouds.
 * Stock Scream: The chilli pepper enemies make the famous Wilhelm scream when they die.
 * Stripperiffic: Betilla and her sisters.
 * Talking to Himself: Voice actor Doug Rand voiced most, if not all of the male characters, with the exception of Rayman himself, once again played by David Gasman.
 * Temple of Doom: The Ticklish Temples.
 * Thick Line Animation
 * Uberwald: The Land of the Livid Dead.
 * Unexpected Gameplay Change: Besides the scrolling shooter segments, there is a point in one level that is what amounts to a rhythm game.
 * Underground Level: The Land of the Livid Dead.
 * Underwater Ruins: The Angsy Abyss, the ruins of a long lost civilization, which is also now home to several underwater monsters.
 * The Unfought:
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: It's very likely you can kill your teammates, due to the fact that, while you don't damage them by punching them, you can push them off a ledge or toward another hazard.
 * Slapping was expressly created for this purpose, as Michael Ancel disliked that other Co-op platformers like New Super Mario Bros Wii didn't have a more direct way of screwing with other players.
 * Video Game Settings: The game puts a spin on classic examples.
 * Jibberish Jungles is Jungle Japes world filled with Too Dumb to Live hunters.
 * The Desert of Didgeridoos is a desert world mixed with a music theme.
 * Gourmand Land is a combination of Level Ate and Hailfire Peaks. The ice half being filled with gelatin and frozen fruits, and the fire half containing Mexican dishes and boiling soup in the place of lava.
 * The Sea of Serendipity, despite the name, has things that are not a pleasant surprise.
 * Death Mountain: The Mystic Piques where monks meditate, and sacrifice peas to the bubble dreamer. it also leads to Moody Clouds.
 * The final area is an Eternal Engine.
 * Video Game Lives: You get infinite lives. You're gonna need every single one of them.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: Bubble Dreamer is capable of this.
 * Wasted Song: This.
 * What Could Have Been: There was going to be a world based on different art styles, but it was scrapped very early on.
 * The game was originally going to be a prequel to the first Rayman, meant to tie it and Rayman 2 together, now it's a sequel that takes place sometime after Rayman 2. It still reveals the actual origins of some of the chracters, though.
 * This was also meant to be a downloadable episodic title, but the game's scale grew so much that it had to be made into a full retail game.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds:
 * Womb Level: One boss fight takes place inside a giant dragon's innards that has a huge stream of fire chasing you.
 * X Meets Y: Rayman meets Ren and Stimpy, with a bit of Studio Ghibli for the scenery.
 * The Yoshi: El Moskito.
 * Your Reward Is Clothes: But most of them are Teensies.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: The nymphs.
 * Your Reward Is Clothes: But most of them are Teensies.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: The nymphs.