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Video Game: Rayman Origins

Back to basics.

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 PlayStation 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: Spyro's Adventure. See the trailer here.

This game provides examples of:

2½D
A Winner Is You: What do you get for beating the hardest level in the game? A nymph saying a bad pun and winking.
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).
- When the demo came out some clever fans found a script for the full game in it's files, the script reveals why The Magician became evil, and his real name, and at least four costumes (Tarayzan, Uglette, a robot Teensie, and The Magician) that didn't make it in.
- 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: Voodoo Mama is the final nymph.
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: Rayman, Globox and the Teensies end up right back where they started when they destroy The Magician's energy core.
Boss Rush: You have to fight two robotic duplicates made by The Magician.
Bubble Pipe: The Bubble Dreamer has one.
Canon Discontinuity: 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*
and Globox apparently still having a thing for plum juice
, 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.
Cloud Cuckooland
Cloudcuckoolander: Pretty much everyone, except The Magician.
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: The Magician.
Dark Is Not Evil: The Dark Teensie, who wears black and red wizard robes.
Dead Person Impersonation: The Magician impersonates Mr. Dark through the whole game.
Dead All Along: Mr. Dark.
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: Voodoo Mamma's monster form 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. His real name is Ales Mansay.
Everything Trying to Kill You
Everything's Funkier with Disco: The Magician's theme, it even makes a disco ball appear!
Face Heel Turn: The Four Kings due to being corrupted by the Bubble Dreamer's nightmare and the Magician.
Fan Boy:
- Teensie Ray, who is president of the Rayman fanclub, and Globteen, a Teensie who cos-plays as Globox.
- It turns out that the Magician is a big fan of Mr. Dark, as he is seen with several posters of him in his lair.
The Magician: I always wanted to be like Mr. Dark: Mysterious, Dark! ...Um, Dark and mysterious!
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: The Magician was bullied a lot at magician school, and thats why he's evil.
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:
- Golly G. Golem.
- Voodoo Mama.
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 Palm Tree 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: Voodoo Mama's theme song. Listen as long as you can stand it.
Hotter and Sexier / Fanservice 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: The Magician appears to become friendly again for a dance scene...only to flee for a last stand.
It's Pronounced Tro-PAY : "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 Dark Rayman as an alternate costume.
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: Good job giving all the Lums to the bad guy, Rayman!
Nintendo Hard
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 even has one of the level's cages hidden back there.
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 Voodoo Mama's true form.
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 and Big Mama).
- 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. *
  If you haven't figured it out, it's the phrase "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 A.I.: 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.
Steam Punk: 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
Überwald: 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: The Magician.
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.
Videogame 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: The Magician was bullied at magician school a lot, so to take revenge he wants to destroy the world.
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.