Rayman (character)

Rayman is the title character and main protagonist of the Ubisoft's Rayman series developed by Ubisoft Montpellier. He debuted in 1995 platform game Rayman and is a player character in all the games of the series. He is an anthropomorphic limbless protagonist dressed with a red neckerchief and white gloves with the ability to use his hair as helicopter blades and punch at a distance. He was created by Betilla and her nymph sisters to protect the Glade of Dreams.

Rayman was the first character created by Ubisoft. Michel Ancel noted that his creation was "very simple." He was originally designed to have limbs, but due to technical problems, they were omitted. The hero's limbless nature would ultimately become his visual trademark. Upon his debut title, Rayman became Ubisoft's mascot and most iconic character.

Conception and characteristics
Rayman was created and designed by French developer Michel Ancel and was Ubisoft's first original character. Ancel first drew Rayman at the age of 20 and noted that he was the character that he wanted to create due to his simplicity and directness. As Ancel checked him, he felt that his design is as much about the psychology of a gamer than it's about lines on paper. Ancel has thought that he always think that games needed a character with a personality who can perfectly connect with players. Ancel later returned to those early sketches in 1992 to create a demo for French software developer Lankhor. As a result of his research into character animation, Ancel became interested in the computer graphics technique of ray tracing. The character was named after a ray tracing software that Ubisoft used for the original game.

Rayman originally had limbs, but when the developer tried to install the game on the systems, it did not work properly, leaving him with a floating body on the screen. At the time, there was insufficient processing power to render everything which made it technically impossible to display this character with animated limbs. The creative answer was to create the character without limbs, which became one of his major characteristics. As a result of the worldwide success of the character after the first game was released, Ubisoft gained their first growth.

Rayman is an anthropomorphic human/eggplant hybrid or "thingamajig" who is limbless in which he can use his hair as helicopter blades means of transportation which was trademarked as "hairlicopter" and punch at a distance. His personality was an adventurer with a sense of humor inspired by Indiana Jones. Rayman is defined by his ability rather than his appearance or any traits of individuality or autonomy.

Main appearances
Rayman makes his first appearance in the first game of the series. Mr. Dark, Rayman's arch-nemesis stole the Great Protoon and made the Electoons lose their natural stability and scatter throughout the Glade of Dreams, where they are then captured by Mr. Dark's forces. Rayman must retrieve the Great Protoon from Mr. Dark and free the Electoons. In the sequel Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Rayman and Globox were kidnapped by Robo-Pirates led by the ruthless Admiral Razorbeard and they invaded his colorful world. Rayman began his adventure captured aboard the prison ship and must escape there. After escaping, Rayman must travel across different lands, collecting lums and powers up his fists. Rayman also appeared in the animated series Rayman: The Animated Series.

In Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, Rayman and Globox must face the invasion of evil and mischievous creatures known as Hoodlums, caused by a red lum turned into a dark lum, André, who turned all the other red lums around into dark lums. However, Globox accidentally swallows André, and Rayman must take him to Doctors in the Glade of Dreams to get André out of Globox and stop the invasion before the Hoodlums get their hands on Globox first. In Rayman Raving Rabbids, Rayman and a few baby Globoxes relaxed until the Rabbids captured the baby Globox. They force Rayman to participate in several activities to entertain them. In the handheld version, The Rabbids imprisoned Rayman and took his fists. Murfy later rescues him with his fists. In Raving Rabbids sequel, Rayman pretends to be Rabbid to join their missions.

In Rayman Origins, Rayman chilled out alongside Globox, Teensies and their supreme Bubble Dreamer. However, their snoring disturbed an old granny from the Land of the Livid Dead who retaliated by sending an evil army of disgusting creatures across the world to get revenge. The evil army must be defeated, and Rayman must rescue his creator, Betilla the Nymph, as well as her sisters. In Rayman Legends, Rayman and his friends have been asleep for one century. Rayman and his friend are awakened by Murfy who tells them about the bad news. Rayman and his friends set out to defeat a series of enemies and a group of villains known as Dark Teensies. For Wii U version, Satoru Iwata announced that players will be able to dress up Rayman as Mario alongside Globox as Luigi.

Other appearances
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Rayman appears as a trophy. Masahiro Sakurai made the announcement on Miiverse: Ubisoft was expected a 2D model of the character however, the company was surprised and pleased when a 3D model was delivered. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Rayman appear as spirit. Many people have noted that a crystal on the Battlefield stage in the game appears to contain Rayman, though this has never been confirmed. Rayman also appeared as a playable character in Brawlhalla.

In Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, Rayman was featured as playable character in a downloadable content expansion announced during Ubisoft Forward 2022. Davide Soliani, the game's director, claimed that he was elated to reunite Rayman with the Rabbids, who had vastly overshadowed Rayman's own popularity. Rayman was added to the game on August 30, 2023. Rayman also made an appearance in the 2023 animated series Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, in which he was portrayed as a cocaine-addicted propaganda host.

Reception
Rayman has become a well received, fan favorite and recognizable video game character by fans and critics and was known for his lack of limbs. In an interview with Stevior 's Steve Wright, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated Rayman was one of the company's most well known and beloved characters. Bertoli Ben described Rayman as one of the most beloved video game characters originally created in France, stating that he is different and had a unique movement. GamesRadar+ 's Rachel Weber described Rayman as the 20th most recognizable video game character of all time. She added that Rayman was much like Mumford and Sons or Worcester sauce-flavored crisps, few people publicly stated to Rayman being their favorite and described him as "Ubisoft's cheerful magical hero". Nintendo Life 's Alana Hagues felt that the character was bit of an underdog, even Ubisoft has struggled what to do with the character, but the character has gained a cult following. She noted that Rayman sticks out more for his weirdness more than anything else and he has always been a bit more lowkey than the other 1990's video game mascots.

In an article about the character's 20th anniversary by Vice writer David Whelan, he commented that the character set standards for being weird and described him as "a floating collection of limbs and bandana or scarf, or the flesh of his enemies." He also criticized Ubisoft has made very little to commemorate what is essentially their mascot. While discussing about his childhood, he noted that Rayman seemed like a "total dork", pointing out that he wasn't cool like Sonic or fun-for-everyone like Mario, but rather seemed nerdish and "weird-looking." Another Vice writer Grant Pardee wrote that Rayman is like the "quiet kid of the platformer mascot class" who could perhaps secretly have been the best of them all however, due to timing or circumstance, never quite found the attention the character deserved because he criticized that Rayman looks stupid, has a dumb, stupid face, and he doesn't have limbs.

Rayman has been one of the most requested characters for Super Smash Bros. over the years as said when Twitter user CallMeKorora sent off a letter to Nintendo of America - requesting the character in the series. In February 2015, YouTuber Omni Jacala upload a fake leaked video of the character and Mewtwo being selected Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U which led to rumors and Super Smash Bros. fans convincing that the character was set the join the cast of the game.

In the wake of the 2023 animated series Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, Michael McWhertor of Polygon interviewed with the series' creator Adi Shankar which he mentioned that his pitch was reviewed by the Guillemot brothers behind Ubisoft and there were no pushback with his pitch. He described Rayman as the "chief propaganda officer" for Eden and he also explained that using Rayman as a marketing vehicle for his propaganda-pumping masters was like "a nod to the methods that Saturday-morning and afternoon cartoons were oftentimes 30-minute advertisements for toys." The Verge writer Charles Pulliam-Moore also interviewed with the series' creator which observed that Rayman as propaganda mouthpiece character wasn't like a choice as much as it was a vision. He also stated that "[He] saw two images of Rayman as [he] was first writing: one of him with Tommy guns; and then the second was of him effectively being the mouthpiece — the chief propaganda officer for the fascist regime, but even with that being the case, he's been used. He's as much a victim as everyone else living in Eden."