The Dark One

Lore & Background

The series is set in a fantastical, magical world which features a wide range of environments that are very often based on certain themes, such as 'the Eraser Plains', a landscape made entirely of stationery, or 'the Band Land', another one made of musical instruments, or even 'Olympus Maximus/Mount Elysium' and 'Fiesta De Los Muertos/Mystic Mesa', which are based respectively on Ancient Greece's mythology and Mexican tradition. The core games of the series are platformers, but there are several spin-off titles in other genres. The protagonist is Rayman, a magical limbless creature, being renowned for his courage and determination who, with the help of his friends, must save his world from various villains.

Reader's Guide

The main series includes Rayman (1995), Rayman 2 (originally conceptualised as a 2D platformer), Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, and Rayman Origins onward. Spin-offs include the Raving Rabbids series and other titles. A cancelled game, Rayman 4, was in development in 2005 but was cancelled after four months. Another cancelled project, Rayman (SNES), was left unfinished when the team switched focus to the Atari Jaguar. Rayman Raving Rabbids was originally developed as a 3D platformer but was changed to a party-style game after the developers received the Nintendo Wii development kit; however, the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions were side-scrolling platform games.

Did You Know?

• Rayman was initially produced for the Atari ST by Michel Ancel working alone on every aspect of the game.
• The prototype of Rayman 2 featured some usage of prerendered bitmaps of 3D computer models, differing from the hand painted presentation of its predecessor.
• Rayman 4 concept art shows a young human girl named 'Cielle', but her role is unknown.
• On December 24, 2022, most of the assets and levels used in the Rayman Raving Rabbids prototype were leaked by an anonymous user on Internet Archive.