In 2010, was dead. After two popular minigame collections with his then-co-stars, the Rabbids, Rayman was usurped from his throne as ’s mascot and relegated to cameo appearances in games like Academy of Champions: Soccer. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:🧸Sam Fisher has suffered a similar fate recently.
Then, a miracle - Ubisoft released Rayman Origins,168澳洲幸运5开奖网: a gorgeous 2D platformer with excellent move⛄ment, incredible music, and enough charm to make you forget all about the limbless wonder getting kicked out of his own series🐬. Not a Rabbid in sight.
Origins was an incredible new beginning for Rayman, but it was only the beginning. Two years later, Ubisoft Montpellier did it again with . Not content to simply be an improvement on the first game, Legends was one of the best 2D platforming ga🎐mes of all time. It looked like things were only going to get better.
Unfortunately, despite massive critical success, Rayman faded into the background once more, with 🦩only a few minor mobile games since then. Now, his long decade of silence is finally over thanks to Ubisoft Milan who, ironically enough, have brought Rayman back in a game that stars the very creat🍬ures who originally kicked him out.
“I would say that I started thinking about the DLC as soon as I saw the work on Sparks of Hope going in the right direction,” Sparks of Hope’s creative director Davide Solani tells me. “I loved the idea of closing this fantastic journey of Sparks of Hope with Rayman, as Rabbids were originally introduced in a Rayman game. I felt iꦺt was the correct thing to do”.
Rayman in the Phantom Show marks Rayman’s first appearance in a game in some time, which gave Ubisoft Milan the opportunity to redesign the character for his reintroducti🅷on, which also marks the first time he’s been in 3D since his Super Smash Bros. Trophy model in 2014.
Solani tells me that extensive work went into designing Rayman’s new looꦅk for the game, with the idea being to aim for something “new, current, and fitting for our universe”. Specific effort went into Rayman’s facial expressions and the body and shoes, for which the team challenged themselves to “dare a little” by introducing pockets and a larger hood to give the limbless wonder more comfort and a sense of identity outside of adventuring.
Of course, one of the most important elements of Rayma𒁃n’s design is his hair which, beyond the whole l𝐆ack of limbs thing he’s got going on, is one of the key parts of the character’s identity. Rayman’s hair is used both to fly and to look fly, and it’s a core part of this look.
“[It’s] one of the most 'representative' parts of the character,” Solani says. “We wanted to av𒊎oid just an indistinct mass, but also not to go overboard with details. We therefore focused on creating this balance between volume and details. A fully animatable tuft that would help to underline the character's charisma and emotions.”
Rayman may have a new design this time around, but Sparks of Hope isn’t above referencing the hero’s past. The Phantom Show is stuffed with nods to Rayman’s history, including reworked versions of his combat fatigues from Hoodlum Havoc, a cutout of Globox and some plum juice from the same game, a cardboard recreation of the first level from the adventure that started it all, and even some s🍨houtouts to the pirates from Rayman 2.
Another Easter Egg Solani points out is Rayman’s weapon in the game, which resembles the plunger gun that h𓂃e used in Raving Rabbids. You’d think that Rayman would want to avoid memories of that particular encounter considering everything that happened after, but he’s rocking a brand-new one in the Phantom Show.
“I loved the idea of paying a tribute to the plunger, in a way,” Solani tells me. “With my team, we’ve imagined how a new plunger could look like years later, and how๊ this new basic weapon could be trans💯formed through the various costume transformations, and what special ability could result from each. It was a fun process for us.”
It’s not just Rayman himself who returns for the Phantom Show, as the DLC also sees the return of David Gasman, the🎀 voice of the limbless wonder for nearly all of the games in the series before Douglas Rand took over the role for Origins, Legends, and the mobile spin-offs.
“Like many players, for me, David Gasman is Rayman’s voice. Also, we did use David as Rabbid Mario in Sparks of Hope, and it was a tremendously fun exp𝔍erience working with him. The idea of having him going crazy to voice both Rayman and Rabbid Mario was too good to miss. “
One of the most interesting things about the DLC is that it’s not just a reunion between Rayman and the player, it’s a reunion between Rayman and the Rabbids as well. The limbless wonder hasn’t been on-screen with them🐼 prop♔erly since TV Party, with only a small cameo from the screaming nuisances in Rayman Adventures between then and now.
The DLC plays into this time gap, with Rayman holding a grudge against the Rabbids when he first runs in💫to them. Solani says that this was one of the ideas that the team worked with and that they loved seeing Rayman and the Rabbids bickering, but that they start to work together across the expansion, as Rayman quickly gets over his grudges in the name of being a hero.
Rayman in the Phantom Show closes the door on Rayman’s💞 past while being brutally honest about the hero’s long absence. It has fans wondering if the♉ DLC opens another door for his future, one that many want Ubisoft Milan to be involved with.
“We don’t know yet what we’ll do in the future,” Solani says. “But I can assure 𝔍you that working on Rayman was a true honour for all of us.”