Rayman is the main protagonist of the Rayman series created by Ubisoft game designer Michel Ancel. He first appeared in 1995 on the Atari Jaguar, Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn and MS-DOS. He is voiced by David Gasman. Rayman's catchphrase is known to be a highly exclaimed yelling of "YEAH!!" It is debatable of who Rayman's father and mother is, as it could be revealed in Rayman Legends, thus telling the whole story of Rayman's past. It is known that Globox might be his blood-brother according to the European Trailer of Rayman Origins.
Rayman appears again to fight against Admiral Razorbeard and the Robo-Pirates in Rayman 2. In this game many of Rayman's friends are introduced including Globox, Ly, Murphy, and The Teensies. In this game, his act of fist-throwing is changed to shooting energy balls.
In 2003, Rayman dealt with Andre, the leader of the Black Lums in Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. In this game instead of shooting energy balls he throws his fists like in the original Rayman . He reappears two years later to rescue his best friend Globox in Rayman: Hoodlum's Revenge.
In Rayman Raving Rabbids, Rayman had his hands full with the Rabbids, a race of Huminoids that resemble crazy looking rabbits. Rayman has a deep hate for Rabbids. They have captured him, (and Globox's children) forced him to do things for their entertainment. In Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 they attempt conquer his world. In Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party they manage to get inside Rayman's TV and even annoy him through it with shows for several months.
Rayman Origins explains how Rayman was made, how he and Globox met, etc. This time around, Rayman and his friends have to Deal with the Land of the Livid dead and the Magician, an old friend of Rayman's that was secretly a follower of Mr. Dark. This game brings back the classic 2D gameplay as well as some new features. Some are, but not limited to: Betilla is now considered a Nymph, and not only has reappeared, but with a new look, and the roster able to walljump, and sprint up walls.
From 1995 onwards, Rayman has had his appearance changed slightly for each game, to be able to give him more expressions. He is typically found wearing white gloves, a red scarf (changed to a hood in Rayman 3 and onwards), a purple shirt with a white "O" on it, yellow sneakers, and a large, round nose. The O appears to have magical properties. Whenever he earned a new power in Rayman, sparkles would appear around the O; in Rayman 2, it was used to open the stones holding the masks. While he appears to have no arms or legs, his feet and hands are somehow connected to him but can be removed and reattached. Rayman is made up of electoons as shown in the first game. When he dies, he transforms into five or six electoons which quickly zoom towards the sky.
However, he has been known to change appearance, beginning from Rayman 3 onwards. While the different "combat fatigues" only caused changes to Rayman's hair, shirt, and shoe color, players in Rayman Raving Rabbids are able to dress Rayman in a variety of Costumes. They start with the choices of Disco, Gangsta, and Grandmother. As more mini-games are unlocked, other costumes, such as Rock 'n' roll, Disc jockey, gothic fashion, and Bunny become available. Even more costumes, such as Hippie, Dracula, and Caveman, are added in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2.
His appearance and persona matches that of a typical teenager.
Rayman has a few unique powers that he retains at all times, mainly those granted to him by Fairies. First of all is the far reach of his fists. Being limbless, Rayman is able to launch long range punches at his enemies. He does n
ot display this in Rayman 2, instead throwing energy spheres at his enemies. However, Rayman 2 is the only game where he retains this power; he uses his fists to attack once again in Rayman 3. In Rayman Raving Rabbids, players use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to control his movements rather than attacks due to the mini-game based nature. Another well-known power of his is the ability to use his hair to not only glide, but also use as a mini-helicopter. Most of the time, Rayman is unable to ascend. However, in certain situations where he is given an extra boost, he is able to power it up and go wherever he pleases.
Rayman 3 introduced power-ups known as "combat fatigues" or "Laser Washing Powder". These not only changed Rayman's appearance, they give him a specific move depending on the can he picks up. There are five of these in total, known as the Vortex (ability to lower certain platforms and shrink enemies), Heavy Metal Fist (powerful metal fists able to knock down big obstacles), Lockjaw (grabs onto flying rings similar to Purple Lums, and electrocute enemies), Shock Rocket (hand-guided rocket able to reach far away targets), and Throttle Copter (helicopter). However, these powers are only present in Rayman 3 and have not been mentioned in any other game to date. (refer to Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc)
In Rayman 3, Rayman's hands are shown to have a life of their own. At the end of the game, as he is sleeping, they crawl away from his body and intentionally frighten a red lum. Frightening a red lum causes it to transform into a black lum, and so Andre is born once again. Though it is done comically and the consequences are never looked into, the fact that Rayman's hands may be malicious cannot be ignored. That said, his hands may not understand the true consequences of their actions and may just be mischievous. They are, after all, simply hands.
Additionally, in Rayman 3 a being called the Leptys gave him the power to transform Black Lums into Red Lums. This consists of Rayman making a ridiculous face. This is reminiscent of Rayman 1 when Rayman could make a weird face before obtaining the running power. This wasn't very useful, though he was able to scare some of the more cowardly hunters in the jungle with that face. Rayman is the main hero in Rayman Raving Rabbids 1, 2 and 3 and has the same look like in this picture.
In the Rayman Raving Rabbids series, he is known to own a plunger gun.
It's Rayman's trademark weapon in the games, and he uses it to take out large armies of Rabbids in the on rails shooter levels. He often has to refill the gun, as the player doesn't have an unlimited supply of plungers to use.
In Rayman 1, he had a voice actor, but he only spoke when he is immobile by saying these phrases, such as "Hey, you!", "I'm waiting!", and "Yo, dude!". He even clears his throat, even though he does not have one.
In Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Rayman only spoke in complete gibberish, which consisted of some language that only his people can speak. The words he only said were "Hey!" and "Stop!" as his only words said in complete English. Rayman did not have a voice actor in this game, so Rayman had his own voice and language. Even his best friend Globox has his own language and spoke deeply.
In Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, Rayman had a voice actor and spoke complete human speech. Globox even had a voice actor and spoke human speech, except it was different than Rayman's.
In Rayman Arena, Rayman's voice actor was still the same. He could have had a threatening voice in the game, however.
In the new Ubisoft installment Rayman Origins (before Rayman Legends), Rayman's speech consisted of screams, yelps, and his catchphrase. He had no way of speaking, nor a voice actor. So, all he could speak with was complete gibberish screams and yelping noises, while all the other characters spoke in Pig Latin.
Mad - On episode 23 of season 2, there is a sketch called "Everybody Loves Rayman" which is a parody of "Everybody Loves Raymond" with Rayman as the main character of the sketch.
In the animated series, Rayman's voice actor was Billy West, who also voiced Fry on Futurama.
In Japan, Rayman's body was recolored from purple to blue. This is because in Japan, purple is commonly seen as symbolism for death, so it would make Rayman's role a bit confusing for the Japanese players.
Even though his hands, feet, head, and body all float, he can't escape pits with his levitation or the game would be too easy.
In a movie called Wreck-It Ralph, there is a character named Sour Bill, who has the same limbless design as Rayman. It is unknown if Rayman will join the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph 2 as a background character, or being part of the movie.
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