Mr Sax
- This article is about the character's role in Rayman fan games. For the character in official games, see Mr Sax.
| Mr Sax | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Alignment | Bad | |
| Appears in | Rayman Redemption, Rayman ReDesigner | |
| Location | Allegro Presto, Mr Sax's Hullaballoo | |
| Resistance |  (Rayman Redemption)
| |
| Attacks | Wrong notes, musical grenades, stomping | |
So you're that little runt causing discord in my kingdom? Leave while you still can or you will feel the wrath of the mighty saxophone!—Mr Sax, Rayman Redemption
In Rayman Redemption
Mr Sax is a gigantic, malevolent saxophone who was originally introduced in Rayman 1, and the second main boss in Rayman Redemption. As in the original game, he is the ruler of Band Land, a surreal country composed mainly of music and musical instruments. He is first encountered at the end of Allegro Presto, where he urges Rayman to leave his domain. After Rayman seemingly refuses, Mr Sax blows a couple of wrong notes at him, then turns and flees.
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Mr Sax in Allegro Presto.
The main and final encounter with Mr Sax takes place in Mr Sax's Hullaballoo. Mr Sax chases Rayman, while blowing wrong notes at him. Rayman can turn around and punch these back into Mr Sax, hurting him. Any hit points lost by Mr Sax at this stage will not be restored to him during their final combat, which makes the battle easier for Rayman. At the end of the chase, Mr Sax stops, while Rayman glides down to the exit sign.
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Rayman is pursued by Mr Sax.
During the final battle, Mr Sax's main attacks consist of blowing wrong notes and musical grenades of different kinds at Rayman. The first type of wrong notes are exactly like those encountered at the chase stage, and may be punched back to the sender. These are the only way of hurting Mr Sax, therefore taking advantage of them is crucial for success in the battle. The second type of attack is a rapid stream of many small wrong notes, launched at once. An audio cue announces this attack, allowing Rayman to anticipate it and duck under it.
Two more attacks consist of musical grenades. Mr Sax can launch a few of these at the same time. They either explode in the air into many small wrong notes, or explode when they hit the ground, creating a zone of damage. To avoid damage from the second type, Rayman must jump in the air before they hit.
The final mode of attack from Mr Sax includes stomping on Rayman. To protect from it Rayman must move or run away from the spot where the saxophone will be landing, and avoid being in the middle of his walk path. To defeat Mr Sax, a total of 12 wrong notes must be punched into him, between the chase and the battle sequence.
Mr Sax subsequently appears in Mr Dark's Dare, some of his body parts being used for the two final forms of the Dark Chimera. He can optionally be fought again in the Boss Rush and the True Boss Rush, both as himself and as parts of the Dark Chimera, gaining a purple color scheme and shooting extra bombs of any type with all his other attacks.
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Rayman fighting Mr Sax in the True Boss Rush.
Mr Sax's fate is revealed in the ending, where he's seen conducting a band of various characters in Band Land, including singing notes, a Moth playing drums, and a Trumpet. Two Electoons are present at the scene, which is located in a place similar to Gong Heights.
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Mr Sax in the ending.
Achievements
- Defeating Mr Sax grants The Mighty Saxophone achievement.
- Defeating Mr Sax without damaging him at all during the chase sequence grants the Respect the Sax achievement.
In Rayman ReDesigner
Mr Sax returns to Rayman ReDesigner as an invincible chaser, being only vulnerable to killdoor mechanisms and falling off the stage. Through the second page of the enemies tab in the level editor, the player can place as many instances of Mr Sax in a level as they like, flip him or link him to events, and give him different behaviors by placing chaser triggers. Mr Sax can thus react to them accordingly by turning, jumping, stopping, or by attacking.
Mr Sax's attack shoots a single wrong note, which can uniquely be successfully thrown back at him. Despite reacting to the damage as if he was hurt, Mr Sax remains indestructible, although hurting him can be used to slow him down as his walk is very briefly interrupted when hit by his wrong note. Eliminating Mr Sax through a fall or a killdoor will not remove his remaining wrong notes from the level.
Like other chasers, Mr Sax only starts moving once he spots the player, which occurs whenever Rayman is about six and fourteen tiles away in front of him. Just as the other chasers, any physical contact with Mr Sax will result in Rayman being pushed away, even under the effects of the Invincibility power-up. Mr Sax will turn back on his own if he meets any solid tile on his path, and will fall from any platform's edge even if there are no special tiles that can be passed through at their ledge, including the map's borders if they aren't blocked by solid collisions. A gap must be at least five tiles wide to let Mr Sax pass through it, but four are enough to trigger his jumping animation which results in Mr Sax's stomping effect, no matter the height of his "fall".
The bad notes and his bombs are available as separate enemies and obstacles respectively, including the mini bad notes, albeit the enemy version of the latter only move on the ground like their bigger counterparts. His boss theme can also be selected as a level's music, including from the music starter object since version 1.4.0.
Trivia
- Despite not being featured in Rayman Redemption's Gameplay Demo, Mr Sax's hud icon can be found in the internal files.
- The attack involving a rapid stream of small wrong notes is new to Rayman Redemption, and did not appear in Rayman 1.
- Once beaten, Mr Sax simply falls to the ground. Unlike in Rayman 1, he does not perform a dance.
- Unlike every version of the original game, Mr Sax's defeat is mandatory to progress as it unlocks The Lonely Cliff. It was originally possible to exit Mr Sax's Hullaballoo once Rayman had broken all the cages required to unlock Mr Dark's Dare, thus making Rayman Redemption the only version of Rayman 1 where exiting the level cannot be exploited.
- When playing in 16:9 aspect ratio, two curtains will frame Mr Sax's fighting area. As most returning bosses, this was done in order to not stretch the original background art and to keep gameplay the same between 4:3 and widescreen formats.
- The Respect the Sax achievement can be obtained by simply defeating Mr Sax in the Boss Rush or the True Boss Rush, so players can hurt Mr Sax during his chase without worrying about restarting Mr Sax's Hullaballoo to earn it. The same goes for The Mighty Saxophone if playing through these challenges with a file lacking said achievement.
- His purple colors in the True Boss Rush may be a reference to the wrong notes themselves, as well as some aesthetics from Band Land.
- Mr Sax is the only chasing boss in Rayman ReDesigner who can react to damage, despite having infinite health. This makes him similar to Space Mama who voices a reaction whenever Rayman hits her in vain, and to the invincible Toybot and Megatoon enemies who quickly recoil whenever attacked by Rayman.
- In Rayman ReDesigner, if an immobile Mr Sax is hit from behind by a bad note, he'll start his walking animation without moving. This strange behavior can also be triggered automatically when Mr Sax is standing on any chaser mechanism except the stopping one, and if he hasn't started chasing Rayman yet. Mr Sax will only actually move if he spots Rayman, although he remained stuck in versions prior to update 0.1.4.
- Prior to version 0.1.4 in Rayman ReDesigner, Mr Sax and the other chasers didn't push back Rayman as hard whenever he touched them, which could result in getting stuck inside them.
- In version 1.4.0 of Rayman ReDesigner, Mr Sax's bad notes caused the game to crash whenever thrown back at him. This was quickly addressed in version 1.4.1.