Rayman: The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror

Rayman: The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror
	Rayman: The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror
Published by	{{{published by}}}
Developed by	Raymanni
Directed by	{{{directed by}}}
Produced by	{{{produced by}}}
Designed by	Raymanni and DromEd
Programmed by	{{{programmed by}}}
Art by	Raymanni, DromEd, Kurakao, Pihlajanmarja and Schutziege (ideas and concept art)
Written by	Raymanni and Pihlajanmarja
Soundtrack by	Raymanni, Pihlajanmarja and Schutziege
Additional credits	{{{additional credits}}}
Release date	Windows:; July 13, 2015;
Genre	2D platformer
Gameplay mode	Single player
Platforms	PC
Ratings	All ages (OGRS)
Distribution media	Digital download
Game engine	Game Maker

Rayman: The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror, abridged RDMRT, is an unofficial Rayman game made through Game Maker Studio and first released in 2015. Its final update, version 1.2.0, was released in 2017. The game was created by Ryemanni, formerly known as "Raymanni", with the help of DromEd, Kurakao, Schutziege and Pihlajanmarja.

This game shares many similarities with Rayman 1, even using many of its sprites, characters and gameplay mechanics. It is the predecessor to Rayman Redemption and Rayman ReDesigner in most regards and some content from Rayman The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror was remade for both of these games.

Plot

The game takes place in the valley, albeit in locations never seen before in the original Rayman. The world was at peace and Rayman and his friends were relaxing, until one day a sinister great storm spawned out of nowhere. As the valley's inhabitants waited for the storm to pass, a giant red lightning bolt struck the Great Protoon. The dark power of the storm caused the Great Protoon to create the Dark Magician who laughed and yelled he would take over the Valley in the name of the "great darkness".

The Dark Magician started to build his kingdom, captured the Electoons and created his evil minions. Rayman and his friends attempted to fight the Dark Magician, but weren't strong enough to overcome his powers. Rayman was captured with the Magician and were each taken to two different prisons.

Betilla, who fled from the Dark Magician, came to Flint Jail to help Rayman. She tasks Rayman with rescuing the Magician in the Fiery Fort so his magic can help them defeating the Dark Magician. Rayman must go through twelve worlds to accomplish his goal of saving the world from the Dark Magician and the storm.

Flint Jail

Rayman must first escape from Flint Jail, an insalubrious grey prison and the starting world of this game. Betilla will often appear again on his way to give him advice, and so will the Dark Magician to taunt him. Rayman will meet his first opponents in this adventure: the Magic Minions, the main forces of the Dark Magician. He will also encounter Savage Minion, a colossal minion first found sleeping on his guard duty. Rayman will have to defeat him to progress to the next world.

Tropical Isle

The second world of the game is the Tropical Isle, an island where many tourists and totems can be found. At the end, he will have to face Mr Smushy, a giant green octopus-like creature who is a pet of the Dark Magician.

Techno Towers

The third world is the Techno Towers, a mountain of batteries and wiring built by Professor Pascal, an ally of the Dark Magician. There, Rayman must defeat the B.A.D Machine, the latest creation of Professor Pascal.

Flying Mountains

The fourth world is the Flying Mountains, some mountains located in the sky and populated by living plums. Rayman will be challenged by U.F.O, a flying saucer rode by an alien of the same race as Joe.

Almost Space

The fifth world is Almost Space, one of the game's shorter locations. This place features cosmic rocky platforms and an alien base. Inside the space station, Rayman will have to defeat an Alien Android, earning him the aliens' blue switch key and allowing him to progress further.

Secret Lab

The sixth world of the game is the Secret Lab, Professor Pascal's hazardous domain located below the Techno Towers. Rayman must get past the mad scientist's traps here and defeat Pascal himself.

Desert of Despair

The Desert of Despair is the seventh world, an extremely dry and dangerous desert inhabited by cactus creatures and where thick sandstorms occur. Mr Cactus is the boss of this region and must be vanquished before Rayman can go further.

Brutal Burialground

The eighth world is the Brutal Burialground, a gloomy area filled with graves, ghosts and featuring a castle ruled by the Reaper. The Reaper is the ghost king and has been tasked by the Dark Magician to take down Rayman's life. He is first met in his castle, appearing repetitively to attack Rayman by surprise with his scythe, and he is then directly faced and defeated by Rayman. Both the Fiery Fort and Freezy Freezer can then be reached from this world.

Fiery Fort

The Fiery Fort is the ninth world, a hot prison full of fire and lava, with some similarities to Flint Jail. Rayman must free the Magician here, but the Dark Magician will try to get to him first. On the way, Rayman will have to fight the Dark Magician in a pursuit. While Rayman manages to survive, the Dark Magician successfully steals the Magician's wand, granting him "double the power". The Magician is left with only the ability to cast simple spells as a result, and activates the green clouds throughout the Valley so Rayman can walk on them. The Magician then is able to leave in order to host his game room and shop, where Rayman can come to play some minigames and buy useful items.

Freezy Freezer

The tenth world of the game is the Freezy Freezer, a cold icy structure where snow is able to fall. Multi Minion awaits here, another creation of the Dark Magician which Rayman must defeat to make it to the Dark Magician's lair.

Dark Stronghold

The Dark Stronghold is the eleventh and penultimate world of the game, an evil red fortress ruled by the Dark Magician and which is very similar to Flint Jail and Fiery Fort. Dark Magician will regularly attempt to attack Rayman by surprise throughout this world, and both Savage Minion and Multi Minion must be defeated again.

Before granting Rayman the "honour" of meeting him, the Dark Magician challenges Rayman to overcome the Maze of Memories, which is comprised of parts from each world he has already gone through. Rayman can then finally face the Dark Magician at the top of his tower. After a gruelling fight, the Dark Magician is defeated by Rayman, leaving his hat as his final remains.

Dark Storm

Dark Storm is the twelfth and final world and is reached from the roof of the Dark Stronghold. The storm behind all of the events of the story has grown bigger and must be destroyed so peace can be restored to the Valley. To get to this final trial, Rayman must free all the Electoons, which will create a path of clouds to the last level.

In the Eye of the Storm, Rayman gets to fight evil clouds and ultimately the Heart of the Storm, a purple core of darkness capable of shooting barrages of evil projectiles. Rayman is victorious, but the destruction of the Heart of the Storm causes him to fall down as the sky starts to clear. The Valley's atmosphere is cleaned of the dark magic and Rayman survives the drop as the world's peace and harmony is restored.

Gameplay

Rayman: The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror is a 2D side-scrolling platform game in the same style as Rayman 1. The player must play as Rayman for most of the game, but Dark Rayman and Mr Dark are also available as unlockable characters. The game features twelve worlds coming with their own hubs and a total of thirty-two levels, each of them containing six cages of Electoons to find, with the exception of the last one.

The heads-up display is mostly the same as in the original Rayman, using blue text instead of pink. It shows how many lives and units of health Rayman have, and how many Tings as well as cages and coins he has collected in total. Rayman starts with five lives and three units of health which can be increased to five by collecting a Big Power until he loses a life. Rayman can gain an extra life by collecting 100 Tings or picking up a life statue. Damage can only take away one unit of health at a time, and the player is sent back to the title screen if Rayman loses all his lives. Many unique Collectibles can be found in the game, some of which are requested by some characters who can reward Rayman with Coins and extra lives.

The game is considered very difficult and rather unbalanced in its difficulty curve, as the creators were inexperienced with game development at the time.

All levels can be replayed and already defeated bosses can be skipped. However, due to a mistake, attempting to skip the first Dark Magician battle will send the player back to the title screen. Cages that have been broken are replaced by golden empty ones during subsequent playthrough, rewarding Rayman with four Tings and a coin. Lives and most coins that have already been collected do not respawn, however, making it difficult to keep a high and steady supply of lives. It will become necessary to backtrack to past levels in order to unlock the true ending of the game, as the space key and the green clouds allows Rayman to find cages in previously unreachable areas.

List of powers and power-ups

Rayman starts the game with all of his powers from Rayman 1, excluding the grimace and the ability to hang to ledges. However, he can unlock permanent access to some platforms which are unavailable at first, and some temporary power-ups are necessary to progress in certain locations.

Permanent

Telescopic fist: Rayman's mean to attack enemies by punching them. It can also be used to activate mechanisms, and Rayman is able to break some otherwise indestructible obstacles if he charges his fist long enough. Rayman's fist can be temporarily enhanced through power-ups such as the golden fist.
Crawling: Rayman can crawl to go into some narrow places.
Running: Rayman can run to move faster and jump further than usual.
Helicopter: Rayman can use his hair as a helicopter to glide. Unlike the original Rayman's ability, Rayman can glide for as long as he likes, similarly to later entries such as Rayman 2 The Great Escape.
Grappling fist: Rayman can use his fist to grapple onto flying rings and use them to swing in the air and reach further and higher places.
Space key: A key that gives Rayman the ability to activate blue switches, spawning some clouds so he can reach new locations. Also counted as a collectible.
Cage detector: An upgrade Rayman can purchase in the Magician's shop. It detects Cages in the levels and points at them with an arrow.
Collectible detector: A purchasable upgrade in the Magician's shop, allowing to detect collectibles in levels by pointing at them with an arrow.

Temporary

Power jump shoes: Also known as the "Super Jump", this power allows Rayman to jump very high.
Flying cube: A mechanical contraption which Rayman can summon in some levels by hitting a switch. Rayman can control it while standing in the same spot to hit objects in unreachable locations.
Ice fist: Allows Rayman to extinguish enemies and obstacles on fire.
Fire fist: Enables Rayman to break ice cubes.

Power-ups

Tings: Small blue orbs found nearly everywhere and earning Rayman an extra life whenever he gets 100 of them.
Coins: Rare tokens similar to Tings and allowing Rayman to buy items in the shops. They can also be earned by beating bosses or by satisfying the requests of side characters.
Powers: Comes in either a small variation or a large one, the former healing a life point, while the latter replenishes Rayman's entire health and gives him two extra health points until he loses a life.
Golden fist: Makes Rayman's fist twice as strong.
Life: Gives Rayman an extra life.

Characters

Rayman meets various characters throughout his adventure, either friendly or hostile.

Friends

The Magician: He introduces the game's story and plays an important role. He is imprisoned in the Fiery Fort where the Dark Magician later steals his wand. Once freed, he will give Rayman access to his game shop where Rayman can purchase some items and play minigames which can earn him some rewards such as Tings, coins and collectibles. He appears on the roof of the Dark Stronghold to tell Rayman about the Dark Storm, and then to tell him peace has been restored once the Heart of the Storm is defeated.
Betilla the Fairy: A benevolent fairy who escaped the Dark Magician's reign of terror and helps freeing Rayman. She will appear very often throughout the game to give useful information, advice and warnings to Rayman.
Clock: A character acting as a checkpoint. Should Rayman lose a life, he will return to the last Clock which he activated.
Shopkeepers: Characters met in the game's shops and who share the same appearance. They sell some items to Rayman against coins, including lives, small powers, and collectibles required for other characters.
Tourist: A friendly Livingstone on a vacation first encountered in Tropical Isle, in need of a bottle of sunscreen. He will reward Rayman with 15 coins. Rayman meets him again in Freezy Freezer where he is nearly frozen due to the cold. Rayman must bring him a mystical ice stone he's looking for, which will reward him with an extra life and 30 coins.
Unit Number Y: A friendly robotic moth requesting a new battery. If given the battery collectible, it will reward Rayman with an extra life and 20 coins.
Friendly alien: An annoyed extra-terrestrial from the same race as Joe and the other aliens met in this game. He has crashed his UFO and some of its important parts fell down to the planet. Rayman can help him by bringing the spacejunk collectible, which will earn him an extra life and 20 coins.
Explorer: A tall Livingstone from the original Rayman, except friendly and found in the Desert of Despair. He remembers Rayman and hopes he isn't mad at him any more for his attempt at capturing the limbless hero. He requests a cool drink and will reward Rayman with an extra life and 25 coins if he brings him the desired collectible.
Musician: A returning character from the original Rayman and found in the Brutal Burialground, looking for a rare mushroom to make an "elixir of sorts"... Bringing him the mushroom collectible will reward Rayman with one extra life and 25 coins.
Dark Rayman: While originally an evil version of Rayman created by Mr Dark, Dark Rayman is a playable character in this game, although he plays no part in the game's story. He's unlocked by completing Dark Storm.
Mr Dark: Rayman's mysterious arch-nemesis, returning as a playable character in this game, although he plays no role in the game's story. He uses magic projectiles to attack instead of the Telescopic fist and they can also change colors depending on what fist power-up Mr Dark has collected. He's unlocked by obtaining every collectible.

Enemies

Savage Minion: The first boss of the game which appears as a muscular and oversized Magic Minion. He is first found sleeping on guard duty and is blocking the path in Grim Chains, forcing Rayman to wake him up by causing a metal ball to fall. His strength his immense and he can create some dark projectiles and some Magic Minions. He is fought both in Flint Jail and in the Dark Stronghold.
Mr Smushy: A massive squid creature using its tentacles to attack Rayman. He is the boss of Tropical Isle and a pet of the Dark Magician.
B.A.D Machine: A gigantic machine created by Professor Pascal appearing in the background as two giant angry eyes, first found sleeping, before activating to fight Rayman. It is the boss of Techno Towers.
U.F.O: The boss of the Flying Mountains, an alien riding a flying saucer shooting lightning bolts at Rayman.
Alien guard: An unnamed alien denying Rayman access to the space station's core in the Final Frontier, and telling him to leave. He cannot be attacked and so Rayman must find a way to get around him.
Alien Android: An alien cyborg who is the boss of Almost Space, shooting energy projectiles through an arm cannon.
Professor Pascal: An ally of the Dark Magician and the creator of the Techno Towers and Secret Lab. Fought in the latter area in a floating machine armed with toxic cannons and defeated using the flying cube.
Mr Cactus: An angry tall cactus creature of the Desert of Despair and the boss of the same location. First appears in a cavern to throw projectiles at Rayman who is intruding on his territory.
Reaper: The ghost king and the boss of the Brutal Burialground, who was tasked by the Dark Magician to kill Rayman. Before his battle, he will appear at times inside his castle to attack Rayman with his scythe.
Multi Minion: A ball-shaped Magic Minion with a big eye and which is capable of splitting into smaller versions of itself, attacking by bouncing on any surface. It is the boss of the Freezy Freezer and the second boss of the Dark Stronghold.
Dark Magician: The titular antagonist who is battled twice. The first battle in the Fiery Fort acts more as a chase where Rayman pursues the Dark Magician while avoiding his attacks. The final battle takes place in the Dark Stronghold where the Dark Magician wields both the Magician's wand and his own, granting him a magic barrier and powerful evil attacks. He will also appear many times throughout the adventure to taunt Rayman, and in the Dark Stronghold to attack him.
Dark Storm: The true main antagonist and the mysterious "great darkness" which created the Dark Magician through the Great Protoon. The Heart of the Storm is battled in the Eye of the Storm.

Levels

Rayman: The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror features 12 worlds with a hub, and 32 levels in total.

Flint Jail

Tropical Isle

Techno Towers

Flying Mountains

Almost Space

The Final Frontier

Secret Lab

Desert of Despair

Brutal Burialground

Fiery Fort

Freeing the Magician

Freezy Freezer

Dark Stronghold

Dark Storm

Eye of the Storm

Shops are also available in the hub of most worlds, and the Magician's features three bonus minigames: Whack an Antitoon, Yin Yang Boing and Rigatoni's Circus.

Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack was made by Ryemanni, Pihlajanmarja and Schutziege using Magix Music Maker.

In 2023, Ryemanni released a high-quality version of the soundtrack in stereo format on the game's Game Jolt page. It also features three unused tracks, including an early version of the boss theme for Mr Cactus, music intended for Picture City which was used for a teaser, and a cut track with an unknown purpose titled "Hall of Doors" most likely as a reference to the location in Rayman 2 The Great Escape.

Reception

The game was very well received when it released, with many players considering it one of the best unofficial Rayman games, although some noted the rough difficulty.

After Rayman Redemption and Rayman ReDesigner's release, the game received harsher criticism for its gameplay outclassed by its successors, and for its amateurism and lack of polish compared to those two and some other games. Ryemanni himself made note of its flaws, which are the result of his past lack of experience.