DESCRIPTION

Rayman makes his first appearance on the Nintendo Game Boy Color in the self-titled game Rayman. The evil Mr. Dark has captured the Toons, leaving our hero to make his way through 9 worlds and 30 levels in his quest to free them. The world has become a dark place and only the armless and legless (but with hands and feet) Rayman can bring light to it once more.

When you plug the Rayman game pak into your Game Boy Color you'll have the choice of either starting a new game or entering a password to pick up where you left off last time. Each time you complete a level you receive a password, so be sure to write them down.

You begin each new game with 3 lives and can earn up to 99 of them by scoring bonuses. Each life is composed of five hearts; each time Rayman gets hurt he loses a heart, and he'll lose all of them if he falls into water or lava. You can find bonus hearts which restore a little energy along the way.

Rayman's journey begins in Spellbound Forest, a pleasant enough place, but as you complete levels you'll find yourself moving into the Rainy Forest, Rocky Peaks, Fiery Depths and the Arcane Forest, where the final showdown with Mr. Dark will happen. Somewhere there's an Ubi Key which will open a hidden world if you can find it; you can also use the infra red link to trade it with your friends so that you can open secret worlds in other Ubi Soft games.

There are also bonus stages marked with signposts; enter them and try to collect as many Tings as possible. Tings are friends of Rayman who dispense advice and magical powers as well as extra lives for every 50 of them which you find.

Rayman can also pick up other objects which will give him special powers, such as plums, flying rings, trumpets and vertical trumpets. Some of the powers are helicopter, which allow Rayman to glide and jump long distances, and Gold Fist, which makes him stronger and more powerful but is diminished every time he loses a life.

If you don't have any power-ups at the moment you can simply punch normally to defeat any of the 20 enemies.

The Toons are kept in cages; there are 38 of them in all, and you must break every last one to free your friends and bring peace and happiness back to the world.

Rayman is only playable on the Game Boy Color. ~ Brad Cook, All Game Guide