Rayman Arena

Rayman Multiplayer, titled Rayman Arena in France, Spain and the United States of America, is a multiplayer party game developed and published by Ubisoft. It consists of two modes: an arena fighting mode, and a racing mode. It is a 1-4 player game. In Rayman M, the Artificial Intelligence becomes more challenging as the story continues. In Rayman Arena, there are three levels of difficulty: Beginner, Pro, and an unlockable Master. There are four cups to be won in both the Battle and Race modes.

Plot
Eight (nine in Rayman Arena) characters are fighting to go challenge the great champion of the competition.

Characters
Rayman M has eight different playable characters, along with the for the PlayStation 2 and PC, while Rayman Arena, has 9 playable characters for the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions:


 * Rayman: The hero of his land. Uses his hair to glide. He is the main character of the Rayman games, he may be somewhat small in stature, but he makes up for size with speed, agility, and a highly like-able personality! His theme music uses some kind of banjo-like instrument and is a very catchy tune.
 * Dark Rayman: Rayman has a skin called Dark Rayman who is the main antagonist of the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube version of Rayman Arena Though it is only one of Rayman's skins, the game refers to him as Dark Rayman. It is the same as Rayman except for his appearance: A slightly darker purple shirt, with an "X" on it, fairly orange shoes, red hands, a yellow bandana around his neck, and completely red eyes. You unlock him by completing the Master Challenges. His music is the same as Rayman.
 * Globox: Rayman's dimwitted friend. Blows up like a balloon to glide. He makes appearances in many Rayman games. He may be daft and awkward, but he has spirit. His voice seems to have changed since Rayman 3. His music uses a tuba-like instrument and plays a deep tune.
 * Dark Globox: On the Nintendo GameCube and Xbox, you can unlock him. He's just like Globox but he is purple with a skull on his back. Another skin has a wolf on the back. He may look angry but he is actually is dumber than the actual Globox. Hangs onto an invisible purple lum to glide. His theme music is Globette's in Rayman Rush (not to be confused with Uglette, Globox's wife).
 * Tily: A small, furry fairy. Uses her wings to glide. She seems to be Ly's sister. Her tune is happy and fairy-ish.
 * Henchman 800: A robotic pirate. Uses the jet on his back to glide. He is a Henchman for Admiral Razorbeard. His music is a rock tune.
 * Henchman 1000: An older model of the robot pirate. He seems to be a pirate/gangster/cowboy/salsa dancer robot. Like Henchman 800, He uses the jet on his back to glide. His tune is a rock n roll/rodeo tune.
 * Teensies: Two senile old dwarves that work together in a race. One spins the other around the other's head to glide. In Rayman 2 it shows that they forgot who was king so they took turns wearing the crown, and being king. Their music uses a synthesizer.
 * Admiral Razorbeard: Short in both stature and temper, Razorbeard is the robotic admiral of the evil robot pirates. Spins his arms around to glide. He was the final boss of Rayman 2. His music is robotic and evil-sounding.
 * Razorwife: Razorbeard's awful wife, called Mrs. Razorbeard in the U.S. select screen. Flaps her arms around to glide. Her humorous tune is her dreadful opera singing.

Differences between versions
Rayman M had been released in Europe in 2001 for the PC and PlayStation 2. The PC and PlayStation 2 versions of Rayman Arena were actually Rayman M, only edited in very minor ways, most noticeably changes from Rayman M in the intro movie, load screens, etc., to Rayman Arena. The PlayStation 2 version had changed since Rayman M, though not by very much.

As there was not a port of Rayman M to the GameCube and Xbox, the development team had made several changes to the game and released it on the GameCube and Xbox platforms. A few notable differences would include:


 * The menus had been changed; the space theme was gone and navigation was somewhat different.
 * Rayman M has more races and battles, however has eight characters and has less music. Rayman Arena has less races and battles, but has nine characters, more elements (e.g. snow), and more music.
 * A single-player battle can only have up to 2 opponents (3 in a battle) at a time, unlike the other two versions where it was possible to have battles involving 3 opponents (4 in a battle).
 * (Battle) The shoulder buttons/triggers on the GameCube and Xbox controllers were now used to lock-on to enemies.
 * (Battle) The small circles representing health were replaced by six hearts. If you are hit, a heart is "emitted" from the player's body, and fades away very quickly.
 * (Battle) Hearts can be regained; killing an enemy results in the gain of another heart.
 * (Race) In Rayman M, your position in a race would be represented by a blue/red/yellow/green circle, for players 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. In Rayman Arena, a picture represents the character, and will have a bigger face than the ones behind him. The players are represented by the colours, yellow, blue, green and red for players 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively.
 * (Race) A race can have three people as well as in Rayman Arena, all the single player races would have four characters in a track.

Change of name
The game was originally intended to be entitled Rayman M in all countries. However, in some age rating systems, M is used to state that the game is for a mature gamer, causing the game name to be changed to Rayman Arena.