In addition to the main playable characters, Murfy the greenbottle, who first appeared in Rayman 2: The Great Escape, appears as an assist character. Murfy can perform various actions such as cutting through ropes, activating mechanisms, grabbing hold of enemies and assisting in gathering Lums. These offer a range of levels in which co-operation is required to progress. In the Wii U, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation 4 versions of the game, an additional player can control Murfy directly with touch controls, using the Wii U GamePad, the Vita's front touch screen, and the Dual Shock 4 touchpad respectively. In single-player mode, control will switch over to Murfy during certain sections whilst the computer controls the player's character. In the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game, Murfy moves automatically and can be prompted to interact with certain objects with button controls. Other new features include sections where players can fire projectile fists at enemies and rhythm based levels set to covers of songs such as "Black Betty", "Eye of the Tiger", "Woo-Hoo", and "Antisocial".
The game features over 120 levels, including 40 remastered levels from the original Rayman Origins, which are unlocked by obtaining Lucky Tickets, which can also win additional Lums and Teensies. Some levels feature remixed 'Invaded' versions, which must be completed as quickly as possible. The game also offers daily and weekly challenge stages, in which players can compete with other players via leaderboards in challenges such as collecting a certain number of Lums in a short time, or surviving the longest on a stage. More challenge stages can be accessed by raising the player's 'awesomeness' rating, which increases by collecting trophies earned by rescuing Teensies, collecting a high number of Lums in each level or by having a high leaderboard position at the end of a challenge. A local multiplayer football game, Kung Foot, is also featured, in which players use attacks to knock a football into the opponent's goal.
Plot
Its plot takes place one century after the events of Rayman Origins. Rayman, Globox and the Teensies have been sleeping for a century. During that time, the Bubble Dreamer's nightmares grew in strength and numbers, and so has the Magician (who has survived the explosion in Rayman Origins), who has split into 5 "Dark Teensies". Rayman and friends are awakened by their friend Murfy who tells them about the bad news, and tells them that the 10 princesses of the land (including Barbara) and the Teensies have been captured by the nightmares and the Dark Teensies. Rayman, Globox, the Teensies, and Murfy set out to defeat these new threats. After defeating 4 of the Dark Teensies and fighting the worst of the nightmares, Rayman and friends go to Olympus Maximus and confront a giant cloud of pure nightmare. After the darkness has been destroyed and the last Dark Teensie is sent to the moon, the credits roll. If four-hundred teensies are saved, the player unlocks the last world of the game, Living Dead Party. Once completed, the nightmares are defeated and the player is awarded with 10,000 lums and 6 new invasion paintings. Once the player saves all 700 (or 816 for NS version) Teensies, they unlock the golden Teensie.
Development
The game was first leaked in an online marketing survey, which hinted that the upcoming "Rayman Origins 2" would include dragons, vampires, ghosts, the return of the Land of the Livid Dead and also someone dear to the Rayman series, in addition to returning features from its predecessor. Subsequently, Ubisoft registered the domain names "RaymanLegends.com" and "Rayman-Legends.com".
On 27 April 2012, the game's first trailer was leaked, revealing several details about it, including new playable characters, as well as the inclusion of online multiplayer. The end of the trailer also showcased Wii U exclusive features such as the use of NFC to make figures placed on the touchscreen appear on the game, as demonstrated with figures of Rabbids and Ezio from Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft later released a statement that confirmed its development, though stated it was "intended as a purely internal demonstrative video, and in no way represents the final game, the final console or their features."
The game was officially unveiled for the Wii U and demonstrated by Ubisoft at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 trade show, Murfy appeared as a playable character in the demo. Though Ubisoft has only confirmed the game's release on the Wii U, Ubisoft senior game manager Michael Micholic stated that Ubisoft is considering PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of Rayman Legends as "we're looking at a lot of different launch options". A trailer released at Gamescom 2012 revealed it would be exclusive to the Wii U.
It was originally set to be released on 30 November 2012 (as a Wii U launch title). However, on 8 October 2012, it was reported to be delayed. On 13 December 2012, a demo of the game was released on the Wii U eShop. The official release date was revealed to be 26 February 2013, but was delayed further to September 2013 to allow for the title to have a simultaneous release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This delay upset fans since the developer had stated that the Wii U version was already finished. Fans started a petition for the game to be released on the original date on the Wii U, which had over 11,000 people signed onto it. To appease fans, Ubisoft said the Wii U would get another exclusive demo in the future, however this was just as negatively received. Developers that worked on the game have also expressed their distaste for the delay, while creator Michel Ancel was photographed with protesters campaigning for the release of the game.
