A leaked internal Ubisoft development video showing off early gameplay for the yet-unannounced new Rayman game, Rayman Legends, being played on a Wii-U dev kit, appeared on the internet today.
The trailer shows off Legends’ side-scrolling gameplay, featuring 2- and 4-player co-op, tablet controls, and lush graphics — even exceeding the high standards set by last year’s Rayman Origins. It’s unclear just how powerful the system will be, but it certainly looks capable.
The controller in the video is wired, which Ubisoft says is due to only having access to wired dev kits at this time, but I hope maybe we’ll see some sort of charging wire for the tablet as well.
At the end of the video, we see players using small figurines, placing them on the tablet controller’s screen, causing changes to the game. A rabid is placed on the screen, and suddenly Raymna is shown beating up hordes of the little, demented rabbits. They also tease the possibility of an Ezio figure being used. In a statement released after the video leaked, Ubi said this feature is not final — nor is the game — so things may be much different at launch.
However, Ubisoft did confirm that Rayman Legends is in development, headed by Rayman-series mastermind Michel Ancel.
I’m very excited for a new Rayman game, especially if it’s building off of Rayman: Origins — one of the best games of 2011, and my favorite 2D-platformer is years.
As far as the displayed Wii-U footage and prospective feature, I’m curious and cautiously intruiged. I love Nintendo, I grew up on the stuff, and I love Rayman, so I came away awfully excited by this leaked footage. But with word that we won’t hear about a release date or price point at E3 regarding this year’s Wii-U launch, I still feel twinges of apprehension about the new system. Knowing Nintendo will be showing a new Super Mario Bros. and Pikmin helps, but I really hope Nintendo hit it out of the park this year — they need it.
The internet is divided between praise and pessimism for the Wii-U, but seeing Rayman Legends has helped ease some of my concerns, at least for now. E3 is just around the corner, so I’m sure we’ll see plenty more announcements and rumors leading up to Nintendo’s press conference.
