Rayman's Training (partially lost animated short film; 1998)

A screenshot of the short, as taken from Farra Vox Studios' website.

Status: Partially Lost

During the development of the video game Rayman 2: The Great Escape, a short (2 minutes 50 seconds) animated film was produced featuring the titular character under the title of Rayman's Training. Despite the film itself being lost, some small clips were later used in advertisements and promotional material for various Rayman games. The clips show various scenes, such as Rayman gaming on a chair with a large TV, Rayman flying through the sky, Rayman falling through some sort of portal, and Rayman in a forested area with a punching-bag character.

In 2021, it was speculated that these clips may have a shared source since there are many similarities in the environments and character models which are used in them. Following some research, a listing of the short film with the potential to be the source was discovered on the website of the French National Audiovisual Institute (INA). The page gives various details about the short, revealing that it was originally shown at the film festival "Imagina" in 1998. Unfortunately, the listing lacks a synopsis of the short, and no video file is publicly available. The DVD for the "Imagina 98" festival does not contain the short either. Attempts to contact the INA to obtain more details have so far been unsuccessful.

Following this finding, a search for the film's title bought only one relevant result, a page from the portfolio of "Farra Vox", an audio production studio. While this page does not contain any more info as to the synopsis of the short, a screenshot on the page confirms that it is indeed the source of the clips that were used in various advertisements and promotional material.

Availability

On March 12th, 2022, the short film was found within the files of the Aug 14, 2003 PS2 prototype of Beyond Good & Evil, albeit in low quality and without audio. It only contains scenes in the forested area with the punching-bag character, and is a minute shorter than listed on the INA website, so it may be the case that there is a version with the extra scenes seen in promotional material.

Videos

The Short

The Full Short(No Audio)

Promotional Material Featuring Clips from the Short

GamesMaster VHS featuring clips from the short at 15:06 onwards.

Advert for Rayman Gold, featuring clips from the short.

Advert for Rayman on the PlayStation 1, featuring a small clip from the short.

E3 1998 Trailer for Rayman 2: The Great Escape, featuring small clips from the short throughout.