Mr Skops
Mr Skops | ||
---|---|---|
Alignment | Bad | |
Appears in | Rayman | |
Location | The Caves of Skops | |
Resistance | ||
Attacks | Claw, energy balls | |
Species | Scorpion |
Mr Skops, also known as Skops the Scorpion, is a giant, dark-pink scorpion with a single massive claw, and yellow spikes on his body. He is the fifth major boss in the original Rayman game, and is encounterd only once in Mr Skops' Stalactites, the third and final level of the Caves of Skops.
He is first encountered asleep on the other side of a fiery pit covered with spiky platforms. Rayman finds himself in front of the sleeping Mr Skops who, angry at being woken, attacks him.
He attacks by throwing his claw, which Rayman must jump over as it sails towards him, and again as it returns to its owner. Mr Skops also strikes the ground with his claw, causing the platforms which Rayman stands on to fall into the lava below, one by one.
When all platforms are gone, Rayman must grab the edge of the platform Mr Skops is standing on to avoid his attacks, and then jump back onto the platform when he thumps the ground. Mr Skops then runs away, while causing lava to rise in an attempt to kill Rayman. He also demonstrates his ability to shoot energy balls from his tail, which destroys the platforms Rayman must use to avoid the lava.
Rayman then has a one-on-one battle with Mr Skops, in which he must dodge his claw and punch his energy balls back at him. When has only one health point left, he moves forward, making his last attacks much harder to dodge.
Once beaten, Mr Skops falls to pieces while smiling showing he is at peace once more.
Early version of the game
At a very early point in its production, the original Rayman game was planned for release on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In 2010, the French retro-gaming magazine Pix'n Love printed an article on the history of the Rayman series, including several in-game screenshots of the scrapped Super Nintendo version. One screenshot depicts Rayman and his female companion battling a very early version of Mr Skops. This version of the character can still shoot electricity from the tip of his tail, but he looks much more like a real scorpion; he has two claws instead of one, and his carapace is a shady orange colour rather than a bright pink.
Some pieces of advertisement from the game, as well as the packaging of some versions, bear a screenshot which shows Rayman battling Mr Skops in the Dream Forest rather than in the Caves of Skops. It is not known if this screenshot was created solely for the purpose of marketing, or if this scenario actually existed in any early version of the game. Neither of the leaked Atari Jaguar prototypes contain any trace of this battle, although they differ from the final version in numerous other ways.