Rayman 2

[Hunchman801]

With a crappy laptop keyboard that can't even register 2 cardinal directions + two action keys at once?

Every keyboard I've ever had is like that.

And nice beach ball, thatgamernerd! Though I understand why you won't put it on display.

[PluMGMK]

Somehow I got really lucky with the keyboard that came with my AOpen PC back in 2003, because it didn't have that limitation. It took me years after I got a HP Compaq PC in 2007 to realize that it was the bloody HP keyboard that was limiting me, and by then the old one was long gone. In 2016 I finally got myself a proper gaming keyboard.

[dr_st]

With a crappy laptop keyboard that can't even register 2 cardinal directions + two action keys at once?

Every keyboard I've ever had is like that.

Most laptop keyboards indeed are; desktop keyboard are not usually that bad, plus you can always get a modern mechanical n-key rollover keyboard (like many gaming keyboards) which will have virtually no limitation on keys pressed at the same time. I got myself a Das Keyboard 4 Professional a year or so ago, to check that box.

[Hunchman801]

I got myself a Das Keyboard 4 Professional a year or so ago, to check that box.

Glad to know you like it! I considered buying one a few years ago but I kinda forgot about it since. Not that I ever play games on PC anyway.

[deton24]

Back then I even used shortly an old mechanical keyboard, but came up with conclusion it's too uncomfortable and cumbersome to write with it.
Now I can't write on anything else then modern mechanic. Of course it's just much better than the old one. And has some relatively quiet switches as for mechanical keyboard.

[Steo]

Would you believe it that I first played Rayman 3 on a laptop? With a crappy laptop keyboard that can't even register 2 cardinal directions + two action keys at once?

I remember trying to play Bart vs the Space Mutants on a PS/2 keyboard back when I had an old crappy PC. I remember wondering why I couldn't make certain jumps, then I realised I could only run and jump to the left and not the right. At first I thought the game was just stupid, but when I got a USB controller, I was able to run and jump to the right.

Back then I even used shortly an old mechanical keyboard, but came up with conclusion it's too uncomfortable and cumbersome to write with it.
Now I can't write on anything else then modern mechanic. Of course it's just much better.

Yeah, same. I remember when I first used a mechanical keyboard, I thought "this doesn't seem much different". Then one day, I tried to use a non-mechanical one and was like "wow this is shit".

I have a Roccat Vulcan 100 at the moment. The keycaps are a bit odd since they're slim, but it didn't take that long to get used to. It's kind of on the loud side, but the Roccat Ryos was a lot louder. The only annoying thing about the vulcan is that the space bar can pop out of the stabilisers if I mash one side of it too hard when I'm trying to type quickly.

[dr_st]

Now I recall that keyboard was not my only handicap while I mastered Rayman 3. At some point I switched to a different laptop, one with the early IPS LCDs that had atrocious response times; I remember struggling terribly with the Missile Command bonus game, and only at a later point when I tried it on a more modern LCD did I realize how much the screen lag contributed to my early failures.

[PluMGMK]

Wish I had that excuse, but my hours of youth spent on Missile Command were on a CRT!

[Steo]

I haven't used a CRT monitor in such a long time, but I do still have an old CRT TV that I play games on at times. Mainly the consoles that can't output RGB like the NES and N64. I'll probably have to use the CRT to play Rayman 2 on N64 if I ever do decide to finish it.

As for CRT monitors, it's amazing how close we used to sit to those, considering our parents used to complain if we sat too close to the TV as kids.

[deton24]

I still remember how smooth my gaming experience was on a TV, when I had chinch output in my GPU, though it was only 30Hz.
That's why G-Sync/FreeSync are so good. They change frequency in fly, based on FPS.
30 FPS on normal 60Hz monitor won't look so smooth, unless you change frequency manually.
That still might be a good trick for someone.

[Eeeebray]

I was looking around for some magazines Rayman related on eBay, and found this scan. Taking a closer look under "work in progress" I read some cool stuff about the early storyline of Rayman 2. Since it is in German, I translated this.


"An unscrupulous gang of animal hunters or pirates have you and your friends (Ly, Clark, Globox, the whale and the Smallbeings) kidnapped and locked up in a zoo for extinct animals.

Because you (Rayman) can free yourself as the only one and are on the list of the endangered animal species as well, you try of course everything to free your companions."

The old storyline of Rayman 2 has been discussed sometimes before, but these extra bits are interesting!

[paulnewman2001]

Didn't know about that, it still sounds pretty similar to what we have gotten in the final version, there's a chance that those hunters or pirates may have been inhibitants of the Glade, rather than some space invaders. I'm basing that on the fact that Rayman 2 prototype which supposed to be 2D game just like it's predecessor (Ray 1) had them look rather rusty, they also wielded guns opposed to the ones with cannons which fired energy projectiles.
EDiT: Just read about that cancelled prototype, they would have been space invaders though I think that Ubi had different ideas in mind at first while creating them.

[Henchman1000]

The cancelled prototype was what it partially became in the Animated Series, except you have Rigatoni instead.
The general from Tonic Trouble was supposed to become the main antagonist in this cancelled prototype and with a different look.
Also, this leads me to think if the cancelled Rayman 2 was going to have a darker atmosphere/plot like its final counterpart or not. I can't stop thinking that Rayman 2 was an attempt to make a serious game, more or less where Beyond Good and Evil went to some extent. This is my impression, I'm maybe wrong and/or missed something.

[paulnewman2001]

I'm personally glad that it did became darker, even Rayman 3 despite it's slight silliness was pretty dark, the whole Knarren's Desert along with it's final boss were pretty scary, I was scared of Hoodboomer's model when I was a kid, lol.

[dr_st]

the whole Knarren's Desert along with it's final boss were pretty scary

Oh, for sure! Every time I heard "Make him write bad cheques", I would tremble in fear for Rayman's financial security, and my own.

[PluMGMK]

In French they don't say that, they say "Le tuer lentement, le tuer lentement !", which is a bit more disturbing!

[paulnewman2001]

Lol, this makes me wonder if there is some kind of currency in the Glade. And to be fair, it's not like Ray needs money, he's a hobo who sleeps on random trees

[PluMGMK]

Well, Tings are used as a currency in Rayman 1!

[paulnewman2001]

You're right, I forgot, they have been absent since Ray 1 tho, would be cool if they come back in next game functioning as currency to buy some new abilities or even items, like in Rayman Revolution.

[Steo]

The only value the Lums seemed to have was knowledge.