Rayman 2

[azoo]

The PS1 version was definitely cut short thanks to the voice acting; there’s definitely bigger games to come out on that console than that. The trade off feels so pointless and crummy lol, especially when the superior machine (Dreamcast) didn’t even need it to sell itself.

I do have to shoutout those cutscenes that added the guardian dialogue though, those add a lot of context where it otherwise wasn’t given. And the Ninjaws fight, although it could be better, is definitely an improvement over the anticlimax over the ending to that area in all other versions.

[Marx-Y]

Mid 1999, a playable demo of Rayman 2 was showed at a Japanese event.

Rayman 2 JP N64 and DC preview.png (98.09 KiB) Viewed 4074 times

Rayman 2 JP preview.png (108.46 KiB) Viewed 4074 times

there is the N64 version alongside the Dreamcast version. I can't see if the text was translated to Japanese in the second image.
We know that the N64 version never was released for Japan. so, this is one of the few times that the N64 version was playable on this region.

[PluMGMK]

That text is in English for sure… ("No ! Not the end ! Globox bring good gift from Ly !")

[bunnieblaster]

[PluMGMK]

Thanks for sharing!

A gigantic, metallic serpent, eh? Something tells me it was originally intended to be an enemy. Man, there were a lot more aquatic enemies (and a lot fewer friends) in the earlier drafts of this game! I saw on your twitter that you also found the model of the "purple whale" enemy seen here:

[Hunchman801]

Amazing stuff! I remember the very neat rendition you made a couple years ago but this looks even better now.

And yes, very interesting theory about Ssssam originally being an enemy. I don't think I've seen that picture of the whale though?

[hoodlumsworld]

The whale was shared by Robin on Twitter (it's from the Rayman 2 Dreamcast files):



Source: https://twitter.com/RobinRayman/status/ ... 9912215562

You might also have missed Eig with a tail (from the Rayman 2 Dreamcast files as well):





Source: https://twitter.com/RobinRayman/status/ ... 9000957952

[dr_st]

I can't quite decide which of the two is more nightmarish.

[Hunchman801]

Just in time for Halloween! Didn't I say that Rayman's universe has a potential for dark stories?

[PluMGMK]

I can't quite decide which of the two is more nightmarish.

Definitely the whale I'd say. After all, Eig with a tail is sort of a Nessie parody…

Your use of the term "nightmare" makes me think about the role of these creatures in the world though. If at this stage of development, Polokus was just a (the?) magician, then the idea of a benevolent creator-god who dreamed the world into existence may not have been part of the story yet. So then it makes sense for the sea to be full of hostile creatures, since there's no reason for them to be confined to a "Cave of Bad Dreams". In the final game, the sea still contains Piranhas, of course, but they're pretty small and easy to deal with – one gets the impression that the worst infestations were catalysed by the Pirates' pollution. Then the larger and more intelligent aquatic creatures are friendly (Sssam, Carmen) or at worst neutral observers (Eig).

Thinking about the first game, we only saw small fish in the sea, and some were friendly, and others evil, so that's not really much different from what we got in the second game. On the other hand, Rayman couldn't swim, so water was still pretty forbidding. Imagine in this early iteration of Rayman 2, he learns to swim, but then discovers that the waters are full of hostile creatures – that would be pretty tense!

Just in time for Halloween! Didn't I say that Rayman's universe has a potential for dark stories?

So then, without a benevolent creator-god, and a sea much colder / more hostile than the one presented in the final game (Sea of Lums in the manual, Whale Bay in the game), would that have made Rayman 2 darker? It's funny, L'histoire de Rayman claims that Rayman 2 was going to be goofy until Tonic Trouble came along, so they made it more serious to differentiate the two. Well, I guess Origins is goofy, but it still shows a sea full of hostile creatures (cf. my "paranoid" sig!).

[arnoldfranklin]

I have already said this before about Eig although not here but it makes sense for Eig to have that back part because it seemed like with the poster and stuff that they brought him up to much and gave him more attention than he should have had. Why would you make a model and hardly use it? That Carmen thing is cool too and I think that Carmen was mentioned I think on this forum to have formerly been an enemy. Page 502 talks about it.

[PluMGMK]

Tbh I don't think the whale enemy was the "Carmen" that we know. It was probably just an ordinary enemy, with multiple instances in the game. It's too Earthly to have been a one-off boss I'd say. The portrait just says "une baleine mauve", meaning "a purple whale" (i.e. possibly one of many). Also, the name of Whale Bay in French is "La Baie des Baleines", i.e. plural, which might have made more sense if it originally contained multiple whale enemies.

As for Eig, indeed, clearly there were several development passes done on him (with/without tail, different colouring), and he's even mentioned in the Knowledge of the World, so they must have been very intent on using him. But I guess he was too cumbersome to work with in the end…

[Elite Piranha]

Eig kind of reminds me of the Xowar (big creatures, unclear nature, have minor appearances in the games they come from).

That whale is amazing, I bet Polokus had a very bad dream when he saw that.

[PluMGMK]

Like I said, I don't think Polokus existed yet in the version of the story with the enemy whale.

EDIT: I guess someone should write a creepypasta about a version of Rayman 2 where friendly characters like Sssam, Carmen, Umber and the Walking Shell are all replaced by their inimical prototypes

[Elite Piranha]

Another version of the Rayman 2 map that I found in an Ubisoft site (could still view it thanks to Ruffle).

[Hunchman801]

I assume you could click the levels and read information about them?

[Elite Piranha]

I assume you could click the levels and read information about them?

If you hover over the squares you can see the name of each level, but that's it. Some of the levels have a text below the name that says: "próximamente" (coming soon).

[Marx-Y]

In this early version, is showing the Clark battle but in other localization that looks like The Canopy, but the with many assets that look like The Menhir Hills (or well I think). technically the next level after The Menhir Hills (scrapping The Cave of Bad Dreams) is The Canopy.

early-Rayman-2-clip.gif (845 KiB) Viewed 3965 times

here is showed a early version of the cutscene before of his battle in the Tomb of the Ancients in the same localization:

promotional-video-clip.gif (867.23 KiB) Viewed 3965 times

maybe the first time that Clark would appear was in The Menhir Hills as boss. or simply was a placeholder while was planning another localization for him as boss.

[Elite Piranha]

Yeah, I remember watching that while looking for the mysterious Robo-Pirate.

[Marx-Y]

about that build, that build looks earlier than the playable E3 1998 build.
at E3 1998 the trailer that was showed was about this build, but in the same event was another build more advanced for be playable.
of course, is unknown the date of this build but maybe the development of the 3D game began in 1997 and this build maybe is from late 1997 or early 1998. this looks really earlier like the illumination, the unfinished feature like when Rayman can swim on water with piranhas, Eig was presented that point, the levels has completely design or never see in the Final or later builds, and the "tank controllers" that supposedly was implement and scrapped quickly in very early points of the development.