Rayman 2

''Rayman 2: The Great Escape''
Published by	Ubisoft
Developed by	Ubisoft
Directed by	{{{directed by}}}
Produced by	{{{produced by}}}
Designed by	{{{designed by}}}
Programmed by	{{{programmed by}}}
Art by	{{{art by}}}
Written by	{{{written by}}}
Soundtrack by	{{{soundtrack by}}}
Release date	1999
Genre	3D Platformer
Gameplay mode	Single player
Languages	{{{languages}}}
Platforms	Nintendo 64, PC, Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation, Game Boy Color, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Sony Playstation 3 (PSN), Sony Playstation Portable (PSN), Apple iPhone, Apple iPod Touch
Ratings	{{{ratings}}}
Distribution media	{{{distribution media}}}
Game engine	{{{game engine}}}

"Rayman 2" redirects here. For other uses, see Rayman 2 (disambiguation).

Rayman 2: The Great Escape is the second major game in the Rayman series, and is the sequel to Rayman. It was first released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 and was followed by ports for the Sega Dreamcast, PC, and Sony PlayStation, with each port being different in its own way perhaps due to the specifications of each console. It was also the first 3D game of the series, and introduced many brand-new major characters, though featured almost none from its predecessor. Rayman 2: The Great Escape is often abbreviated as Rayman 2 or (to avoid confusion with the similarly named Rayman 2: Revolution) R2. The Sony PlayStation version of Rayman 2 was later released as a PSOne Classic on the North American PlayStation Network, on December 18, 2008. On March 1, 2010, a version based on the Dreamcast incarnation of the game was released for the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod Touch.

Story

Rayman 2: The Great Escape takes place in Rayman's world, a land known as the Glade of Dreams. An army of Robo-Pirates, led by the infamous Admiral Razorbeard, invades the Glade and destroys the Heart of the World, scattering the 1000 Yellow Lums which form it. This greatly weakens the inhabitants' power and disables most of the powers granted to Rayman by Betilla the Fairy, leading to his capture.

Globox, a friend of Rayman, is later also captured and put in the same cell as Rayman aboard the Buccaneer, the Robo-Pirates' prison ship. Globox restores Rayman's shooting power through a Silver Lum given to him by Ly, a fairy. Rayman escapes the prison ship, and is separated from Globox again. He learns that in order to stand a chance against the Pirates, he needs to find four ancient, magical masks which, when reunited, will reawaken Polokus, the godly spirit who created the Glade of Dreams. Rayman travels around the Glade via the Hall of Doors, a magical place linked to various locations in the world, and controlled by the ancient Teensies.

In the course of the game, Rayman frees Globox who had been captured again, and they continue together for a short while until Globox departs again to go find his family. Later, Rayman finds Globox's wife Uglette and learns that he has been imprisoned on the Prison Ship. Rayman also encounters his friend Clark, a Giant who has stomach problems due to eating rusty pirates; to continue through the level, Rayman has to cure Clark by means of an elixir.

Eventually Rayman recovers the four masks from their ancient, well-guarded sanctuaries and awakens Polokus, who uses his powers to destroy all of the Robo-Pirates on land. In the air however, he has no power, so it is Rayman himself who must free the Pirates' slaves from the Prison Ship and defeat Admiral Razorbeard, who also has his headquarters there. In a final battle, Rayman fights Razorbeard, who is controlling a giant robot, the Grolgoth, which was sold to him by a character from Tonic Trouble. Eventually, Rayman defeats the Grolgoth; however, Razorbeard activates its self-destruct mechanism before flying away in a small escape pod. The Prison Ship explodes, and Rayman is presumed dead. Only one of his shoes is found, but during the funeral which his friends are attending he appears again, walking on a crutch.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Rayman 2 is somewhat similar to that of Rayman, though this time Rayman starts with a few powers to defend himself, one of which is given to him by Globox who is introduced at the very beginning. The aim of the game is to rescue all of the Yellow Lums that have been scattered following the explosion of the Primordial Core, and the creatures that have been imprisoned in cages, while defeating any Robo-Pirates that stand in Rayman's way.

Main characters

The good guys

• Rayman - The hero and protagonist of the game
• Globox - Rayman's best friend; husband of Uglette and father of the baby Globoxes
• Ly the Fairy - Rayman's friend and powerful ally
• Murfy - Serves as an ‘instructor’-type character
• The Teensies - Keepers of the Hall of Doors
• Clark the Giant - A friend of Rayman's
• Sssssam - a snake who helps Rayman cross the Marshes of Awakening

The bad guys

• Admiral Razorbeard - The villain of the game
• Robo-Pirate Army - Razorbeard's army
• Jano - The Guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams
• Caterpillars, spiders, Zombie Chickens - Twisted creatures that began to proliferate as a result of the Robo-Pirates' disruption of the natural balance

Environment

Unlike Rayman 1, Rayman 2 is not divided into certain themed worlds, but rather a trail of 20 different locations, none of which are as surreal as its predecessor's, but are still dissimilar to the real world. The levels are played in a linear fashion in a World Map known as the Hall of Doors (Isle of Doors in the Dreamcast version), with most levels following a single path (though the Cave of Bad Dreams, Walk of Life, and Walk of Power are on side-paths). The player is able to backtrack to past levels if he or she wishes, and can move on to the final stage without breaking all of the cages.

Levels

PC, N64 and Dreamcast version

• The Woods of Light
• The Fairy Glade
• The Marshes of Awakening
• The Bayou
• The Walk of Life (sublevel)
• The Sanctuary of Water and Ice
• The Menhir Hills
• The Cave of Bad Dreams (sublevel)
• The Canopy
• Whale Bay
• The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire
• The Echoing Caves
• The Precipice
• The Top of the World
• The Sanctuary of Rock and Lava
• The Walk of Power (sublevel)
• Beneath the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava
• The Tomb of the Ancients
• The Iron Mountains
• The Prison Ship
• The Crow's Nest

Resolution hack

Main article: Miscellanea

Early production

Main article: Rayman 2 (2D prototype)

Recently, it was revealed that Rayman 2 was first developed to be a 2D platforming game in the same vein as Rayman, for the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn.^[source] Screenshots and videos suggested that the game was still going to be about a robot invasion as it featured enemies similar to the Robo-Pirates, and it also featured background platforming - using a device similar to a shower head and a toilet flush, Rayman could teleport from the foreground to the background. One video in particular also featured a female character with red hair that appears to be Betilla the Fairy, but could also be Betina in a cameo.

The whole of this game was cancelled in favour of the 3D version it became, though a playable prototype (version 01.12d) featuring one level is included in the PlayStation version of Rayman 2, and unlocked if the player collects at least 720 Yellow Lums out of 800. It was recently discovered that this prototype was finished on May 31st 1996 and was sent to the Playstation RayMan 2 team for review.

Promotion

Ubisoft promoted Rayman 2 with many toys and even a cartoon. There were YoYos, cell phone covers, a PlayStation 2 remote, a version of the game with a figure, and Happy Meal toys.

Cartoon

Main Article: Rayman: The Animated Series

McDonald's

Ubisoft joined with McDonald's to make a happy meal with Rayman toys. These toys were a Rayman rolling on a Walking Shell, Rayman on a plum with spinning helicopter hair, a light-up cage, a sound-making Henchman 800, a wobbling Globox and Ly.

Tonic Trouble

Characters from each game made cameo appearances in the other game. In Tonic Trouble, Rayman would be seen during the game's end credits. In Rayman 2, a salesman who previously appeared in the intro sequence of the PC version of Tonic Trouble sells the Grolgoth to Razorbeard late in the game. Tonic Trouble was worked on (though not designed) by Michel Ancel, used the Rayman 2 engine, originally appeared on the same platforms as Rayman 2, and was also released by Ubisoft, giving reason for the crossovers, though Tonic Trouble had not fared well critically or commercially, whereas Rayman 2 became successful in both areas.

Rayman Mobile

Rayman Bowling, Rayman Golf, and Rayman Garden are spin-offs of Rayman 2 and its remakes. These games were ported by Gameloft to the N-Gage and other Samsung and Nokia phones.
In May 2010 Rayman 2 was released on the IPhone platform.

Remakes

• Rayman 2: Revolution - PlayStation 2 remake that was essentially a slightly more difficult version of the original, with added levels, enemies, and a new free-roaming feature which replaces the Hall of Doors.
• Rayman DS - DS remake identical to the original N64 version, though many glitches and bugs were included that were not present in the original.
• Rayman 2 was also ported to the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod Touch by Gameloft. It appears that the Sega Dreamcast version was used as the basis for these ports. The graphics are more impressive than Rayman DS due of the increased capabilities of these platforms.

Trivia

• In the German gaming magazine PC Player (issue 01/2000), Rayman 2: The Great Escape was named as "Best Platformer in 1999".

• The Sony PlayStation release of Rayman 2 originally came with a digital watch.

• In the Japanese localisation of the game, some characters with purple in them were changed. Rayman's body was made blue, Sssssam the watersnake turned into a kind of green, and Jano's hat was turned red. But the most bizarre change was made to Ly, whose body was changed from yellow/purple to white/pink.

• The names of a few characters changed during design of the game: the original name of Globox was Globber, the original name of Razorbeard was Razorface, the original name of Polokus was Pollochus the Magician, the Teensies were originally named the Smalbeings, and the Robo-Pirates were originally employed by a ‘mysterious guild’, which had decided to create an intergalactic zoo or circus featuring creatures from Rayman's world; remnants of this storyline can be found in Rayman: The Animated Series.

See also

• Miscellanea
• Rayman 2 Forever
• Rayman Revolution