Tomb of the Ancients
The Tomb of the Ancients is a location in the Glade of Dreams and a level in Rayman 2: The Great Escape.
The Tomb of the Ancients is an eerie, haunted location which appears as a mixture of graveyard, cave, swamp and sewer. The green, poisonous water which flows throughout the Tomb is filled piranhas and must be navigated by crossing floating wooden barrels. The walls and ground are made of dark, greenish rock, decorated by engravings of skulls and coffins and illuminated by wall-hung torches. The sky is dark and cloudy, lit only by one of the world's two moons. The Tomb is infested by creatures such as piranhas, spiders, and very many Zombie Chickens, one of which represents the level as a hologram in the Hall of Doors.
In Rayman 2, the Pirates use this place as one of their strongholds, and many signs of their occupation, such as their haphazard wooden constructions, are visible.
 Original versionPhase 1As the player enters the level for the first time, a short cutscene is played. Razorbeard's lackey tells Razorbeard that Rayman has retrieved the Third Mask. A furious Razorbeard warns him to make sure Rayman doesn't get the next one. Rayman emerges from a Magic Spiral Door on to some stairs. Once he climbs down he encounters a Robo-Pirate sign saying "Clark was captured here before being brought to technical checkup." After hitting a switch that activates a door, Rayman is chased by a spider through a tomb until he reaches a few platforms sticking out of the water. Climbing on to these platforms, he reaches a passage with three possible routes. The left one leads to another platforming section where he has to avoid a Henchman 800, a spider and a disembodied arm similar to the one encountered in The Cave of Bad Dreams. The right one is a graveyard with more disembodied arms and henchmen. Both of these contain switches that must be activated in order to progress further. Once the switches have been activated, Rayman must return to the passage and go forward, jumping across platforms and avoiding Piranhas. Once he reaches the uppermost platform he has to jump down a hole to get to the next stage. The last platforming part features a secret passage: Rayman can jump to the left instead of down the hole and float using his helicopter. This way he finds a secret passage where he will find the 1000th Yellow Lum necessary to obtain 100.0% completion of the game - if this lum remains uncollected, the game will be 99.9% complete, and even after it is collected the game screen will only display a total of 999 lums. How to get secret 1000th Lum (at 4:00). Phase 2Rayman finds himself in front of a gate. After hitting the nearby cogs to open it, Rayman jumps down onto a floating barrel. For the rest of the phase, he rides floating barrels and maneuvers up spiderwebs to reach the next barrel, avoiding electrical fences, Zombie Chickens and Henchmen 800s. Phase 3After executing another platform jump, Rayman once again rides a floating barrel. At the end of this phase, he must avoid a pirate throwing kegs at him from higher ground and then climb up into the pirate stronghold and defeat him. Once the pirate is defeated, a Purple Lum will appear. Rayman must use this Purple Lum to reach a net and climb up towards the next phase.  Phase 4The final phase begins with Rayman running across a narrow stretch of ground with polluted water towards the left, before reaching a door with a small pirate sign saying "Technical check-up" adjacent to it. After opening the door, a small cutscene plays where Rayman and Clark are initially overjoyed to find each other before it is revealed that Clark has had a controlling device implanted on his back and is being controlled by Razorbeard's lackey from another room. A boss fight ensues in which Rayman must activate a laser by hitting three switches, then tricking Clark into tripping over it in order to attack the controlling device. Once the controlling device is destroyed, Clark is restored to his normal self. Rayman climbs onto Clark's back to destroy the final cage, revealing a Teensie who then opens a Magic Spiral Door. Rayman is then transported back to the Hall of Doors. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Dreamcast version... | ||||||||||||||||||||
PlayStation versionThe first phase of the original is completely removed. The rest of the level is also edited in the form of were the start and end of each phase occurs. Alternate passages and forks has been omitted, making the level much more linear and straightforward. Overall, however, the general layout is similar, and the level still concludes with the battle against the hypnotised Clark. | ||||||||||||||||||||
PlayStation 2 versionIn this version, Rayman discovers a treasure chest in the Technical check-up after rescuing Clark, and upon opening it finds the Lums Radar, a magnet-like device that points the way to nearby Yellow Lums. Also, if Rayman has destroyed any Robo-Pirates, and revisits the place, they will be replaced by Zombie Pirates. Also, whilst no real reason was ever given as to why Rayman went to the tomb in the other versions, he is specifically instructed to go here to rescue Clark in this version. In the other versions, Rayman appeared to stumble across Clark souly by chance, and was simply passing through. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Game Boy Color version In the GBC adaptation, the Tomb of the Ancients directly follows the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava, and this is where Rayman fights the final boss, which is just a drilling Henchman 800. |
||||||||||||||||||||
