Rayman 2

Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Published by	Ubisoft
Developed by	Ubisoft Montpellier
Directed by	{{{directed by}}}
Produced by	{{{produced by}}}
Designed by	Michel Ancel, Jean-Christophe Guyot, Serge Hascoët, Frédéric Houde, Michaël Janod, Christophe Thibaut with Sebastien Bicorne, Olivier Diaz, Frederick Gaveau, Arnold Guyon, Fabrice Holbe, Yann Leclerc, Zoran Milisavljevic, Vincent Monnier, Olivier Palmieri, Gregory Palvadeau, Jean-Christophe Petit, Christophe Pic, Xavier Plagnal, Olivier Soleil, Jean Zappavigna, Stephane Zinetti
Programmed by	{{{programmed by}}}
Art by	{{{art by}}}
Written by	{{{written by}}}
Soundtrack by	Éric Chevalier
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, Nintendo 3DS
Ratings	7+ (PEGI), E (ESRB)
Distribution media	Cartridge, CD-ROM, GD-ROM, DVD, digital download
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. It is the sequel to the original Rayman game, and the series's first 3D game. Rayman 2 introduced many brand-new major characters, though it featured almost none from its predecessor. Rayman 2 was first released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 and was followed by ports for the Sega Dreamcast, PC, and Sony PlayStation, with each version being different in its own way due to the specifications of each console.

Rayman 2: The Great Escape is often abbreviated as Rayman 2 or (to avoid confusion with the similarly named Rayman 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 and March 25, 2011, two version based on the Dreamcast incarnation of the game were released for the Apple iPhone (and the Apple iPod Touch) and for the Nintendo 3DS, being the latest intitled as Rayman 3D. The PC version joined Rayman Forever on the digital distribution service Good Old Games on the 27th of May, 2011.

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 main villain of the game
Robo-Pirate army – Razorbeard's army
Jano – The Guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams
Caterpillars, spiders, piranhas, 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

Resolution hack

Main article: Miscellanea

Early production

Main article: Rayman 2 (2D prototype)

Rayman 2: The Great Escape was first developed to be a 2D sidescrolling platform game similar to the original Rayman, and was planned to be released on the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn. ^[1] Screenshots, videos and interviews indicate that the game would still involve an invasion of robots from space. The game 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 (and vice-versa). One video in particular also featured Betilla the Fairy, and showed her imprisoned in a cell.

This 2D 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 is unlocked if the player collects at least 720 Yellow Lums out of the version's total 800. It was recently discovered that this prototype was last worked on at May 31st 1996 and was sent to the Playstation RayMan 2 team so that they could incorporate one of its levels into their version of the game.

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

Main article: Figures

Between the 17th of May and 13th of June 2000, Ubisoft joined with McDonald's to make a Happy Meal with Rayman toys. These toys were a Rayman riding 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 the Fairy. The toys were only available in France.

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 Revolution – PlayStation 2 remake with numerous added, rearranged and mixed levels, new enemies, and a new free-roaming hub area which replaces the Hall of Doors.
Rayman DS – DS remake identical to the original N64 version, though it is affected by many glitches and bugs that were not present in the original.
Rayman 2 was also ported to the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod Touch by Gameloft. The Sega Dreamcast version was used as the basis for these ports. The graphics are more impressive than those of Rayman DS due to the increased capabilities of these platforms.
Rayman 3D – A port to the Nintendo 3DS console that features 3D depth and graphical improvements. Based on the Dreamcast version.

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 European release of Rayman 2 originally came with a digital watch. In the American release it originally came with a beach ball.
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 (called Red Rum before) 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.
It is the most ported game from Rayman's trilogy, being released for nine different platforms including Rayman 2 Forever and Rayman 3D.

References

↑ Unseen64, Rayman 2 [2D version - Unreleased], http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/11/rayman2-2d-cancelled

[1] Unseen64, Rayman 2 [2D version - Unreleased], http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/11/rayman2-2d-cancelled

[1]