History YMMV / Spyro2RiptosRage

** Mystic Swamp isn't particularly difficult, but it takes an absolutely unreasonable amount of time to complete, as several gems are hidden in tall grass or in tiny water holes, some enemies require waiting to kill them and there are no less than three quests that require you to backtrack the whole level: one mysic bottle for more crystals, one thief catching quest and one ChainOfDeals.

** The Mystic Swamp orb where you have to retrieve the Spark Plugs from the Kangaroo Thieves. Three out of four are completely reasonable, but the forth is almost mind-wrenching as you have to chase him over a tree top. Missed a jump? Be ready to backtrack all the way out of the water back up. You think you can cut his way by jumping down early before he does? Nope, he can just turn around and ''fly back up''. As you can't do this, be ready to backtrack again..

** Mystic Swamp isn't particularly difficult, but it takes an absolutely unreasonable amount of time to complete, as several crystals are hidden in tall grass or in tiny water holes, some enemies require waiting to kill them and there are no less than three quests that require you to backtrack the whole level: one mysic bottle for more crystals, one thief catching quest and one ChainOfDeals.

** The Mystic Swamp orb where you have to retrieve the Spark Plugs from the Squirrel Thieves. Three out of four are completely reasonable, but the forth is almost mind-wrenching as you have to chase him over a tree top. Missed a jump? Be ready to backtrack all the way out of the water back up. You think you can cut his way by jumping down early before he does? Nope, he can just turn around and ''fly back up''. As you can't do this, be ready to backtrack again!

* ThatOneLevel: It may not be as bad as Tree Tops from the first game, but Fracture Hills is widely disliked. It has obnoxious bagpipe music during certain cutscenes, the fauns have annoying valley girl accents, the sidequests are very difficult and the second part of the Hunter sidequest cannot be done without the headbash ability which you cannot learn until later in the game. Meaning that if you already did the annoying alchemist escort mission, you will be forced to do it ''again'' for the 100%. And the stage as a whole is infested with Earthshapers who are hard to kill.

* ThatOneLevel: It may not be as bad as Tree Tops from the original game, but Fracture Hills is widely disliked. It has obnoxious bagpipe music during certain cutscenes, the fauns have annoying valley girl accents, the sidequests are ''very'' difficult, and the stage as a whole is infested with [[DemonicSpiders Earthshapers]].

* EvenBetterSequel: Some controversial game design changes aside (like the new focus on minigames), this game introduces a ton of quality-of-life improvements that would become the cornerstone of the series. Spyro has a hover ability to make gliding more controllable and can learn new abilities throughout the game. The worlds also all have their own mini storyline with cutscenes, and the bosses don't [[GetBackHereBoss spend half the fight running.]]

* EvenBetterSequel: For starters, Spyro has a hover ability to make gliding more controllable and can learn new abilities throughout the game. The worlds also all have their own mini storyline with cutscenes, and the bosses don't [[GetBackHereBoss spend half the fight running.]]

** The Alchemist side-quest in Fracture Hills. To start, it's an escort mission with the mandatory stupid A.I that will walk into the enemy's range without even trying to avoid them. Said enemies are [[KungFuProofMook Earthshapers]] that Spyro's attacks have no effect on. To make matters worse, if the guy went out of his cave and to the right, he could completely avoid the enemies and reach his destination in half the time. The sidequest is especially notable in that, if you kill all the enemies first with [[BraggingRightsReward Infinite Superflame]], you can easily notice the Alchemist always follows the same, pre-determined path, that is ''programmed to run into every single enemy''. That's right, you're supposed to escort him and keep him safe from ''all of them!''

* HilariousInHindsight: What might perhaps be the game's most forgettable level, Robotica Farms, might have become popular again with its premise, as at the end of the level, you get [[Disney/WreckItRalph to turn on some giant lamps in order to fry the bugs infesting the place.]]

** Fisher the Breezebuilder's ''infamous'' trolley sidequest in Breeze Harbor. You're tasked with riding Fisher's trolley around a track to get 50 gears for him. Sounds simple right? '''Wrong.''' The controls tend to be unresponsive, and some of the gears require very precise movement - time it wrong, and you're back to square one. To make matters worse, you also have to hit switches and TNT barrels on the course using a cannon, often with little to no time to react. Expect to be traumatized with [[MostAnnoyingSound the phrase]] that Fisher says to you every single one of the hundreds of times you are destined to fail, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti_vGdM1EBo&t=45s "Trouble with the trolley, eh?"]]

** "[[ThatOneSideQuest Trouble with the trolley, eh?]]" Also doubles as MostAnnoyingSound (see below).
* MostAnnoyingSound:
** The loud grunting and growling that punctuates the background music in Magma Cone ruins what was otherwise a perfectly fine music track for some.
** Also from Magma Cone, "[[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard You're pretty fast but not as fast as I am!]]"
** "[[ThatOneSidequest Trouble with the trolley, eh?]]" Trust us, you'll be hearing that one a ''lot''.

** Fisher the Breezebuilder, for a ''[[MostAnnoyingSound certain]]'' [[ThatOneSidequest trolley]].

** The robotic sharks in Aquaria Towers. They are surprisingly numerous in the level and can only be killed by using the level's Superflame powerup. If you don't activate the powerup, any attempt to take them on will result in them [[OneHitKill promptly swallowing you whole, even if you have Sparx]]. There's no escaping them, either - they will even ''[[SuperPersistentPredator leave the water and phase through obstacles]]'' to chase you down and scarf you up. Oh, and they also guard several treasure chests. Good luck.
** The Earthshapers of Fracture Hills. Not only are they numerous, completely immune to fire and resistant to headbutts, but the method to actually beat them is really, really tedious and time-consuming.

* ThatOneBoss: Ripto isn't especially difficult, but he's considerably tougher than the game's previous bosses and much, ''much'' harder than the final boss in the first game. He has three stages and depending on your luck, each one can last quite a while.

** Fisher the Breezebuilder, for a ''certain'' trolley.

* DemonicSpiders: The Earthshapers of Fracture Hills. Not only are they numerous, completely immune to fire and resistant to headbutts, but the method to actually beat them is really, really tedious and time-consuming.

** Moneybags, who many consider a [[MoneyFetish greedy]], treacherous [[CorruptCorporateExecutive bastard]]. [[spoiler: Hunter does [[BattleDiscretionShot "persuade" Moneybags]] into [[TakeThatScrappy giving back the money he's charged you throughout the game]] after you beat Ripto, though.]] Considering how he acts in [[VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon the next game he appears in]], perhaps Insomniac was listening.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Elora may qualify too. She's quite popular for a character who only appeared in one game (aside from a brief cameo in the third game).

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Ripto has his moments. It helps he stayed as Spyro's ArchEnemy for most of the original series.
** Elora may qualify too. She's quite popular for a character who only appeared in one game (aside from a brief cameo in the third game).

* BestBossEver: Many consider the battle against Ripto a great fight even if he is, or perhaps because he is also ThatOneBoss.
** Gulp is also a contender, since aside from the size and volume of his firepower, he's capable of doing a lot of the same things you can, including use ammo and ''health'' intended for you for his own gain.
** Crush can also count, due to him being the first boss in the series that completely dropped the GetBackHereBoss trope altogether, as well as putting up more of a fight than even ''Gnasty Gnorc'' ever did.

** Fisher the Breezebuilder's ''infamous'' trolley sidequest. You're tasked with riding Fisher's trolley around a track to get 50 gears for him. Sounds simple right? '''Wrong.''' The controls tend to be unresponsive, and some of the gears require very precise movement - time it wrong, and you're back to square one. To make matters worse, you also have to hit switches and TNT barrels on the course using a cannon, often with little to no time to react. Expect to be traumatized with [[MostAnnoyingSound the phrase]] that Fisher says to you every single one of the hundreds of times you are destined to fail, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti_vGdM1EBo&t=45s "Trouble with the trolley, eh?"]]

** There's a number of little side quests for orbs, one of which involves riding an infamous trolley around a track to get 50 gears for some pelican. This seemingly simple task will leave you traumatized with [[MostAnnoyingSound the phrase]] that horrible bird says to you every single one of the hundreds of times you are destined to fail, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti_vGdM1EBo&t=45s "Trouble with the trolley, eh?"]]

** The Crystal Popcorn is another difficult challenge, involving obtaining a set amount of small crystals popping out of the ground before Hunter does. The first challenge is manageable, with only 10 crystals to collect. The second, however, not only adds five to the total, but greatly improves Hunter's AI to the point where he can pinpoint exactly where the closest crystal is about to pop up from. He also [[RubberBandAI rubberbands]] like crazy in this stage; the moment your lead on Hunter grows to around 2 or 3, prepare to be dumbfounded as he starts racking up crystals at an inhumanly fast rate and evaporating your lead faster than you can blink. It's a case of competing against a virtually [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheating AI]] in the worst way possible.

** The Alchemist side-quest. To start, it's an escort mission with the mandatory stupid A.I that will walk into the enemy's range without even trying to avoid them. Said enemies are [[KungFuProofMook Earthshapers]] that Spyro's attacks have no effect on. To make matters worse, if the guy went out of his cave and to the right, he could completely avoid the enemies and reach his destination in half the time. The sidequest is especially notable in that, if you kill all the enemies first with [[BraggingRightsReward Infinite Superflame]], you can easily notice the Alchemist always follows the same, pre-determined path, that is ''programmed to run into every single enemy''. That's right, you're supposed to escort him and keep him safe from ''all of them!''
*** To make matters worse, completing this side-quest leads directly to another side-quest which requires Spyro to know the headbash. If you beat this challenge before learning headbash, you'll have to do it all over again.

* MostWonderfulSound: Ripto's BigWhat in the final boss. Let the asskicking ensue...

** "[[MostAnnoyingSound Trouble with]] [[ThatOneSideQuest the trolley, eh?]]"

* MemeticMutation: "I'm a faun, you dork!"[[note]]Elora's response to Spyro calling her [[IAmNotWeasel "some kind of goat"]].[[/note]]
* MostAnnoyingSound: "[[ThatOneSidequest Trouble with the trolley, eh?]]"