Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Video Game)

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"Rayman, look what the pirates have done to our world... a planet of anguish and pain, haunted by evil. A dark place, teeming with fierce monsters. Nothing can stop them now that they've captured you. They've taken everything and reduced our people to slaves. The robots search for innocent prey. In the chaos, they exploded the heart of the world. The 1000 lums of energy which form it have been scattered. We are getting weak. Soon, it will be too late... You must escape, Rayman, you are our only hope!"

"Wake up Rayman, I have sent you help..."

— Ly the Fairy, in a telepathic message to Rayman, in the intro

Rayman 2: The Great Escape, originally released in 1999, is a Platform Game and the first 3D title in the Rayman franchise, bringing with it a fully 3D world, a wide variety of skills that the player character could utilize, and a much more fleshed-out and consistent backstory, to the point of (until the Arc Welding sequel Rayman Origins 12 years later) essentially being set in an Alternate Continuity from the first game altogether and setting the stage for the rest of the series to build upon.

The story begins when Rayman's homeworld, the Glade of Dreams, is suddenly invaded by an evil armada of Robo-Pirates from space, kidnapping the world's inhabitants en masse and using them as slave labor – including Rayman himself, who has lost all his strength after the Pirates destroyed the Heart of the World, shattering it into a thousand pieces. All hope is not lost, though, as Rayman's froglike friend Globox winds up captured too, smuggling a Silver Lum into his and Rayman's cell aboard the Pirates' prison ship, giving the two a chance to escape. Now Rayman is the Glade's inhabitants' only hope for defeating the Robo-Pirates, but he'll have to regain all his strength first – and to do that, he'll have to find the four magic masks that will awaken Polokus, a magic being who dreamt the Glade into existence.

Rayman 2 is also particularly infamous for having been re-released on countless platforms: the game was originally released on the Nintendo 64, and since then has seen versions on PC^note, PlayStation^note, Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Apple iOS and Nintendo 3DS, each version bringing at least some new features with them. Out of all these ports, the most comprehensive is the PS2 version, retitled Rayman Revolution (Rayman 2: Revolution in North America) and featuring a whole new hub-world to explore, along with a graphical update and a slew of new minigames.

The game was followed by Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc.

Rayman 2 (and any port or re-release thereof) contains examples of:

100% Completion: After a Yellow Lum is eaten by Razorbeard, it says there's only 999 to find, there's actually one more, in a location that makes perfect sense in hindsight: The Tomb Of The Ancients, where dead creatures walk freely, as spirits or otherwise. In the PS1 version, he instead eats a Red Lum, as the section where that Lum is found is cut out entirely.
Action Bomb: The walking shells Rayman can tame and ride.
Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: The PS2 remake of the game shuffles around sections of the levels The Echoing Caves and The Precipice, leading to a weird mishmash of the two levels in both cases. The changes don't exactly make sense either; the Precipice now has random slow-moving sections that have nothing to do with outrunning the warship, and the Echoing Caves now has random sections of the warship suddenly chasing you again, alongside awkward transitions to slow/fast moving sections and places that...well, look nothing like a cave or a precipice in both cases. Had you not played any of the original versions prior, it can leave you scratching your head.
Adventure Duo: Rayman and Globox.
Air-Vent Passageway: It's how Rayman escapes his cell on the prison ship.
Aliens Are Bastards: The Robo-Pirates are shown to be a completely amoral, ruthless warrior race that are perfectly willing to enslave and corrupt an entire planet for their own gain, with nothing but apathy for its inhabitants other than being a means to an end.
All There in the Manual: Most of the game's backstory is told through a telepathic history of the world that can be accessed through the lums. The manual for some versions also tell you how Rayman ended up getting captured, and told Globox to go to Ly for help.
Already Done for You: The fourth mask is already gotten for you by one of the baby Globox in the N64, PC, PS1, Dreamcast, DS and 3DS ports. Revolution has you fight another guardian for it, averting this.
Always Chaotic Evil: The Robo-Pirates.
Alternate Continuity: There are few references to the previous game at all and reconciling them is very difficult, although Rayman Origins appears to be trying to do this.
Ancient Tomb: Literally called "Tomb of the Ancients".
Animated Adaptation: A really odd case. Rayman: The Animated Series aired around the same time that this game was released, but apart from the characters of Rayman and Razorbeard — who only briefly appears in the first episode — it shares almost no storyline elements.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: According to The General, the Grolgoth can kill, crush, destroy, torture, pull ears, and does "everything but the dishes".
Artifact Mook: The Cave of Bad Dreams has mini-versions of Jano hounding Rayman throughout the area before a showdown with Jano himself. This makes sense for Jano's homeworld, but another Mini Jano (two in the PS1 version) appears in The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire for no clear reason.
Awesome, but Temporary: Rayman at one point gains the ability to fly (rather than just glide down) with his Helicopter Hair, but he loses it again just before that level's Boss Fight.
Bag of Spilling: Justified. Rayman lost all his abilities after the Heart of the World exploded.
Benevolent Architecture: Floating rings and platforms that are uncannily useful, or objects/switches that coincidentally allow you to use them only with a specific power you happen to have acquired...
Big Bad: Razorbeard, the leader of the Robo-Pirates.
Big Boo's Haunt: The Cave of Bad Dreams and The Tomb of the Ancients.
Binomium ridiculus: on PS2, several of the bosses have fake Latin names. Boss Biditank is "Poubelus Agrovis", Boss Chenille (a large caterpillar) is "Kapounus Grobilus", and Grolem 13 (Guardian of the 4th mask) is "Bigum Aerum Tornadus Recyclus".
Bootstrapped Theme: Rayman's theme in this game would end up being synonymous with the series for quite some time. Come Rayman 3 this would dwindle down, but it stuck around for nearly four of the handheld adaptations (the two Game Boy Color games, Rayman 3 on the Game Boy Advance, and Rayman: The Hoodlums' Revenge). Downplayed since all of the main series games haven't kept this as the theme (and even Rayman M didn't keep it), but it still deserves mention when nearly all the handheld spinoffs released after treated it as the main theme.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: Several times, but the third guardian, who insists on running under stalactites that Rayman can shoot to make them drop onto his head, stands out.
Boss Subtitles: The Guardians get this.
Bottomless Pit: There are plenty of these around, which will send Rayman back to the last Green Lum he picked up if he falls in them.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Clark, who gets a device strapped to his back that allows the Spyglass Pirate to control him by remote, and which must be destroyed to snap him out of it.
Bubblegloop Swamp: The Marshes of Awakening and the Bayou.
But Thou Must!: While the end of The Cave of Bad Dreams gives you a choice to either keep the treasure or not, the game will only continue if you turn down Jano's offer to take the treasure. Choosing to keep it gets you a Non-Standard Game Over, that promptly takes you back to the point where you choose. You can't make a choice in the original PS1 version, though — Rayman will just naturally turn down the offer.
Button Mashing: The bonus level (which is absent from the PS1 version), unlocked by completing a level with all the yellow lums collected and all the cages destroyed, boils down to this.
The Cameo: The General from Tonic Trouble shows up near the end of the game to sell Razorbeard the Grolgoth. Rayman himself likewise shows up during the end credits of Tonic Trouble.
Camera Lock-On
Cardboard Prison: Once Rayman gets his energy fist, escaping from the prison ship via an air vent is a cinch.
Capcom Sequel Stagnation: Ubisoft seem to be intent on releasing Rayman 2 on every new platform that comes out. It's saying quite a bit that Rayman 2 came out for the Nintendo 64, yet was a launch title for both the Nintendo DS and its successor system, the Nintendo 3DS.
Captain Colorbeard: Admiral Razorbeard.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Most of Rayman's friends that appeared in this game didn't appear in later entries, aside from Globox, Murfy and the teensies (though Ly did appear in the Game Boy Advance versions of Rayman 3 and Rayman Raving Rabbids).
Collision Damage: Gorilla Pirates will charge towards you (surprisingly fast given their appearance) in order to squash you flat. Even more annoying in this game is that small creatures like ordinary-sized spiders and innocent-looking crabs will hurt you if you touch them. Luckily, they aren't encountered very often.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
- The Lums. Yellow Lums are the primary collectible and in most versions give you more lore the more you collect, Red Lums refill your health, Blue Lums refill your air underwater, Green Lums act as checkpoints, you can swing on Purple Lums to reach different places, and Silver Lums give Rayman new powers.
Color-Coded Speech: For the non PlayStation versions, Rayman's subtitles are colored blue while the NPC subtitles are colored yellow. Averted with the PlayStation version, where all the subtitles are blue. Regardless of which version, certain nouns are highlighted red.
Convection, Schmonvection: You can ride plums on top of lava, and it doesn't affect Rayman at all.
Cool, Clear Water: Rayman can swim in clear, "clean" water, but dirty or piranha-infested water kills or damages him. Thankfully, there are often piranha signs nearby indicating where you can and cannot swim, and the color is another giveaway. Generally; if you can't see through it, stay away.
Cosmic Deadline: The fourth mask is given by one of the baby Globoxes shortly after the third — thanks to them finding it inside the mine they were imprisoned in — without having to fight a Guardian for it.
Cowardly Sidekick: Globox, who outright runs and hides when enemies attack.
Cranium Ride: Knocking a plum onto the heads of certain Mooks allowes you to jump onto their heads in order to reach otherwise unreachable areas and items.
Crapsaccharine World: Rayman's world after the pirates take over. Some areas are no worse for wear, but others are clearly suffering from the pirates influence. The appearances of fierce monsters such as zombies and giant spiders doesn't help.
Creepy Cave: The Cave of Bad Dreams.
Critical Existence Failure: Some attacks Rayman encounters are strong enough to not merely damage him, but outright destroy his body; fortunately, a situation like this sends him back to the nearest checkpoint with only some of your health taken off.
Curb-Stomp Battle: According to some manuals, the pirates' conquering of the planet was a very one-sided war. Rayman, Ly and Clark were among the few who managed to put up any significant threat; but once the pirates detonate the Heart of the World, Rayman and Ly are rendered virtually powerless to stop the pirates, and Clark, despite initially evading capture, was nonetheless incapacitated later in the game.
- However, come the finale of the game when Polokus is finally awakened, and the tables are turned as he promptly destroys every single robo-pirate on the planet.
- Speaking of Clark, he utterly eviscerated an entire platoon of 20 robo-pirates single-handedly — albeit getting himself ill in the process due to swallowing a bit of flying debris — Rayman himself is astounded by the pile of robot corpses littered around the room he finds Clark in.
Darker and Edgier: Due to the more serious tone, darker color palette, and minimal comic relief.
Demoted to Extra: Murfy in the PS1 version and its offshoots. While a fairly significant character in the other versions, in this version he's simply a generic NPC that can be rescued from cages.
Disney Death: After Rayman defeats the Grolgoth, Razorbeard escapes and triggers the destroyed mecha's Self-Destruct Mechanism, and the ship explodes. Rayman is presumed killed in the explosion and his friends hold a funeral with his remaining shoe... only for it to spring to life and hop to Rayman, who appears very much alive but missing a foot and walking with a stick.
Distressed Dude: Globox is this in-between events of the game, but most notably at the end, when Razorbeard captures him and dangles him off the side of the Crow's Nest of the Buccaneer to lure Rayman to him.
The Dragon: The Spyglass Pirate, who reports to Razorbeard every time Rayman obtains one of the mask, challenges him to a race in the bonus game for 100% completing a level, and brainwashes Clark and controls him to fight Rayman in The Tomb of the Ancients. He also controls the Robot Dinosaur in the Gloomy Island in the PS1 version.
Down the Drain: Many levels take place in sewers, most notably late in The Fairy Glade, The Echoing Caves and Tomb of the Ancients.
Downer Beginning: The pirates invaded the Glade of Dreams, enslaved its inhabitants — including the main hero, who is rendered powerless and in the middle of a Heroic BSoD until Globox finds him and gives him the Silver Lum — and destroyed the Heart of the World.
Duct Tape for Everything: A Band-Aid variant: the pirates are such lousy mechanics that they fix things by applying Band-Aids on what is broken. Regular ones that go down in one hit, or metal ones that require missiles to blow.
Elixir of Life: At one point, Rayman meets a sick-looking Clark at the Menhir Hills. Clark explains to Rayman that he must have swallowed something bad for him, and he needs a life potion, hidden near the entrance of the Marshes of Awakening, in a place called the Cave of Bad Dreams. Jano, the guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams, won't let you in if you don't know its name. After defeating Jano, Rayman returns to the Menhir Hills with the elixir, and Clark is back to his normal self.
Energy Ball: The Magic Fist, Rayman's primary method of attack. It can be charged up for more damage once the Silver Lum for it is collected.
Everything's Deader with Zombies: This installment adds a lot of zombified mooks to the Rayman universe, including zombie chickens, zombified arms that try to drag Rayman to his death, and the zombie henchmen in some of the versions.
Exploding Barrels: The pirate fortresses tend to be littered with powder kegs, which are not only very explosive, but can allow you to fly on some of them — specifically, by igniting a keg with a nearby torch.
Explosive Breeder: Globox and his wife, who have a family of 650 children!
Exposition Fairy: Murfy. How annoying he is tends to depend on whether he's speaking English or "Raymanese".
Expressive Health Bar: Rayman's portrait next to his lifebar gets a worried expression whenever he'd be really low on health.
Fake Difficulty: To give the game a "cinematic experience" you can expect abrupt mid-air changes of camera angles without warning. This alters the orientation of your controls, and thus, screws you over.
Flame Spewer Obstacle: There are several of these, mainly in the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire and in the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava. Some of them have intervals in which the player can pass by when not active, others spew continuous flames at which the player has to move over the flames. Some of these even rotate in position at certain parts of the levels.
Floating Platforms: Propeller-powered ones!
Follow the Money: Lums tend to be scattered around paths that you need to follow to progress in the level.
Fungus Humongous: Mushrooms that are larger than Rayman are in The Canopy, and there are smaller but still large mushrooms that can be used as trampolines in The Fairy Glade and The Menhir Hills.
Fuzzball Spider: The Spiders are purple, spherical, multi-eyed things with a mouth and six legs coming from them.
Gambit Roulette: It's not commented on, but Globox and Ly's plan to break Rayman out of the prison ship banked on two specific, random factors: Globox being thrown into Rayman's cell instead of any of the thousands of other cells/cages present on the ship, and Rayman's cell having an easily accessible Air-Vent Passageway for him to break out of. If either of those factors failed, Rayman would have been stuck with no means of escape.
Game-Breaking Bug:
- The PC version bugs out at the start of the 'Top of the World' level on some copies, smacking a big 'no CD' alert that obscures the action, making the level impossible to beat unless you're a psychic.
- The 3DS port has an infamous glitch where the spider-web spring that allows you to reach the hidden 1000th lum does not work and only acts as a normal platform, making it impossible to reach without abusing Rayman's damage reaction from touching the nearby tiny spiders.
- The N64 version counts The Prison Ship (which contains 94 Yellow Lums) and The Crow's Nest as one long level; preventing the end/progress of the former level from being saved thanks to the credit sequence that lasts until you turn the console off, and thus making it impossible to obtain 100% Completion.
Gangplank Galleon: Due to Rayman fighting pirate robots in their outposts. Most of the time these look like they're made of wooden ships, and there are pirate symbols pretty much everywhere.
Giant Spider: You get to fight a couple of these. They're pretty tough.
Gimmick Level: Beneath The Sanctuary Of Rock And Lava allows Rayman to fly upwards using his hair, as opposed to the descending glide he otherwise has. Naturally, the level gets a lot of mileage out of forcing him to fly through tight spaces.
God's Hands Are Tied: Polokus is nigh-invincible on land, but extremely vulnerable when airborne. Also, the destruction of the Heart Of The World sends him into some kind of sleep/coma, and most of the game is spent finding the 4 Masks to rewaken him. As soon as he does, he proceeds to instantly wipe out all pirates; except those on the Prison Ship, as they are outside of his power.
Good Old Fisticuffs: In Rayman Revolution, Rayman temporarily gets to use a close-range punch as an attack thanks to Globox's Silver Lum powering up his fist as opposed to granting him the Magic Fist like in other versions. The latter power is instead given by the Teensies at the end of The Woods Of Light.
Rayman: My fist is back to full strength!
Gratuitous Ninja: Razorbeard's Ninja Henchmen!
Great Escape: The game is named after this, so...
Grimy Water: Brown water is mostly seen in the swamp, and filled with deadly piranhas.
Guardian Angel: Ly, who provides Rayman with superpowers by gathering Silver Lums for him, can sense when he's in danger, and gives him extra energy and Golden Fists for completing her races. It's best shown at the end of the game, where she telekinetically saves Rayman from falling to his death in lava.
He Knows About Timed Hits: To the point that Rayman actually repeats a button command to himself right before he continues his adventure.
Helicopter Hair: Rayman has it by default in this game to glide and slow his falls, but one level — Beneath The Sanctuary Of Rock And Lava — allows him to fly with it.
Heli-Critter: Rayman himself, using his hair.
Heroic BSoD: Rayman in the beginning is in the middle of one of these; quietly despairing in his cell about the seemingly-hopeless situation, until Globox gives him the Silver Lum^note that lets them escape.
Hidden Elf Village: Globox's village, home to his family, but only in the Dreamcast version.
Hub Level: Revolution features several of these, in place of the Hall/Isle of Doors from the other versions.
Humongous Mecha:
- A massive, invincible robot appears in The Iron Mountain, lurking outside of a pirate fortress. It is very fast, and can easily crush you. It only notices you if you're riding a shell, however.
- The Grolgoth, the giant armed mech that Razorbeard pilots in a last, desperate attempt to destroy Rayman.
Impact Silhouette: Clark pulls this off by running straight through a wall, in order to help out Rayman.
Improbable Weapon User: Kegs of gunpowder. Besides throwing them to blow up barriers and deal huge damage to enemies, you can hold them up to a torch, turning them into a portable jet/missile.
Indy Escape: The chase sequence late in The Cave of Bad Dreams.
Invincible Boogeymen: Thee game abruptly takes a turn for the horror genre during the mission to the Cave of Bad Dreams; the finale of this mission pits you against Jano, master of the cave, who cannot be fought - only fled from. For good measure, his massive jaws frame the screen as he closes in on Rayman, ready to slam shut...
"Jaws" First-Person Perspective: A slightly terrifying chase sequence in "The Cave of Bad Dreams", as Jano chases you down a slope through it.
Juggle Fu: A quite famous part of the game requires you to carry a powder keg towards a machine, in order to destroy it. Flying bombs move towards you while doing this, so on the way you have to throw the keg into the air, shoot a bomb and grab the keg again, multiple times.
La Résistance: Rayman and co. If not in The Great Escape then at least in Rayman: Revolution.
Laser-Guided Karma: While the Pirates counqering of the planet was brutal and effortless, their downfall came just as swiftly and brutally; first, Rayman mows through the pirates' forces, frees many prisoners and friends, and eventually awakens Polokus, who proceeds to destroy every single robo-pirate on the planet. Then, Rayman utterly defeats Razorbeard in combat, in spite of the latter having a state of the art giant robot at his disposal, forcing the latter to detonate his massive prison ship in a last-ditch effort to kill Rayman (which fails), as the cowardly robot leader flees alone into the reaches of space via an escape pod.
Last Lousy Point: Last Lousy Lum, to be more specific...
Lava Surfing: In one level, Rayman does this...on top of a plum. (This series has a thing about plums.) Interestingly, there's dark lava and yellow lava in this segment, and the yellow lava is hot enough to destroy the plum and kill Rayman.
Lethal Lava Land: If the names 'Sanctuary of Stone and Fire' or 'Sanctuary of Rock and Lava' aren't a dead giveaway, there's something wrong with you.
Lovable Coward: Globox. The first sign of trouble and he runs off to hide with a shriek, but he's a good friend to Rayman, helps him out greatly in The Canopy by means of his Rain Dance, and provides him with two very important Silver Lums; namely, the Magic Fist and charge upgrade.
Magic Mushroom: Entertainingly enough, a certain mushroom in Rayman Revolution that you can trigger to appear from a raindance prompts an onscreen message that says "Eat Me." Rayman can choose to eat it, which will cause him to shrink down to minuscule size. This allows him to enter a hidden area through a small opening that contains a cage. And of course, another mushroom in the area will bring him back to normal size again.
Mecha-Mooks: The Robot Pirates.
Mighty Glacier: Clark, one of Rayman's friends. Not particularly fast, but very strong.
Mini-Game: In Rayman Revolution, collecting enough Familiar Spirits will unlock a multitude of mini-games, which will increase Rayman's health bar upon winning.
Missing Secret: In some versions, the counter showing how much of the game you've completed stops at 99%, even if you've found everything in the game.
Mobile Shrubbery: Of the big-nosed bush variety.
A Molten Date with Death: Admiral Razorbeard promises to punish a robo-pirate who failed to dispose of Rayman by dumping him in molten lava. This also happens to Razorbeard himself in the Final Boss battle while piloting the Grolgoth.
Mouth Cam: The Cave Of Bad Dreams level uses this when the Guardian of the Cave catches up to Rayman and chases him down a slippery slide, with the camera switched to a POV shot of the Guardian's mouth, sharp teeth dripping with saliva and all. It's very effective.
Mythopoeia: One of the defining new elements in this game was creating the myth of Polokus, spirit of the world.
My Nayme Is: Ly, pronounced "Lee". Justified, as that how is it would be pronounced in French, the native language of the developers.
Mythology Gag: Cameos of Mosquito and Anti-Toons from the first Rayman made brief appearances. Also, early in Revolution for PS2, Rayman uses his normal fists for combat before he gets the energy ball.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the beginning of the game, the Robot Pirates throw Globox into Rayman's jail cell. Because Globox was carrying a Silver Lum that gave Rayman his powers back, it allows them both to escape the Pirate Ship, kickstarting the plot forwards.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Almost word for word. The main enemies are Robot Pirates, there are a couple of Ninja Robot Pirates as Elite Mooks, and some ports feature Zombie Robot Pirates, and they also descended to Rayman's world from space, so they could be classed as aliens too.
Nintendo Hard: Some of the levels, especially the later ones, can only be described as this, as the asshattery of the level designers starts to 'shine'. The stages can get very long, requiring absolute precision and timing with your jumps, with stingy checkpoints, not to mention your health-bar does not refill upon death. So if you exhaust your meter after many failures, which is conceivable given the challenge, its back to the beginning of the level for you.
No Clear Leader: The Teensies have a king of their species, as indicated by the crown... except none of them can decide which of them is the king, so they regularly take/pass around the crown from/to the other Teensies.
Non-Lethal Bottomless Pits: The game with rife with bottomless pits, but falling into them will quickly send you back to the nearest checkpoint and only take off a bit of your health.
Non-Standard Game Over: Telling Jano you want the treasure at the end of the Cave of Bad Dreams results in one of these. Rayman takes the treasure and just forgets about saving the world, eats himself full until he's obese, and retreats to a miniscule island in the tropics. Fortunately, you go straight back to decision making afterward.
Nothing Is Scarier: The "head start" Jano gives you tends to put you on edge. In reality you can leave Rayman standing there for hours and nothing happens...
Nude-Colored Clothes: Ly the Fairy wears a flesh-coloured bodysuit; although for some time, it was wondered whether she did or was simply naked aside from some strategically-placed tattoos. In the Japanese version, she's wearing a white one, to go with Rayman's outfit being changed from purple to blue.
Ocular Gushers: Globox's children can cry lots of tears.
One-Hit Kill: Some of the enemies, like the teleporting robot pirates are capable of doing this to you in later levels such as "The Iron Mountains". It's so rare and circumstantial, but so devastating to your progress when it does happen, it can only be described as a 'glitch' in of itself.
One-Time Dungeon: In the Revolution port, the first two sections of the Woods of Light (Rayman's prison cell in the Buccaneer and the opening woods section) cannot be revisited once completed. The Cave of Bad Dreams also cannot be revisited after beating it.
Orcus on His Throne: Admiral Razorbeard spends almost the entire game sitting in a chair on the Space Pirates' flag ship the Buccaneer while his second-in-command gives him occasional updates on Rayman foiling his men around the world. It's not until Rayman boards the Buccaneer that Razorbeard confronts him directly by piloting a Humongous Mecha for the final boss fight.
Origins Episode: The game's backstory provides one of several for Rayman himself; noting that he was found on a beach by fishermen on the Sea Of Lums, snoozing beneath a tree. Many wondered if he was even alive, but once he woke up, Rayman soon settled in and made many friends through his energy and good humor, and upon defeating Mr. Dark, proved himself worthy of being the hero of the Glade Of Dreams.
- Furthermore, getting most-to-all of the Yellow Lums in the whole game elaborates on it more.
Knowledge Of The World: (950–998 Yellow Lums) You have become very wise in your own way. The time has come to reveal to you a mystery for which no sage can find the answer. This mystery is you! No one knows from whence you came nor who your parents were.
Knowledge Of The World: (999-1000 Yellow Lums) Of all the inhabitants here, you are the only one whom Polokus did not dream. You are the only one to receive powers from the fairies. Some see you as the chosen one of all the gods. Who knows...?
Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles: These are produced by Carmen the Whale to help Rayman through the Whale Bay, but can be eaten by nearby piranhas; forcing you to fight them off in order to keep breathing. In addition, Revolution replaces Blue Lums with Bubble Vents.
Oxygen Meter: Rayman has one while swimming underwater, which lasts up to 25 seconds alone and can be refilled by grabbing Blue Lums, as well as through Carmen's Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles in Whale Bay. Rayman Revolution replaces the aforementioned Blue Lums with tall, constant streams of small bubbles.
Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Globox is the Blue Boy and Uglette is the Pink Girl.
Plot Coupon: The four masks of Polokus.
Portal Network: The Hall of Doors.
Precision F-Strike: Razorbeard's lackey managed to get away with cursing in the PSX port:
Lackey: Damn! He forgot to fill the tank!
"Psycho" Strings: Used in the Dreamcast & PS2 versions for the Spider's theme.
Punch-Clock Villain: Sometimes, Rayman can find some robots, that supposed to be on guard, sleeping on the job. Accordingly, he can take advantage to quietly sneak past them or easily get the first shot in.
Rain Dance: In The Canopy, Globox helps Rayman make his way through the level by making rain fall on plants that turn into something useful for Rayman, or on the pirates' laser gates to cause them to short-circuit.
Reformulated Game: The PS1 version was developed from scratch by Ubisoft Shanghai, due to the system being weaker than the other platforms Rayman 2 was released for. As a result, it had levels that were either cut or merged into other levels, as well as simplified level geometry. Rayman's controls and physics also changed to became more weighty. On top of that, changes to the presentation were made, including full voice acting replacing the Raymanese gibberish, Ludivs, Greenbottles and Minisaurus replacing the Lums in the cages, Ly replacing Murfy as the game's tutorial character, and even scrapped elements from the N64 original like the Antitoons appear here.
Remember the New Guy?: Rayman's got a lot of friends that never appeared in the first game. This was solved in supplementary materials for Rayman Origins, at least with Globox.
Ribcage Ridge: The Cave of Bad Dreams starts with Rayman crossing one.
Rise to the Challenge: The second part of the Precipice has Rayman climbing up a pirate structure as torrential water rises below him. To make matters worse, he's constantly bombarded with cannon fire.
Rocket Ride: The shells. Some of them run around on legs and the other ones can just plain fly.
Scenery Porn: There are a lot of unnecessary details and additions to the environments that have no purpose other than to look pretty.
Secret Test of Character: Jano rewards Rayman with the elixir after he declines all the treasures at the end of the Cave of Bad Dreams.
Sentient Phlebotinum: The lums. They're glowing orbs of energy with enough intelligence to float towards you. The Backstory reveals that they created Polokus by combining their collective thought, and Polokus created the world.
Ship Tease: Some of the◊ concept art◊ of Ly and Rayman, although it never made it into the game.
Shout-Out: the PS2 version features a Shoot 'Em Up minigame called Ray-Type.
Slide Level: The Cave of Bad Dreams sees the Limbless Wonder escaping from the hungry jaws of the cave guardian Jano with a sequence set on a slippery slope of slime.
Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness: Flip-flops about fifty-fifty on each side.
Space Sailing: This is how the pirates make it to Rayman's world: by flying through space on a massive galleon outfitted with rocket engines.
Space Pirates: Robot space pirates, at that.
Speaking Simlish: The voice-acted dialogue is spoken in a fake, French-sounding gibberish language called "Raymanese". The PS1 port, however, included new voice acting in English, French, etc. The PS2 and Dreamcast versions also include the dubs, but the gibberish option still exists.
- Hidden amidst the Raymanese gibberish are three actual words: Rayman frequently says "Yeah!" and "Yahoo!" when gaining new powers and the like, and he yells "STOP!" in frustration at the bickering Teensies from the end of the first level.
Springy Spores: Several levels feature bouncy, purple mushrooms that can be jumped upon to reach higher areas.
Stomach of Holding: Globox in the opening, and how he sneaked in the Lum that gave Rayman one of his powers back.
Suddenly Voiced: Rayman did have a voice in the original game, but he barely talked (the closest he has to any actual dialogue is "Help!", "Yeah!" and "No Problem!") In this game, he's become very chatty.
Super Title 64 Advance: Rayman DS and Rayman 3D.
Take Your Time: There's no penalty for just goofing around instead of going to the final level and fighting Admiral Razorbeard.
Temple of Doom: The optional temple area in "The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire".
Temporary Bulk Change: If Rayman accepts Jano's offer of treasure at the end of the Cave of Bad Dreams, he retires to a "Far Side" Island and becomes extremely fat and lazy. This is quickly undone when the game returns to Jano's offer and gives Rayman the option to decline it.
Terrifying Tiki: The Guardians, with Axel, Foutch and Grolem 13 resembling giant flying torso-like tikis, while Umber looks like a more traditional giant full-body tiki. The former three play it straight, with Rayman needing to fight them for their masks, but Umber is an aversion, with him simply ferrying Rayman across the lava river in his room when he jumps on his head, though you do need to jump off of him before he fully submerges.
That Russian Squat Dance: Rayman and a Teensie indulge in this when completing a level, as part of a ritual that enables the portal.
Thanking the Viewer: The first person credited in the end credits? You, as "Best Player" (listed as whatever you typed in for your save game name).
Third Is 3D: Rayman 3D (the 3DS version) is the third iteration of this game on a Nintendo handheld, first one being on the Game Boy Color (as a 2D platformer called Rayman 2: Forever), and the second one for the Nintendo DS (as Rayman DS).
Too Fast to Stop: Once Rayman starts riding a walking/flying shell in some segments of levels, such as the "Menhir Hills", Rayman cannot get off the shell until he reaches the end point of that segment. Also, if Rayman accelerates the walking shell, he cannot jump off until the acceleration is finished.
Tropical Island Adventure: The Glade of Dreams is depicted in this game as this setting, as seen in the official map that came with the N64 and PC versions and the level select of the Dreamcast and 3DS versions.
The Underworld: The Cave of Bad Dreams.
Unique Enemy: Several.
- Mini Janos only appear twice in the game, once in The Cave of Bad Dreams and in The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire respectively as a group in the former and a lone individual (or two in the PS1 version) in the latter, and are even more unique in that they behave differently in the two levels. The ones in The Cave of Bad Dreams dig into the ground, pop up somewhere else, then move forward for a while before digging again, breathing fire at you or grabbing you and eating you when you get too close, while the one(s) in The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire either hides behind a pillar and keeps it between you and him until you turn your back at him, at which point he will zoom out towards and try to jump on you, or in the PS1 version they patrol a set pattern around the room, breathing fire at you when you get too close or attack them.
- The N64, PC, Dreamcast, DS, 3DS and PS2 versions have only two Ninja Henchmen, one at the end of The Precipice, and another one either in the interior of The Prison Ship in the N64, PC, Dreamcast, DS and 3DS versions or The Echoing Caves in the PS2 version. They are more common in the PS1 version, though, where one acts as the boss of The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire, and more appear a bit later as regular enemies in The Precipice, The Tomb of The Ancients and The Gloomy Island.
- The PS1 version has only two green-wearing Henchmen who throw powder kegs, one in the second part of The Fairy Glade and another in the third part of The Canopy which is dropped off by the warship. There are also only two orange-wearing Henchmen in that version that shoot large energy bolts, one at the beginning of The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire and another in The Gloomy Island.
- The PS1 version also has only two Spiders, one in The Canopy and the other in The Tomb of the Ancients, though they are more common in the other versions of the game.
Uncertain Doom: Unlike the other versions, in the Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 versions Razorbeard is not seen escaping and surviving his ship's explosion during the end credits, making his final fate, whether he survived the explosion of his ship or not, unclear (he would have very unlikely survived in the other versions where he is seen surviving, since the countdown for the self-destruction of the Grologoth was shockingly short, only 5 seconds). In Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, however, there's an Easter Egg in which Razorbeard makes a brief cameo along with several of his Robo-Pirates. They can be found in the third part of the "Hoodlum Headquarters", in a secret chamber hidden within a gigantic boiler. What appear to be apparent statues of Razorbeard and his robots are seated at a large table, in a parody of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, The Last Supper, with Razorbeard in the place of Jesus. The pirates are covered in cobwebs, and do not move or speak. It is unknown if these are simply statues, or if they are the Robo-Pirates themselves, having died or run out of energy and found by the Hoodlums.
Updated Re-release: Apart from the PC, Nintendo 64 and DS versions, no two versions of this game are the same.
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Razorbeard, upon his mecha getting crippled by Rayman, detonates his prison ship in a last-ditch effort to kill Rayman, and promptly escapes into the far reaches of space unharmed.
Wealthy Ever After: Played for Laughs in the Cave of Bad Dreams level when Rayman is given a choice between the Elixir of Life that will allow him to continue his quest, or get the mountains of treasure hoarded by the Guardian. If you choose the latter, you get a Nonstandard Game Over ending where Rayman simply forgets about saving the world and retires to a "Far Side" Island. Of course, because the game can't actually end on such a lousy note, you return to the Guardian's offer until you make the right choice.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Near the end, Razorbeard angrily threatens to throw his incompetent lackey into molten lava, but afterward asks him to prepare the Grolgoth for the battle against Rayman. It's not known whether Razorbeard fulfills his threats offscreen or not.
You All Meet in a Cell: The game starts with Rayman and Globox reuniting in a cell aboard the Prison Ship.
You Have Failed Me: Before the final boss battle in the Crow's Nest, Admiral Razorbeard says that he will punish the Spyglass Pirate for his consistent failure to stop Rayman by seeing how well he would swim in molten lava. It is not clear whether this punishment was ever carried out, and the fate of the Spyglass Pirate remains unknown.
Zero-Effort Boss: One would expect Umber, one of the four Guardians (in this case, of the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire), to put up quite a fight. Instead, he simply waits for Rayman to jump onto on his head and then walks along the lava corridor and eventually is submerged completely, but not before enabling Rayman to jump off onto the platform bearing the mask Umber is supposed to protect. Umber explains this in the PS1 version: Ly contacted Umber, telling him about Rayman and his efforts to defeat Razorbeard. He knew Rayman was the chosen one without a doubt, and willingly gave him passage to the mask, where Rayman then met a Ninja Henchman waiting to ambush him. Which, in the PS1 version, instead makes this a Bait-and-Switch Boss.