YMMV / Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Given that the Alchemist asks Spyro for help on an Escort Mission that puts his life in danger (if the Alchemist gets hit by an Earthshaper it only breaks the potion) and his path is programmed to go towards every single Earthshaper, many fans believe the Alchemist is actually trying to get Spyro killed.
  • Charriii5 theorizes in his Everything Wrong With Spyro 2 video that Hunter is secretly working for Ripto and trying to sabotage Spyro's efforts. Charriii5 notes that Hunter was the one who inputed the coordinates that led Ripto to Avalar, he was perfectly capable of stopping Ripto when he first arrived in Avalar, and did nothing to stop his siege of the Winter Castle. In addition, there are multiple instances of Hunter withholding the Orbs needed to stop Ripto.
• Base-Breaking Character: As time goes on, Ripto finds himself under further scrutiny by fans. Many people consider him to be the best villain in the series thanks to his funny interactions with Spyro (which no other villain in the original trilogy has, strangely), unique design, and amazing boss fight. Others, however, consider him to be one of the series' weakest antagonists, since he has very little impact on the story (as none of the enemies that plague the levels are stated to be affiliated with him (aside from All There in the Manual) and his attempt at taking over Avalar never gets further than the castles in the Homeworlds), as much as Elora tries to claim otherwise. And that's not even getting into how he was brought back for later games...
• Best Boss Ever: All three of the main bosses get this reception:
  • Crush, due to him being the first boss in the series that completely dropped the "Get Back Here!" Boss trope altogether, as well as putting up more of a fight than even Gnasty Gnorc ever did.
  • 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 using ammo and health intended for you for his own gain.
  • Many consider the battle against Ripto a great fight even if he is, or perhaps because he is also That One Boss.
• Catharsis Factor: One of the best things to do with the infinite Superflame you get for 100% completion? Going back to Aquaria Towers and destroying the metal sharks. Second best thing to do with it? Turn Gulp from That One Boss to a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Complete Monster (Japanese translation): Ripto's villainy is given far more emphasis and menace in this version of the game. A dinosaur who loathes dragons and seeks power above all else, Ripto arrives in Avalar and begins plans to conquer it. He turns entire groups of people against each other to spark civil wars, dispatches minions to enslave worlds, and demands his armies bring him sapient baby turtles so he can have them cooked up and made into a delicacy. Ripto further has the Satyr race turned to stone, drains the water of the seahorse people so they slowly die of dehydration, and kidnaps the children of the seahorse king in an attempt to control him. When Spyro and his friends disrupt Ripto's activities, Ripto kidnaps the fairy Zoe and tries to feed her to one of his minions — promising he'll have the entire fairy race devoured in his domination if need be — and makes multiple attempts to kill all of Spyro's allies out of spite for him being a dragon.
• Crack Pairing: There has been an upsurge in Ripto/Elora fanart and fanfiction.
• Demonic Spiders:
  • 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 promptly swallowing you whole, costing you a life even if you have Sparx. There's no escaping them, either — they will even 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 and Magma Cone. 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^note You either have to knock them into lava or move them into position for a nearby faun to finish them off, both of which require repeatedly ramming into them.
• Designated Villain: To a degree, Moneybags. He may act quite smarmy and serves as the game's toll gate, but unlike him working for the Sorceress in the next game, it's made clear that Moneybags is one of the four ambassadors of Avalar (alongside Elora, Hunter, and the Professor) and does not appreciate Ripto's usurping in the slightest. Sure, he sells Ripto some bombs that allows him to steal the Power Crystal and make a new scepter, but considering his beef with Ripto beforehand, it seems like it was done out of desperation.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Elora's quite popular for a character who only appeared in one game (aside from a brief cameo in the third game).
• Even Better Sequel: Some controversial game design changes aside (like the new focus on minigames and the introduction of some backtracking), 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 spend half the fight running.
• Evil Is Cool: Although he is Laughably Evil, Ripto can fall under this, with his eccentric design and badass boss theme.
• Goddamned Bats:
  • Pretty much everything else in Fracture Hills that is not an Earthshaper. Hope you like the sneaky, dragon-eating bushes and bee-tossing trees.
  • Magma Cone introduces deceptively fast and infuriatingly accurate rock-throwing Earthshapers. Thankfully, they're small enough to be beatable by a charge attack.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: 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 to turn on some giant lamps in order to fry the bugs infesting the place.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "I'm a faun, you dork!"^note Elora's response to Spyro calling her "some kind of goat".
  • "Trouble with the trolley, eh?" Trust us, you'll be hearing that one a lot.
• Most Wonderful Sound: Ripto's Big "WHAT?!" in the final boss. Let the asskicking ensue...
  • The little trumpet that plays when you 100% a level is eternally satisfying.
• Narm Charm: The Ominous Latin Chanting heard in Ripto's Arena can be seen as this. It may sound silly when paired up to Stewart Copeland’s epic music piece, but for many players it works in giving the final boss a much grander scope.
• Never Live It Down: Arguably, it was this game that caused Hunter to be associated as an archer with most future developers of the franchise, even though he only used a bow and arrow for one mission in this game. On the other hand, Hunter probably isn't just his name.
• Nintendo Hard: Collecting all of the Skill Points in the game, to the point that Year of the Dragon made collecting them easier.
• The Scrappy:
  • The Alchemist, a senile old Satyr who seems to have a habit of trying to hug the violent, hostile, murderous Earthshapers on purpose. This old goat is your Escort character, and you need to guide him to help Hunter because he "accidentally" gave the cheetah Cement Shoes. Sure, you can blame his near-sightedness and old age, but after you get the Permanent Superflame it turns out the "senile old Satyr" was deliberately walking into every single Earthshaper in the area!
  • Fisher the Breezebuilder, for a certain trolley.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: In comparison to Spyro 1's theme establishing and Year of the Dragon's standard game level theming, the homeworlds in Spyro 2 are much more peaceful and relaxing, allowing for moments of respite before entering new worlds. Summer Forest resembles a zen bathhouse, Autumn Plains is an arboreal paradise amidst floating islands, and Winter Tundra is a calm, snowy mountainside atop a starry night.
• That One Boss: 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. His battle has three phases and depending on your luck, each phase can last quite a while, and some of his attacks can be very hard to avoid.
• That One Level:
  • 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.
  • Mystic Marsh 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 both quests require you to backtrack the whole level: one mystery bottle for more gems, one thief catching quest and one Chain of Deals.
• That One Sidequest:
  • 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 the phrase that Fisher says to you every single one of the dozens if not hundreds of times you are destined to fail, "Trouble with the trolley, eh?"
  • The sidequest in Skelos Badlands where you have to protect cavemen from the raptors by running around and roasting them. The first time isn't that bad, because all the raptors appear all in a row. The second time, however, they attack in a more or less random order, forcing you to run back and forth across the area to kill them all. If you miss a single jump or take a wrong turn, you're screwed. It doesn't help that there are also many hard-to-see pits, which you basically have to memorise the location of in order to avoid.
  • The Alchemist side-quest in Fracture Hills. To start, it's an escort mission with the mandatory stupid AI that will walk into the enemies' range without even trying to avoid them. Said enemies are Earthshapers that Spyro's attacks have no effect on. To make matters worse, if the guy went out of his cave and to the left, 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 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 the headbash (which you most likely will, since it can only be unlocked once you reach the hub after the one that leads to Fracture Hills), you'll have to do it all over again.
  • 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 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 cheating AI in the worst way possible. Not to mention how quickly you'll find "You're pretty fast" burned into your head every time he beats you. There is a trick, however — keep a close eye on Hunter at all times, and if he stops at a vent before the crystal comes out, quickly charge over to that vent and stand on it. It's tough to pull off due to Hunter's erratic movement, but if done correctly, you'll instantly snatch the crystal once it emerges, before he even has a chance to get it. You even get a trophy for this in the remake.
  • The Mystic Marsh orb where you have to retrieve the Spark Plugs from the Kangaroo Thieves. Three out of four are completely reasonable, but the fourth 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..
  • The Agent Zero stealth mission is incredibly infuriating as you have to trail him and hide behind incredibly thin trees that if you're not completely behind, will reset you back to the beginning. The first part is tolerable, but the last half has a VERY pinpoint moment where you have to charge past him and stop right behind a tree.
• Values Dissonance: Bombo is a very poor depiction of a Saudi Arabian, having a stereotypical accent, scorched red skin, and most unfortunately of all, being specialized in bombing. The Reignited Trilogy attempts to alleviate this by having him be renamed to Bob, removing the accent, and redesigning him to look more like a genie, but he regrettably still retains his proficiency in bombing.

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