Retro Gaming 90’s- Rayman 2: The Great Escape (1999)

The mid to late 90’s was a time period where 3D gaming in general was starting to become very popular. While the fighting genre of gaming was big throughout most of the 90’s 3D platformers such as Banjo Kazooie, Spyro The Dragon and Crash Bandicoot became successful following their respective releases between ’96-’98. Rayman 2: The Great Escape was also a memorable platformer from the PS1/N64 era that world got to see back in 1999. Rayman 2: The Great Escape was the direct sequel to the original game that came out back in ’95 which was a 2D side-scrolling platform title. In terms of gameplay Rayman 2 felt drastically different from its 2D predecessor; mainly because more emphasis was placed on collecting lums and solving puzzles opposed to simply just defeating enemies. In fact, when it came down to battling foes players had to gain abilities as they progressed throughout the game which added some depth to Rayman 2: The Great Escape. The storyline for Rayman 2: The Great Escape was also more intriguing than its ’95 predecessor which had a basic plot; that involved defeating Mr. Dark and freeing Electoons.

In Rayman 2 players had to deal with space pirates who were responsible for enslaving the Glade Of Dreams world and dividing the world’s core into 1,000 lums. Players awere also required to collect four legendary masks in order to awaken the Great Polokus who had the power to destroy the robo pirates responsible for enslaving the Glade Of Dreams. As a platformer Rayman 2: The Great Escape was arguably one of the best games within its genre during 1999. Since its release Rayman 2 has praised been praised over the years for various features including its level design, polished gameplay and character design especially as it pertains to the N64 & Dreamcast versions of the game. Also, the storyline is one that is easy to grasp but more complex than what we saw in the ’95 sequel. Rayman 2: The Great Escape was a great platform-adventure that could easily appeal to gamers despite their age. Rayman 2: The Great Escape was also a game that almost anyone could have played between ’99-’00 since it was released for multiple game systems including PS1, N64, Dreamcast and PS2. Even though, Rayman 2 was re-released for the Nintendo 3DS back in ’11 its a bit shocking that the game has never been remastered in HD for the PS4, Xbox One or the Nintendo Switch by now. In fact, the Rayman trilogy from ’95-’03 deserves to be remastered in HD but it seems like it was never a top priority for Ubisoft.