There aren’t a lot of games where a remake or remaster would excite me. If I loved a game, then I’ve generally played it enough already to not want to pay $70 to play it again, only prettier, and I don’t believe the oft-pedalled line that a successful remake lays the ground for a new game. Dead Space’s remake was supposed to be followed by (the cancelled) Dead Space 2 remake, and Dead Rising is already teasing that direction. However, I would make an exception for Rayman 2: The Great Escape.
It’s not that I particularly love Rayman 2. I vastly prefer its rivals of the ’90s, the trilogies of Crash and Spyro, both of which have already had remakes. These two are exceptions to my remake rules in that I evidently have not played them enough as I still dip into both somewhat regularly. But lightning striking thrice is not what I’m after either – nothing could depose the replayability of the bandicoot and the dragon. But Rayman 2 is the sort of game that I want to give a second chance.
Rayman Was Blindsided By Other ’90s Platformers
There were basically two kinds of platformers in the late ’90s, and Crash and Spyro capture one both ends of the spectrum. You either started at one end and had to get to the other while overcoming progressively more difficult obstacles (Crash), or you were dropped into a wide open space that had an exit somewhere or other, but mostly challenged you to find all of its secrets (Spyro). Rayman was one, then it was the other.
The first Rayman, simply titled Rayman, was a 2D platformer that launched in 1995. Full of intricately designed levels and extremely difficult platform challenges, it was an instant classic. But it felt classic. When Crash and Spyro rocked up on the PlayStation with a third D in their arsenal, Rayman seemed comparatively (and literally) flatter. So four years later in 1999, Rayman 2: The Great Escape emerged as a 3D game far closer to the wandering spirit of Spyro than the first game’s gauntlet-style approach similar to that in Crash.
This didn’t make it any less beloved with general audiences, but playing it as a kid, it just never felt like Rayman. As a result, I didn’t enjoy it very much and gave up well before the finish. I didn’t know back then that it had originally been conceived for 2D, I just knew that it felt off. And to this day, only Rayman Legends (another 2D game) stands alongside the original in my personal rankings.
Rayman Deserves Better
This is why I’m keen to give Rayman 2: The Great Escape another go. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, and not in some deep artistic way that I missed its core themes and would only understand its mastery as a more sophisticated adult. I literally just did not appreciate it. It was called Rayman, but didn’t play like Rayman, and therefore it was bad.
I don’t have much desire to test whether games I love still hold up. There are so many new games each year that I always feel mildly annoyed by remakes, like being forced to watch a TV show I have already seen. I’m also cognizant that developers spending years remaking a thing that already exists, only to sell it mostly to people who already own and love it, feels like a waste of creativity and resources. That’s the whole reason so few games excite me.
But with Rayman 2, it wouldn’t be revisiting an old favourite just to dine out on nostalgia. It also wouldn’t be using a remake to introduce me to a series I had missed out on, something I’d much rather do with an entirely fresh game made in the context of advancements in game design in 2025. It would be a second chance for me and the game to get along. Best buds. Great pals. The way we were always meant to.
It just feels as though the mascot has never fully realised his potential. Caught in an identity crisis encapsulated by the aesthetic change brought with Rayman 2 and reverted by Rayman Origins, misused as a co-star of (of all things) the Rabbids, and the victim of a constant stop start career which seems to be back in ‘stop’ mode, Rayman deserves better. In truth, he deserves better than a Rayman 2 remake, with a bona fide new game hopefully on the horizon. But if we need to settle for a remake, Rayman 2 would be worth breaking my rules for.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
- Released
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October 31, 1999