One of the most satisfying things in any video game, for me, at least, is when you discover secrets that most of those who have played the game know little about. I have found a decent number of secrets (well, to be honest, by “found”, I mean that I read about them online) in various games, and I decided it would be quite fun to share them with you all. Today’s topic: the elusive 1,000th Yellow Lum in “Rayman 2”.
First off, show of hands. Who’s played “Rayman 2”? Okay, I’m having trouble seeing you through the Internet like this, but my guess is, not tons of people. Correct me if I’m wrong, and I often am, but this series seems to be one that goes rather unnoticed by most people. (This knowledge stems from the fact that, when I asked various friends about the games in the past, all but one of them said they had never even heard of “Rayman”. And the one that had heard of the series flat out stated that she didn’t like it. For a reason even she wouldn’t reveal.) Well, I am proud to be a big “Rayman” fan, and my favorite game of the series is “Rayman 2” (I have the Nintendo 64 version; I have heard each version is a bit different). Nevertheless, even after playing this game countless times over the years, I hadn’t a clue that there was actually an extra Lum in this game. You see, the game starts off with 1,000 Yellow Lums, which goes down to 999 when the dastardly Admiral Razorbeard eats one. Poor thing. And the game never once hints at the existence of a spare Lum, either, so naturally, I knew nothing about it.
But, then, one day, a good decade or so after I bought the game, I heard that there was a secret I was missing, a hidden Lum in the Tomb of the Ancients. Where could this be, I wondered. I scoured that place countless times, so how could I have missed out on such a find? Well, you see, Ubisoft was clever in hiding this thing. Very crafty. Because this Lum actually resides in a room you have probably walked by a zillion times without having any idea it was there. That’s right, a zillion. With no hope of finding it on my own, I had to find directions on the Internet, and even then, I was at a loss. Okay, so you climb up to where you see the big, full moon, then, you turn around, and then you jump and use Rayman’s helicopter hair to hug the wall to the right until you can go around a corner and find a hidden ledge. What?
So I worked my way through the Tomb of the Ancients, and just before I reached the designated spot, I stopped and stared at this wall, seeing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about it. Huh? What? I climbed up the ladder and turned around, once again studying the wall for any hint of this mystical hidden ledge, but none presented itself. Throwing caution to the wind (which simply fell flat at my feet, as there was no wind present, ahem, I’ll stop being sarcastic), I made the leap, and I hugged that wall. I hugged it like we were pals. And I don’t know if this took me more than one try or not, because any memory of possible failures was erased when Rayman suddenly turned around a corner in the seemingly featureless wall and landed on…the mystic voodoo ledge! Oh, my gosh, a secret I had missed for ten years, discovered at last! I went forward, defeated some Robo-pirates, and I collected my secret Lum, feeling quite a rush at locating something that most people were likely completely unaware of, just as I had once been, before I had been enlightened.
But, that wasn’t the only thing that I found thrilling. The other reason that this was just so darn awesome was because, goodness me and a plate of toast, how often do you find something you’ve left undiscovered for a decade! I still enjoy this game immensely even after all these years, but I thought I knew everything about it. I had found all the cages and collected “all” 999 Lums, plus I completed those weird levels where you race Ly, and I thought I had done it all. I had mastered this game. That was it. Nothing more to it. And then this new secret was revealed to me one day, and it gave me something fresh and new in a game I thought I had seen everything in. And now, I have. Now I really have seen it all, but this game has only become more exciting each time I play, as I flaunt my newfound knowledge and collect that extra Lum once again, feeling the same thrill every time I rediscover this secret. Oh, what, it looks like a regular wall? You think Rayman’s going to eventually land in the acid stuff? Wrong! Behold, magic ledge! And now your mind is blown! Pow, kaboom, cha-ching! And that, fine folks, is one of those thrilling secrets I was talking about. (And now, this is probably the moment where I find out that everyone in the universe actually knew about this before me….)
And in case you wanted to witness for yourself the extra Lum and the most fabulous, the most jaw dropping, magic ledge itself, here’s a video of this most delightful of secrets (they reach the room where the excitement takes place around 1:40). You are very welcome.
Video from Youtube User: Crazysonicfan110
The 1,000th Duck
I somehow find it very amusing playing your childhood’s game as an adult because you can beat the shit out of anything (I am currently doing this with megaman battle network 3 blue and I gave myself the challenge to never use any healing chips throughout the entire game)
also UBISOFT MADE THIS GAME?!! O_O HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THIS?!!
That’s true. Some games that were hard as a kid are easy now that I’m older, and I can’t believe how simple certain things are now, when I used to think they were really hard years ago. And to make it even easier, I have since found out better ways of doing things that I didn’t know about years ago. Like how I used to have trouble beating the final boss in “Majora’s Mask”, but now it’s way too easy because I have since figured out how to get the Fierce Deity Mask. Though, it became so easy, I have since returned to beating the game without Fierce Deity so I could put some semblance of challenge back into the game.
I used to be dead scared when the second day came as a kid (I would restart time over and over and over), I wonder how well would I do if I played the game again?
I guess you have to to put some challenges on yourself when your playing your childhood games (because from there, you get to discover things you have never expected to find)
I used to be terrified in “MM”, too. I was so scared of that moon falling. So scared.
And you do indeed need to add new challenges as you grow older, to keep the games from getting too easy.
its one of the many cons of being an adult (old games become too easy -___-….)
Oh man, so many good 3D platformers on the 64. I can’t imagine 10 year old me found this, but I also wouldn’t be overly surprised… I feel like I would have been more likely to find it back in the day than I am now.
~Dyl
There were indeed a lot of amazing games on the N64. That console is still impressive, even after all these years.
I think the fact that the Lum number went from 1000 to 999 always bothered me. Are we just giving up on that one and lowering the Lum number? (if so, what’s stopping us from just lowering it even more?) Does it mean we’re doomed from the start because we can’t get all 1000 back?
Now, years later, I can rest easy =)
What bothers me is this can only mean the game, in fact, started out with 1,001 Lums, and it actually went down to 1,000 when Razorbeard ate one. The numbers are all messed up now. Unless Razorbeard spit that one out, and it was always 1,000. (Not that I know how a robot can eat anything to begin with. Hmm, I’m thinking too much into it now.)
An awesome game and an awesome secret!
The only Rayman I have never played is the original one. I am glad to see that, with Origins and Legends, the series has finally achieved some level of wide recognition.
I think I’ve played all the regular “Rayman” games, though I played the GBA version of the first game. Wasn’t a big fan of that one, but I’m also not good at handheld games.
I agree, it seemed that this series got ignored for the longest time, but once “Origins” came out, people are finally starting to take notice of it, and even more now with the release of “Legends”. I love this series, and I want others to love it, too. Maybe now the series will get the love it deserves.
I agree!
Hoodlum Havoc, though not as good as Origins, Legends and The Great Escape, is also great!