Rayman 2: The Great Escape is a 1999 platform game developed by Ubi Pictures and published by Ubi Soft for Windows, the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and PlayStation. The game centers on the titular character Rayman, who is tasked with saving the fantastical land of the Fairy Glade from an army of robotic pirates led by Admiral Razorbeard.

The Story Behind Rayman 2 - The Great Escape

The original Nintendo 64 edition was subsequently made available through Nintendo Classics on 17 December 2025. In August 2000, Sega Magazin reported that three bonus levels for the Dreamcast version were available to download from the game's website, rayman2dc.com. An iOS version was released on 1 March 2010, followed by Rayman 3D, a Nintendo 3DS launch title in 2011.

An enhanced PlayStation 2 adaptation, titled Rayman Revolution and developed by Ubi Soft Annecy, followed in Europe on 22 December 2000. With the rise of 3D games, the team changed direction and turned it into a 3D platformer inspired by Super Mario 64. The Windows version followed in North America on 4 November, with the Nintendo 64 version arriving on 9 November.

How Rayman 2 - The Great Escape Plays

When the player controlling the child wins the race, Rayman gains health or a powerup. There are also various items Rayman can use throughout the game, such as explosive barrels he can throw, giant plums he can ride on to carry him across dangerous surfaces, and rockets he must ride on to access new areas. Rayman starts the game with minimal abilities, and he can gain more abilities as the game progresses.

Rayman can also enter a strafing stance which allows him to easily aim orbs whilst avoiding enemy attacks. At several points in the game the player loses control during cutscenes, which typically show dialogue between characters. Collecting enough lums gains the player access to new parts of the world.

Why Players Still Load It Up

Rayman 2 is occasionally included in "greatest video games" lists by video game publications, with IGN calling it "a demonstration of what the modern platform game could be -- smart, fast and challenging." Rayman 2 also influenced the development of Psychonauts (2005). During development, In Utero lead programmer Diego Fernandez-Bravo named Rayman 2, Crash Bandicoot and Shadow of the Beast among the platform games that the team considered to have the best gameplay, stating that Evil Twin borrowed some camera techniques from those games.

Rayman 2: The Great Escape received critical acclaim upon release, with the Windows version receiving a silver sales award from Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA). Project manager Stephan Hernandez also said that the team aimed for a level of gameplay quality comparable to Rayman 2. In a 2021 interview, Psychonauts director Tim Schafer named Rayman 2, alongside Super Mario 64 and Skies of Arcadia, as games that inspired Psychonauts, particularly citing his interest in the feeling of an epic story and a large world to explore.

Rayman 2 - The Great Escape — Frequently Asked Questions