Tomb of the Ancients secret

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The Tomb of the Ancients secret refers to an unnamed secret area found in the Tomb of the Ancients in Rayman 2: The Great Escape. This secret appears in its completed form only in the Sega Dreamcast version of the game; in all other versions of the game, the secret is present in an unfinished form, as the code required to access it does not work, and neither do the codes normally given to the player within the secret area.

The clearing at the end of the tunnel

Description

The entrance to the secret area in hidden in the final phase of the Tomb of the Ancients, outside the door to the Technical Check-Up where Rayman fights Clark, who is under the control of Admiral Razorbeard's lackey. In the Sega Dreamcast version of the game, if the player presses A, B, X, Y, X, Y while Rayman is in front of the Technical Check-Up door, a puff of dust will appear on Rayman's left and a wooden crate will materialise. (Pressing the equivalent buttons in any version other than the Dreamcast one yields no effect.) Rayman can then climb onto the crate, and use it to reach a previously inaccessible tunnel whose entrance is hidden in the shadows high on the wall. The walls of the tunnel are decorated with the engraved coffins and skulls typical of the level. As Rayman makes his way through the tunnel, he will come across three Robo-Pirate signs, one after another, each bearing a different message. The first sign says ‘To gain life points, try to shoot on a bridge’, the second says ‘To gain 3 Mega-Shoots, try to jump under a well’, and the third says ‘To recover full life, try to push a tree’. At the very end of the tunnel, Rayman encounters an impassable net, but the player is treated to a unique view: a small forested glade with a campfire at its centre lies beyond the net, and surrounding it are two baby Globoxes playing stones as if they were drums, a Crowned Teensie dancing, and another large character (thought to be an early version of Clark, though his face is not visible) can be seen playing a guitar. The scene is very similar to the one shown during Rayman Revolution's end credits, which may have been based on it.

The secret area also exists in the N64, PC, DS and PS2 versions of the game, but cannot be accessed without hacking, as the code to make the crate appear does not function in these versions. The three cryptic cheat codes are also not given in the non-Dreamcast versions, and nor do they function.

Cheats

Each of three messages Rayman reads as he makes his way through the secret tunnel in the Tomb of the Ancients is in fact a cryptic clue to one of three cheat codes which Rayman can activate in various locations throughout the game. It is not necessary to enter the secret area and read the messages in order to use these cheats; however, they only function in the Sega Dreamcast version of the game.

Farenheit

The first message, ‘To gain life points, try to shoot on a bridge’, was mixed up with the second one. The first message should read, ‘To gain life points, try to jump on on a bridge’. If the player goes to one of the many bridges in the game and jumps up and down on it, the word ‘Farenheit’ will flash across the screen and Rayman's health bar will refill – the same effect as the one provided by the ‘Pickwitt’ cheat. The name ‘Farenheit’ is probably a visual joke regarding the health bar's resemblance to a thermometer.

Gauntlet

The second message, ‘To gain 3 Mega-Shoots, try to jump under a well, was mixed up with the first one. The second message should read, ‘To gain 3 Mega-Shoots, try to shoot under a well’. If Rayman goes to the bottom of one of the many vertical passageways throughout the game and starts shooting with his magic fist, the word ‘Gauntlet’ will flash across the screen, and Rayman will be given three Power Fists. The name ‘Gauntlet’ is a reference to the Power Fists, and draws a comparison between them and hand armour.

Pickwitt

The third message, unlike the first two, does not contain any mistakes. ‘To recover full life, try to push a tree’ is self-explanatory: if Rayman walks up to one of the many trees littered throughout the game and presses himself against it, the word ‘Pickwitt’ will flash across the screen and his health bar will refill – the same effect as that of the ‘Farenheit’ cheat. ‘Pickwitt’ is not a word, and the reason it was used as a name for this cheat is unclear.

External links

Tomb of the Ancients secret at YouTube