Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Regional DifferencesSigh. Yep. This again.

Developer Messages#

The following text, which contains quotes from several renowned authors, can be found in the game's files:

Now is the winter of our discontent...
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
Call me Ishmael...
Stately, plump Buck Mulligan...
Call me Jonah.  My parents did...
Gaily bedight a gallant knight...
Beware the ides of March...
Tyger tyger burning bright...
...
I always get the Shemp...

This paragraph is also present in the files of the first and third game. The last sentence, "I always get the Shemp...", refers to a joke among the developers, in that whenever they messed up, they "got the Shemp" (the joke even made its way into the first game in the form of the name of the boss Dr. Shemp).

In the European version of the game, amongst the German dialogue strings for Foreman Bud (or Vorarbeiter Kalle as he is known in German) are the following... unusual messages written in English, despite their location:

Don't fuck with this message.

Don't fuck with this message either.

It's not clear why these messages are here, and they don't appear in the dialogue strings for any of the other languages.

Unused Graphics#

An unused Guidebook logo for Dragon Shores. In the final game this level actually lacks a corresponding page in the Guidebook.

Unused Guidebook text related to the unused orb mission in Shady Oasis. (see #Unused Orb Mission)

Unused Music#

Bizarrely, there exists two tracks exclusive to the European releases of the game which go totally unused. Both tracks are distinguished from the rest of the other ones by their comparatively poorer sound quality, a consequence of flattening the stereo channels into a singular mono channel:

An unused duplicate of the "Save Them Again!" theme used during the second Lava Lizards Orb mission in Skelos Badlands. The composition and instruments are identical to the final track, with the only difference being the aforementioned poorer output quality.

A faster version of the theme of Hurricos, except with a similar instrumentation to that of Aquaria Towers' theme. The September 15th, 1999 build (released as part of Project Eclipse) used this theme during the Lightning Stone Thief Chase orb mission in Hurricos.

Unused Dialogue#

There are parts of the game where the dialogue didn't get a chance to be used.

Dialogue for Inactive Power-Ups#

There are a few instances in the game where a Power-Up Gate used for a minigame that is found later in the level has been set to a low enemies-defeated counter so that it will be activated by the point Spyro reaches it. Getting to these points without defeating any enemies is very difficult, if not impossible during normal gameplay. However, through the use of cheats, the player can get to these points without defeating any enemies. If so, then the player gets to see the inactive power-ups as well as the possibility to hear dialogue from the NPCs that otherwise never end up being seen.

These two such instances are in the levels "Magma Cone" and "Metropolis". The number of enemies they need to activate the power-up are 2 and 1 respectively.

It is interesting to note that the dialogue for Magma Cone can technically be heard as you can simply walk right past the Earthshapers without killing them, but the level is designed in such a way where avoiding them before getting to the gate is a bit tricky, and as such casual players are extremely unlikely to hear this. An updated version of this line can still be heard in the game's remake.

As for Metropolis, it is nearly impossible to hear this dialogue in-game, as there are self-destructing pigs put in your path that count towards the spirit particle total when they explode. Near-TAS skill is essentially required to pull it off without the use of cheats. Like Magma Cone's, this dialogue was also re-recorded for the remake, although don’t count on actually hearing it in-game.

Unused Orb Mission#

There is leftover data in the level Shady Oasis for a harder variant of the "Free Hippos" mission where Spyro would have had to rescue Grundy's 15 cousins.

The text "Help out again?" also goes unused.

Dialogue Oddities#

Watch on YouTube

Zoe#

Three of Zoe's placeholder voice lines were accidentally left in the game; two of her voice clips from Colossus, one regarding how spirit particles work, and one reminding Spyro how to properly glide. The third placeholder voice clip left in the game is her introduction to the final battle in Ripto's Arena. The voice clips are clearly from a different voice actress, not Mary Linda Phillips, and are read in a relatively unenthusiastic tone compared to how Phillips does her reads.

Strangely enough, the Crash Team Racing Demo of Spyro 2 has the correct line voiced by Phillips for the reminder on how to glide in Colossus, despite it being absent from the final retail build of the game. This build of the game does not have any audio play for the Spirit Particle dialog, and simply displays the text.

Brother Ned#

Colossus's Talisman NPC Brother Ned's initial dialogue text states "Even though I'm a vegetarian, I think you should torch that yeti". The voice audio played, however, says "Even though I'm a vegetarian, I think you should kill that yeti".

In the Reignited Trilogy, both the text and voice say "torch", removing this inconsistency.

Early Level Names#

There are several instances throughout the game where characters refer to a level by a name it used during development, likely due to developer oversights.

• In Zephyr, when talking to the Landblubber Romeo after rescuing Juliet he will mention that they can now finally have their honeymoon in Colossus Springs so that they can see the idols. Unused level names in the game's earliest demo confirms that what was then known as Colossus Springs later became Idol Springs. This inconsistency isn't present in the game's remake, where Romeo instead says that he and Juliet can take their honeymoon in Idol Springs.

• In Cloud Temples, Murgen the Wizard refers to the level as "Mystic City". Once again, the list of early level names from the first demo reveals that Cloud Temples was indeed originally known as Mystic City. This inconsistency isn't present in the game's remake, where Murgen instead gives Spyro an orb from the Cloud Temples gift shop.

There is also one instance of a character referring to a level name that is not necessarily believed to have been a level used during development, but it's notable regardless:

• In Crystal Glacier, Widgie the Icebuilder informs you that Shaman Tuk needs to be rescued as he has their tickets to the hockey game in Colossus Valley. The character is likely just referring to "Colossus", but the wording could lead one to believe that the level was once called Colossus Valley. However, this appears to simply be a dialogue quirk (or a canonical alternative name for the location) rather than an actual early name, as even the earliest known design documents for the game as well as the game's earliest demo have all referred to the level as "Colossus Steppes" before the level took on its final name. This is be reinforced by the fact that this inconsistency is still present in the game's remake.

Unused Animations#

To do: Many of these animations are not unused, and should be removed. Video creator is working on a new version to make it clearer which animations are actually unused. An archived version of this video is located here - but its contents should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The liveliness of the characters and enemies is something that is clearly one of the game's strong point, yet it seems like at one point in time Insomniac wanted even more animations to be seen.

Hockey Player Room#

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The level Colossus contains a hockey mini-game in which Spyro can compete against Riptocs in hope to gain orbs. When a match starts, goalie(s) and/or the opponent will come out of a room that Spyro can't normally access, yet it is possible to access this room through the use of glitches.

This simple area contains the models for the goalies and opponent (which constantly cycles through his ice-skating animation, as opposed to the goalies who are stationary) as well as being entirely textured and with full collision.

Cutscene Oddities#

To do: Images.

Despite the fact that the game's cutscenes appear to reuse level models seen elsewhere throughout the game, the cutscene models are actually separate from those used in levels. There are a few minor differences between some of these models that suggest they may reflect an earlier version of the level that they derived from.

Gulp's Overlook and Spyro, you did it!#

The lava is higher than normal, causing the surrounding polygons to be slightly squashed. The edge of the central platform is also totally different, and actually resembles the one seen in an early trailer. It's also worth noting the low poly models have some differences of their own.

Cutscene model	Level model

Autumn Plains and Boo!#

The inside of the castle in Autumn Plains has some different geometry, with namely the addition of an indent in the wall with slightly different textures compared to the regular model, as well as the Scorch portal being further inside the enclave:

Cutscene model	Level model

Winter Tundra#

In all three cutscene models set in Winter Tundra, the entrance to Ripto's Arena uses a copy of the pit similar to the one leading to the other bosses in the game (namely Crush and Gulp) instead of the signature corridor:

Cutscene model	Level model

Epilogue Oddities#

To do: Images.

The pictures used in the Epilogue are taken from a few worlds and levels, but with a few of them having differences from the way the levels themselves actually look:

• The skybox in "Some of the Earthshapers joined the Faun dance troupe in Fracture Hills", "Moneybags swindled the bonebuilders one too many times", "The Chef finally got to host a hot tub party" is facing the wrong way.
• The cylindrical tower shown in the background of the page named "Agent Zero found some new recruits to train." is missing its roof.

Anti-Piracy#

To do: Where does the anti-mod/RHP trips?

The North American and Japanese versions of the game use anti-modchip/Red Hand Protect copy protection.

The European version of the game is LibCrypt protected, which checks when the player enters the portal for the levels Colossus or Idol Springs in the Summer Forest hub world shortly after the Glimmer tutorial section. If LibCrypt is tripped, the game hangs on a black screen following the level's cinematics. In addition, if the memory card is set, the game saves automatically when going to one of the two worlds mentioned, which effectively locks the player's progression. However, this measure does not occur on the PAL version if played on a PlayStation 3 as the software emulation config stores an entry for the game, being one of the few games to do so.