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