Rick Dangerous 2

• Title — Rick Dangerous 2 • Developer — Core Design • Publisher — Micro Style • Designer — Simon Phipps Terry Lloyd Robert Churchill • Programmer — Simon Phipps • Artist — Simon Phipps Terry Lloyd • Composer — David K. Pridmore • Released — 1990 • Genre — Platform • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS

At the end of Rick Dangerous, an alien invasion comes to Earth. As Rick Dangerous 2 starts, UFOs land in London. The image shift in the character of Rick Dangerous is evident from the start: the coat is nowhere to be found and the Indiana Jones-style hat from the previous episode is almost symbolically blown off by a laser beam coming from one of the spaceships in the introduction sequence. One UFO lands in Hyde Park, and Rick goes there to settle the score with the aliens.

There are a number of changes to the game play that make the Rick Dangerous 2 more complex and more challenging than its predecessor. For a start, Rick is now armed with a laser gun and bombs that can not only be placed but slid, making way for strategic bomb-placement. The pogo stick is replaced by a punch attack. Rick can also employ a special flying vehicle in certain areas of the game that allows for faster movement, but this may also become a danger factor. Also, while there is a linear story to the game, the first four levels may be played in any order. Completing these four levels (Hyde Park, the ice caverns on the planet Freezia, the deep forest of Vegetablia and the "atomic mud mines") unlocks the fifth and final level, the Fat Guy's Headquarters, which ends in a boss fight. This level can then be played as often as desired, until the player quits the game, but the endgame movie only plays if the player completes all five levels in order.

The end of Rick Dangerous 2 does not complete the story. The game finishes with a cliffhanger, with the Fat Guy escaping at the final moment via a teleporter device, and Rick following him with familiar caption "What will Rick do next?". Though this may have hinted another sequel to the story, Rick Dangerous 3 was never made. Although a "Rick Dangerous II½" was given away by The One Amiga on a cover disk, this was only a few additional levels and more of a demo than an actual sequel. Many of the concepts featured in these levels were later used in a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game titled Danger Dan, which was also unfinished. Both games were re-released under the budget label Kixx.