Yes, we still have a forum.
Not sure what you mean by purity but rayman 2 is magical and a goddamn oddity for 2 reasons1) there are no glitches. None. It is a technical masterpiece. Compare this with SA1 and good grief. 2) the controls and camera are smooth as hell. It literally almost never gets in the way of gameplay. I mean, it may not be everyone's cup of tea but its a brilliantly realized game, especially for 2000 or what have you.
Eh, sprites are nice and all but I prefer 2.5D over modern 2D sprites any day of the week. There's something to appreciate about sprites made in the past but these days sprites aren't nearly as great.
Not sure if the look of the new Rayman games can be grouped together with other modern 2D sidescrollers, considering most of them use pixel art.
Depends on the game. Look at KoFXIII's sprite work, it's gorgeous. I agree that it doesn't always look good, but I do love a really nice 2D game. It is a personal thing though.
I like 2d sprites as well but for some reason a lot of low res 2d sprite games dont translate well into HD. Can anyone imagine how metal slug would look? Probably lose a lot of its detail and charm
I love the way Rayman and Tembo look. I really like the crisp clean HD, cartoony feel. Especially the environments. I wish Sonic 4 had used a similar design.