I replayed TRII recently and it annoyed me that i couldn't
figure out the use of one of the switches. It is located towards
the end of level 15 'Temple of Xian', in the last big puzzle-room
with the two big serpent-dragons wrapped around vertical columns.
I just checked Stallalune's walktrough[#1] and she mentions the
switch and that it is indeed useless. Since i always have climbed
up the wall-ladder to the top and dismounted to the right, i
didn't get a clue, but Stella's mentioning that one can backflip
off the ladder to the ledge where the switch is, i now realize
that had the ladder not gone high enough, if one couldn't have
dismounted to the right, then the backflipping, using the switch
to temporarily turn off the burners, rolling and doing four quick
jumps would have been the [only] way to proceed.
So, mystery solved for me, sort of. But it's not a trick to climb
to the top and dismount on the ledge to the right, so it's not
cheating at all, so why did they make the ladder go so high, i
now wonder.
Also, i can't think of any other switches in any of the TR-games
that serve no purpose. Are there any?
[#1] <http://tombraiders.net/stella/walks/TR2walk/15xian.html>
--
"Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back."