Spyro the Dragon trilogy!

I have fond memories of sitting on my bed in elementary school playing some action platforming games starring a purple dragon. I had a lot of Limp Bizkit blasting while doing some sick skateboard tricks. I never played the first game, don't recall if I 120%ed the second, and I thoroughly enjoyed part three. But it's been over twenty years since I last placed them into my PlayStation. I have no clue where my disks are, mind you, but whatever. That's not important. How do they hold up? Let's do a deepish dive!

'Spyro the Dragon' is game one of the franchise. The story begins in the Dragon Worlds, an empire of several (four) tribes of dragons living peacefully. That peace ends with beams of light falling from the sky! Gnasty Gnorc, an enemy to the dragons, has been insulted for the last time on the nightly news. The beams of light he shot at the dragons turned them to stone. The only survivor is a child dragon named Spyro, who was easily shielded by the larger of his clan. A fairy, Zoe, tasks Spyro and his friend, Sparx, to depetrify the other dragons. Spyro does this by getting close, so it's not too difficult. He just needs to find them.

Spyro now has to travel across the realms! Each realm has five or so worlds, each containing a number of dragons and hundreds of gems. Gnorc also looted the dragon coffers. To reach them, Spyro must make use of his jumping and gliding abilities to platform his way across the worlds. He can also use his dragon horns and fire breath to take out the mobs and break containers to find gems. Sparx acts as a visual for Spyro's health bar, which is the closest we get to a permanent HUD.

And that's pretty much it. The only distractions from this are the speedways, which are timed collection... things. Fly through rings and burn Gnasty's minions to collect gems. They're more annoying than anything, but at least they're different.

Each world looks sorta different, but none of the levels feel different. There are basic height differences to facilitate the platforming, but the hard to reach dragons are pretty easy to find. Every desert area is a bland beige, forests are green, and water levels give us a blue filter. The closest we get to a challenge are the thieves who hold something, usually keys. Otherwise, look around and play. Every level can be beaten without ever returning.

The soundtrack was composed by the drummer of The Police. It ranges from bland to annoying. It's sounds like something you'd hear in a Russian remake of Rugrats. Many tracks are just seven second loops that begin annoying but eventually become a war crime.

The controls are solid enough. I never felt anything too egregious. I had issues with the camera a few times, though. Late '90s 3D games were a poison pill...

Visually, it's boring to look at. Some levels are worse than others, though. Every dragon we save is a pallet swap, and there are few NPCs to break up the monotony.

As I said, I never played Spyro 1, so I'm going backwards, in a way. And this game is rough to go back to. It's just so basic that I barely remember anything, and it's only been two months! I want to say more, but I can't. Spyro shows off that he's a cocky dragon boy, and that's all he has to show personality. But that's more than anything else. It's got a strong proof of concept/first-in-a-franchise syndrome going on. It's like Assassin's Creed 1, Final Fantasy I, and GTA. Knowing what the franchise is about to do gives me hope, and I carry on from this 23/50 experience.

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Just over a year later, 'Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage' was released. Spyro, fresh off his world saving antics, needs a vacation. He finds a portal to the Dragon Isles, a vacation resort for giant lizards. He enters the portal and winds up not where he wanted to be! Instead, he's introduced to Elora, The Professor, and Hunter, three residents of Avalar. The Professor's teleporter technology summoned Spyro here to save them. A week prior, another teleporter experiment brought forth the rancorous Ripto, who took over the worlds of Avalar.

To return home, go on vacay, and save his new friends, Spyro must collect Orbs to power other portals. He'll also need talismans from each level to open the mid boss door. The very first level instantly tells us Spyro 2 is a different game. There's an area we can't reach because we need a new ability. Spyro can't climb ladders yet. So Spyro 2 is also a Metroidvania! He'll still need to jump and glide across platforms and burn and ram mobs, but our dragon boy can learn to climb ladders, swim, and do a spike head ram downwards. There are also the occasional temporary super power ups! These give Spyro flight, invincibility, or a super flame breath for a short time. There are also challenge rooms to do things Spyro can't do, like drive submarines or battle mini bosses. The gameplay has taken a huge step forward! There are way more things to do, most of them are fun, and the challenge has increased to a point where it feels rewarding and fun.

The Professor, Elora, and Cheetah are also around a lot to make the worlds feel more alive and add humor to the story. Hunter even gets a few levels to show off while we play as him in his endeavors against space sheep!

Each world also has a backstory to boost the plot. There's nothing world altering, but it shows that Ripto's minions are causing havoc in Avalon. Usually, at least. Sometimes there are two third party factions at war, like in Zephyr, where birds are invading a grub world. It seems small, but it really fills a void Spyro 2 had. The franchise went from a total wasteland to a cute and funny list of b plots.

Visuals have taken a slight increase of fidelity, but walls and floors still sorta mend together sometimes. There's not a lot of new textures.

Music doesn't blow me away, but I didn't think I was abducted by Hamas, so that's always a plus.

Giving abilities alone made Spyro 2 a brilliant game. Adding in NPCs with substories to worlds reminds me why I liked the Spyro games as a kid. Everything in Ripto's Rage feels more energetic. Even Ripto gets more scenes than Gnasty. He's nothing to write home about, but he exists. He's an actual force in the world. It's variety that makes a platforming game fun, and Spyro 2 has it! It's a very solid 37/50.

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But can the third game bring it home? I'll start out by spoiling it. No. The worst thing to say about 'Year of the Dragon' is that it's just more of the same. Everything that was added in 2 is here in abundance in 3. Everything except the Metroidvania abilities; Spyro still knows them and doesn't gain new ones. But he does have new friends. Shiela the kangaroo, Sgt. Boyd the bird, Bently the yeti, and Agent 9 the space monkey are playable characters. They have their own worlds and playstyles and occasionally appear in challenge rooms in Spyros'. I didn't find any particularly fun, but they don't take away anything. I didn't dread them, and they never overstayed their welcome. More interestingly, Sparx is now playable with his own levels. The game becomes a top down shooter with him! Beating each Sparx level grants our GUI a new ability! The bottom line is if you liked the gameplay of Ripto's Rage Year of the Dragon is just the same with a few more power ups, thieves, and plot points.

Speaking of plot, this time around, a strange woman is seen burrowing into the Dragon realms while everyone is asleep. She and a group of rhynocs have stolen all the baby dragon eggs! Spyro is the only one capable of fitting into the holes, so he's in charge of saving the eggs. Hunter can also fit and joins him!

We quickly meet the thief herself, Bianca. She tells us she's working for the Sorceress to bring magic back to the Forgotten Realms, where dragons used to dwell 1000 years ago. She has plenty of scenes during the game, more than both previous antagonists put together. There's even a twist about her to show who she really is. Sadly, the Sorceress is another empty figurehead. But the mini stories from Spyro 2 are back. As again, much of the same.

The music remains forgettable, and my only takeaway is how they don't loop when the MP3 ends.

The visuals do take a leap forward, but I can notice pre 9/11 intentional image flubs for the sake of contrast. It's the year 2000; what can ya do?

Since there wasn't much change between the two games, review points remain similar. The NPCs from the previous game only show up late, so it's hard to get that point. But the newbies are sorta close enough. For some reason, my Sparx abilities didn't work. He collected gems from further away but never pointed out ones I couldn't see, nor could I use him to teleport. I don't even think he gave me more HP.

As I've said, YorD is much of the same. I liked the late level designs, but playing all three games within a month or so may have been a poor idea. By the end, I wanted to get it over with. It may have hampered my enjoyment, but skateboarding with Hunter to Limp Bizkit gets a lower score than the previous installment, but only just. 33/50.

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Ultimately, I'm not a child. I have very different metaphorical eyes than me of twenty five years ago. In some ways, this is good... The Spyro trilogy was designed for children, and they won't care about my foibles. They might even be attracted to the music that I found terrible. They can also put on Limp Bizkit... And thanks to the Reignited Trilogy, their Sparx abilities will work. Looks better, too, but is the voice of Tidus or the Taco Bell chiwawa also the voice of Spyro? I just turned thirty five, so I aged out of this. Despite that, I had enough fun. It was nice to revisit the franchise and write about it in one giant post. Sadly, nostalgia has no hold of me here. All three initial Spyro games are only 62% good.

I meant to do something like this for the GTA 3D universe, but I apparently decided to skip it for something more childish. Go figure!