Spyro (series)

Spyro is a series of platform games which primarily features the protagonist Spyro the Dragon and his friend, Sparx the Dragonfly. Since its introduction in 1998, there has been a complete reboot to the series called The Legend of Spyro trilogy, making it a total of ten Spyro games and three Legend of Spyro games. The Spyro series has sold more than 20 million units worldwide.^[1] After The Legend of Spyro series concluded, a spin-off franchise under the name of Skylanders was made where Spyro and other related characters were included in.

Games

Spyro the Dragon

Spyro the Dragon was first released in North America on 11 September 1998, for the PlayStation. It was released in Europe on 23 October 1998, In Australia on 15 November 1998 and in Japan on 1 April 1999. It is a platform game that placed the player as Spyro, a small, purple dragon set with the task of freeing his fellow dragons from crystal prisons, which are scattered around their world. Each level is accessed through 'portals' from a main world. The game concludes with a fight between Spyro and the primary antagonist, Gnasty Gnorc. The game sold well, most critics giving it favorable reviews.^[26] It also received acclaim for its musical score by Stewart Copeland.

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (also known Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer in Europe and Australia) followed on from the success of the first title, making its release on 2 November 1999 in North America. It was released three days later in Europe and Australia and in Japan on 16 March 2000. The game introduced many new characters including Hunter, a cheetah; Elora, a faun; The Professor, a mole and Zoe, a fairy. The structure of the game is similar to the first, with levels being accessed from the three main home worlds, Summer Forest, Autumn Plains, and Winter Tundra. The game concludes with a fight between Spyro and the primary antagonist, Ripto, a sorcerer riding a dinosaur and his henchmen, Crush and Gulp. The game introduces some new abilities for Spyro, including hovering after a glide, swimming underwater, climbing ladders, head-bashing, and the ability to use power-ups. Unlike the original game, boss fights were now mandatory to advance to the next home world. Like its predecessor, it was critically acclaimed.^[27]

Spyro: Year of the Dragon

• Spyro: Year of the Dragon was released in Autumn 2000 for North America, Europe and Australia, and it was the last Spyro game to be created by Insomniac Games.^[28] In this game, the dragons are celebrating the coming of dragon eggs, an event that takes place every twelve years called The Year of the Dragon. A mysterious anthropomorphic rabbit girl, Bianca, along with an army of rhynocs, comes to the dragon worlds by rabbit holes and steals all the eggs. Spyro, the only dragon small enough, follows her down a rabbit hole to the other side of the world—to the Forgotten Realms, controlled under the rule of the Sorceress, to whom Bianca is apprenticed. As in the previous games, levels are accessed from a central home world, of which there are four: Sunrise Spring, Midday Gardens, Evening Lake, and Midnight Mountain. The third installment of the Spyro series also features levels in which the player controls Sparx in a bird's eye view shooting game. It also includes four other playable characters that must be freed in each home world, Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley the Yeti, and Agent 9.

Continuation

Spyro: Season of Ice

Spyro: Season of Ice was the first Spyro game not to be developed by Insomniac Games or be on a Sony console, released instead on the Game Boy Advance and developed by Digital Eclipse. It is known as Spyro Advance in Japan. After they are frozen by a monster named Grendor, Spyro must use his fire breath to rescue the fairies in the various Fairy Realms.

Spyro 2: Season of Flame

Spyro 2: Season of Flame: This Game Boy Advance Spyro game is the sequel to "Season of Ice" and introduced new features, such as the ability to breathe other elements besides fire. In this game, Spyro must recover the stolen fireflies scattered across the Dragon Realms.

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly

• Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is available for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube and was developed by Equinox Digital Entertainment and Check Six Studios. This is also the only game that both developers have ever developed, because their fate after Enter the Dragonfly was left unknown. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly had mixed responses from reviewers, referring to the numerous glitches, lack of storyline, originality, and long load times. The story kicks off right after the Sorceress was defeated in Spyro: Year of the Dragon. The baby dragons are now preparing to receive their dragonflies, a rite of passage in any dragon's life (although in the earlier games, none of the dragons besides Spyro have a dragonfly, though it is stated in the first game that Sparx's function to protect Spyro, so one might assume older dragons do not require protection). It is a huge celebration filled with joy and happiness until Ripto comes to capture the dragonflies, making the dragons helpless. He attempts to cast a spell, but he makes a mistake which causes them to be scattered across the world.

Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs

• Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs, also known as Spyro Adventure in Europe and Australia, is the first game not to feature a lives system. Spyro is tasked with collecting the "Heart" of each land in order to stop Ripto's latest evil scheme.

Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy

• Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy: This Spyro was the first to introduce multiple game screening. It was a crossover game between Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot. In this game, Spyro travels through Crash Bandicoot's universe in a side-scroller, rather than the traditional isometric, top-down view. This game is known as Spyro Fusion in Europe and Australia, and Spyro Advance Wakuwaku Tomodachi Daisakusen! in Japan.

Spyro: A Hero's Tail

• Spyro: A Hero's Tail is available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube, and was created by Eurocom, the first game being developed with the departure of Insomniac. Red, a former Dragon Elder, begins to plant Dark Gems around the Dragon Realms, sucking the life out of these worlds. He also works alongside Gnasty Gnorc and Ineptune. Spyro then begins his journey to destroy all the Dark Gems, alongside Sparx, Hunter, Sgt. Byrd, and Blink.

Spyro: Shadow Legacy

• Spyro: Shadow Legacy continues from Spyro: A Hero's Tail and was released only on the Nintendo DS. This is the only Spyro game that plays as an RPG, in which Spyro can gain experience, level up and learn new spells and combat moves. Spyro must use his new skills to save his allies when they are trapped in the "Shadow Realm" parallel to each of the individual realms of the Dragon Kingdom, Avalar, and the Forgotten Realms.

The Legend of Spyro trilogy

Cancelled

Spyro Ever After

Spyro Ever After was going to be the first and only Spyro educational game where Spyro meets famous fairy tale characters like The Three Little Pigs, Puss in Boots, Goldilocks and The Three Bears, The Golden Goose and Little Red Ridding Hood. However, the game never passed the storyboard.^[29]

Agent 9

Agent 9 was a James Bond like parody spin-off game starting Agent 9 as the main character as he does spy missions. It was set to be developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment and Backbone Entertainment and be published by Universal Interactive Studios. The game's production was cancelled after troubled production.

Spyro's Kingdom

Spyro's Kingdom was a prototype game originally set to bring Spyro in a more darker tone that included blood. The developers of Toys for Bob lost their enthusiasm and felt that this direction did not feel like "Spyro" and reworked into the game into Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.^[30]

Universe

Characters

The main character of the series is Spyro the Dragon, an eager, purple dragon. He is accompanied by Sparx, a dragonfly that performs many functions such as helping protect Spyro from damage, and collecting gems. There is also Hunter the cheetah, who is a loyal friend of Spyro's who sometimes helps him on quests. Moneybags who is a bear obsessed with money who in some games is needed to make pathways for Spyro for a "small fee". Elora a young faun who helps Spyro though Avalar and gives him tips. Zoe who is an Autumn Fairy who serves as checkpoints in each land that Spyro visits. The Elder Dragons who are made up of the oldest and wisest of each of the dragon families The dragon elder are:

• Tomas - A blue dragon who appears to be the Chief Elder of the group.
• Astor - A green dragon.
• Cho-Lei - A female dragon.
• Magnus - A red dragon.
• Titan - A yellow dragon.

The Guardians are the dragons that watch over the eggs and train the young dragons in the ancient ways. Most were killed in the battle against Malefor and only four remain.

Locations

The Dragon Realms are the main setting of the series where most of the dragons including Spyro live. Avalar is a separate world that was being threatened by Ripto in "Spyro: Ripto's Rage." The Forgotten Realms are the ancient home of the dragons before being driven out by the Sorceress and serve as the setting for Spyro: Year of the Dragon. The Fairy Realms are a separate series of realms that are inhabited by fairies and only appear in Spyro: Season of Ice. After collecting enough orbs in "Spyro 2: Riptos Rage", the Dragon Shores can be accessed, which has games and a special power up for Spyro.

Items

A large part of the original series revolves around item collection. When the player collects a certain amount of items, they can move on to the next area. The most common of these are gems, which is often used not only for collecting, but also for buying skills, passageways, items, and more. In A Hero's Tail there were special dark gems, which the player had to destroy to proceed to new areas within the game, while collecting light gems allowed use of some of the professor's inventions and opened certain doors.

Freeing dragons is the main goal in Spyro the Dragon, while freeing dragon eggs is the main goal in Spyro: Year of the Dragon. In Spyro the Dragon, dragon eggs are also collected by chasing down thieves. They also appear in Spyro: A Hero's Tail, and collecting them will unlock concept art. Talismans are the primary goal in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, as the devices are used in a portal to get Spyro back to his home. Dragonflies are the primary collectibles in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly where Spyro catches them using his bubble breath.

Music

Drummer Stewart Copeland composed the soundtracks for the first four Spyro games. Copeland made music for each world in the games as well as music devoted to each level.

A song by a British New Age composer Medwyn Goodall called "Free Spirit" from his 2001 album Meditations and Visualisations used a sample of an overworld theme from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. It was used as a background music for the Summer Forest level.

Future

In July 2014 in The Daily Telegraph interview with Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Andrew House, he and his team are considering bringing back Spyro, stating, "This is a shift from us, we have started to say that maybe there isn't anything wrong with going back and looking at characters that people still talk about, that would be their big part of their childhood or their youth, I definitely wouldn't close the door on that."^[31]

In September 2014, speaking to IGN at this year's EGX video game convention, Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price stated that making a new original Spyro game is a possibility; he said, "Activision has done a great job with Spyro. They resurrected him and, in my opinion, Skylanders is still about Spyro. It's got the same aesthetic, the same broad appeal and they've done a great job of bringing that character and his world to a brand new set of fans. That's very hard to do in an age where a lot of games are darker and grittier. We'll always love Spyro. I've learnt to say 'never say never' so... who knows?"^[32]

References

External links

• Spyro the Dragon series at MobyGames
• Archive of official Legend of Spyro promotional site at the Wayback Machine (archived 25 January 2012)

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