My first joys of playing video games as a kid were experienced as a little purple dragon named Spyro on a PlayStation One. Not only was the little hero instantly loveable, but the game was the industry’s first 3D open-world title – which blew my young mind.
Spyro the Dragon was developed by Insomniac Games and released by Sony Entertainment on PlayStation in 1998 – followed by Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon in 1999 and 2000 respectively.
In the original, while playing as the small young dragon, you must venture across the Dragon kingdom to protect the homelands from Gnasy Gnorc – who has trapped your dragon friends in crystal and turned their hoard of gems into an army of nasty minions.
The journey to saving the kingdom features wide-open and sprawling levels that must be explored to find and free the other crystallized dragons.
Spyro glides across the terrain to collect gems and other special items while toppling enemies with Spyro’s head-on charging attack or by burning them with his fire breath along the way.
Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon are not much different – they also involve Spyro going on a journey to save his world by defeating some sort of evil foe.
Spyro’s revamp
In 2018, Toys for Bob and Activision released multi-platform remasters of the original games, which are bundled into the Spyro Reignited Trilogy – and from what I’ve played so far, this is the best Spyro has ever looked.
When compared to the original, there is a definite contrast in visuals which now gives depth to your surroundings on each level instead of a generic backdrop. You can even scorch the grass as you blow fire.
The improvements to Spyro himself are probably my favourite. The little protagonist bursts with personality as his face is much more expressionate.
Leave him idle for a while and he’ll turn around to face you with a cheeky look on his face as if to say, “let’s get a move on.”
These new tweaks are also true for all the other dragons and characters – and it’s nice to see them without all the jagged polygonal edges.
| 1998 |
|---|
| 2018 |
|---|
Despite these visual upgrades, it still feels very much like the classic Spyro, as the characters still move and feel the same as they did all those years ago.
Toys for Bob did just enough to improve an already great game while staying true to Insomniac’s original vision.
Whether you want to dip your toes into the incredible world of Spyro or relive the nostalgic feeling of playing as one of PlayStation’s most iconic heroes – you can’t go wrong with giving this charming little dragon a chance.
See the Spyro Reignited Trilogy trailer below:
Loading ...
