Spyro

• 1. Introduction

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  Spyro the Dragon is a small purple dragon who, by 2007, had carried a video game series past 20 million units sold worldwide. He started in 1998 as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation, built by Insomniac Games. After that, he passed through a long list of studios, consoles and corporate owners. Some of those games were warmly praised. Others were met with complaints about glitches, long load times and punishing difficulty. At one point the series went quiet for a full decade. So how did a young dragon survive such a scattered career? Why did one planned film vanish before it reached theaters? And who finally asked for him to come back?

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• 2. The Insomniac Years

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  On the 9th of September 1998, Spyro the Dragon reached North American shelves for the PlayStation, with Europe following on the 23rd of October. The player takes the role of a small purple dragon. His job is to free fellow dragons trapped inside crystal prisons scattered across their world. Each level opens through portals from a main world. The game ends in a climactic battle with the villain Gnasty Gnorc.

  Behind the scenes, Universal Interactive produced the series. That company later became known as Vivendi Games. In 2008, Activision acquired the rights to the property after its own merger with Vivendi.

  Ripto's Rage! arrived on the 2nd of November 1999 in North America and on the 5th of November in Europe. In PAL regions it was called Gateway to Glimmer. It brought in a cheetah named Hunter, a faun named Elora, a mole known as The Professor, and a fairy named Zoe. Levels were reached from three home worlds: Summer Forest, Autumn Plains and Winter Tundra. Spyro learned to hover after a glide, swim underwater, climb ladders, bash with his head and use power-ups. The finale is a duel with the villain Ripto.

  Year of the Dragon followed on the 24th of October 2000 in North America and the 10th of November in Europe. It was the last Spyro game Insomniac made. Its story begins with a celebration. Every twelve years, new dragon eggs arrive in the dragon worlds, and that event is called the Year of the Dragon. Bianca, a rabbit and apprentice to the villain known as The Sorceress, invades to steal the eggs. Spyro chases her down a rabbit hole into the Forgotten Realms. The Sorceress rules that long-abandoned land and wants the eggs so she can harness their wings and restore magic to her fading domain.

  Four home worlds anchor the adventure: Sunrise Spring, Midday Gardens, Evening Lake and Midnight Mountain. Some levels put the player in control of Sparx, the dragonfly companion, in a bird's eye shooting game. Four new playable characters also joined the cast: Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. Byrd the Penguin, Bentley the Yeti and Agent 9 the Monkey. With Insomniac stepping away, every Spyro game after this one came from other hands.

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• 3. Beyond the PlayStation

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  Season of Ice, released for the Game Boy Advance, was the first Spyro game made by someone other than Insomniac. It was also the first on a platform not made by Sony. Digital Eclipse developed it, and Japan knew it as Spyro Advance. Spyro uses his fire breath to rescue fairies in the Fairy Realms after an evil monster named Grendor freezes them.

  Enter the Dragonfly came to the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. Equinoxe Digital Entertainment and Check Six Studios developed it. Reviewers were unkind, pointing to numerous glitches, a thin storyline, little originality and long load times. In the story, baby dragons are preparing to receive their dragonflies when Ripto captures every one of them. A spell then goes wrong and accidentally scatters the dragonflies across the world.

  Attack of the Rhynocs, called Spyro Adventure in Europe and Australia, was the third and last game by Digital Eclipse. A machine malfunctions and opens a portal, bringing Ripto back into the dragon realms. Spyro has to collect the Heart of each land to stop his latest scheme.

  The Cortex Conspiracy went by Spyro Fusion in Europe and Australia, and by a much longer title in Japan. It crossed Spyro with Crash Bandicoot and served as a companion to Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage. Spyro travels through Crash's universe in a side-scroller instead of the usual isometric, top-down view.

  Eurocom created A Hero's Tail for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. Its villain is Red, a former Dragon Elder who plants Dark Gems that drain the life from the Dragon Realms. He works with Gnasty Gnorc and a character named Ineptune. Spyro sets out to destroy the gems alongside Sparx, Hunter, Sgt. Byrd and Blink.

  Ripto Quest reached mobile phones on the 12th of November 2004, seen from an isometric viewpoint. Spyro collects four machine parts to stop Ripto. Levi Buchanan, writing for IGN and GameSpy, gave it a positive review.

  Shadow Legacy, a sequel to A Hero's Tail, appeared only on the Nintendo DS. It was the first Spyro game built as a role-playing game rather than a platformer. Spyro gains experience, levels up and learns new spells and combat moves. He needs them to rescue allies trapped in a Shadow Realm, which reuses levels from the Dragon Kingdom, Avalar and the Forgotten Realms. After it, the franchise changed course entirely.

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• 4. A Darker Spyro

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  A reboot trilogy called The Legend of Spyro ran from 2006 to 2008 and replaced the original continuity. It leaned toward close combat more than earlier games had, though platforming remained. Its story follows Spyro as he tries to stop Malefor, The Dark Master, from destroying the world.

  The first installment, A New Beginning, tells of Spyro's origins as a legendary purple dragon. He must stop Cynder, a black dragon waging war on the world. Ignitus, the red Fire Guardian, tells him about his past and trains him to use his newly discovered fire breath. Spyro then travels to various worlds to rescue three more Guardians: Volteer the Electric Guardian, Cyril the Ice Guardian and Terrador the Earth Guardian. Each one teaches him a new elemental breath before his final fight with Cynder.

  Michael Graham, one of the Sierra Entertainment producers on the trilogy, said the team never planned three games. They had sketched top-line concepts for a story arc that could stretch across three. But nothing was planned beyond A New Beginning, so they did not know whether the story would continue.

  On the 25th of October 2007, it was announced that The Animation Picture Company had bought the film rights to Spyro the Dragon. Daniel and Steven Altiere wrote a script based on the new trilogy, and the film was to be called The Legend of Spyro 3D. It was to be made in Los Angeles, with animation from a South Korean studio, Wonderworld Studios, and distribution by Universal Pictures. Mark A.Z. Dippé was set to direct, which would have been his first theatrical film since Spawn.

  The producers listed were John Davis, Dan Chuba, Mark A.Z. Dippé, Brian Manis and Ash Shah. The film was first aimed at Christmas 2009 in the United States and Canada, then delayed to the 10th of April 2010. Daniel Altiere later confirmed the movie was cancelled because of decisions by Activision to go in a different direction. That direction was later revealed as Skylanders.

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• 5. The Collecting Habit

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  Gems sit at the center of the original series. Collecting a set number of items lets the player move into the next area. Gems are the most common of these. They also pay for skills, passageways and other items.

  Each game swaps in its own treasure. In Ripto's Rage!, the goals are talismans and orbs, which power a portal that carries Spyro back home. Gathering enough orbs also opens the Dragon Shores, which has games and a special power-up. Enter the Dragonfly asks Spyro to catch dragonflies with his bubble breath.

  Dragon eggs show up in more than one game. In the first Spyro, they are gathered by chasing down thieves, and their color designs differ from those in the third game. In A Hero's Tail, collecting eggs unlocks concept art. That game also splits its gems in two kinds. Dark gems must be destroyed for the player to proceed, while light gems power some of the Professor's inventions and open certain doors.

  A few recurring characters help along the way. Sparx the dragonfly protects Spyro from damage and collects gems. Moneybags is a money-obsessed bear who, in some games, builds pathways for Spyro in return for a small fee. Most games before The Legend of Spyro also include Hunter, the loyal cheetah.

  The settings repeat too. The Dragon Realms are the main home of most dragons. Avalar is a separate world that Ripto threatens in Ripto's Rage!. The Fairy Realms, home to fairies, appear only in Season of Ice. In Year of the Dragon, the ancient home of the dragons turns out to be the Forgotten Realms, from which the Sorceress drove them out.

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• 6. Copeland's Score

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  Stewart Copeland composed the soundtracks for the first four Spyro games, and critics noticed from the start. The first game won acclaim for its score. He wrote music for each world and separate music for each level. Often he played a level himself so he could tailor the mood of the music to it.

  The arrangement changed with A Hero's Tail. As with the voice cast, Copeland was replaced there. Steve Duckworth and Paul Lawler composed that soundtrack.

  For The Legend of Spyro trilogy, the music came from Rebecca Kneubuhl and Gabriel Mann of the a cappella band Spiralmouth.

  When the series returned in the Reignited Trilogy, the developer remixed Copeland's music in-house. The result stayed mostly faithful to the original scores. Copeland himself wrote a new main theme for the compilation.

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• 7. Sales and Verdicts

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  Sales figures tell their own story. The first Spyro game sold five million copies worldwide. The Los Angeles Times reported 4.8 million units as of November 2007, which made it the seventeenth best-selling PlayStation game of all time. Ripto's Rage! sold 3.45 million units, and Year of the Dragon sold 3.28 million.

  Critics were generous to the first game. IGN gave Spyro the Dragon 9 out of 10. Ripto's Rage! was critically acclaimed in the same way as its predecessor.

  The later games split opinion. IGN was highly impressed by A New Beginning and praised its story, voice acting and controls. At one point it compared the game to God of War. GameSpot was cold, calling the story dull, the gameplay repetitive and the levels uninspired.

  The Eternal Night fared worse. IGN called it "pointlessly difficult," citing an unresponsive jump button and "unfair" combat. GameSpot also complained about the difficulty, saying the game's "Dragon Time" was needed just to stay alive. Game Chronicles was kinder. It disliked the lack of precision, the difficulty and some of the acting, but said a patient player would find a lot to like, especially in the production values.

  Dawn of the Dragon did better than both. IGN felt the gameplay was still repetitive but welcomed the flight mechanic and other new features. GameZone was unimpressed by the graphics and multiplayer, yet called the production values, including score and voice acting, "epic."

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• 8. Return and Roads Not Taken

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  In July 2014, Andrew House, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, told The Daily Telegraph his team was considering bringing Spyro back. He believed gamers would want to revisit a character from their youth. Later that year, Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac Games, said a new Spyro game was possible.

  In 2017, the developer Vicarious Visions said it knew how strong the demand for a revival was. Its public advice to fans was brief: "just keep asking."

  Spyro Reignited Trilogy was announced on the 5th of April 2018. It was first set for the 21st of September 2018 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, then delayed to the 13th of November. Toys for Bob developed it. The PlayStation 4 version can also be played on the PlayStation 5 through backward compatibility. Windows and Nintendo Switch versions followed on the 3rd of September 2019.

  Spyro had also been wandering through other franchises. He is a playable character in the Game Boy Advance version of Crash Nitro Kart and makes a cameo in Crash Twinsanity. Spyro, Cynder, Dark Spyro, Sparx and Malefor appeared in all six mainline Skylanders games and in the television series.

  In August 2019, a post-launch update added Spyro elements to Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. Spyro, Hunter and Gnasty Gnorc became playable, with Spyro-themed karts and a Spyro Circuit track. Spyro-themed parade and pool floats appear in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. Spyro and Dark Spyro have major roles in Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!. In season 3 of Crash Team Rumble, Spyro, Elora and Ripto are playable.

  Some games never shipped. Spyro Ever After was to be the first educational Spyro game, with Spyro meeting fairy tale figures such as The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots. It never got past the storyboard.

  Agent 9 was a James Bond-like spy parody starring the monkey from Year of the Dragon. Blue Tongue Entertainment and Backbone Entertainment were to develop it, with Universal Interactive as publisher. It was cancelled for undisclosed reasons. Digital Eclipse then reworked it into a full Spyro the Dragon title set in a large desert, but scrapped it before release.

  More recently, Toys for Bob considered a Crash Bandicoot crossover. Reports in 2024 said Activision cancelled it early in development. The publisher found the sales of Crash Bandicoot 4 underwhelming and preferred to publish live-service multiplayer games.

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