Why I Love The Spyro The Dragon Trilogy

Sony's several 3D platformer trilogies across the first and second Playstations are easily some of my favorite games in that genre. Aside from Jak & Daxter which I have more mixed feelings on, they're all pretty spectacular and earned easy spots on my Top 100 list. Spyro The Dragon isn't my favorite of the Sony platformer trilogies, I'll get to that soon enough, but it is the first one I got truly invested in. For all intents and purposes, Spyro The Dragon was probably my gateway into Sony games, and what a gateway it was.

Like with how the Crash Bandicoot games demonstrated Naughty Dog's growth as a developer, it feels like the Spyro The Dragon games can serve a similar role with their developer, Insomniac Games. Insomniac is one of my all-time favorite video game devs, an easy Top 5 at the very least. Their games strike this distinctive balance between excess and polish, packing in loads of side content, mechanics, gameplay styles, and a generally massive scope while somehow managing to keep it all fun to play. I already talked about this philosophy in my Going Commando review, but you can definitely see the seeds of that game planted in the Spyro trilogy, though not immediately.

The first Spyro The Dragon is probably my least favorite game in the trilogy, and that's saying something because it's still incredible, partially because it nails Spyro's movement right off the bat. Spyro as a character is one of the more unique 3D platforming protagonists because he's a quadruped, his sense of weight and momentum feels pretty distinct. The move you'll probably spend the most time using is a charge that lets Spyro run fast and bash into enemies, and it just feels incredible. It's fast, but still controllable with enough skill, and dashing around the game's wide open landscapes never really gets old. Your other attack is a flame breath shot, but since you can do it while moving, the momentum never stops or slows down. While your glide does slow you down a bit, you can even get a little extra distance by charging right before entering a glide, which helps maintain the smooth flow of Spyro's gameplay. But the real highlight as far as movement goes is the supercharge, which functions a bit like the Speed Booster in Metroid and has a similar appeal. If you run down a steep hill, Spyro will begin to enter a super fast dash which will allow him to soar into the air once you hit a ramp. It's a tough move to get right at first, but once you do, you'll be able to soar over and completely break certain levels in immensely satisfying fashion.

Spyro 1 has the most basic gameplay loop out of the trilogy, you travel to a variety of open levels to hunt down all the Gems and Dragons scattered around them. It's this wonderful balance of linear and nonlinear level design where there is a goal you need to reach, but the stages boasts a ton of collectibles, hidden nooks and crannies, branching paths, and wide open areas. It's super satisfying to fully clean out a level, especially with how Gems magnetize themselves to you like the Bolts in Ratchet & Clank, and the stages are condensed enough that it's hard to get lost looking for those last few Gems. I think the real brilliance of Spyro 1 comes in the level design. The first world is standard enough, but the moment you hit World 2, you begin to realize that finding everything in a level might not be as intuitive as you initially thought. There are Dragons that seem just out of reach, dozens of Gems that you just can't seem to locate, and chunks of the level left completely unexplored, and trying to figure out how to reach them leads to some really engaging spatial navigation puzzles. Things get even better once you reach levels like Tree Tops and Haunted Towers which require you to plot out Supercharge paths to reach specific Dragons, none of which are especially hard to pull off, but require a lot of foresight and planning. None of the other Spyro games have anywhere near these kinds of complex movement puzzles, and they help Spyro 1 still stand out in my eyes. 

However, I do find it interesting that outside of the visual style (more on that later), Spyro 1 lacks a lot of the stuff you'd expect from Insomniac's games. It's quite short at around five hours long, and has fairly minimal post-game content outside of Gnasty's Loot. There aren't many NPCs outside of the dragons you save, and that cheeky meta humor you expect to see from early Insomniac only really shows up in the final cutscene. Like with the first Crash Bandicoot game, you can tell these developers are still finding their groove here, but unlike with Crash 1, I don't think these growing pains severely hamper the game. I've seen many people cite Spyro 1 as their favorite game in the series for its narrow focus, and for a decent bit, I held the same opinion. Its short length also makes for the Spyro game I've replayed the most by a long shot, it's so easy to get into and all of it is consistently enjoyable.

That being said, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage is the point where the series really starts to get good, and it's predictably my favorite game in the trilogy. What can I say? I guess I just have a bias towards the second entry.

First off, Ripto's Rage actually has more of a story this time! The titular Ripto is a far more intimidating and defined villain than the first game's forgettable Gnasty Gnorc, starting the game already having taken over the setting of Avalar and frequently showing up to exchange barbs with Spyro. We also get the introductions of Elora, Hunter, and the Professor, all of whom are very welcome additions to the cast. The levels themselves also pack in way more NPCs and even boast pre-and-post-level cutscenes showing off each level's exclusive species and outlining the problem you need to resolve. All of this extra story and character helps the world of Avalar feel so much more lively and well-realized, and it helps that the writing and dialogue is also so charming and fun. Ripto's Rage is immensely quotable and boasts like at least 90% of the most iconic Spyro lines ("I'm a faun, you dork!", "Trouble with the trolley, eh?", "MY PENCIL!", "Boo.").

Spyro 2 doesn't change too much with the core gameplay beyond slightly changing how certain abilities like the supercharge and super breath work and giving Spyro solid swimming controls (at least in the original PS1 version), the real improvement is in the mission design. Each stage now has a unique objective for Spyro to complete to reach the end, whether it's moving turtles onto switches to free baby turtles, taking out all the evil robotic pests in a robotic farm, and my personal favorite setpiece, helping in a war between two stages from both sides. In addition, each stage has a few side missions you'll need to do which add even more variety ranging from simple platforming challenges akin to Spyro 1, to playing ice hockey, to defending an NPC from enemies, to partaking in races, to of course, riding around on that damn trolley. While there are a few dud missions (crystal popcorn my beloathed), the vast majority of the side missions in Ripto's Rage are an absolute blast and leave me constantly guessing with every level. Oh yeah, and there's even legitimate boss fights this time, all of which are really bombastic and fun. Insomniac would only continue to explore big gameplay shifts further over time, but I love the balance Ripto's Rage struck as the vast majority of its minigames and side missions still encourage mastery of the base Spyro moveset.

Speaking of Insomniac, Ripto's Rage is the first game of theirs to really pack in the abundance of side content they'd eventually become known for. The first game had a post-game bonus stage in Gnasty's Loot, but Spyro 2's Dragon Shores is a massive improvement in my eyes, a fun amusement park filled with rides to go on and challenges to beat, with full completion unlocking a cutscene theater. Getting all the Gems and Orbs in the game will also unlock an infinite superfire powerup that you can even carry into a fresh save life, making for one of the most worth-it 100% rewards in any game ever. Ripto's Rage also introduces an Insomniac mainstay in the form of the Skill Points, a unique take on the achievement system which focuses almost exclusively on doing niche and weird tasks in each level. You can get pretty much every Skill Point from the start, but it's not until you beat the game when you get the full list, it's a really cool concept and I'm very glad Insomniac would stick with it.

Spyro 3: Year Of The Dragon is similar to Warped in that it's even more ambitious than its predecessor, with more content, more gameplay styles, and higher highs... but it's not nearly as consistent. It's still my second favorite game in the trilogy, though, and it does a lot right.

First off, the story is probably the best-written of the trilogy. I do think Ripto's Rage's writing is a bit more memorable and enjoyable, but Year Of The Dragon has the far stronger narrative, introducing yet another strong villain in the Sorceress and my favorite Spyro character in Bianca. Bianca is a rare Spyro character to get a full-on character arc, as she starts off as a submissive ally to the Sorceress, only to slowly realize she's being mistreated, gain the courage to turn against her, and befriend Spyro and the gang. It's an impressively well-executed redemption arc both from a voice acting and writing perspective and ranks as some of if not the most effective story-telling in the entire Spyro franchise.

In terms of gameplay, Spyro 3 strikes an interesting middle-ground between the approaches of the first two games. Once again, each level has its own unique NPCs and objective to solve, but the focus mostly returns to pure platforming. While in Spyro 2, the side missions were squeezed into each stage, in Spyro 3, the side missions are relegated to their own challenge rooms which I think is probably for the best. The core levels in Spyro 3 are generally really good, especially in the second half where they really start to play around with structure and verticality. This new formula also allows the side missions to get a lot more varied, whether it's chasing thieves around massive areas, piloting vehicles, solving environment puzzles, and even facing off against mini-bosses. It's all great stuff, but of course, that's only the tip of the iceberg as far as variety goes.

Spyro 3 introduces a bunch of side characters to play as in their own exclusive levels and side missions, and they're... admittedly a bit mixed. I love Sheila and Sgt Byrd a lot, but Bentley is pretty sluggish to play as, and while a fascinating pseudo-prototype for the Ratchet & Clank games, Agent 9 doesn't really control the best (at least in the original PS1 version). That being said, I do think people tend to overstate how much time you spend as these side characters, they each just have one main stage and a few side missions to flesh them out, but you're still spending a vast majority of the game as Spyro. There are a few other playstyles though, Sparx has his own exclusive shmup levels in each world which are generally already and worth doing for the Sparx upgrades you get, and of course, there are even some skateboarding missions with their own fleshed-out trick system. It's obvious that Insomniac was trying to ride the hype of Tony Hawk with these missions, but in the PS1 version at least, I find the skateboarding areas to be an easy highlight of the game. They're so fun and fluid to control, and can be a massively addictive timesink.

In a similar fashion to Going Commando, I think part of the appeal of Spyro 3 is just how shamelessly maximalist it is. With a whopping 32 stages and 149 Eggs to find, this is far and away the biggest and most ambitious Spyro game out there. There's speedways, friend stages, Sparx stages, a huge unlockable bonus area, Skill Points, countless gameplay styles, and the list goes on. Of course, this does mean that there are far more weak missions and low points than in Spyro 2 making for my least favorite 100% of the trilogy, but it's hard not to get completely sucked into doing it regardless. Spyro 3's world just has so much to offer and get invested in.

Finally, it's time to get into the Spyro game's incredible presentation. If you know me, you'll know that I am a sucker for dreamlike settings and Spyro's world design absolutely fits into that niche. The soft pastel coloring, the dynamic lighting, the bold skyboxes, the large liminal spaces, those original PS1 games still look absolutely incredible to this day, dare I say even better than the far busier Reignited trilogy. Insomniac is so good at making these fantasy worlds that feel big and mysterious, just begging you to explore them. The first game probably does the best job at capturing a unique fantasy/medieval blend, particularly in the drop-dead stunning Dream Weaver stages, but I think Ripto's Rage has my favorite overall aesthetic of the series. The darker coloring really lends Avalar a moodier vibe that feels unique from any of the other games. I also need to shout out the muppet mouths Insomniac decided to use for all the characters, they're so cute and it's a crying shame Reignited removed them.

And of course, I can't talk about Spyro without talking about the phenomenal soundtracks by Stewart Copeland of The Police fame. His uniquely proggy compositional style does so much to give Spyro its own unique musical identity. Spyro 1's soundtrack is a phenomenal love letter to prog rock that could easily be argued as the strongest soundtrack of the trilogy, especially with all-timer tracks like Dark Hollow, Dry Canyon, Ice Cavern, Wizard Peak, Tree Tops, and Lofty Castle. Spyro 3's soundtrack goes for more of a pop style, but it's still got its fair share of real bangers like Sunny Villa, Charmed Ridge, Desert Ruins, and my favorite track in the series, Firework Factory. However, my favorite score of the three once again has to go to Spyro 2's soundtrack, which perfectly blends the rock and synth of the other two scores. The level themes sound adventurous (Glimmer, Idol Springs, Colossus, Crystal Glacier, Zephyr, Mystic Marsh), the boss themes are intense (Clash With Crush, Gulp's Overlook), the hub themes are downright ethereal (Summer Forest, AUTUMN PLAINS), and the whole soundtrack has this really atmospheric and dark vibe (Hurricos, Aquaria Towers, Icy Speedway) that's complemented by Copeland's fantastic usage of the iconic Distorted Reality 2 samples.

The Spyro The Dragon trilogy is pretty much phenomenal across the board. It follows a similar pattern to the Crash Bandicoot trilogy, but I generally prefer Spyro's strucutre and atmosphere, and the collective flaws aren't quite as noticeable for me. 1 and 2 are already close to perfect in my book, and while 3 has its fair share of issues, the highs it reaches more than makes up for it. And most of the things I love about Spyro The Dragon are things that all three of these games share: Fun and fluid movement, open but condensed level design that's a joy to explore, satisfying 100%, lovable characters, a stunning sense of atmosphere, and incredible music. As much as I love their future games, this is still where Insomniac Games peaked for me.