Spyro the Dragon is a video game series starring the video game character Spyro, originally released for the PlayStation. The Spyro series has gained substantial popularity since the first release and several sequels and spin-offs followed the original.
The original game
The first game, Spyro the Dragon, featured Spyro, a small purple dragon, his dragonfly companion, Sparx, and a multitude of fellow dragons. It takes place in the Dragon Realms, an imaginary fantasy world, which is itself divided in six worlds: Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers, and Gnasty's World.
At the beginning of the game the main antagonist, Gnasty Gnorc (a half gnome, half orc hybrid) seeks revenge against the dragons for banishing him and traps them in crystal. Spyro, which the main protagonist of the game, was out playing hooky, and thus was spared from a crystal prison. The point of the game is to charge, fly, and flame your way through each world and defeat enemies, save dragons, and eventually face and take down Gnasty.
Sequels
Two sequels were created for the PS1: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (Gateway To Glimmer in the UK) and Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon. Both were developed by Insomniac Games.
In Spyro 2, Spyro and Sparx accidentally stumble upon the realm of Avalar, where the malicious Ripto is taking over the once-peaceful lands. Spyro was looking forward to having some rest but instead is dragged into a new adventure. In this episode of the series, the small dragon also meets a number of new allies, including the Professor, Hunter the cheetah, Elora the fawn, and Zoe the fairy, and must face a new foe: Ripto, a tiny mean dinosaur, equipped with a magic sceptre , and protected by Crush and Gulp, two dim-witted dinosaurs. The game introduces some new movements which Spyro can execute to advance in his quest, including swimming, climbing, and head-butting.
In Spyro 3, the dragons are celebrating the coming of dragon eggs; an event that takes place every twelve years. A mysterious girl comes by and steals all the eggs. Spyro, Sparx, and Hunter must follow her down a rabbit hole to the other side of the world - to the Forgotten Realms. There they meet many new allies, which are also playable characters - Sheila the kangaroo, Sgt. Byrd the flying penguin, Bentley the yeti, and Agent 9 the laser-wielding monkey. The third installment of the Spyro series also feature levels in which the player controls Sparx, in a bird's eye view shooting game. Spyro and his new friends must find out why the Sorceress stole the eggs, what she plans to do with them, and how to stop her.
Spyro on other systems
Besides the three PS1 titles, there are seven Spyro games on other gaming consoles, all developed by Vivendi Universal Games.
Game Boy Advance
The following Spyro titles are available for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance portable console:
- Spyro: Season of Ice (2001)
- Spyro: Season of Flame (2002)
- Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs (2003)
- Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy (2004)
PS2 and GameCube
- Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (2002) was released for both the Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube consoles. However, it is widely regarded as a failure by many of those who have played it due to the absence of a central plotline (or a plotline at all for that matter,) and a significant number of bugs, ranging in level from being mere technicalities to the game crashing/freezing up.
Xbox, PS2 and GameCube
Spyro: Hero's Tail (Fall 2004), the latest installment in the Spyro series, is available for all three next generation consoles (Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube).
Appearances in non-Spyro games
Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage (2004), for Game Boy Advance, also features worlds and characters from the Spyro universe, but Spyro isn't a playable character in the game. Likewise, Spyro Orange features Spyro in a universe familiar to the orange bandicoot.
Crash Twinsanity, for the PS2 and Xbox. He makes a small cameo protecting some of his treasure toward the end of the game.
Characters
- Spyro, the main protagonist, a purple dragon.
- Sparx is Spyro's constant companion. In the game, Sparx acts as a "living" health bar: his color indicates how many hit points Spyro has. (Yellow- full health, blue- 2 hit points, green-1 hit point. If Sparx is gone, Spyro has to take one more hit to lose a life). Sparx can get more hit points if Spyro kills various neutral animals (sheep, frogs, etc.)
- Hunter was introduced in Ripto's Rage. Helps the player learn different abilities and occasionally challenges Spyro to various races.
- Moneybags, a wealthy (and greedy) bear who sells Spyro the ability to climb, swim, etc. as well as unlock bridges and passageways.
- The Professor, the creator of the Super-portal in Avalar.
- Elora, a fawn and one of Spyro's friends.
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