Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 02:08, 28 November 2024

Spyro
Logo since 2018
Genre(s)	Platform Action-adventure
Developer(s)	Insomniac Games (1998–2000) Digital Eclipse (2001–2003) Equinoxe Digital Entertainment (2003) Check Six Studios (2003) Vicarious Visions (2004) Kaolink (2004) Eurocom Entertainment Software (2004) Amaze Entertainment (2005–2007) Krome Studios (2006–2007) Big Ant Studios (2006) The Mighty Troglodytes (2006–2008) Étranges Libellules (2008) Tantalus Media (2008) Toys for Bob (2018)
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment (1998–2000) Universal Interactive (2001–2003) Vivendi Games (2004–2008) WonderPhone (2004) Digital Bridges (2004) Vivendi Games Mobile (2006–2008) Activision (2008–present)
Creator(s)	John Fiorito Dan Johnson Jared Hardy Alex Hastings Brian Hastings Alain Maindron Chris McNulty Ted Price Alex Schaefer Craig Stitt Chuck Suong Oliver Wade Matthew Whiting Charles Zembillas
Platform(s)	PlayStation Game Boy Advance PlayStation 2 GameCube Xbox Nintendo DS Java ME Wii PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 PlayStation 4 Xbox One Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch
First release	Spyro the Dragon 9 September 1998
Latest release	Spyro Reignited Trilogy 13 November 2018

Spyro is a platform game series originally created by Insomniac Games as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. The series features the adventures of the main protagonist of the title character, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998, there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. The series was originally produced by Universal Interactive, later became known as Vivendi Games; the rights to the intellectual property were acquired by Activision after its merge with Vivendi in 2008.

The series went dormant for a decade until a collection of remakes of the original Spyro PlayStation trilogy called Spyro Reignited Trilogy, developed by Toys for Bob, was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2018, and later for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch in September 2019.

Development and history

PlayStation exclusivity (1998–2000)

Spyro the Dragon was released in North America on 9 September 1998 and Europe in October 1998 for the PlayStation. 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 closes out with the climatic battle between Spyro and the primary antagonist, Gnasty Gnorc. The game sold well, with a total of five million copies being sold worldwide. The game received favorable reviews from IGN giving Spyro the Dragon a 9 out of 10. It received acclaim for its musical score by Stewart Copeland.

Ripto's Rage!, known as Gateway to Glimmer in PAL regions, followed on from the success of the first title, making its release on 2 November 1999 in North America and 5 November 1999 in Europe for the PlayStation. The game introduced 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 ends with the climatic duel between Spyro and the primary antagonist, Ripto. The game introduces some abilities for Spyro, including hovering after a glide, swimming underwater, climbing ladders, head-bashing, and the ability to use power-ups. Like its predecessor, it was critically acclaimed.

Year of the Dragon was released in North America on 24 October 2000 and Europe on 10 November 2000 for the PlayStation, and it was Insomniac's last Spyro game. In the game, the dragons are celebrating the Year of the Dragon, an event held every twelve years in which new dragon eggs arrive in the dragon worlds. Bianca, an anthropomorphic rabbit, steals the eggs, and Spyro follows her down a rabbit hole. The rabbit hole leads to the Forgotten Realms, which are under the rule of the game's primary antagonist, 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 game also features levels in which the player controls "Sparx", Spyro's companion dragonfly, in a bird's eye view shooting game as well as four new playable characters: Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley the Yeti, and Agent 9 the Monkey.

Multiplatform and handhelds (2001–05)

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

Season of Flame was the second Digital Eclipse title and was released for the Game Boy Advance. It is the sequel to Season of Ice, and introduces new features, such as the ability to breathe other elements besides fire. In the game, Spyro must recover the stolen fireflies scattered across the Dragon Realms and foil an evil plot by Ripto and his minions.

Enter the Dragonfly is available for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, and was developed by Equinox Digital Entertainment and Check Six Studios. It had received mixed to negative responses from reviewers, referring to the numerous glitches, lack of storyline, originality, and long load times. The story begins with the baby dragons preparing to receive their dragonflies and celebrating. Ripto captures the dragonflies, making the dragons helpless, and accidentally scatters the dragonflies across the world with a spell. Spyro must recover the dragonflies.

Attack of the Rhynocs, also known as Spyro Adventure in Europe and Australia, is the third and final game to be developed by Digital Eclipse. Spyro is tasked with collecting the "Heart" of each land in order to stop Ripto's latest evil scheme after a machine malfunctions opening a portal, bringing Ripto back into the dragon realms following the events of Enter The Dragonfly.

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

A Hero's Tail is available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, and was created by Eurocom. The game revolves around an evil plot by the villain Red, a former Dragon Elder, who 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.

Shadow Legacy acts as a sequel to Spyro: A Hero's Tail and was released only on the Nintendo DS. This is the first Spyro game that plays as a role-playing game as opposed to a platformer and the game allows Spyro to 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" which features returning levels from the Dragon Kingdom, Avalar, and the Forgotten Realms.

The Legend of Spyro reboot trilogy (2006–08)

The Legend of Spyro is a game trilogy that is part of the Spyro the Dragon series. It acted as a reboot to the original series. The games use a combination of close-combat and platforming gameplay, though the gameplay is more oriented towards combat than previous games in the Spyro series were. The story revolves around Spyro, the protagonist, and his efforts to stop Malefor, The Dark Master, from destroying the world.

The first installment of this game is titled The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning. It focuses on Spyro's origins as a legendary purple dragon and his quest to stop Cynder, the black dragon waging war against the world. He meets Ignitus the Fire Guardian, a red dragon who tells him about his past and offers to train him in his newly discovered ability to breathe fire. Spyro must then embark on a quest to various worlds to rescue the other three Guardians; Volteer, the Electric Guardian, Cyril, the Ice Guardian, and Terrador, the Earth Guardian. Each guardian trains him in a new elemental breath to help him on his journey and eventual fight with Cynder herself.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018)

Discussions around the relaunch of Spyro began as early as 2014. In a July 2014 interview with The Daily Telegraph, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Andrew House stated that his team was considering bringing Spyro back. House stated that he believed video gamers would be interested in revisiting a character from their youth. Later that same year, Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price also stated that making a new Spyro game was a possibility. In 2017, developer Vicarious Visions stated that they were aware of how high the popular demand was for a revival of the classic Spyro series. In a statement they said, "just keep asking". Spyro Reignited Trilogy was officially announced on 5 April 2018 and was originally going to be released on 21 September 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, before being delayed to 13 November 2018. The game was developed by Toys for Bob and was ported to Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch, with a release date of 3 September 2019.

Other games

In addition to Crash Purple and Spyro Orange, Spyro has made various crossover appearances in the Crash Bandicoot series. Spyro appears as a playable character in the Game Boy Advance version of Crash Nitro Kart, and makes a cameo appearance in Crash Twinsanity. The characters Spyro, Cynder, Dark Spyro, Sparx the Dragonfly and Malefor also made appearances in the Skylanders series, including all six mainline games and the television series. Elements from the Spyro series were added to Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled as part of a post-launch game update in August 2019. Spyro, Hunter, and Gnasty Gnorc appear as playable characters, along with Spyro-themed karts and a "Spyro Circuit" race track. Spyro-themed parade and pool floats appear in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, while both Spyro and Dark Spyro have major roles in Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! Spyro, Elora and Ripto made appearances as playable characters in season 3 of Crash Team Rumble.

Cancelled games

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

Agent 9 was a James Bond-like parody spin-off game starring 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. The game's production was cancelled for undisclosed reasons.

After the cancellation of Agent 9, Digital Eclipse reworked the game into a full Spyro the Dragon title, that took place in a large desert environment. The video game title was never released to the market, and was scrapped by Digital Eclipse.

List of games

Common elements

Characters

The main character of the series is Spyro the Dragon, a young purple dragon. In the original series, he is accompanied by Sparx, a dragonfly that performs many functions such as helping protect Spyro from damage and collecting gems. Most of the games before the Legend of Spyro series include Hunter the Cheetah, a loyal friend of Spyro's who sometimes helps him on quests; Moneybags, a money-obsessed bear who in some games is needed to make pathways for Spyro for a small fee; and Zoe, a fairy who serves as checkpoints in each land that Spyro visits.

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.

Collectibles

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 are 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 retrieving 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 (but their color designs are different from those of the third installment). They also appear in Spyro: A Hero's Tail, and collecting them will unlock concept art. Collecting Talismans and Orbs 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. In Spyro: Season of Ice freeing fairies is the main goal, and in Spyro 2: Season of Flame collecting fireflies is the goal.

Music

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, often playing each level so he could tailor the mood of the music to the level. As with the voice cast in A Hero's Tail, Stewart Copeland was replaced and the soundtrack was composed by Steve Duckworth and Paul Lawler. Rebecca Kneubuhl and Gabriel Mann of the a cappella band Spiralmouth composed the music for The Legend of Spyro trilogy. Finally, for Reignited Trilogy, Copeland's music was remixed in-house by the developer and remained mostly faithful to the original scores; Copeland himself composed a main theme for the compilation.

Reception

As of 2007, the Spyro the Dragon series has sold over 20 million units worldwide. According to the Los Angeles Times, the first Spyro game has sold over 4.8 million units worldwide as of November 2007 making 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 units.

Notes

1. Released under the Sierra Entertainment and the Coktel Vision brand.
2. ^ GameRankings score

References

Notes

Citations

1. "WonderPhone announces the release of its latest java game - CrashT Racing - featuring Vivendi Universal Games' Crash Bandicoot®". 28 November 2005.
2. "Digital Bridges Launches Spyro Ripto's Quest". 6 January 2005.
3. Dornbush, Jonathon (5 April 2018). "Spyro Reignited Trilogy Announced, Release Date Revealed". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
4. "Spyro the Dragon is to be remastered for PS4". Evening Standard. 6 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
5. "Spyro the Dragon". IGN (Press release). Sony Computer Entertainment. 10 September 1998. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
6. "Spyro the Dragon (PlayStation)". IGN. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
7. ^ Weiss, Josh (17 August 2018). "Video games: Bruce Campbell returning as Ash Williams; Spyro pushed to November; Pokémon GO adds legendaries". SYFY WIRE. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
8. "Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage" (Press release). Sony Computer Entertainment. 19 November 1999. Archived from the original on 16 December 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
9. "Spyro 3" (Press release). Insomniac/Sierra entertainment. 12 January 2003. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
10. The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning - IGN, archived from the original on 21 May 2019, retrieved 7 April 2020
11. "'Bring back Crash Bandicoot? I definitely wouldn't close the door on that'". telegraph.co.uk. 14 June 2014. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
12. "Insomniac Boss on the future of Spyro the Dragon". ign.com. 26 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
13. "Crash Bandcoot N.Sane Trilogy did the business for Activision - and now everyone wants a Spyro remaster next". Eurogamer. 4 August 2017. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
14. Dornbush, Jonathon (5 April 2018). "Spyro Reignited Trilogy Announced, Release Date Revealed". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
15. Wilson, Thomas (28 August 2019). "Bandicoot meet dragon - two icons come together in the Spyro & Friends Grand Prix coming August 30". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
16. "Behance". www.behance.net. October 2012. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
17. "Agent 9 / Prime 8 [PS2 - Cancelled] - Unseen64". Unseen64: Beta, Cancelled & Unseen Videogames!. 16 June 2009. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
18. "cancelledxboxspyro". ticgn. Archived from the original on 6 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
19. "Talking Spyro with the Police's Stewart Copeland | gamesTM - Official Website". Archived from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
20. "Spyro the Dragon Reviews". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
21. "Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! Reviews". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
22. "Spyro: Year of the Dragon Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
23. "Spyro: Season of Ice Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
24. "Spyro 2: Season of Flame Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
25. "Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
26. "Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
27. "Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
28. "Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
29. "Spyro: A Hero's Tail Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
30. "Spyro: A Hero's Tail Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
31. "Spyro: A Hero's Tail Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
32. "Spyro: Shadow Legacy Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
33. "The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
34. "The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
35. "The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
36. "The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
37. "The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
38. "The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
39. "The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 28 May 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
40. "The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
41. "The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
42. "The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
43. "The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
44. "The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
45. "The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
46. "Spyro Reignited Trilogy Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
47. "Spyro Reignited Trilogy Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 29 November 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
48. "Spyro Reignited Trilogy Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
49. "Spyro Reignited Trilogy Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
50. "Spyro the Dragon to Scorch Wendy's Restaurants This Fall" (Press release). Sierra Entertainment. 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
51. Pham, Alex (26 November 2007). "The independent imagination". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2017.

External links

• Official website

v t e Activision
A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard
Franchises	3D Ultra Minigolf Assault Heroes Cabela's Call of Duty City Building Crash Bandicoot Empire Earth Geometry Wars Guitar Hero King's Quest Pitfall! Police Quest Space Quest Skylanders Spyro Tony Hawk's Ultimate Soccer Manager Zork
Games	1980–1999 2000–2009 2010–2019 2020–present Activision Value games
Subsidiaries	Current Activision Shanghai Studio Beenox Demonware Digital Legends Entertainment Elsewhere Entertainment High Moon Studios Infinity Ward Raven Software Sledgehammer Games Solid State Studios Treyarch Former Bizarre Creations Budcat Creations Fox Interactive FreeStyleGames Gray Matter Studios Infocom Luxoflux Massive Entertainment Neversoft Radical Entertainment RedOctane Shaba Games Sierra Entertainment Swordfish Studios Toys for Bob Underground Development Universal Interactive Vicarious Visions Wanako Games
Related	Battle.net Blizzard Entertainment Vivendi Games Xbox Game Studios ZeniMax Media California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard ABK Workers Alliance Microsoft and unions § United States
Category

• Spyro the Dragon
• Activision Blizzard franchises
• Video game franchises
• Video game franchises introduced in 1998
• Insomniac Games games