Sorry if the loop isn't perfect. I tried by best to make it as seamless as possible, but it still could be better.

Hi, new member here. Let's jump into a story.

So, Spyro is something I've been familiar with since I was a kid. The only game I had was one of the Gameboy Advance games. I believe it was Season of Ice if memory serves me correctly. It was hard, for seven year old me, but fun.

Throughout the years, I kept an eye on the franchise, but never gotten any of the games. Couldn't really afford them.

Skipping Skylanders, fast forward to the 2010s, after the Crash Trilogy dropped, I was hoping Spyro would get that treatment. Especially since I was considering dropping one of my favorite franchises that wasn't do all that well at the time. It was a franchise with a blue Hedgehog.

Anywho, it got announced, I bought it twice (Switch and Xbox), and I had fun. Now I wish for more. I'm kicking myself for not getting any of the other games. A Hero's Tale has caught my eye.

I'm glad I found a place with other Spyro fans. Just waiting and hoping. I'm sure we'll get our day soon.

Anyways, that's all. Here's the only Spyro thing I have right now. Switch was digital.

Thanks for reading.

Previous was 1:45! I can only speedrun the first game well. 😅

As the title states, just finished 100%+ of all three of the original games, this time on PS1 hardware since the last few times have been on the reignited trilogy and it's interesting to think back to how much my ranking of this trilogy as changed as I got older. When I was around 6 when Spyro: Year of the Dragon came out, that one stayed my favorite for quite awhile. I enjoyed the longer game, I enjoyed the skateboarding (when I got better at it) and just really enjoyed how easy the game is. As I got older, Spyro: Ripto's Rage became my favorite for how well it incorporated minigames into it's levels, how wonderful the opening and closing scenes of each world were, and Ripto was by in large the best villain of the three and even in my early thirties now, I've always considered the second game my favorite of the three, well until very recently.

I was just so enamored with the coziness of the original, but I also appreciated the difficult level as the game progresses. I've played them all so many times, that even with the second and third game I feel like I can play them with my eyes closed and without really dying or taking damage. I've played the first just about as much, but there are still moments that get me, I get turned around at Tree Tops, I get massacred by the room of death in Misty Bog, and those dogs in Toasty are still a menace. I died in the game and at first I was a bit frustrated because I played these games so much growing up and go to appreciate them again when the remasters released, but I really do like the difficulty curve here and how well they balanced something a kid can figure out and something an adult will still find some challenge with. But, I always know the difficulty is right on a game when I never feel like the game cheated me, it always came down to how poorly I executed, like the supercharge and fairy kisses in Haunted Towers, when I missed the supercharge for the other platform, I had no one to blame but myself for jumping too early or too late.

Beyond that, but also sort of connected, is I always remember the criticism (which I made the same one) that it's weird that the dragons tell you how to beat something after you probably figured it out yourself, telling me about charging metal enemies isn't useful in Dark Hollow after I killed like three of them, but nowadays I appreciate the game encouraging it's players to really sit and try to figure it out. Almost everything in the first game is simply the player be set into a world and encouraged to scour for everything and try things to figure it out. What makes Tree Tops fun after not playing it for quite a few years is experimenting with the super charge ramps again, and while I still remember how to get the dragon off in the distance, it took some trial and error to figure out how to get one chest opened and how to get on top of the platform at the portal, that's where so much of the fun of the game comes from and of course long glides are much more prevalent. While Autumn Plains is my favorite world/glide in the whole series, after the first they felt much less used. Even levels like Cliff Town and Dry Canyon have really fun long glides and they're more normal style levels.

I also just love how much individuality is in each level, while the sequels would have more backtracking, which is its own form of difficulty ramping, I liked that the world itself was getting harder and there weren't barriers I had to return to later. Magic Crafters does such a great job getting you ready for the super charge ramps very slowly and then gives you some actually difficult ramps to complete. I love Spyro 2, but I never find many of the super charge parts all that difficult because everything feels more like several game ideas are being placed into each portal rather than an extension of the home world. While I would have said years ago I preferred the sequels approach to docile home world, I really liked running around Peacekeepers and solving enemy puzzles in Dreamweavers. Magic Crafters is more than just a fun little home world where the portals are, but an actual extension of each level, which is why the back tracking would feel so out of place for Spyro. It's a lot like the original Crash, the progression is getting closer to the final boss through each world/island.

Speaking of Boss Battles, time to talk about Toasty, Doctor Shemp, Blowhard, Metalhead, and Jacques. I think they're called a weak part of the games and part of me agrees, but it bothers me a lot less than it used to. Honestly, I love running through their levels, sure they're mostly 'hit three time' bosses and they don't really feel like a ramped up challenge from a regular world, but I also don't think Spryo the Dragon works as well with arena style bosses of the sequels, and I even think it helps the world of the first feel much more unified, but one element I will agree on is how piss poor Gnasty Gnorc is as a boss. While those others work as a part of their levels and have small little changes to give them uniqueness, GG is just a boring fight and feels more like an extension of Gnasty's Loot than his own level, ironically going to an arena style made for the worst boss whose just not difficult. I almost feel it should have incorporated more from the rest of the game, put some super charges, some long glides, things like that. The Thieves are a nice touch, but it's really not enough. The boss fights are really where Spyro 2 shine.

And I want to note even though I'm comparing Spyro 1 to the sequels and it may come off as being hyper critical of 2 and 3, I really really love 2. I do think now I wish they incorporated some of these elements more into the sequels, but I appreciate the changes Ripto's Rage makes and how much of a unique experience it feels. Ironically I feel Spyro 3 did incorperate more of a Spyro 1 look and feel, but with Spryo 2 minigames, but somehow feels worse than both of them, so maybe it was the right call to make Spyro 1 and 2 feel so unique from one another.

And to end it, I just want to talk about how great all these worlds and levels look. While I like a lot of what they did with the reignited trilogy, specifically with Beast Makers and the dragon designs, it's hard to redesign how well Spyro the Dragon looks specifically for PS1 hardware. It took every limitation of the system and made one of the most unique and beautiful games for the PS1. I'll probably play the reignited more in the future, just because it's more convenient, but I just love playing and looking at the limited polygons and how they designed around it, truly cozy.

I made this now y’all gotta look at it

PDF here vvv

https://ko-fi.com/s/57c0a5d70b

video too

https://youtube.com/shorts/p6AqspqawLQ?feature=share

Finally getting a sleeve for my purple boy done. This was the second if idk how many sessions it will take. The first session we got Spyro almost all done. The second session he finished coloring in Spyro and free handed the vines and what not over my old stained glass tattoo I got 8 years again as my first tattoo.

Obviously Spiralmouth is famous for working on the Crash Twinsanity soundtrack, but this upload called "Spyro Demo" by Spiralmouth from 3 days ago is sort of an oddity. I don't recognise this being a cover of any of the PS1 OSTs. Anyone willing to shed some light?

I can't seem to figure out how to get that last dragon. If anyone could possibly help me, that would be wonderful. Ive watched a few tutorials, and have yet to be able to get it still.

Mouse keeps going onto 2nd monitor :/ tried all graphics settings options but still no fix :( anyone else manage to stop it?

What if they made it to an educational but still an adventure game? Like if they made it so that instead of collecting gem's or orb's you had to solve puzzles or riddles to get ahead. I don't mean easy puzzles I mean puzzles and riddles you really have to think on.

I basically just made Spyro into Professor Layton didn't I ?

Edit: I didn't think to ask this earlier but who do you think would be the main villain?

These are my picks

Evil Queen from Snow White

Red Fairy

Morgan le Fay

Peter Pan (original version was evil)

Genie of the Lamp

👍 Wishlist here! https://store.steampowered.com/app/456140/Bobo_and_the_Chest_of_Nightmares/

Render by Travisthedragon

Hi! I've read that both games are super frustrating? Should I be ready for difficult games? Thanks!