''Spyro'' is a series of

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

s which features the main protagonist

Spyro ''Spyro'' is a series of platform games which features the main protagonist Spyro, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998 with the PlayStation game '' Spyro the Dragon'', there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. Origin ...

, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998 with the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

game ''

Spyro the Dragon ''Spyro the Dragon'' is a platform game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation on September 9, 1998. The first game in the ''Spyro'' series, it stars the title character, a young purple ...

'', there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. Originally published by

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

and created by

Insomniac Games Insomniac Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Burbank, California and a studio of PlayStation Studios. It was founded in 1994 by Ted Price as Xtreme Software, and was renamed Insomniac Games a year later. The company is m ...

, the franchise has changed hands and developers numerous times before the rights to the intellectual property were acquired by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

in 2008. A collection of

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...

s of the original ''Spyro'' PlayStation trilogy called ''

Spyro Reignited Trilogy ''Spyro Reignited Trilogy'' is a platform video game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Activision. It is a collection of remasters of the first three games in the ''Spyro'' series: ''Spyro the Dragon'' (1998), '' Ripto's Rage!'' (1999) ...

'', developed by

Toys for Bob Toys for Bob, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. As the creators of the award-winning '' Star Control'' and '' Skylanders'' series, the studio originated as a partnership between Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford ...

, was released for the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

in November 2018, and later for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch in September 2019.

Games

Original PlayStation trilogy (1998–2000)

''Spyro the Dragon'' was released in North America on 10 September 1998 and Europe in October 1998 for the

. 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 Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

. ''Ripto's Rage!'', known as ''Gateway to Glimmer'' in Europe and Australia, 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 The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

; Elora, a

faun The faun (, grc, φαῦνος, ''phaunos'', ) is a half- human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. Originally fauns of Roman mythology were spirits (genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their ...

; The Professor, a

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

; and Zoe, a

fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

. 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 the last ''Spyro'' game to be created by

. In the game, the dragons are celebrating the Year of the Dragon, an event held every twelve years in which new dragon

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

arrive in the dragon worlds. Bianca, an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...

, 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 Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley the

Yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
''

Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

Multiplatform and handhelds (2001–05)

''Season of Ice'' was the first Spyro game not to be developed by

or be on a Sony console, released for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

and developed by

Digital Eclipse Digital Eclipse is an American video game developer based in Emeryville, California. Founded by Andrew Ayre in 1992, the company found success developing commercial emulations of arcade games for Game Boy Color. In 2003, the company merged w ...

. 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 ''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...

'', and a companion game to ''Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage''. In the game, Spyro travels through

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch ...

'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 Eurocom (formerly Eurocom Entertainment Software) was a British video game developer founded in October 1988 by Mat Sneap, Chris Shrigley, Hugh Binns, Tim Rogers and Neil Baldwin, to specifically develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment Sys ...

. 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 The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in t ...

. 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 In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

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

, 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 ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

,''

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,

CEO

Ted Price Insomniac Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Burbank, California and a studio of PlayStation Studios. It was founded in 1994 by Ted Price as Xtreme Software, and was renamed Insomniac Games a year later. The company is ...

also stated that making a new ''Spyro'' game was a possibility. In 2017, developer

Vicarious Visions Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Albany, New York. The studio was acquired by Activision in January 2005. After releasing its last game as part of that company, ''Tony Hawk's Pro Sk ...

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

and

, before being delayed to 13 November 2018. The game was developed by Skylanders developer

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

version of ''

Crash Nitro Kart ''Crash Nitro Kart'' is a 2003 kart racing game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance; versions for the N-Gage and mobile phones were released in 2004. It is the second racing game in the ''Crash Bandicoot'' series after ' ...

'', and makes a cameo appearance in ''

Crash Twinsanity ''Crash Twinsanity'' is a 2004 platform video game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Mobile. It is the eleventh installment in the ''Crash Bandicoot'' series and the fifth game in the main series. The game's story takes place three years after ...

''. The characters Spyro, Cynder, Dark Spyro, Sparx the Dragonfly and Malefor also made appearances in the ''

Skylanders ''Skylanders'' is a toys-to-life action-adventure video game series published by Activision. ''Skylanders'' games are played by placing character figures called the Skylanders on the "Portal of Power", a device that reads the figures' tags throu ...

'' series, including all six mainline games and the

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

. Elements from the ''Spyro'' series were added to ''

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled ''Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled'' is a 2019 kart racing game developed by Beenox and published by Activision. The game is a remastered version of '' Crash Team Racing'', which was originally developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation in 1999, ...

'' 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!''

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 "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house t ...

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Bro ...

Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for ...

Goldilocks and the Three Bears "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (originally titled "The Story of the Three Bears") is a 19th-century English fairy tale of which three versions exist. The original version of the tale tells of an obscene old woman who enters the forest home ...

and

Golden Goose "The Golden Goose" (german: Die goldene Gans) is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 64). Story In the Brothers Grimm version, the hero is the youngest of three brothers, given the nickname Simpleton as he is not handsome or st ...

. However, the game never passed the storyboard, and was cancelled. ''Agent 9'' was a

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

-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'',

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.

Common elements

Characters

The main character of the series is

, a young purple dragon. In the original series, he is accompanied by Sparx, a

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat thre ...

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

gem A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, an ...

s, 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 ''

'', 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

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 ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

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 ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

, the first ''Spyro'' game has sold 4.8 million units as of November 2007, making it the seventeenth best-selling PlayStation game of all time. ''Ripto's Rage!'' sold 3.45 million units in the U.S., while ''Year of the Dragon'' sold 3.28 million.

Notes

References

; Notes ; Citations

External links

* {{Universal Interactive Activision Blizzard franchises Video games adapted into television shows Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1998