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Spyro the Dragon is a platform game developed by Insomniac Games for the PlayStation. It stars the title character, a young purple dragon named Spyro and his dragonfly friend, Sparx, and is the first game in the Spyro the Dragon series. The first game was massively popular at its initial release and Spyro would later become one of the most recognizable, popular and respected gaming icons for the PlayStation gaming console.
Gameplay
The game is made up of many different levels (realms), all connected together by hub worlds (homeworlds). The goal in each homeworld is to collect a certain amount of items, be it gems, rescued dragons, or dragon eggs, in order to travel to the next homeworld. Each homeworld and its realms are progressively more difficult than the last. The first few realms are small fields with few ways to die, but they become harder later in the game. Many later levels focus on Spyro's ability to glide from platform to platform. Each homeworld contains an optional boss to defeat, except for the final homeworld where the boss is mandatory. Every homeworld contains a flying level (speedway) where Spyro's normal gliding ability is replaced with the ability to fly freely. The goal is to complete a certain number of obstacles (such as planes to blow up and rings to fly through) which each add a small amount of time to a countdown.
Spyro in one of the homeworlds.
Synopsis
Characters
Spyro the dragon is the main character, alongside Sparx the dragonfly, his best friend who acts like the player's health meter and assists in gathering gems. The various dragons Spyro unfreezes along the way are also key characters in Spyro's progression through the game. Gnasty Gnorc is the main antagonist, who froze all the dragons of the land in crystal.
Image of a frozen dragon in crystal.
Plot
Before the game begins, the five Dragon families lived in harmony in their five worlds (these being Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers and Dream Weavers). Their lives were happy and peaceful until Gnasty Gnorc attacks the dragon realms by using a magic spell that traps all the dragons in crystal, except for Spyro, who dodges the spell because of his small size. He then goes across the dragon realms saving the trapped dragons, who give hints and tips, until Spyro battles with Gnasty. If the player collected all gems, saved all the dragons, and rescued all the eggs, then an alternate ending is presented.
Design of Gansty Gnorc in the game.
Development
The development of Spyro the Dragon began in 1997, one year after Disruptor was released. The idea of a dragon was introduced by Insomniac artist Craig Stitt, while Alex Hastings developed a 3D panoramic engine containing some of the first level of detail renderers used on the PlayStation. During the development of the game, Spyro was originally going to be green, but the developers thought it was a bad idea because he would blend in with the Grass Areas, so they eventually changed him to purple. In an interview, Ted Price stated that they gave up the series after releasing Spyro: Year of the Dragon because his actions were limited, due to not being able to hold anything in his hands.
Soundtrack
The music featured in Spyro The Dragon was composed and performed by Stewart Copeland (former drummer of The Police). Many of the pieces from the game, or music motif's from them, have made their way into other Copeland Pieces, such as the theme to the Amanda Show Look Up, and Louis Hansa. The soundtrack for "Spyro the Dragon" is considered to be one of the best video game scores of that era.
Spyro in the first homeworld at the beginning of the game.
Download
The game is now available for download on PlayStation Store for the PSP and PlayStation 3 in North America and in Japan for $5.99 or 545 yen. It is yet to be release to the Playstation Stores in Europe including the UK.
Reception
GameSpot gave the game an 8.3, describing it as having very good graphics for its time, and being one of the first well-received full-3D platformers for the original PlayStation. IGN rated it 9/10, with similar comments, stating "the game utilizes the PlayStation's hardware to the max, and there's not an obvious polygon glitch to speak of", and saying that the only problem was the camera not following the character correctly.
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