A Spyro The Dragon Review, in 2023.

I’m gonna take you back to the past, to play a special game for a blast (sorry Nintendo Nerd).

Here at Patient Gamers, we’re all about playing old games. We love to wait for a bargain but that’s usually the case for the present day games.

Me personally, I love to play older games! The games from my childhood on the consoles from my childhood. I grew up with a few consoles here and there but the love of my life was always the original PlayStation.

No other console could compare for young Jordan.

When I look back at my time on the PlayStation I think of Crash Bandicoot, I think of Gex 3D. Mostly I think of Spyro The Dragon as a series.

So take a comfy seat, open this video in a new tab and let’s go alllll the way back to 1998.

Spyro The Dragon: A History

In an interview from CNN with Ted Price, founder of Insomniac Games. He revealed the intricate and complicated decision behind creating Spyro the Dragon.

“Let’s do a game about a dragon.”

– Craig Stitt (Co-Art Director, Insomniac Games)

Spyro The Dragon was developed by a personal favourite of mine, Insomniac Games (yes the Spider-Man guys) back in 1998. Released in an effort to compete as a 3D platformer against the Nintendo 64 and its famous library of 3D platformer games.

Alongside Crash Bandicoot, Spyro was one of Sony’s primary weapons as they waged war against Nintendo and Sega for console supremacy and in my childhood heart they’d won this war.

Young Jordan without his memory card would play the opening levels of this game over and over to his hearts content without ever finishing the game itself.

But adult Jordan had a bone to pick, a freshly bought PSOne and a platinum labelled copy of Spyro The Dragon ready to beat here in 2023.

Spyro The Dragon Review – In 2023

The Story

The game opens up in the World of Dragons where a couple of old ass dragons are saying some Gnasty words about Gnasty Gnorc. He rightfully responds by turning them into crystalised statues.

Spyro avoided this somehow and sets off on an adventure to rescue the frozen dragons. This is about the gist of the story, nothing complicated.

It’s the gameplay where the game thrives.

The Gameplay

The original Spyro game has 6 different hub worlds. The game entails travelling to several areas in which you will defeat enemies, collect gems and eggs as well as your main mission which is releasing dragons.

At the end of each hub world will be a boss which for the most part are ridiculously easy, including the final boss Gnasty Gnorc where beating him seemed a breeze.

Spyro controls pretty simply, his attacks include bursts of fire breath and charging with his horns. Different enemies are effected by different attacks so it’s best to mix it up!

Platforming is made fun and exciting with gliding and hovering from platform to platform which can be combined with charging beforehand for extra distance. The Tree Tops level takes advantage of this and had me using the full range of manoeuvring available.

The Worlds

The worlds and environments are fairly straight forward in level design structure when you look at Insomniacs later work. However, these were essentially the prototypes for the quasi open world structure that you’ll see later in Ratchet & Clank.

They’re absolutely stunning in art direction, providing bright green landscapes and primary coloured backgrounds that Spyro’s purple appearance fits perfectly in front of. I won’t go too much into detail but I can share an article on colour theory in Spyro here.

The hub worlds provide an area to explore and collect fodder for your Dragonfly Sparx (also your health indicator) to recover as well as gems and dragons. From here you can enter portals to levels, skyways and bosses.

Each hub will have a hot air balloon pilot (he always weirded me out) that will take you to the next world once the world boss is beaten.

Game Collectables

I’m a sucker for a collect-a-thon and Spyro scratches that itch better than most. Gems, eggs, dragons are all a part of earning that 120% completion mark achieved post game of course.

The level structure is perfect for collect-a-thons in general. Allowing you to easily backtrack from the end of the level to the start and miss any collectables you may have missed.

Gems will be scattered around the hub world and levels as will dragons whereas eggs will be carried by these annoying thieves.

You’re to chase these around the level whilst being taunted tirelessly till you light a fire under their asses.

That beautiful soundtrack

If you heeded my words and opened up the video in a new tab while you read this, you’re probably noticing the best part of the game. The soundtrack.

Stewart Copeland you’re an icon.

Every track for every level is a certified hit and fits with the world that it plays in.

From the intro to the secret world unlocked post game, banger after banger after banger.

I sometimes just listen to the soundtrack while I work and it helps me focus better than most music out there.

Conclusion to the Spyro The Dragon Review

There are not many flaws to the original Spyro The Dragon game.

Camera issues and overly easy difficulty were the main problems found but it’s to be expected looking back at a game from 1998.

There have been such advancements over the years in gaming that the camera in a PSOne game is bound to seem clunky.

There are no doubts that most of you going back to this game, collecting all those gems and getting that 120% completion will have a wonderful time just like present day Jordan just did when he finally settled the score for past Jordan.

(You’ll also have that soundtrack on repeat just like I still do to this day.)

Final Retro Grade: A-

Retro Reviews will be summarised with a score/grade based on nostalgia and how well the game holds up in my eyes.

Spyro The Dragon has earned an A- on the Patient Gamers Retro Scale.

Based on it’s excellent level structure, charming soundtrack and stunning art design. This first instalment is let down by its basic story which was expanded on in the sequels.

It is also my least played of the Spyro trilogy so whilst it rubs my nostalgia muscles, it doesn’t have the same grips that the next 2 in the series do.

Let us know which other retro games you grew up playing and we’ll give them a go and let you know our thoughts!

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