I have a confession to make . . . as a child I never owned a Nintendo 64. My first console was a Sega Genesis. One year, for Christmas, I told my mom that I wanted a Nintendo 64, because all of my friends were playing Mario Kart 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. On Christmas morning, what I got instead was a video game console that I hadn't even heard of. When my mom went to the store to buy me an N64, the guy behind the counter at Sears told her that the Sony Playstation was going to be the next big thing. Though I wasn't sure about it at the time, he had a point. If you remember the original Playstation, instead of a giving you a whole game with a new console, they gave you a demo disc containing the first few hours of several games. On this demo disc was a game featuring a small purple dragon by the name of Spyro, and Spyro had been tasked with freeing his fellow dragons from stone in pursuit of Gnasty Gnorc. I played that demo obsessively for months, until I finally saved up enough money to buy the actual game, and the rest was history.
Twenty years after his debut on Playstation, Spyro the Dragon has spread his wings across several different consoles and even more generations of gamers. Through his solo adventures, team-ups with Crash Bandicoot and his appearances in Skylanders (both the game and the television show) Spyro has scorched his place into the hearts of just about everybody who has ever picked up a controller. As much I enjoyed the fact that kids were having just much fun with Spyro as I did when I was their age, they were never quite able to recapture the magic of the original three games (though arguably only two of those were good). Then, last year they made the announcement that nostalgia lovers all over the world were hoping for. In the wake of the success of the Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy, Toys for Bob revealed that there was a Spyro: Reignited Trilogy on the way, and even better, it was going to release sometime before the end of 2018. Having played this remaster from start to finish, I can assure you that it was well worth the twenty years it took to take us back to Avalar and the worlds beyond.
I'm going to keep this brief, because there's not a lot to talk about in terms of the games themselves that haven't already been discussed during the release of the originals. To start, let's talk about the original classic, Spyro the Dragon. Because I tend to have a biased opinion when it comes to this game (because it's awesome), this was naturally my favorite of the three. Gone are the rough pixels and non-connected angles, and instead everything has been remastered in beautiful colors, using the magic of the Unreal Engine. Where there was flat green before, there's now moving blades of grass. Some of the audio from the various dragons you release throughout the game was even rerecorded to say more than just "Thank you for releasing me." Of course the egg thieves are still a nagging pain the butt, however, once you manage to get back into the control scheme of the game, they become progressively easier. Speaking of controls, the first thing I noticed when picking up the controller and playing this game was that my reflexes are nothing like they were when I was a kid. Manipulating that camera while chasing gnorcs around was an exercise in frustration for the first few hours.
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage is a far departure from its predecessor. While I enjoyed this game, there were many elements to it that I didn't. For example, I didn't like the whole orb feature. Or I supposed I would have liked it more if there were less of them. I also missed having more worlds to play through. If I remember correctly, there were only three in this one, though I think all of the levels balanced out in the end when compared to the original. Also, I don't remember the bosses being as difficult as they were. But again, my reflexes aren't what they used to be. In terms of looks, much like the first one, this remaster is stunningly beautiful. And though it has a tendency to look like a Dreamworks animated film in parts, it's a lot less glitchy and easier to look at for extended periods of time. The coloring on the original games was always very dark. The lighter shades definitely give the game a more aesthetically pleasing look.
I'll be real forward with you, I've never been a huge fan of Spyro: Year of the Dragon. I think it's because by the time this one came out, I was starting to outgrow Spyro a little. I know, how can one outgrow Spyro the Dragon? Well, with more grown up games like Final Fantasy VIII and IX demanding my full attention (and several hours of my life) I'm afraid I had little time I could devote to this one. I'm not even sure I played it all the way through when it was first released. So assuming this was my first time playing it from start to finish, I can say that it looks great, but it's not quite sure what it wants to be. Does it want to be a Spyro the Dragon game, or does it want to be a bunch of mini games, wrapped in a Spyro the Dragon story? There was far too many characters to play as and far too much going on. I'm not sure if this was due to Sony attempting to create more console mascots or if they were running out of ideas for where to take everybody's favorite purple dragon.
Toys for Bob did an incredible job bringing these games back to life. They're beautifully animated, the audio sounds great. If it wasn't a remaster, it could easily become one of the best original pieces of content on modern consoles. After playing through it, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see what else I might have missed out on. I know there are several other Spyro games that came out on other consoles like Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, Spyro: A Hero's Tail, Spyro: Shadow Legacy, and a couple of Crash Bandicoot crossovers. I don't know if Toys for Bob and Activision have any plans when it comes to those games, but I would be more than interested to play them if they were rereleased or remastered in some form. If you're looking for a good game to help you unwind at the end of the day, or perhaps you're in the market for a walk down memory lane, the Spyro: Reignited Trilogy is exactly what you're looking for.
Reviewed by: Josh Pederson
Played On: Xbox One
Score: 8.5/10
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