Day 49: Spyro Reignited Trilogy
And then there were two. I'll be honest, it was a little hard deciding which one of these last two games I like more or less than the other, mainly because they both mean a lot to me. On the one hand we have a game that is super nostalgic for me, and on the other hand we have a game that came to me in a time of need. So which one should I talk about first…I'm going to harness my inner child and talk about the nostalgic one. This is the remake of a trilogy that practically jump started my love for gaming, this is the Spyro Reignited Trilogy.
After the success of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, is started to become less of a matter of if and more a matter of when his purple reptilian counterpart would receive the same treatment. All we had to do was wait one year after the marsupial came back, and when that first trailer for Reignited Trilogy dropped, my inner child was fucking screaming in joy!
Off topic, I'll be honest, I never really grew up with Crash Bandicoot. I mean I had Wrath of Cortex, but I never played the Original Crash Trilogy until my sophomore year of high school. Spyro on the other hand…shit, I still remember coming over to my cousins house in 2003 where they'd be playing Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage. All I had to do was take one look at that game and think to myself, "Holy moly, I want this!" And boom, my parents got me the entire Original Spyro Trilogy with my PS2 and played the hell out of these games over and over, and I haven't looked back ever since.
Nostalgic memories aside, let's finally talk about the story of these three games. They remain unchanged, with Spyro the Dragon beign about how Spyro saves the dragons from Gnasty Gnorc after he encases them in crystal after one of the dragons berates him on T.V. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage is about how Spyro wants to go on vacation, but ends up in the world of Avalar where he's faced by the threat of Ripto and his minions Crush and Gulp and now he has to take them out before he goes anywhere else. And Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon follows Spyro, Hunter, and new comers Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 as they try and get the Dragon Eggs back from the evil Sorceress.
Gameplay is just as great as I remember it, with all of the characters controlling even smoother than I remember, with all of the gem/orb/talisman/egg collecting, dragon freeing, and gliding and flame breathing action intact. The roll move from Spyro 1 is in all three games now…for some reason (Seriously did anyone ever use that move for anything useful?) But for the most part the gameplay remains unchanged.
One that that has changed are the character designs. First of all, everyone looks so much better, more lively and animated, and so much detail is put into them. Naturally since this game is on better hardware. We've come a long way from the designs of old. Now for the designs themselves. While characters like Spyro remain mostly unchanged, others like Bentley, Bianca, Elora, and Hunter are very well done. Even minor characters like inhabitants in each world, the enemies you come across, and the Dragon Elders from the first game are well designed.
The Dragon Elders in Spyro 1 all have unique designs rather than being re-colors of each other like in the original. Activision and Toys for Bob didn't have to do this…but by God they did, and I'm glad they did because they all look fantastic and I can tell who they are just by looking at them.
Every level is brought back in as much detail and color as before, making them look even more spectacular. Seriously, this game takes full advantage of PS4/Xbox One/Switch capabilities and I love it! The speedways are still just as fun (and somewhat annoying) as they were back then, and the missions in each game are made even better due to the more refined controls. On that note, most of the missions in Year of the Dragon are made even better than in the original. The Yeti Boxing, while pretty easy here, is still miles better than what the original offered, and the Doom Parody for Agent 9's level in Fireworks Factory is actually fun. Those are two of the best examples I could think of in improvements with the missions.
Finally, Stewart Copeland returns to bless our ears with this amazing soundtrack, giving the songs we loved from this trilogy epic remixes. But, if you someone like me who thinks the original music is so amazing you can't listen to anything else, the game offers an option where you can have the original soundtrack from the PS1 era play over all three games. That's amazing! Nothing personal against the remixed music, but when you've been playing the Original Spyro Trilogy as long as I have, it's music really starts to grow on you.
Bottom line, Spyro Reignited Trilogy is the perfect remake. Take everything that was great about the gameplay and story of the original, give it a massive graphical overhaul, and put it on store shelves for all to admire. While there is still only one other game I view to be better than this, The Original Spyro Trilogy will always be known as the icon that kick started my love of gaming, and the Reignited Trilogy just cemented that love for these games even further. Welcome back Spyro, we all missed you.
