The Spyro trilogy is likely my most replayed video game trilogy ever since my introduction to this Purple Dragon back in 2018 and has captured my heart for 3D platformers and the genre as a whole. I think now it's high time to write my thoughts on it, which I don’t normally do for older games that I have already replayed so many times before I started to write reviews on Backloggd, but this is going to be the exception, and let's start out with Spyro 1.

For Insomniac Games' first designed 3D platformer, I'm kind of impressed with how much they have nailed it on their first attempt when it comes to exploration that consistently rewards your curiosity or enemy design that isn't very deep, but synergizes so well with Spyro's core movement. You have a good reason to flame or charge at enemies as each of them drops gems, which that alone makes the enemies in Spyro more meaningful than most other collectathon platformers and complements the simple combat very well.

This all makes the pure platforming such a joy to glide and charge around through, thanks to the strong level design. The big drawback that makes people hold this game back (besides the boss fights) is the lack of variety, but for me personally, as long as the core gameplay loop is enjoyable and addictive, I'm all in. Spyro 1 nails this perfectly even if it becomes super repetitive. The cherry on top is the vibrant presentation and a soundtrack by Stewart Copeland that is truly legendary.

Spyro 1 reminds me a lot of the first Ratchet & Clank game. It is evident that both games were the developers' first attempts, yet they managed to avoid the common pitfalls seen in other first entries such as Mega Man 1, Sonic 1, or even Crash 1. I can see why some may consider Spyro 1 their favorite, but for me, it ranks as my second favorite in the trilogy.