Theoretically speaking, it's not difficult to analyze and write out your thoughts on games whether it's a one sentence zinger that either hits or misses, or a 10,000+ page novel about how the early polygons obstruct your view of Venus or that the camera isn't competent enough to bring about the age of thermonuclear fusion.
It is however quite hard to articulate everything when the said game is your answer to the casual question of "what's your favorite game?", especially when an insane frog runs up and asks that same question with a gun to your head, eliminating any act of fence sitting thanks to platformers starring monkeys or hedgehogs. Needless to say, if I can do all of this without breaking out into emotional ramblings I'll be a better person for it. So I'll do the best I can.
If I had to take a haphazard guess as to why the original Spyro is my answer, it's that it represents basically everything I look for in a game. It's gameplay focus is a gliding mechanic that I feel takes full advantage of three-dimensional space. What Jumping Flash did for vertical movement, is what Spyro does for horizontal. Utilizing distance and scope is something I hadn't quite experienced in the capacity it was brought to me with playing as this purple dragon. I think the stage that best demonstrates this is Cliff Town, it's built to start you on the ground and have you ascend yourself to the tallest climbable building, only to glide yourself across the river and find yourself at the highest peak in which you use to fly yourself to the rest of the treasure on the other buildings. So, the mechanics are all good, and the stage design is also good.
That's not what I generally look for though, what I look for are the little things that make the game an experience and something that sticks with you for the rest of your years on this planet. Those things like clobbering green men with big dumb feet, rescuing dragons who bring you memorable quotes that you'll spout with zero context and baffle your friends with, and listening to a soundtrack brought to you by the drummer of The Police that perfectly captures the spirit of a cute little dragon who happens to also be as big of a badass as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
All of this while traveling through worlds with their own personality. Your home that acts as the beginning area with Gnorcs who at first are completely unarmed, a desert of old timey soldiers with big dumb hats playing catch between themselves with their cannons, and a mountainous region with an odd turf war going on between ice wizards, tornado witches, and.....green boys that shift the level geometry around. Challenge then ramps up with daunting platforming in the guise of poisonous swamps with cool cyberpunk Gnorcs, challenges to your courage in the form of nightmarish beasts brought to life with darkness, and baffling tests of exploration in a dreamscape of animated giant armors in a twist of evil knights attempting to slay the good dragon. All accumulating in fun with explosive barrels at a shipping dock, and a final challenge of the Gnorcs bypassing all fun and games for modern weaponry.
In Misty Bog, at the beginning there is a relaxing Gnorc with a box trap set up stationed behind your starting point. Herding the chicken to the left and towards that same Gnorc will have the chicken go under the trap, and the Gnorc will set it off and catch it, jumping for joy at his apparent dinner for the night. You can then promptly charge and cruelly headbutt him straight into the smelly waters of the bog, or you could leave him be and be nice to the very people who had been mean and attempting to stop you from rescuing your fellow dragons. The choice is yours.
You think it's nothing, but to me that is the little things that tend to be common in all of my favorites.
A lot of things can happen in 24 hours, let alone 25 years. It's more than enough to change someone in many ways for better or worse. If there is any constant for myself, it's that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is still my favorite movie, and Spyro the Dragon is still my favorite game. Some things never change...
I never stopped believing in you Spyro.
It is however quite hard to articulate everything when the said game is your answer to the casual question of "what's your favorite game?", especially when an insane frog runs up and asks that same question with a gun to your head, eliminating any act of fence sitting thanks to platformers starring monkeys or hedgehogs. Needless to say, if I can do all of this without breaking out into emotional ramblings I'll be a better person for it. So I'll do the best I can.
If I had to take a haphazard guess as to why the original Spyro is my answer, it's that it represents basically everything I look for in a game. It's gameplay focus is a gliding mechanic that I feel takes full advantage of three-dimensional space. What Jumping Flash did for vertical movement, is what Spyro does for horizontal. Utilizing distance and scope is something I hadn't quite experienced in the capacity it was brought to me with playing as this purple dragon. I think the stage that best demonstrates this is Cliff Town, it's built to start you on the ground and have you ascend yourself to the tallest climbable building, only to glide yourself across the river and find yourself at the highest peak in which you use to fly yourself to the rest of the treasure on the other buildings. So, the mechanics are all good, and the stage design is also good.
That's not what I generally look for though, what I look for are the little things that make the game an experience and something that sticks with you for the rest of your years on this planet. Those things like clobbering green men with big dumb feet, rescuing dragons who bring you memorable quotes that you'll spout with zero context and baffle your friends with, and listening to a soundtrack brought to you by the drummer of The Police that perfectly captures the spirit of a cute little dragon who happens to also be as big of a badass as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
All of this while traveling through worlds with their own personality. Your home that acts as the beginning area with Gnorcs who at first are completely unarmed, a desert of old timey soldiers with big dumb hats playing catch between themselves with their cannons, and a mountainous region with an odd turf war going on between ice wizards, tornado witches, and.....green boys that shift the level geometry around. Challenge then ramps up with daunting platforming in the guise of poisonous swamps with cool cyberpunk Gnorcs, challenges to your courage in the form of nightmarish beasts brought to life with darkness, and baffling tests of exploration in a dreamscape of animated giant armors in a twist of evil knights attempting to slay the good dragon. All accumulating in fun with explosive barrels at a shipping dock, and a final challenge of the Gnorcs bypassing all fun and games for modern weaponry.
In Misty Bog, at the beginning there is a relaxing Gnorc with a box trap set up stationed behind your starting point. Herding the chicken to the left and towards that same Gnorc will have the chicken go under the trap, and the Gnorc will set it off and catch it, jumping for joy at his apparent dinner for the night. You can then promptly charge and cruelly headbutt him straight into the smelly waters of the bog, or you could leave him be and be nice to the very people who had been mean and attempting to stop you from rescuing your fellow dragons. The choice is yours.
You think it's nothing, but to me that is the little things that tend to be common in all of my favorites.
A lot of things can happen in 24 hours, let alone 25 years. It's more than enough to change someone in many ways for better or worse. If there is any constant for myself, it's that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is still my favorite movie, and Spyro the Dragon is still my favorite game. Some things never change...
I never stopped believing in you Spyro.
10 Comments
in the 25 years I've been playing this game, I never knew about that gnorc chicken trap interaction... awesome review, just reading through it made me feel nostalgic. :)
@zeroesandones @curse thank you both! What's fucked up is that I found out about the gnorc chicken trap way before the Haunted Towers secret, I don't think I found that until years later.....I found the softlock in that stage before the secret too, lol.
a game i played as a kid that wasn't some shovelware power rangers tie-in and everytime i replay it i'm amazed such an artistically vibrant and creatively whimsical game managed to sneak into my collection.
I'm really glad there's a resurgence in appreciation for this game, there's a somewhat understated beauty to it that gets disregarded when comparing it to the more "content-focused" sequels (which also have moments of understated beauty, they just never clicked with me in the same way the exploration-focused first one had).
@theia yeah, for a while I had Ripto's Rage as my favorite, but over the years I started really appreciating the original for how much it focused on the platforming and having zero backtracking. I remember the one time I revisited Ripto and had to come back to Fracture Hills after I did that alchemist escort, then found out I had to do it again in order to do the Hunter mission afterwards after I got the head bash. -.-;;;
There's some mini-games I do enjoy in the sequels, but yeah....I just wanna play as Spyro and glide to places, lol.
There's some mini-games I do enjoy in the sequels, but yeah....I just wanna play as Spyro and glide to places, lol.
Hey, I'm pretty sure you're the person who wanted more Spyro-Inspired games. I found this: https://www.backloggd.com/games/zera-myths-awaken/
Anyway, nice to see someone who agrees this is the best game in the series. Despite how simple this game is, it has a lot of elements that feel irreplicable. Maybe that's partially my nostalgia though.
Anyway, nice to see someone who agrees this is the best game in the series. Despite how simple this game is, it has a lot of elements that feel irreplicable. Maybe that's partially my nostalgia though.
@DeltaWDunn Yooo, this looks sweet. They even reference the Insomniac Shemp in-joke. I'll keep it in mind, thanks!
Yeah, this one's easily the most replayable for me, I just wanna gliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide and it has Copeland's best work imo.
Yeah, this one's easily the most replayable for me, I just wanna gliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide and it has Copeland's best work imo.
Even if I came late to the Spyro party I'm impressed by how good this game is with what it tries to do that I can agree 100% with the opinion of someone who has known the game for so much longer, what an amazing gem
@RoyalFury it's truly withstood the test of time, especially in graphics. Like it's the game I think of for PS1 visuals all the time, the way they incorporated the tech to lower polygon count for distant objects not only gives off fairy tale vibes, but it just looks amazing. Truly one of the most genius uses of covering up a technological shortcoming, it's kinda what I think we're missing more of from modern games, there's too much freedom and it's yet another thing stifling creativity along with gaming in general becoming a "please all audiences" type of deal.
Just way too comfy of a game to play through.
Just way too comfy of a game to play through.
curse
9 months ago