Every couple of years I'll end up doing a 120% playthrough of Spyro, and every time I wonder if I'll do it again. I've seen all the game has to offer many times over, but I can't seem to help but finish it whenever I start. I may be biased from it being among the small catalog we had for the Playstation when I was nine or so, but I think it holds up marvelously. It has a few uneven segments, but given the era, it's about as close to perfection as you could expect.

The visuals are charming and consistent, Stewart Copeland (of The Police!) knocks the score out of the park, and it controls well– I just played it through entirely on the d-pad, and I don't think I could finish a lot of its peers that way now, let alone praise them.

I never really got into the sequels, beyond playing through Ripto's Rage in the remaster. I might be biased because we never owned any of them, but they never appealed to me. I feel like the fantasy of the setting works much better without a zany cast of supporting characters. It's a very charming place, and apart from Spyro's own snarky lines when rescuing dragons, a place with an almost contemplative mood.

Whenever I think of Spyro, I think of this game only, and that mood, and I don't ever really see that changing. That's how it will continue to live in my memory, whether my next playthrough ever really is my last.