Spyro: Year of the Dragon
| Spyro: Year of the Dragon | |
|---|---|
| File:Spyro yotd.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Insomniac Games |
| Publisher(s) | SCEA |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Release |  October 11, 2000  October 25 2000  November 10, 2000  March 2 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Spyro: Year of the Dragon is the third game in the Spyro series. It was the last Spyro game to be released for the PlayStation, as well as the last Spyro game developed by Insomniac Games. It is considered the best Spyro game in the series.
Story
The game opens with a celebration in the Dragon Realms, where they are celebrating the "Year of the Dragon", an event every twelve years where new dragon eggs are brought to the realm. During the celebration, however, a cloaked anthropomorphic rabbit girl, Bianca, invades and with an army of Rhynocs, steals all of the eggs. Spyro, along with Sparx and Hunter, are sent after the thief to recover the eggs.
Pursuing the thief, Spyro discovers a realm once inhabited by the dragons, but long abandoned and forgotten, now known only as the "Forgotten Realms", now ruled by a queen called only the "Sorceress", and under firm control of the Rhynocs' army.
As Spyro travels throughout each realm, acquiring aid from local inhabitants, bartering with Moneybags for passage to new areas, Bianca abducts and imprisons Hunter. It is later revealed that the Sorceress is seeking not the baby dragons themselves, but merely their wings to concoct a spell that can grant her immortality; and at this Bianca defects to Spyro's side in order to help him challenge the Sorceress and save the rest of the eggs in the process.
Celebration resumes after the Sorceress's defeat, though Spyro is unable to locate Hunter. Searching throughout the realm, Spyro's friends are reluctant to say anything of Hunter's whereabouts; Spyro ultimately locates Hunter out on a date with Bianca, and laments about another hero "falling" for love.
Gameplay
Spyro retains his abilities gained in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (i.e. swimming, climbing, hover, and headbash). Spyro's attacks stay the same, being a short range flame attack, and a fast charge more suitable for small armored foes.
Playable characters
A noticeable difference is the new addition of extra playable characters. Each character has one playable level exclusive to themselves, and they also appear for various missions and minigames in other levels. In most cases, these missions are separate from the main level by means of a portal; upon arriving, player control switches from Spyro to the character, and the side mission begins.
- Sheila
- An Australian kangaroo with an exceptional jumping ability. She also has a very powerful kicking ability to defeat enemies with.
- Sgt. Byrd
- A penguin and military soldier (code name: 90068), wielding weaponry such as homing missiles and bombs. His missions revolve primarily around his flying missions. His DBX9 rocket launchers can fire homing rockets at distant targets.
- Bentley
- A smart yeti with a gentle demeanor; most of his missions revolve around his great physical strength.
- Agent 9
- A monkey who assisted the Professor. Agent 9 carries a laser blaster for combat at a distance, and can also pick up and throw grenades. His missions revolve around his shooting ability, some of which parody other shooter games such as DOOM.
- Sparx
- Spyro's dragonfly. He goes into holes and searches for eggs. Each of his levels end with a boss, always a big insect. He fires energy shots, but also has different weapons if he eats special butterflies.
- Hunter
- Spyro's friend. In each speedway level he can be found somewhere, and gets short missions, always revolving around sheep UFOs and sometimes Space Cows. He can never be controlled on foot, and always pilots a vehicle, or flies with a jet-pack.
Minigames
Year of the Dragon features a wide range of minigames, some included as missions within a particular level (such as a Tony Hawk-style skateboarding minigame, or a boxing match between Bentley and another yeti), and others featured as levels of their own, such as Spyro's flying levels, and several Gauntlet-style levels featuring Sparx.
Bosses
- Buzz - Fought on a platform on a lava-lake
- Spike - Fought on a steamy platform on a hot lake
- Scorch - Fought in a haunted pit
- Sorceress I - Fought in her lair
- Sorceress II - Fought in a saucer dogfight with a magic liquid as ground
Mini Bosses
- Bluto and his Shark Sub - Fought in a giant nak of water
- Sleepy Head - Fought in a dome like room sorounded by a pirahna filled moat
- Boxing Bully Yeti - Fought in a Boxing Ring
- Double Dragon - Fought in a castle based area
Sparx Level Bosses
- Crawdad King - Fought in a corn field
- Spider Queen - Fought in an arena sourounded by a wall with cobwebs
- Giant Manta Ray - Fought in a "party room"
- Mecha Peed - Fought in a battle dome
Worlds
- Sunrise Springs
The starting homeworld for Year of the Dragon. This world is set during the morning with lush green hillsides, small woods and lakes.
- Midday Garden
The second homeworld. Midday Garden is set during the day with a brilliant blue sky overlooking wide gardens and large towering castles.
- Evening Lake
The third homeworld is set during the evening inside a large lake containing parts of a submerged castle.
- Midnight Mountain
The final homeworld set at night ontop of a high mountain. One of the most dangerous homeworlds featuring multiple clifftops linked by bridges and small castles.
Trivia
- The first production run of Spyro: Year of the Dragon featured lenticular artwork on the case cover.
- Several of the skateboarding tricks in the Tony Hawk–styled minigames are named after various Spyro antagonists (such as Gnasty Gnorc).
- At the end of Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, Hunter did not come with Spyro back to the dragon realms, but at the beginning of the game, he appears with the dragons of the dragon realm as if he did.
- The Yeti that Bentley battles is the same Yeti as the one from the level 'Colossus' from Spyro 2
- Cutscenes in one level, "Fireworks Factory", parody The Matrix.
- The game's release date coincides with the Dragon of the Chinese zodiac.
- A level in the game, Desert Ruins of Midnight Mountain, parodies the Tomb Raider franchise. In it, Spyro is sent to rescue a girl who is "raiding the Tomb of Stone Golum". When you find her, she is a tall mouse named Tara who is dressed like Lara Croft.