Spyro the Dragon (retroreview) | The dragon who returned from darkness

Our everyone’s favorite purple dragon is back, so to commemorate the launch of the remake of the original trilogy, we will return to the year of 1998 where the game that started it all was launched and one of my all-time favs from the PS1: Spyro the Dragon for the mythical PS1. Let’s get started!

After Gnasty Gnorc decided to turn almost all dragons into statues, the only survivor must save all the dragons and return them to their original state. He must cross five different worlds and explore every level on it, to finally defeat the sloppiest gnorc once and for all.

This game is what many people call a collect-a-thon, because every level has a certain amount of gems of different colors and are important to enter new levels and worlds. The collecting gems mechanic was interesting to me when I was younger, maybe because of their attractive color or their characteristic sound when you get one.

This game has many features that made it memorable. For example, was one that the enemies interact with you are near on them and have different reactions on certain circumstances that makes you smile. Their funny and entertaining reactions makes the gameplay more enjoyable.
In addition, the dragon’s lines when you liberate them are great and you will remember that lines even years later after you played the game.

Also, the soundtrack is excellent thanks to the ex-drummer of the British rock band The Police: Stewart Copeland, which was the main composer. He made pieces of music that are memorable, for example, the theme of the first boss level in the game that has a progressive feeling when you are advancing on the level:

Seeing the mountains and landscapes in the levels were innovative in that time (even if it was low-poly).

Spyro the Dragon is must-play for the ones are interested in playing the PS1 catalogue, and I’m happy to see this dragon again after many years of being on the darkness and oblivion.

My score: 9/10

Thank you for reading! 😃