Spyro: Year of the Dragon

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Spyro: Year of the Dragon
256px-Spyro yotd.jpg
American Coverart
Developer: Insomniac
Collectibles: Gem.gif 20,000
Egg.gif 150
Release Date: Usa.gif October 11, 2000
Uki.gif October 25, 2000
Eun.gif November 10, 2000
Genre: Platformer/Action
Platform: Playstation 1
Rating: ESRB: E for Everyone
ELSPA: 3+
OFLC: G8+

Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a platform game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. The game was released in North America on October 11, 2000, in the United Kingdom on October 25, and in the rest of Europe on November 10. Year of the Dragon is the third installment in the Spyro series and the last Spyro game to be released for the PlayStation. The game was the last Spyro game Insomniac Games made (their next title was Ratchet & Clank for the PlayStation 2).

Named after the animal of the Chinese zodiac, Year of the Dragon follows the titular purple character Spyro as he travels to the "Forgotten Realms" after 150 magical Dragon Eggs are stolen from the land of the dragons by an evil Sorceress. Players travel across thirty different worlds gathering gems and eggs. Year of the Dragon introduced new characters and minigames to the series, as well as offering improved graphics and music.

Upon release, the game sold more than two million units in the United States,and received positive critical response, with reviewers noting the game built on the successful formula of its predecessors by adding more games and expansive environments. At Game Rankings, Year of the Dragon is the 14th highest-rated PlayStation game of all time. The game was followed by the multiplatform title Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.

Contents

Gameplay

The gameplay is somewhat similar to its two predecessors. There are four 'Homeworlds' which contain several other realms. In order to proceed to the next, Spyro must defeat the boss in between each Homeworld. However, to travel to these boss arenas and thus proceed further into the game, Spyro must make his way to the Four normal realms and the One rebel realm to fetch one person to help build his transportation. These realms are free to explore and wander in all directions without any time limit. The realms are littered with enemies which attack Spyro. Spyro can defeat these enemies, and as a reward receive gems, Gems also lay all over the level on the ground and inside crates. These gems are used later in the game to pay off Moneybags, as well as counting towards your overall percentage. Levels may also be littered with allies who provide information about the realm or set tasks for Spyro to complete.

Spyro: Year of the Dragon European Coverart
To enter all of these realms you must travel via portals, some portals can not be entered unless you require a certain amount of eggs. To enter all the rebel realms, you must pay Moneybags gems that were collected to release the rebel who is blocking the way into the realm.

As said above, to access some realms, it is necessary to collect a certain amount of eggs, These eggs can be required by locating them or as a reward for completing one of the minigames inside the realm. There are many different minigames Which reward you with these eggs such as sliding down a slide, skateboarding, saving a wolf, collecting bones, catching thieves or Battling bosses. Spyro Can also run into Powerup Gates Which give him special abilities for a period of time (time left can be seen on a bar on the right of the screen). These abilities could be a Super Flame, A flying ability or invincibility. Like in the last two games, there are some areas where you can Supercharge, this means that when you charge on a certain tack, you go super fast and can break heavy crates or catch fast thieves. Once 100 eggs have been collected, A Door In Midnight Mountain will open where you can defeat The Sorceress. Once you have defeated the Sorceress, there is an option of getting 100% (which requires collecting all 150 eggs as well as all 15000 gems). Once you have achieved 100%, a secret world will open, this world is called Super Bonus World.

Finally, Skill Points also make a return in this game to open another Epilogue up.

Synopsis

Plot

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 the Dragon Realms with an army of Rhynocs and steals all of the Dragon eggs. Spyro, along with Sparx and Hunter, are sent down a hole to find the thieves and recover the Dragon 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", ruled by a queen called the "Sorceress", and under firm control of the Rhynocs' army. Of the few that question the Sorceress' rule, the first is is a kangaroo named Sheila. She's locked within a cage, but is released after you pay a "small fee" to Moneybags. Sheila kicks him in the stomach and knocks Moneybags out.

As Spyro travels through each realm, acquiring aid from local inhabitants, and 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. Once Bianca finds this out she feels sorry for the baby dragons, and defects to side with Spyro, Hunter, and the others who question the Sorceress' rule.

Celebrations resume after the Sorceress' defeat, although 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.

However, it later turns out that the Sorceress survived her previous battle with Spyro, and is found in the Super Bonus World, waiting for Spyro on her UFO. Spyro and the Sorceress battle again, on two UFOs above a pool of unknown, but deadly, liquid. Eventually, Spyro manages to shoot the Sorceress down, and she falls into the liquid below, presumably killing her. After she dies, it becomes apparent that she had the final dragon egg, which hatches a Siamese pair of dragons named Yin Yang.

The baby dragons then return to the Dragon Kingdom.

Setting

As Said above, The Game is situated in "The Forgotten Worlds".
File:Sheilasaved.gif
Spyro saves Sheila, as they converse in front of Sheila's Alp

There are four Homeworlds in "The Forgotten Worlds", all named after times in the day:

  • 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 Gardens: The second Homeworld in year of the dragon, Midday Garden is set during the day with a 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 Tudor style castle.
  • Midnight Mountain: Midnight Mountain is the final homeworld set at night on top of a high mountain.

Each homeworld contains:

Development

Development of Spyro: Year of the Dragon spanned about ten and a half months, from November 1999 to September 2000; the development team was influenced by a host of other games, including Doom and Crash Bandicoot. Among the new features touted before the game's release was "Auto Challenge Tuning", which Insomniac CEO Ted Price described as "invented to even out the gameplay difficulty curve for players of different abilities". The levels were made much larger than those in Spyro 2, so that more areas for minigames could be added; to prevent player confusion on where to go next, these areas were designed to load separately from the main hubs. Price stated that the addition of critters was a way to make the game more enjoyable and varied, instead of just adding more moves for Spyro. The game was named "Year of the Dragon" simply because it was released during 2000, the year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac.

In previews, publications such as IGN and GameSpot noted that the graphics had been improved, and that there were many new characters and locations. The new minigames were previewed, and IGN pointed out that they offered enough complexity to back up the simple gameplay. In an interview with GameSpot, Ted Price stated that the emphasis for the title was on the new critters, but that Spyro would not be left behind in the story. Year of the Dragon also implemented crack protection, in addition to the copy protection previous games had contained. This helped prevent hackers from cracking the game until two months after release.

Despite the positive response the game would go on to receive, Year of the Dragon was developer Insomniac Games' last Spyro title. In an interview, CEO Ted Price said that the company stopped producing the games because they couldn't do anything new with the character, and that after five years of development on a single series the team wanted to do something different. Future Spyro games were produced by, among other developers, Equinox Digital Entertainment, Eurocom, and Krome Studios.

Worlds and Levels

Sunrise Spring

Midday Gardens

Evening Lake

Midnight Mountain

Characters

Playable Characters

Non-Playable Characters

Bosses

Reception

Upon release, Year of the Dragon garnered positive critical reaction, with the game receiving an average ranking of 91% at Game Rankings, and a similar score based on fifteen reviews at MetaCritic. According to Game Rankings, Year of the Dragon is the fourteenth highest rated PlayStation game of all time and the second highest platform title on the system after Castlevania: Symphony of the night. The game sold more than two million units in the United States.

GameSpot noted that while Year of the Dragon made no significant changes to the formula of its predecessors, the combination of new playable characters, more detailed graphics, and the variety of minigames made the game worth the buy. IGN praised the game's appeal to all ages and the polished levels, as well as the successful multi-character focus. Game Revolution thought that the though the game's premise itself was simply a rehash of previous titles, but that "the story that unfolds as you actually play the game is flawlessly interwoven and quite entertaining". GamePro noted that the ability of the game to automatically drop the difficulty if players get stuck was an excellent feature. Stewart Copeland's score was generally well-received, but divided. Publications like PSXEtreme thought the music helped bring atmosphere to the varied worlds, and Allgame enthused that "Insomniac should be commended for realizing the importance of music in games; it seems to enhance the whole experience." Others, such as Joseph Parazen of Game Revolution, thought the background music sounded "identical to every other 3D, cartoony, action platformer I've ever played". Other points of praise were the voice acting and character development. Among the few complaints aside from the story included the game camera, which could be difficult to control and led to unjustified enemy attacks. Some publications warned that the game might feel too much like its predecessors, with a similar plot and objectives.

Legacy

Much like the first two games, Spyro: Year of the Dragon became even more popular following the announcement of the controversal Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. Some "fans" consider YotD to be the most popular game in the seires, and some even dub it the "last" game in the series.

Reviews

Trivia

Spyro: Year of the Dragon was the only game in the original trilogy not to be released in Japan.

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