It's kind of amazing how well they nailed the controls, too. This is one of the few platformers where you play as a quadruped, and while the genre is synonymous with high jumps and other ways to enhance vertical movement, Spyro's moveset is almost entirely horizontal, leading to a level design that follows suit and spreads things out a lot more. Which would make getting around more tedious if not for the charge move, and the way they handled that was particularly brilliant: When you hold the button, the camera quickly snaps to an over-the-shoulder view and the stick _seamlessly remaps itself_ from 360 degree movement to steering him like a car, widening his turning radius and keeping him from flying off in the wrong direction like Sonic tended to do. And the crazy part is, you might not even notice it happened; it'll just feel right.

Rare to see my exact thoughts mirrored by a video. No seriously, I disagree with absolutely nothing here (and even if I did, you'd probably have ended up changing my mind anyway).

@Exigentable

4 жыл бұрын

Love your videos, KingK. Thanks for all the good times.

@octolockg5059

Жыл бұрын

Okay, if KingK and Liam both say a game is astouding, I have to get it.

Yes, Spyro is great. Probably the first game I 100%'ed. And now I'm playing through it with my 5yo daughter and really appreciating how well-designed it is

The Spyro trilogy is a god damn masterpiece.

@ultrairrelevantnobody1862

3 жыл бұрын

1 and 3, yes.

@Lucifronz

6 ай бұрын

@@ultrairrelevantnobody1862 And 2. You can't seriously compliment 3 and not 2, 3 was rushed for fuck's sake.

I always loved Spyro 1's atmosphere, even more than the sequels. There's something nice about the gameplay and level design being the thing to really drive you forward. Extra characters are fun and all but Spyro 1 feels enchanting to play.

@ultrairrelevantnobody1862

4 жыл бұрын

Spyro 3 is my favourite, but I can understand why some prefer 1, and I would even agree 1 does some things better. :)

@thamutha

2 жыл бұрын

Spyro 1 had elements of fear too like I was legitimately scared of some levels like the ones in beast makers. Unfortunately the reignited trilogies became less scary and more goofy especially gnasty gnroc which sucked. Like how can you make the main villain look fat , ugly and goofy and expect to take the minions working under him to be scary? which I wasn't a fan of. Sometimes making things scary makes them alot of immersive and interesting. I hope they don't make the same mistake in spyro 4 moving forward. You could see ripto die in spyro 2 .In the reignited you can't. That's what made spyro cool. the baddessary in the character. he was both cute and cool. But now he's cute and less cool :/

@armyofninjas9055

8 ай бұрын

Spyro 1 is the only truly great game in the franchise.

@Lucifronz

6 ай бұрын

@@thamutha Spyro 1 had wonder and a bit of fear (stepping into worlds you have no idea what to expect and there are terrifying enemies all around, but you can take care of them all with preparation), Spyro 2 was more of an adventure and the start of things becoming more narrative-heavy, but in a good way. Spyro 3 had a bit of both. It had a darker tone than the first two, but there was still that sense of wonder being in a new world you've never seen. I truly hope we get a sequel sometime soon (I've heard that 2024 was the planned date for a Spyro 4, we'll see if that's true soon enough), because even if it's not made by Insomniac, Spyro still has a lot of potential as a series and doesn't deserve to be relegated to the background for all of eternity just because there were a bunch of weird spin-offs that didn't go so well over the years.

@salmansengul

3 ай бұрын

I still love the very first one especially its music! ❤

Only person I’ve listened to who understand the bosses in this aren’t just the relatively simple 3 hit fights but also the level that surrounds them.

13:29 Ah yes, Snoopy. My favorite Tony Hawk character.

I fucking love the first Spyro, like it's a classic, but I still think it's underrated and under appreciated for how well designed it is and unique from other 3d platformers

@tysonasaurus6392

4 жыл бұрын

The sequels in the trilogy fleshed out the world and identity a bit more but they're too bloated and the level design doesn't compliment the players various abilities, not nearly as good

@Lucifronz

6 ай бұрын

@@tysonasaurus6392 Ehh... the focus was primarily on memorization-based mini-games in 2 and some rather tough skill-based ones in 3, but Spyro 1 was no less flawed in that it expected perfect skill and problem-solving in various situations. Tree Tops is a prime example, it can be so easy to get lost when trying to figure out a path towards the final dragon. It's not bad, though maybe a bit *too* obtuse where it didn't need to be. It's just a different kind of challenge. Spyro 2 challenges you with things like the Alchemist escort in Fracture Hills, which requires both patience, careful observation and quick reaction times. If you make an assumption about where he's going to go, he'll juke you and get smacked on the head while you're distracted with some unimportant Earthshaper. But it also has its b.s. like where after that annoying mini-game, if you were dumb enough to complete it the first time you visited the level and you didn't skip that level until you had the headsmash ability from the final world, you would have to repeat the escort *all over again* after coming back just so you could do Hunter's mini-game right after. I love these games, though. The mini-games were a great addition, they're a lot of fun and really diversify the gameplay. With that element, I don't know how Insomniac could ever reason they had nowhere left to go with Spyro. They were too focused on the gimmicks of headbashing and ladder-climbing, I guess. Two things that, while nice, really didn't need to be in the games at all. Nor anything else they could have dreamed up for the purple dragon. All I wanted was more games to run around collecting gems in with new bosses, new mini-games and most importantly, new worlds. It's a shame they abandoned the series and left it to become what it did.

You know, in my youth I always thought Spyro 1 was the weakest game in the trilogy. It lacked the gameplay variety and charismatic characters its successors would later have. But as I got older, I got really fed up with a lot of Spyro 2's orb missions and maybe a dozen or so of Spyro 3's egg missions, and found a lot of the gameplay additions to either be clunkily implemented or too slow for my liking. So when I got back into playing the trilogy, I was surprised at how Spyro 1 became my favorite of the three- it might be a simple game, but it got a LOT of things right and it was refreshing to play a Spyro game that didn't have so many half-baked ideas or half-assed missions to do. Don't get me wrong, I still love Spyro 2 and Spyro 3 to death, but Spyro 1 really grew on me and I've considered speedrunning it because it's just that damn fun to me. Good stuff man. Subbed.

@hazeldetov

4 жыл бұрын

Although, my only problem with Spyro 1 lies in its boss fights. Sure they fit in with the design narrative of the game, but as someone that appreciates a nice challenging boss fight, most of them (with Metalhead being a partial exception) fall flat for me personally. Gnasty Gnorc falling apart as easily as he does is a bit of a shame. Nevertheless though, those bottles have fun realms to explore and the platforming in itself is challenging enough.

@MrDark086

2 жыл бұрын

Its the beauty of the KISS formula. Keep It Simple Stupid. It may not be complex in its concepts but it aces the concepts it does use

@hazeldetov

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. Keep it simple!

@Lucifronz

6 ай бұрын

I've never really gotten fed up with them, but I do agree that I've always felt that Spyro 1's core strength was that it knew what it was and never deviated from it. SteamWorld Dig 1 had a similar premise. It was a game about digging deeper and earning more upgrades. The originals in each series always get looked down on for not having all these features later games have, but they always had a singular vision they followed. They are gameplay-driven just like the others, but they focus purely on that one element the other games decided wasn't enough and had to expand. In Spyro's case, it was the platforming and the worlds you explored. They were already great. So in order to expand on them in the sequels they threw in a few minor abilities to unlock and mini-games to do along the way. A great change of pace and it made those games stand out, but there are lots of people who just prefer straight-forward Spyro the Dragon and that's fine. I get it. I love them all, but I also love Spyro 1 just as much for *not* having those things as I do for Spyro 2 and 3 having them. It _all_ works, it's just different focuses on what's fun.

@Victorcolongarcia

19 күн бұрын

I think Spyro 2 has the ideal level of change/novelty. 1 is a bit basic and 3 has too much clunky horrible extra playable characters. 😂 i’d say 2-1-3.

Just came to say I love your content

@LiamTriforce

5 жыл бұрын

Gotta give props to you for commenting this instead of "first". Thanks!

Awesome video man! I am playing through the games currently for the first time since they came out and I am absolutely loving them all over again and you described how I feel exactly, good job man!

SPYRO'S MY CHILDHOOD HERO AND FIRST EVER GAME I PLAYED!!!!! GOT COLLECTOR'S EDITON BOXSET OF ORIGINAL TRILOGY AND PREORDERED PHYSICAL PS4 COPY OF REIGNITED TRILOGY!!!!! WOO!!!!!

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think Spyro 2 and 3 topped the first one. I love Banjo Kazooie , but Spyro 2 and 3 tried so much to imitate that game introducing NPCs and mini games, but the simplicity done right of Spyro 1 is much better design than throwing a bunch of minigames for the sake of variety. Spyro 1 has the same objectives in all stages, but I don't see it as a problem because the levels are designed so well and controling Spyro is so fun that I never got bored. Another thing, the other games are full of intrusive tutorials, compare that to the way the first game teach you in Tree Tops how to use the super boost in a more clever and subtle way, it's so much better.

@Takeru9292

4 жыл бұрын

Spyro 2 was the best! Spyro 1 was fun but the game felt really empty(especially the original ps1 games)

@WAR3600

8 ай бұрын

​@@Takeru9292no

My 8 year old daughter got the Reignited trilogy for her Switch Lite for her birthday and she LOVES it. Excited for her to be playing games I played at her age 😎

I could not believe my eyes when I saw your sub box. You definately deserve more subscribers since the quality of your content is really good.

I can't get enough of video game analyses. You do the game justice in why I and so many fell in love with Spyro the Dragon.

Just started the game today, seems pretty simple and not as large as other collectathon games which is a plus for me. Glad to hear it's consistently like that

@artfulstrafer3436

3 жыл бұрын

It's not consistently simple. It's relentlessly simple minded. The few design highlights this video succinctly picks out are extremely sparsely strung through endless trudging through bland landscapes of repetitive tedium.

As someone who just got myself playing a Spyro game for the first time with Reigninted Trilogy, you pretty much explained everything that made me fall in love in the game. Everything you do in the game feels satisfying and amazing , especially the secret platforms.

Damn I still love the music of Spyro 1 still to this very day. Especially the main theme is pretty cool. ❤

Man you NAILED everything genius about this game. The first spyro was so special, just wish the others lived up to its high peak. Fave place was Haunted Towers.

When I was a kid, I played the third game first and the first game last. And I was all "Where's Hunter? Where's Sheila?"

Spyro 1 stands out to me in a way the sequels don't. Of course, all 3 games are fantastic, don't get me wrong, but 1 just has something special about it. There are no mini-games or gimmicky missions like in 2 and 3, every level is just pure platforming bliss, filled with genius level design that takes full advantage of Spyro's core moveset and rewards your skill as a player. Another thing I love about Spyro 1 is the lack of backtracking. The game can be completed in a single run if you've memorized the locations of every collectible, which is something I wish more collect-athons did. I always felt going back to previous levels just to get a few collectibles that weren't possible to obtain previously to be inconvenient and a bit of a pace breaker. Locking a collectible behind purchasing a new ability doesn't reward skill or out-of-the-box thinking, like the ingeniously creative supercharge ramps in Spyro 1 did. And finally, the vibe of Spyro 1 is just something else compared to the sequels. The classic fantasy aesthetic is something I feel the sequels gradually strayed away from. Spyro is a dragon after all, and to me, he's best suited to running around mysterious fantasy worlds, filled with castles, fairies and magic.

the original PS1 Spyro trilogy was the first ever games I played and I kept playing them for my entire life, Spyro is my childhood hero, still got the Collector's Edition Boxset for PS1, then came Reignited, that first trailer I cried tears of joy literally, not joking, I was bawling cause it was beautiful, and that trailer music was fucking epic, I preordered the physical PS4 disc months in advance and picked it up on release day, I got all the trophies and new skill points as I relived it, some improvements are great but some changes are needing work, in fact there's bugs in Reignited but not fun ones, they hinder progress, in the PS1 trilogy, the bugs there were fun and added to the games, anyway I can't replace the PS1 versions so I hope they fix up Reignited enough that it can work for some people

I feel like the art direction is so good it's really what makes the rest of the experience fun. I don't think this game would be as fun if it were all dark and edgy. Also fan theory here: Spyro is highly respected and holds a position of authority in the Dragon communities. Over the course of Spyro 1, you save every dragon's life as well as the eggs, so he's already known as a hero. Add on top of that that Spyro collects what may be every single gem in the Dragon world, and so he has one of the fattest stashes of gems of anyone ever, all while being just little baby dragon still learning to fly. All in all, Spyro is on the fast track to being the most legendary dragon in his universe.

In short... It's a god damn masterpiece!!!

Love your analysis vids man.

Literally my favourite game. Great video

*THAT was a Gem Thief.* 💎👍

Honestly, I think the only thing wrong with Spyro is that some levels can be really, really fucking frustrating especially the flying levels, but also the normal ones when you've seemingly gotten all the gems you can find, but are missing some despite looking through what seems like the entire level, though I will admit finally finding the area you were missing or finally catching the egg thief/beating a flying level in one go after dozens of tries, it's really really satisfying. That's what keeps bringing me back during a playthrough even if I do get frustrated with a level (night flight is an example, a lot of the flying levels really, but I still love them, their different gameplay is a fresh of breath air after playing through a few normal levels and are just outright fun to play even if they do make me pissed sometimes 😂) It's just so damn fun and kind of addicting to complete everything in these games, like I play through the trilogy or atleast the first game almost every year, and that was before I even owned the Re-Ignited trilogy. Which by the way is amazing, sure it does have its own issues as people have pointed out, but seeing the amazing graphics after already loving the original was just amazing to experience, plus though they still aren't stand out characters or anything the added character/personality to the trapped dragons in Spyro 1 was really nice to see, and actually made me feel like they actually had history with Spyro, making me actually care about the story and excited to see the next cut scene unlike when I played the original, which does have its own charm but hasn't aged that well. Anyways, another thing I love is that Spryo's controls were almost made for speedrunning it feels like, with you literally having a move that lets you go fast as hell, but can only be utilized successfully if you know the layout of a level or are able to act fast, both being very satisfying to pull off, god I just love Spyro so much, that original trilogy on PS1 despite some issues that came with age made me so damn happy, almost always making me have a smile ony face while playing them, which I really am thankful for as my first time playing through the trilogy on PS1 (via an emulator) was as a depressed, borderline suicidal teen, and I can't thank those games enough for bring me a bit of joy during what was a hard time for me. Anyways, here's to Spyro getting a 4th game someday, the series really deserves a new title after so long, and it Crash got one I don't see why Spryo shouldnt, sure it didn't sell nearly as well as Crash's remade trilogy, but a million copies sold is still pretty damn fucking good, making a new Spyro game would do nothing but bring in more money, so I really hope they come to their senses and start working on the '4th' Spyro game

My two childhood friens and I would call the egg theif the "Nananana guy" cause he said that before running away lmfaooo

I knew you would do this, since the remake came out, I knew you were going to make a video about Spyro

I love how Spyro 1 is simple, but DAAAAMNNN it's very satisfaying to collect everthing, my favorite is probably Spyro 3 but sometimes i struggle to complete it sometimes, a ONE gem that a i missed, a orb that i dont know how to get it, it kinda break this flow but when you play frequently, it's probably a good time :3

@Wes_Trippy4life

Жыл бұрын

Orbs are Spyro 2 not 3 😁

Wizard Peak: not the intended way to get the wizard.. Tree Tops: the thieves show you the paths The level design and the untold story you're left to figure out has occult origins

My personal favorites in order are Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 3 Year of the Dragon, and Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage. 😊💖

As someone new to Spyro with the remakes, I'm weirdly torn on Spyro 1 from what I've played so far. I feel like I'm just going through the motions and not ever really facing an interesting challenge. Then again, I'm probably just a negative Nelly. This video definitely reignited (pun intended) my optimism going forward into the rest of the game.

@taylorbritt499

4 жыл бұрын

As someone who's played these games since I was 4, I agree with you. Spyro 1 is amazing and it's a super fun game, but to me, the bosses just aren't satisfying enough. They aren't difficult and theatrical enough for me to really feel accomplished by the end of them. To me, Spyro 3 is the best at bosses. They're difficult enough to give you that satisfaction and sense of accomplishment by the end (plus, tbh those death animations help the sense of accomplishment) but they're not insanely challenging that it feels like a huge difficulty spike compared to the rest of the enemies. Also someone in the comments mentioned the minigames in Spyro 2 and 3 that ruin the simplicity, but I like the minigames. I feel like they're a nice break and they're a nice little incentive to getting the orbs/eggs.

@ultrairrelevantnobody1862

4 жыл бұрын

1 and 3 are pretty much tied for me, with me barely siding more with 3.

@zionthedragon8866

3 жыл бұрын

Have you tried the old games? Sure, easy, but slightly more harder in the first game, but not blown up hard like in the remake of the 2nd game. The originals had better humor, better story telling, and better designs...

No one ever talks about how utterly adorable the Reignited Fairies are! D:

@zionthedragon8866

3 жыл бұрын

Eh, I thought the old were kind of better, but to each their own.

Oh, no love for the _flame charge,_ huh? Comes in super handy for the 'catch the guy' segments. It's a quick one-two button mash, but get it right and you can _start_ a dash with a fire plume.

Spyro the dragon was the first game I played as a kid. When I was 5 I played dark hollow those gnorks with armor scared me. If they saw you they ran after you i thought i was going to die. Lol. Now it's my favorite level good memories.

That pyro is a spy

@monalisatomatosakura174

Жыл бұрын

Lol 😆

Great video. You convinced me

The Attack Frogs always gave me trouble, but in a recent playthrough I figured out how to deal with them. It's not as intuitive as other games. I've kind of forgotten, but you either A) charge right at them (really don't think it's this one) or B) maintain a distance, wait for an attack, then step in and flame. It's been a good month or so, I don't quite remember the exact method, but I can figure it out again next time I play, which may be very soon.

Spyro 1 is the best game in the trilogy Change my mind.

@monalisatomatosakura174

Жыл бұрын

I'm with you ❤️

ur videos are sooooooooooooooooooooo fucking good. genuinely.

great video! I was hoping you would have used some footage from the ps1 and ps2 games, but this is still alright

You should tag or title these as analysis, retrospectives or reviews, or all 3. The algorithm failed to recommend you to me for a long time because your vids arent tagged properly.

I love Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, and I think it's an excellent alternative to Spyro and that more people should play it, though the sequels are a bit... iffy here and there. That being said, there are multiple levels just in the first game alone that will make you pull your hair out trying to figure out where the last orb is. It can be *exhausting.* The 'Snow Worries' and 'Rex Marks the Spot' levels being the prime offenders. If you go off-track even once when following orbs in the water, you may spend over an hour trying to find them and that's pretty bad. The remaster on Switch (same one as Steam in every way, I'm sure) does _nothing_ to correct this and I really wish they had. Still, they are fun levels to explore, so it's not a total miserable slog even when you're getting frustrated at how hard they are to find. I genuinely wish they had fixed them, but a little patience can get you through it and it's worth it, because I think most of the levels in the game are very enjoyable.

The dragon on the ledge in the canyon level is the one thing that prevented me from getting 100% on the PS1!

I want a mod or feature to allow PS1 tracks to play during the Reignited levels. Especially in Spyro 1. Reignited did alot to update the music but it also softened it considerably.

@stevethepocket

4 жыл бұрын

The feature is already in the game.

@zionthedragon8866

3 жыл бұрын

@@stevethepocket now, a mod that makes the characters look alot like their old model (but smoother, less pixelly, etc.), have the old jokes in it actually delivered right, and keep the little more serious and less dumbed down tone of og...

I would love to see you do a retrospective on Crash Bandicoot music!

Good video essay

completely agree Also you're a dragon, so the act of collecting itself makes sense. It really puts you in the skin of one, which indirectly helps to explore those fantasy worlds

There's a good reason that spyro 1 and 3 (remastered) were the first two and only games I've 100% complete! I first played spyro when I was 5 with my dad and now that I'm 20, the remastered trilogy also allowed me to fall in love with the games again, so much that I fully completed two of them just because I enjoyed them that much! The second game is still a work in progress that I may never 100% :')

@mrbie2380

3 жыл бұрын

Also I just found your channel and I cant wait to binge your videos they all look so interesting and I really enjoy your video style !!!!

Wonderful video, but I think original graphic material would be cooler than the remaked graphicd

The Spyro games will always have a special place in my heart. The first game is just amazing with the 2nd being great in its own right and the 3rd being just kinda alright with all the extra characters and their unique levels being more of a chore than anything but the Sparx levels are pretty sweet. I never expected the Reignited Trilogy and I love it. Just kinda wish there was a retro graphics option lol great video!

9:00 why u superchanged there when u can glide around the mountain :D

spyro 1 has an uncanny amount of monsters who's whole mechanic is to flame their backside- There's a whole boss around the mechaniC----

My childhood...

I disagree a lot but love your video, one of the best I've seen

14:51 That level in particular *sucks.* I always have trouble finding the last of the collectibles there because I can never figure out where the last path I need is supposed to be at. All three of the original trilogy are masterpieces, regardless. I still enjoy playing them regularly.

I liked this video

Spyro 1 had elements of fear too like I was legitimately scared of some levels like the ones in beast makers. Unfortunately the reignited trilogies became less scary and more goofy especially gnasty gnroc which sucked. Like how can you make the main villain look fat , ugly and goofy and expect to take the minions working under him to be scary? which I wasn't a fan of. Sometimes making things scary makes them alot of immersive and interesting. I hope they don't make the same mistake in spyro 4 moving forward. You could see ripto die in spyro 2 .In the reignited you can't. That's what made spyro cool. the baddessary in the character. he was both cute and cool. But now he's cute and less cool :/

You sound like Tobey McGuire and mention Spider-Man within seconds. Subscribed.

Spyro 3 video when

really love your analysis and i find it hard to debate against despite disagreeing a fair bit. i find the game overstays its welcome most of the time with repetitive challenges, uninteresting level themes, and a lack of unique gameplay mechanics to keep the late game interesting. i always get bored around 3 worlds in every time i try to replay this one but with people like you and exo i do see why some people love the game. i do like it and would much rather play it over banjo kazooie or SM64 but its still not a game i LOVE or anything.

Sparx is the best Amiibo ever

"Ha!"

ever play ecco the dolphin?

*puts on video in the background* *glances over at the screen* WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT? Oh, yeah, spyro isn't just a really old shitty PS1 game haha (I adore the PS1 game with all my heart, it was my fav game as a child)

While I agree that Spyro the Dragon IS a genius game...... The PS1 version trilogy greatly outshines Reignited as a whole. I will die on this hill. Everything about it is simply better. Better movement, better graphics, better music, better lighting, better colors...everything.

What about spyro 3

Oh what about the other spyros?

Why aren’t you playing the older ones

Reignited trilogy is not the way i like the people to be introduce to this gem(and yeah i'm thalking about the glitches)

I had PS1 with all the Spyro games, and I never had a N64 with Super Mario 64.... and I must say, I think Mario64 was a better game

BOU ITS STILL ANOTHER DAY DIDNT YOU TALK ABOUT W TRILOGY OR IS THIS THE FIRST ONE I AK CONFUSION I DIDNT PLAY THE FIRST AAAGGHAGG

Spyro is a brilliant racing game. As weird as it sounds. Not really a platformer.

nooo way. maybe im a dumbass but i game over'd like 3 times before i 100%'d the tree tips level lmao i legit hate it. it wouldn't be so bad if it didn't make me do such tight turns, which is a problem with most of the super charge ramps. it legitimately sucks. other than that yeah its great lol the flying levels are also mega bullshit tho.

@UberWaffle95

4 жыл бұрын

the super charge ramp sections would be fixed if u didn't have to make such tight turns or die. the flying levels are just trash tho just get rid of them lmao

Sly cooper remaster anyone?

Classic game making you learn how to use a joypad without looking down to see what you are doing

Lol 100 comments 😂

Personally, I found this game quite boring, but more power to those who liked it.

People who play Spyro (fake, unskilled gamers) love making videos like this

The Genius of Spyro. Next week the Abdominable Snowman, Pantry Goblins and other things that don't exist. Spyro? Genius? Talk about extreme ways to devalue words..