Spyro: Year of the Dragon
The third game in the Spyro series, and the last to be made by Insomniac Games. Spyro: Year of the Dragon is the biggest of all the Spyro games so far made. It incorporates several new playable characters as well as a new evil to fight.
In this game you play mainly as Spyro, but there are certain levels and parts of levels where you can only play as a different character. The playable characters in this game are: Spyro, Sparx, Hunter, Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. James Byrd, Bently the Yeti and Agent 9.
 |
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 Oct 11th 2000 |
 Nov 10th 2000 |
The Story
Every twelve years, the Dragon Kingdom celebrates its most important event: the "Year of the Dragon" Festival. Fairies deliver a new batch of dragon eggs and dragons come from all around to dance and feast until everyone drops from...eggshaustion.
The Year of the Dragon is upon us again and the fairies have brought 150 eggs to the Dragon Worlds. However, unbeknownst to the celebrating dragons, a sinister plot is about to unfold...
Far away - on the opposite side of the world - lies a kingdom long since forgotten by dragonkind. So forgotten, in fact, that even the legends about these "Forgotten Worlds" have now been forgotten.
This kingdom is ruled by a mean and spiteful Sorceress who has frankly become quite fed up with being forgotten. As she sits on her forgotten throne, the Sorceress has hatched a fiendishly evil plan. A plan to restore the fading magic to her forgotten realm. A plan to conquer the dragons once and for all. All she needs is a little help from her army of horn-nosed 'rhynocs', the cooperation of her mysterious disciple Bianca and of course, those 150 magical dragon eggs.
The Controls
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| X | Jump. Press again when in the air to glide |
| Square | Charge |
| Circle | Flame/Spit out rock |
| Triangle | Look around/Aim rock/Drop out of glide/Headbash when just jumped |
| R1/L1 | Bring the camera behind Spyro fast |
| R2/L2 | Turn the camera |
| R1+R2+L1+L2 | Sparx points at nearest gem (only available when you've earned it) |
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| X | Jump. Press again when in the air to go higher. Press again the moment you land to double jump |
| Square | Kick |
| Circle | Kick |
| Triangle | Look around/Headbash when just jumped |
| R1/L1 | Bring the camera behind Sheila fast |
| R2/L2 | Turn the camera |
| R1+R2+L1+L2 | Sparx points at nearest gem (only available when you've earned it) |
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| X | Fly, hold to go higher |
| Square | Drop bomb/projectile |
| Circle | Fire guns |
| Triangle | Look around/Aim |
| R1/L1 | Bring the camera behind Sgt. Byrd fast |
| R2/L2 | Turn the camera |
| R1+R2+L1+L2 | Sparx points at nearest gem (only available when you've earned it) |
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| X | Jump |
| Square | Thump |
| Circle | Spin club |
| Triangle | Look around |
| R1/L1 | Bring the camera behind Bentley fast |
| R2/L2 | Turn the camera |
| R1+R2+L1+L2 | Sparx points at nearest gem (only available when you've earned it) |
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| X | Jump |
| Square | Throw Bomb |
| Square (hold) | Aim Bomb |
| Circle | Fire Weapon |
| Triangle | Sniper Mode |
| R1/L1 | Zoom in/out in sniper mode |
| R1/L1 | Dodge left/right |
| R2/L2 | Turn the camera |
| R1+R2+L1+L2 | Sparx points at nearest gem (only available when you've earned it) |
Gems are strangely identical to the last game. Strangely because Avalar and The Forgotten Worlds are most likely further away from each other then the Dragon Realms is from the Forgotten Worlds. Strange how they have the Avalar set of gems rather than the Dragon Realms set, maybe the Sorceress had the GemCutters in from Avalar though.
| Gem Colour | Gem Value |
|---|---|
| Red | 1 |
| Green | 2 |
| Purple | 5 |
| Yellow | 10 |
| Pink | 25 |
The same containers for the gems as in Avalar. However here you get gems from killing the Rhynocs whereas in Avalar they released a Spirit Particle. Also this game sees the return of a locked chest, slightly different in appearence from the first game, but you will still need to find a key to open them.
Anyway, on with the walkthrough, and on to Sunrise Spring!
Comments
The lack of character development isn't it's strong point
But all in all its a fun and challenging game with yet another awesome soundtrack
A good end to a iconic and lovable series
Isomniac learnt and they delivered
And have done ever since
is my favorite character (starts fanboying)
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darkspyro
net
Regardless of those factors - it further extends and elaborates on minigames, while adding new and interesting ways to go about them - especially with varying speedways, playable side characters, skateboarding (My PERSONAL favorite!), Sparx levels, and the many new vibrant and whimsical worlds to discover and explore. IMO, definitely better than the first two games.