Has it really been 20 whole years since we first met Insomniac Games’ loveable purple firebreather? Time sure flies when you’ve got leathery wings and sheep to chase.
The original Spyro the Dragon was a title that I looked forward to for literally months on end, probably even a full year before the disc hit store shelves in September of 1998. I believe I first caught glimpse of Mark Cerny’s colorful 3D platformer in the news pages of PSM, then soon after in EGM, and then finally in a behind-the-scenes making-of video in one of the early PlayStation Underground issues. Looking back on the experience now, it was the kind of video game anticipation mostly reserved for the wide-eyed days of childhood—intense, unabating and rife with frequent imaginative speculation with friends during breezy school afternoons.
How big would the hub areas be? Were the draw distances going to be as amazing as promised? Without traditional loading screens, would the transitions between environments within the pastel-hued cartoon world be truly seamless? Could I use my brand new DualShock controller to control the four-legged protagonist? And most importantly, would this be PlayStation’s long-awaited answer to Nintendo’s free-roaming Super Mario 64? After what felt like an endless wait, I finally rented Spyro the Dragon from our local mom-and-pop video store. And honestly, it didn’t disappoint. Neither did the next two entries that followed.
Today, in 2018, there’s a similar buzz surrounding the return of the classic trilogy, now due for release on November 13 for both PS4 and Xbox One. And in a way, it feels like a sort of PlayStation deja vu, a digital ‘coming home’. Why? Because I’m literally reliving part of that giddy excitement from my formative years. Just like Spyro, I’ve grown up a lot since 1998. Life is different now. But one important bit hasn’t changed, and that’s the magic surrounding this feel-good series. I know that when release day rolls around, I’m going to sit down in front of my console of choice, boot up Toys for Bob’s remastered gift to retro gamers everywhere, and be transported back to a simpler time.
I’m a little bummed that we’re not getting the Spyro Reignited Trilogy in September like originally planned. But hopefully the short delay will give the development team even more time to tweak and polish these amazing games. Really, they deserve the best treatment possible, so I’m sure when November hits, it will all be for the better. In the meantime, enjoy all of these newly released comparison screenshots, as well as a sweet little birthday cake video from the official Spyro the Dragon YouTube channel.
