So last time I discussed the possibility that Spyro is back, but said if we were to narrow ideals down to a particular remake, I'd better serve it up in it's own article. This is that article, made for the original 1998 first release of Spyro, because as awesome as the other two were, a single game remake would probably be honed in on the first. Spyro 1 was a bit bumpier than the rest, and in a way maybe it'd be better that it gets the remake treatment anyway. Of course, I would still adore the whole trilogy being remade if possible. For a video demonstration on some of Spyro 1's issues, check out this awesome (and less biased) video, that reviews it with a bit of comedy thrown in. As he even notes at the end though, Spyro is more looked back on as a series than this one game, but still... this article exists under the assumption that only one can be chosen and it gets handed down to the first. So let's talk about things I'd like to make note of with this one, on top of what I already said in the last article.
Rescued dragons, and tutorials...
One of the hardest, most abundantly dumb things to look back on in Spyro, is the absurd way some of the stone dragons and their dialogue were handled. Spyro existed essentially without a static tutorial, which is fine. You explored, ran around, and uncovered these dragons who would occasionally give you good tips. For example, one would suggest Sparx is your health meter, and another would later tell you the triangle button could be used to scope out an area through first-person. However there's a few that are just plain dumb, whether they're repetitive, or very obviously late bad tutorial advice. For example, on the middle of a level in world 2 you bump into a guy that tells you of the very basic function of ramming armored enemies instead of flaming them. Wonderful, but you mentioned this like 8 levels in, after the player probably figured this out in order to even get to that point. This isn't even an uncommon one-off deal. The guy who tells you about the speedway is at the 3rd freakin' speedway entrance! That's also where you'll find the dragon who will give you the most vague hint about a secret all the way back in world 1. A dragon who tells you about electric traps, is seen after passing some electric traps. See what I'm saying?
The voices and humor is also real cheesy, which is fine. Still I'm sure there could be some arrangements in place. Perhaps give them more interesting discussions and exposition, plot out the tutorial spots a bit better, and maybe diversify the cast up a little bit (someone pointed out that there's no female dragons. Kinda odd, and reminds me I haven't seen one in the whole trilogy really). But generally keeping some of the humor, quick delivery, and such would be great. But please, even if it's technically a reference, please keep this line and mock the delivery as best as possible because I just adore it (and so does that view count on the video itself, nearly 8'000 for a tiny line of an ancient game):
Oh yeah, and about that secret... maybe a hint would be nice. I think it helped at the time that 3D was new, and it was family friendly, and little-kid me got this secret from my child mind of just playing "the floor is lava" in a very literal sense with those stepping stones. Thus I got the secret, but today... well, I'm not sure our 3D is so primitive that we're all goofing around on stepping stones. Leave at least the slightest hint around the area that it is in fact a puzzle. We don't need the exact answer, but do point out that there is something to do there.
Bosses need an overhaul
Speaking of redoing things for a better presentation, how about those bosses? Yeah, if you took out the small snippet of info around them, they'd be identical to normal enemies. These are some of the most anti-climatic bosses in old-school history, only dwarfed by modern day quick-time guys who never really pretended to be anything more than a disappointment. Give them a better build-up, maybe even rework their fights so they actually do something more intimidating. At least with the final encounter with Gnasty Gnorc, you know he's the big baddie and you have to work towards him by getting chasing down some keys. I also at least commend some of the obstacles the levels are built around like the tornado boss guy (ugh, not even worth remembering the names though), but the bosses themselves are fairly dull in implementation. You can even clear the 2nd world's boss as soon as you get to the 2nd world, making him the boss of absolutely nothing! Give these guys more of a presence, some epic music, some new attacks, maybe have them built up from the start of the world with the intro dragon telling you about how awful they are or how they're a part of the dastardly Gnorc plan. Heck, this ain't 1998 PS1 anymore, add more depth to the whole story and even copy Spyro 3's routine of giving you actual cut-scenes and story towards these awful guys. I would love that, and it'd give us an actual stage presence of these bad guys.
Get the controls right
Even in going back, I can play these games mostly pretty smooth. That said, there's a nagging sense of my mind telling me perhaps the precision isn't 100% there, especially when I think about it logically. His turns might be just a bit slow, especially when charging, and perhaps that's more evident than elsewhere with the original game that was made before analogue sticks were even a thing. Now they are a thing. Oh, and the second one is a good camera control. Still be sure to keep the passive/Active camera option in place. On top of that, let's also consider perhaps adding in some of the newer game moves? I mean sure the original didn't have a headbash, nor a hover, and it was okay with it, but considering how much people cried over their lack of co-oordination in Yooka Laylee, maybe it's best to give him the hover boost anyways for those people who just can't see in 3D spaces right. Meanwhile you can hide extra things with the headbash. I know if you had swimming you'd possibly change the whole game up, so I'll be fine with letting that stay out. Just basically keep the controls good and well. Oh, and if you do wind up doing Spyro 2 and 3, it would be awesome if you kept in Spyro 1's roll move. It was mostly useless, but fun never-the-less, and I'm not really sure why it was removed... especially now that we have analogue camera.
Careful with the music, especially Dark Hollow
Don't dare fuck up Dark Hollow's track. There's a ton of amazing music across the whole series, but Dark Hollow is one of the best.
Heard it? Feel like world peace came across that five minutes, and the whole cosmos aligned to bring bliss across your soul? Yeah, exactly. Don't screw that up if you aim to replicate something so incredible. If that means you can't, and need to go calling up Stewart and asking him to reuse that exact track the way it is again, so be it. With the awesome night skybox, the little details like lighting your own fires, and the perfect implementation of enemy balance, this music completes Dark Hollow as a masterpiece of a level and works to help it be one of the best introductions to the game. It's so good, that this song has been infused into my head as the essential "this night time is beautiful" type of background mood music. To quote a comment with 44 likes: "One of the comfiest levels in gaming history. Stewart Copeland is a genius!"
Please, get the little good quirks right...
Remember Dream Weavers anyone? That 2nd to last world right before Gnorc's land? Yeah, that had some uh... interesting things. I just looked up and found the enemy I wanted to talk about were called Armored fools, which blew my mind a bit. Above is where they looked like, and when they sit there looking so weird and wiggling their arms going "Awulululu!" like some kind of weird maniac, they just seem like odd monsters. Turns out they're human fools of fairy land, and... perhaps that speaks as to why this game needs a remake, even though for the most part the art style is still fairly nice. Anyway, back to the point, those guys need to be remade to be just as incredibly quirky, weird, and strange as they are now. Dream weavers was full of small quirks like that which just made the game so awesome. That dark level with the light/dark forms, the fairies that kiss you and give you powers, the silly time fools that run around, the little bit cannon, etc. It was the kind of wonderful enchanted chaos all in a single wrapped up world, and the essential spyro art style at full force completed with quirks. Please, don't lose that awesome stuff in transition.
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