Spyro the Dragon

A shrine of curated development material and fanworks.

Misc

Articles and other links

Lessons in colour theory for Spyro the Dragon [gamedeveloper.com]

This is one of my favourite articles about any game's development. It's survived several site updates and has lost all its images in the process! Here's (link pending) a link to an archived version with the images.

Spyro PS1 Trilogy 4k screenshots [archive.org]

Some screenshots taken using the SpyroWorldViewer software.

Glitches and cheats I've found

These are in the PS1 original, not the Reignited version. They happen in both the PAL and NTSC versions of the game.

Walking on water

Begin a new game of Spyro the Dragon (or load an early enough save; you don't have to do this all in one sitting for the glitch to work).

Don't collect more than 4 eggs! To activate the glitch, you must be carrying fewer eggs than the number needed (5) to reach the Beast Makers' world.

Make your way to the Magic Crafters' world. Be as thorough and leisurely or as speedrunny about it as you like; just don't collect too many eggs.

Talk to the Magic Crafters' world balloonist, and keep talking to him until he offers to fly you to a level (e.g. Dry Canyon) that has an egg. Choose 'Stay here'. You should now be able to walk on bodies of water in the Magic Crafters' homeworld.

It doesn't provide any advantage, since all the bodies of water are small enough to jump across anyway. It's just quite fun for the novelty. Don't fall down into the big moat separating the entrance chamber from the rest of the world, unless you're prepared to lose all your unsaved progress. There's no way out without quitting your game.

I've never seen it mentioned on Spyro sites but I can't be the only person who's discovered it. Does any programmer know how/why it happens?

Tree Tops shortcuts

On the island containing the dragon Lyle (the one where you'd normally begin the supercharge chain), stand facing the length of the supercharge ramp. Notice that there is an archway directly in front of you. Immediately to its left is a hut. To its left is another hut, separated by a number of fenceposts. It's this hut we'll be paying attention to.

Count three posts to the right of the hut. It's the gap between the third and fourth posts we'll be jumping through. It's tricky to pull off; your mileage may vary on whether this is less hassle than just running the supercharge chain.

Jump, at the apex of your jump charge, and immediately begin gliding once you're through the fence. You'll have to aim for the whirlwind - the devs thoughtfully made it start a little below the platform's edge, so even if you don't have enough height to land on the platform itself you might still make it into the whirlwind.

It might take a few tries to get Spyro through the fence, and a few more to begin gliding quickly enough not to lose too much height. But when I started playing Spyro, I thought this was the way! I didn't have a good enough mental map of the level to work out the supercharge method, so I thought forcing myself through the fence was the answer.

I've no idea if the devs put in this gap intentionally as a kind of backdoor method (it's not noticeably wider than the other gaps), or if it's just a happy accident of collision detection.

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