Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy

Spyro the Dragon. Another classic franchise I grew up on and have a lot of nostalgia towards. And I mean A LOT of nostalgia. Like, Spyro 3 was one of the first video games I ever owned as a child and the franchise as a whole is largely what influenced my love for exploration and diverse settings in games. So of course, that had to of meant that when these remakes came out I played the Hell out of them, right? … Well, here’s the thing. I only spent a couple of hours in this collection back when it released. And there were a few reasons for that. Not because I thought it was a bad version, far from it! Even back then I thought this was a great remake of the original trilogy! But rather not only was this released around the same time as Red Dead Redemption 2, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and God of War 2018 which I got super invested into but also because not long after 2018 I started going though a bit of a phase where remakes of older games, especially ones I already played or had the original version to, weren’t appealing to me as much and that affected my want to finish this collection a bit. And you know, there’s also the whole “Only Spyro 1 comes on the disk and the other two games have to be downloaded” ♥♥♥♥ for physical copies which didn’t help my opinion much either as someone who originally brought this physically on PS4. But, with me being in a pretty big Spyro mood this year and also replaying the original PS1 versions before this I finally thought it was time to commit to finishing this collection. And yeah, I think this is still a great collection! While obviously all three games have different gimmicks to them, fundamentally they all follow a similar classic collectathon style of 3D platforming. And man do the controls and platforming feel just as fantastic in this version as they did almost 30 years ago! Hell, I actually think they improved the controls a little in this collection, mainly in terms of the Super Charge which doesn’t feel as restrictive to use this time like it did originally and Agent 9’s missions in Spyro 3 NOT sucking so much, thank God! Granted that might just be because I was playing with a mouse and keyboard but my point still stands. I mean some of the missions are still a pain in the ass regardless, ESPECIALLY that one dragon in Tree Tops, you know exactly which one I’m talking about if you’ve played either version, but as a whole the controls still feel great in this version. I also love how your health is represented by your dragonfly companion Sparks, that’s something I loved in the originals as a child as it’s a unique way to represent health and still love now. I also just love the sense of adventure these games give you! I mean you go to a variety of different and unique worlds which all have there own atmosphere, personalities and stories to them. Again, the original versions are what gave me a sense of adventure in video games as a child and that’s still here. Also, you can instantly fast travel to any world in all three games this time from the menu and Skill Points from 3 have been added to 1 and 2 this time. But of course, there’s also the visual overhaul this version has and man does this game look fantastic! The locations you explore across all three games look phenomenal in this version helped even more by the new renditions of the classic music which, unlike the Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy where I felt like the new versions of the classic music was weaker than the PS1 originals, these are just as good as the original. Really wish I could say the same about the character designs. Because to tell you the truth, I have VERY mixed opinions on those. Some I absolutely love like Spyro himself, Elora, Ripto, Moneybags, Bianca, that one genie enemy from Shady Oasis I might be a bit smitten with and the fact that every one of the dragons you rescue in Spyro 1 all have unique designs this time rather than using the same five or so models and those designs are themed around the home worlds of Spyro 1 is a wonderful design change I love and would keep. But a lot of the new designs I’m just not that big on like Sheila who feels so over designed I didn’t realize it WAS meant to be Sheila at first, Hanzel and Grettle who don’t look as cute as they use to, the Tiki guys in Molten Crater look nothing like how they did originally, Jack in Enchanted Hills looks like one of those soulless looking Funko Pop toys which look horrible and I will never understand why those are still a thing after a decade, the enemies in Scorch look more like Grimace from McDonalds, oh and speaking of Scorch there’s also how the enamies in this and Twilight Harbour who previous used realistic guns in the PS1 versions have been swapped out with goo guns and slingshots. Yeah, I’ll be honest, a lot of the redesings just lack some of the charm the original versions had. Even the menus I’m not a fan of as it’s the same menu across all three games just with a different colour compared to the originals which had unique menus for all three games. Yeah, I won’t lie, for a good as I think Reignited is in a lot of areas, I do find myself gravitating more towards the original versions which doesn’t surprise me that much as I felt the same about Crash N.Sane and Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series. Even with my opinion on some of the character redesings, do I still think Reignited trilogy is a great version of the Spyro trilogy? Absolutely! Everything about the original games gameplay wish is still here, even the bonus stuff like the infinite super flame powerup in Spyro 2 and at there core are still the same fun platformers as they were back in the day. I can not recommend this collection enough!