An Honor To The Canon?

The Disney "Renaissance" continued to chug and chug, despite the fact that it was losing steam by the end of the 1990s... Did Mulan keep it going, or did it further halt the success train?

Mulan was once again another entry in the Disney formula sweepstakes, and by the time it was in the works, audiences were growing tired of the whole schtick. Pocahontas started the box office decline, Hunchback's adult subject matter scared families away while its pandering elements (namely the comic relief gargoyles) scared adults away, Hercules was also met with indifference while also not really catching on. So in comes Mulan, displaying the same strengths and weaknesses of the other "Renaissance" features. Unlike Hunchback, the lower points tend to overshadow the good... And what's good in this film is really good.

The main story is very well-handled, dabbling in some good themes. Mulan's quest to honor her family, and ultimately take on the task that her aging father can't, is told in a fine manner. Mulan's escapades at the military camp get her into trouble, but soon she begins getting on the warriors' good sides, especially that of the man she admires - Shang. Also well done. The film actually averts one of the Renaissance cliches, and that would be the obligatory love story. Mulan and Shang don't fall in love, they don't share a tender love ballad and they don't even get married at the end. Shocker!

The characters all have fine personalities too. I won't praise Mulan herself for being a "strong" female character, because I actually pay attention to Disney films and I know that the past heroines aren't a bunch of "passive" damsels in distresses. (More on this later.) Her struggle with pleasing her family and also being who she wants to be is told right, especially through a rather successful "I Want" reheat in the form of "Reflection". She's not a rebel per se, but she doesn't want to be put in a box nor does she want her father to die. A very good lead, and the supporting cast for the most part strengthens her story while adding the necessary elements. Shang's no bland love interest, and this all due to the fact that the film doesn't go the typical love story route. The various soldiers are all fun and at times funny. It boasts a pretty good cast of characters... For the most part...

With a strong story behind it, the film also boasts a fine minimalist animation style. This was the first Disney animated film that was mostly produced at Walt Disney Feature Animation's Florida unit. It's got a smoother style, with backgrounds that aren't as intricate or complex as the ones you'd see in a bigger production but still beautiful nonetheless. This style really works, bringing a softness to the ancient China setting and the color scheme really works too. It proves that you don't always have to be big budget and elaborate to carry out a good story set in certain period. While some of the art direction could've used a little more kick in certain places, it still looks nice - particularly the snowy mountains, the charred village and the palace. The fireworks show? Great. The battle with the Huns? Heart-thumping excitement, with a massive Lion King stampede scope.

So is this a step in the right direction after the misfire that was Pocahontas and the relative genericness of Hercules? Close, but no cigar...

For all its good intentions, Mulan is held back by a lot of issues.

One big problem is the villain. Shan Yu is very bland and has no connections with any of the main characters. He's just a brutal warlord who is hell-bent on invading China with the Huns... And that's it. Who is he really? Nothing more than just a bad guy that's a threat to everyone. He's as dull as you can get as far as Disney villains go. If anything, he just seems like a stock villain because the real struggle that Mulan goes through makes for a far more compelling story. Because of that, his blandness isn't a huge problem, but a little more depth and development would've sufficed. He's got such a great design, Miguel Ferrer provides a good villainous voice and the battle sequence on the mountain is pretty epic - but these things would be even better if this barbarian had something of an interesting personality.

In fact, we don't even get a good idea of how much of a threat he really is. We don't see him hurt anyone (a deleted scene outright shows him impaling someone), and the worst we see of his doings is a destroyed village halfway through the film. No flashes of war violence or anything, probably because the executives were not allowing the artists to be a little more dark with the story - this story called for some war action and whatnot. It's kind of a war film!  There's a big battle sequence on the mountain for Pete's sake, which is still thrilling despite the fact that there's no bloodshed or anything. Again, maybe scenes of him doing something very evil or diabolical. Something! It just would've made this film, and that rousing mountain battle sequence, a hell of a lot more exciting and fresh.

Another major problem with Mulan is the number of tonal imbalances. Once again, our lead is saddled with an obnoxious, jumpy, goofy, hip-talking sidekick. This time around, it's a little dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy named Mushu. Annoying? Yes, very much so. Always there to crack an unnecessary one-liner or joke, always there to lighten the load, always there to take us out of the ancient Chinese atmosphere and setting with his jokes and modern slang. Blech. Another pointless sidekick that only exists to keep bored children interested, because Disney animation is for tots first and foremost, right? Right? The same damn model that Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame succumb to, and one that the executives preferred. On top of that, the ancestors... Another result of the film's tone issues.

Here the film has the chance to immerse the audiences in some mystical elements, after all Disney has magical elements in many of their films, right? But all of that is thrown out the window, for the ancestors are just bumbling, zany joke machines that don't really add much to the story. The magical elements of the story begged for more sequences, more depth. Why they shunted this to the side, I don't know. It's like how Pixar's Brave doesn't really sink its claws into the more mystical elements. There's also a lot of slapstick, slapstick that doesn't fit within the context of the story. Again, here we have a war story with implications of brutal violence and some adult drama - yet we have a lot of wacky cartoony slapstick. Other attempts at more cartoon-esque humor just don't work, such as Mushu fooling Chi-Fu with a pieced-together disguise. That's more suited for a comedic film, like Aladdin, not something like this. The other films of the era had this problem, too - even the superlative Hunchback couldn't escape from it.

Even the climax is somewhat wasted on comic relief, such as Mushu flaming Shan Yu's hawk, making him look like a featherless chicken and the warriors cross-dressing in order to get into the seized temple. Also, Shan Yu is killed by a giant firework. That's a little silly if you ask me, but considering how bland this villain was, it's sort of excusable because he wasn't really worthy of an epic death scene. But still, that death is just farfetched - especially since most other Disney villains of the era had pretty grisly ones. All of the comic relief, especially in the climax, just says "Yeah, we're not trying to be serious here" when the animators clearly want to make something more serious. Typical of a 1990s Disney animated film, another suits vs. animators battle that gets captured in the finished film.

Then last but not least... The songs. "Reflection" and "Honor To Us All" are excused, though they aren't spectacular, and despite how lyrically flimsy and corny it is, "I'll Make A Man Out of You" is admittedly an exciting song that gets you pumped for the bigger things to come. "A Girl Worth Fighting For" would have to be one of Disney's worst, with insipid lyrics, a weird structure and an unpleasant melody. It feels like an obligatory song to branch the camp scenes and the "raise the stakes" moment together - namely the soldiers discovering the remains of the village that the Huns burned down. Yes, this silly, goofy song stops dead in its tracks and soon we get a darker tone out of the following scene. What a mood swing!

If anything, this probably would've been better off as a non-musical, but since that template worked for the previous features, it had to be a musical. No two ways about it, ensures a big gross at the box office! Oh, and an Oscar for Best Song and millions and millions of copies of soundtrack CDs sold! Did I forget to mention the 98 Degrees song "True To Your Heart"? The song that blares in the closing seconds of the film before the credits begin rolling? Yes, because Disney needed a song from a contemporary pop band for this story about a warrior in ancient China. Might as well have Pocahontas end with the side characters rocking out to a Backstreet Boys song and then "boom!", the credits.

Despite being an entertaining movie all-in-all, Mulan as a film just falls short. It wears all the negative things people associate with Disney: The silly sidekicks, the out-of-place cartoony comic relief, the meshing of adult themes with kiddie-flick fluff and big songs. Fortunately, Mulan has a strong story at its core that makes up for a good chunk of the film's major shortcomings. What could've been a fine, stylistically-animated war story is turned into another inconsistent mish-mash of drama and silliness, that slightly reeks of the corporate side of Disney. Mushu's presence in the film pretty much conjures up images of McDonald's and merchandise and whatnot... I'd rather be invested in what's going on and feeling the film's atmosphere.

Surprisingly, upon release, Mulan seemed to get a warmer welcome than the previous three films. Was it the more action-packed vibe that the marketing gave off? Or was it the fact that the film was about a princess who went to war? That certainly seemed to be one of the main things about this film that appealed to audiences. Critics even acted as if Mulan herself was the first Disney heroine who was a "strong" female character, as they probably have never even laid eyes on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Cinderella... And if they did, all they saw were pretty colors and cute animals. After all, in the 1990s, all those older Disney films were viewed as unimportant babysitting devices while the current films were seen as films for both adults and children. Screwed up, isn't it?

Mulan isn't the first strong animated Disney heroine, as you'll find that Snow White, Cinderella and several others aren't the damsels in distress that everyone makes them out to be. Again, did they even bother to watch and evaluate those films? This is why Mulan's praise partially annoys me, critics showed how ignorant they were towards older Disney animation and bent over backwards like this. Singing the praise for Mulan whilst not even noticing the merits in the previous Disney heroines, goes to show how Americans view animation in general.

Other than that, critics liked the film, as it got good reception for the most part. The praise went towards the story, the lead character and some of the more dramatic elements - almost as if the critics excused the unnecessary comic relief and formulaic annoyances, because... "It's a Disney film, that's expected". The portrayal of ancient China got some heat, and the changes made to the original story got lots of criticism in China, particularly the Americanization of it. Mulan didn't gross way much more than the last two films, and it didn't outgross Pocahontas. Taking in $120 million domestically and $304 million worldwide, Disney probably viewed it as a disappointment in the long run because competition was making big dough... And some of it was getting better critical reception.

Mulan has kept a steady reputation amongst casual Disney fans and people who saw it when they were young. It's generally regarded as a good flick, and it doesn't seem to be one of those Disney films that has to have a cult following to keep it alive. Disney gave it a nice Special Edition DVD release in 2004, so even they had some sort of respect for it... Something they clearly didn't have for Hunchback (a far superior film) and Hercules. It was more than a modest hit though, as it didn't carry the big budgets that the previous films had - it had a much leaner price tag thanks to being smaller scale in comparison with the then-recent Disney animated films.

Mulan seems to be sort of "there", rather than being one of Disney's most popular animated films or one of their generally forgotten, not-so-popular ones. It deserves to be recognized at least, being a pretty entertaining ride with some surprises thrown in. Of course, I expect better from Disney Animation, the very house who specialized in great film experiences like Snow White, Pinocchio and Bambi. Mulan is a film, like the other Renaissance releases, that wants to be something grand and something for adults. But at the same time, the executives want merchandise to fly off the shelves faster than a dragon and to get the widest audience possible by watering the artists' finer ideas down to make something commercially viable... And that's pretty condescending because it just treats us, the audience, like we can't sit through 80 minutes of animation. Pixar wisely didn't do this, as their A Bug's Life came out the same year and showed that you don't have to pelt the audience - young or old - with wisecracking sidekicks and pointless jokes. It, like Toy Story, took the audience seriously and knew what to do with its content. This does not, and the other Renaissance films commit the same damn sin.

The result is another ambitious mess, but this one comes with a surprisingly strong center and some great characters that winds up being a pretty fun and entertaining watch. Yes, it could've been a whole lot more than that, but it's still an above-average film and one that is a worthy addition to Disney's animated canon.

"Mulan" is in the third tier on my ever-evolving best-to-worst Disney Animated Classics list. What are your thoughts on this Disney animated film? Sound off!

PSone Nostalgia: "Spyro the Dragon" (Part 1)

Looks like PSone Nostalgia (tentative title, mind you) is back! Last December, I kicked off the series with a review of the three Test Drive games for the PlayStation - now I'll look at a trilogy that was one of the best in the console's history...

My favorite genre of gaming growing up was fantasy-based platformers. The likes of Super Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot appealed to me. I loved point A to point B games where you had to take on a villain on at the end or follow a linear plot. To me, they were like super-long films but in interactive form. Not to mention, I preferred films with fantasy settings, mainly animated ones. Games like that were my thing.

Like many 90s kids, I grew up with the great PlayStation trilogy that was Insomniac’s Spyro the Dragon. A great blend of fantasy, action-adventure and some comedy; it was a great example of what a family-friendly adventure game should be. Its gameplay is dotted with puzzles and challenges, while also trying to mix other things in. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully...

As a kid, I always favored the first game while still loving its sequels: Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage (known as Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer in Europe) and Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Something about the first game really struck a chord with me; I think it was the overall atmosphere and the music... The sequels are very different in those two departments, and looking back on it, it’s for the better. Crash Bandicoot, the sort of “older brother series”, was no different. The first game differs significantly from its sequel, and that sequel is pretty different from the third one.

Spyro the Dragon’s plot is pretty simple: An evil villain named Gnasty Gnorc used to be a threat to the Dragon Kingdom, but now he’s isolated on a remote island. After a dragon mentions that he is ugly, he uses his club-like scepter to trap them all in a crystal. He misses Spyro, which means that the young dragon must free all of his older brethren. It does raise a few questions... Why is Spyro the only young dragon? Why are all the dragons male? Why are the dragons being interviewed by what seem to be people? Is this serious? Or is this some kind of irreverent game that gladly breaks the fourth wall? Was it just the developers poking fun at the game itself similar to the outtakes on some of the earlier Pixar films? Who knows; that shtick was cut for the sequels though.

Gnasty also turns all of the treasure of the Dragon World into minions, mostly the “gnorcs”, which are really humanoid troll-like things. There isn’t much depth to the story, Gnasty is the stock evil villain with not much background. Spyro doesn’t have much of a personality either, aside from the occasional sarcasm and whininess. He’s a little upstart that’s too interested in toasting Gnasty Gnorc, instead of focusing on what lies ahead on his long journey through the different realms of the dragon’s world. He doesn’t seem to show much development, it also doesn’t help that there aren’t many cutscenes. Whenever Spyro frees a dragon, there will be a brief conversation, but it’s either hints, jokes or a rather redundant “Thank you for releasing me!”

Yes, the game’s story is very minimal. It’s way too basic, and I’m fairly certain that Insomniac realized this. As result, they tried harder with the story and characters in the next two games. So if the story isn’t all that great, what is so good about this game?

Well the gameplay is very solid, the graphics were marvelous for their time... But best of all, it’s a very pretty game to look at. All of the different worlds have a distinct look and feel, but what I like about the design is that it perfectly captures a sort of fairy tale-esque atmosphere. From floating castles to colorful rooms built into hills and mountains, it’s just great to look at. Even today. A lot of imagination was breathed into the game. It’s just a bit of a shame that the story is so non-existent, this could’ve had a very compelling story.

However, it’s hard to pick at the game because of this since it is the first installment in the trilogy. After all, the first Crash Bandicoot game’s story is minimal, it’s very point A to point B. The two sequels don’t have much of a story either, since the titular character is a mute and the rarely seen sister speaks or has a prominent role.

The Artisan home world.

The game takes place in six different worlds that have at least four individual levels and a boss level. The first world is the Artisan World, which is essentially bright green grass and pretty castles. Even a level like Dark Hollow is lighthearted, it’s all kinds of nice. Stone Hill and Sunny Flight stick with the theme, but Town Square goes for an old world Spain atmosphere with its cobblestone paths, enemy bulls and gnorc bullfighters. Then you get to Toasty, the stage that’s the home of the titular boss. It looks like a hellish version of the Artisan Home, with its darker red/orange color scheme.

Cliff Town.

The second world is much tougher, the Peace Keepers World. It’s very militaristic, and it’s mostly deserts, save for the cold and barren Icy Cavern. In the home level, gnorcs carry weapons, only to run from you. They use canons, and you can use them too. Dry Canyon and Cliff Town repeat this theme, Night Flight is far removed from the theme. The boss here is Doctor Shemp, whose level is not desert-like but more like a combination between a canyon and grasslands.

Wizard Peak.

The Magic Crafter’s World, the third world, is closer in style to the Artisan Home with its lighthearted aura and heavy focus on... You guessed it, magic. Witchcraft, druids making things move, villainous wizards. All that good stuff. Lots of nice-looking castles and architecture define this world, but unlike the Artisan World, there are lots and lots of heights. Alpine Ridge and High Cliffs take the cake here.

Beast Makers home world.

My favorite of the worlds is the fourth one, the Beast Makers world. A very mucky, muted swamp-like world that’s far removed from the whimsical nature of the Artisan and Magic Crafter’s Worlds, the Beast Makers world is the darkest of the worlds. Some levels here have ominous low-key music and a rather creepy atmosphere, while most are loaded with bizarre enemies.

Lofty Castle.

The fifth world is the Dream Weaver’s World, which is once again similar to the Artisan and Magic Crafters worlds, but with unpredictable enemies and lots of new challenges. Design-wise, it isn’t too different from a lot of the previous levels we go through up until this point. Like its name implies, it's suitably dreamy and mostly airy. Look no further than Lofty Castle and Haunted Towers.

Twilight Harbor.

Gnasty’s World is the final world. Called the “Gnorc Gnexus” in the game, it’s ugly, metallic and cold. Gnorcs use explosives and machine guns instead of regular weapons. These guys mean business now that you’re in the final stretch.

To wrap it up, the design is great and it still looks wonderful to this day. So, the gameplay...

Spyro is no different from platformers of the time: You collect things and finish open-ended levels. Spyro’s objective is to free the dragons that have been trapped in crystal and to collect all the treasure. Treasure can be found scattered around, many times in chests, boxes of explosives (flame them and stand clear!), strange fan-like propeller pods, or enemies. You also have to collect stolen dragon eggs, which are in the possession of pesky thieves dressed in blue that don’t attack you; you just have to chase them down. To move onto the next home world, you have to have a certain amount of treasure or you have to have freed a certain amount of dragons in order to be granted permission to pass. In every home world, a balloonist lets you go from world to world when you have met his requirements...

What's wrong with your eye there, Spyro?

By the way, what are the balloonists? Are they humans? Or some humanoid kind of thing? What else exists in this world besides dragons? Well you see fairies here and there, and you’ve got your protector dragonfly Sparx. His color indicates your health, and the more you get hit, the weaker he gets. Sparx collects the gems, but when he’s blue or green rather than gold, he doesn’t get the gems until you move closer to the treasure. You’re in trouble when you’re without him. How do you get him back? Fodder!

Every level has little creatures like sheep, hopping mushrooms, chickens, frogs, and rats... All kinds of small things that are harmless. Take them down and you’ll get butterflies, which Sparx eats to get stronger. You are always reminded of this thanks to certain dragons that you free, as they remind you of other little things in case you forget anything.

You have some moves, of course. When you were a kid in the 90s, chances are you were excited to see what you could do with a dragon as opposed to Mario, Sonic and Crash Bandicoot. You can charge your enemies with your horns, or toast them with your fire breathing. Some enemies can’t be charged, while others can’t be toasted (mostly due to armor or something). You can also glide to other areas, but you can’t fly except in the Flight levels. Each world, save for Gnasty’s World, has one. In these levels, you have to complete timed challenges by flying through things and flaming objects. For instance, in the Night Flight level, you fly through swirling rings, arches and then you flame treasure chests and lighthouses. Just watch out for the water.

That’s right, you can’t swim in this game. The sequels allow you to swim, so Spyro the Dragon is essentially the Grand Theft Auto III/Grand Theft Auto: Vice City of the original trilogy, and you are a bit limited here since many worlds are loaded with water or some kind of killer liquid that function like bottomless pits.

The Flight levels are simply the low point of the game; not because they are bad, but because they don’t really add much. Being able to fly does sound like fun, but since it’s only used for timed tasks, it’s a letdown. How come other levels couldn't have brief challenges where you had to fly in order to get something? Why did the developers opt for the same thing for each flight level instead of a different challenge where you didn't have to fly through things or flame objects?

Supercharge.

Aside from all the basic gameplay, what else can you do? There are power ups like supercharge and superflame. In order to do a supercharge, you have to find a path with arrows that light up. That way, you run so fast that your feet move like wheels; points for the chugging noise when you do so. Superflame is given to you (in certain levels, of course) by red fairies when they give you a kiss, and then your flame can take out anything. It’s very useful in levels like High Caves and Haunted Towers where there’s enemies that you can’t charge or flame.

You have a nice variety of abilities, but not too much. It’s a decent amount for a platformer, especially for the first game, but there could be a bit more. Luckily the sequels expanded upon this, much like how Crash Bandicoot’s sequels tried new things.

But with a limited amount of things to do, why does this game work so well? Collecting treasure is satisfying, I mean, what’s better looking than multi-colored gems? Seriously, I loved collecting them. When you hit the jackpot, it’s also a lot of fun. It gives you that satisfied feeling, but then all that fun is gone once you’ve already gotten the gems. When you defeat enemies that you’ve defeated before, you get clear orbs. Collect enough and you’ll get another life. Lives are normally hidden in clamshells, and there are a good amount of them.

Dark Hollow.

Each level’s layout is fun to try out, and each has a set of challenges. For example, one level might have an area that you can only reach when you use the supercharge. Others have enemies that change, such as Dark Passage, where the darkness turns the small enemies into bigger ones. Dark Passage, along with some other levels, contain hidden areas that are fun to find and explore. Sometimes you’ll come across tricky heights, and at other times you’ll have to find way to destroy an armored treasure chest. It provides enough challenge for a game that’s this short.

If you want to simply be like Spyro and quickly get to the end of the game more than anything, you'll have to backtrack and collect gems that you have missed or free dragons that haven't been released. After you defeat Gnasty Gnorc, you need to have 100% completion in order to access the final level - Gnasty's Loot. However, I just collect everything before advancing to the next world; that way you can get to the loot after defeating the dastardly villain.

The only other problem with this game’s gameplay is that it’s a little too easy. The levels usually follow the same formula without mini-games, you simply free dragons, collect treasure and retrieve stolen dragon eggs. That can get a bit monotonous once you starting getting towards the end of the game. Boss battles aren’t much to write home about either. The boss battles are essential levels with a big enemy at the end. The only one I’d call a bit challenging is Metalhead. The rest are way too easy. Doctor Shemp is essentially a bigger and stupider Papu Papu from Crash Bandicoot, though his frantic running after you flame him is hilarious. Toasty? Flame him three times and you’re good. Blowhard? More of the same; just avoid his rather pitiful attacks. Jacques? Just chase him without falling and getting hit by his boxes. Gnasty Gnorc? Again, chase him and flame him. There’s not much of a challenge, here.

If there’s one more thing to praise, it’s the soundtrack. Stewart Copeland, the drummer from The Police, provided the music for the whole trilogy. Spyro the Dragon’s music is a mix of pure fantasy and rock music elements. The two styles mix perfectly. Each level has a great track; whether it’s the soaring, magical tone of the Dream Weaver’s levels to the murky and spooky vibe of the Beast Maker’s levels. Copeland often mixes rock guitars into the songs, without having them seem out of place. Other levels even hint at jazz and world music... It’s just the perfect mix, and if you ask me, this game boasts the best soundtrack out of the whole trilogy.

That’s not to say the other two games have highly inferior soundtracks, but this one is very special. It nails the setting completely, even if the story and gameplay may not add up in the long run. I could probably dedicate a whole blog post to this soundtrack, but to be to blunt – it’s just all-around wonderful. It’s all kinds of good, and each track just works so well its respective level.

Going after Gnasty Gnorc.

I used to favor this game over the two sequels mostly because of the design and the music. They certainly are the game’s strongest points and they really make the game stand out, but looking back on it, a much stronger story would’ve gone perfectly with these visuals. The game has a sort of lonely feel because of the minimal dialogue. There’s not much else in this world outside of the dragons... The fairies don’t speak to you, and when your enemies have been defeated, all you have left is the fodder creatures. Nothing lives inside of the smaller buildings and castles that the dragons obviously can’t fit into, there’s no sense of... Community. Unless Gnasty has a lot of innocent beings locked up, we don’t see anything else besides dragons. Also, the dragons simply disappear after you have freed them.

That brings up another question. Why do the dragons disappear after you free them? They can’t help Spyro because that would be too easy. However, when you get to Gnasty’s World, you’ll free some dragons that you’ve already released. Did they attempt to stop him only for Gnasty to crystallize them again? How come Gnasty didn’t freeze Spyro? Did he simply miss him or does he want to mess with him? I know I might be dissecting what is essentially a harmless family-friendly game, but the sequels seemed a lot more logical when it came to this kind of thing.

I may seem a bit harsh on this game, but I actually love it. Despite its flaws, I can’t resist it. Easy as it is, I still enjoy playing the whole game from start to finish. It’s a fun experience, and it may not provide too much of a challenge, but these worlds are great to explore and the music is a treat. Some of the more challenging parts of the game are certainly fun to try, such as using supercharge on levels like Tree Tops and Haunted Towers; or finding hidden areas in other levels.

This also may sound a bit crazy, but I’d love to see Insomniac revisit the first game and remake it with a bigger story, more interactions with different characters and perhaps bosses that are far more challenging. Maybe they can also expand the levels and make them bigger, but still keeping the overall design and feel. Oh, and keep the original music and try to stay true to the feel of the original. I'd actually like to see that happen one day.

~

Spyro the Dragon was a fabulous game for its time and it’s still good fun today. If its gameplay and story don’t hold up too well in some areas, then it’s the great look and sound of it that does. It’s a true PlayStation classic.

In part two, I’ll look at its sequel - Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!

All gameplay images are courtesy of the uploaders on the Spyro Wiki!