50 Fun Facts About Spyro

Spyro the Dragon is famously purple, but which color was he at first until developers feared he would be hard to see?

Green was the first choice, but the team worried Spyro would vanish against the grass he runs across, so he was repainted purple.

Stewart Copeland, who composed the music for the first Spyro the Dragon games, was the drummer of which rock band?

The Police drummer played through early builds of each level to find its mood, using invincibility cheats so he could get through them faster.

Tom Kenny, who became the voice of Spyro in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, is best known for voicing which cartoon character?

SpongeBob SquarePants and Spyro share a voice: Kenny played the dragon until 2002, then came back in 2018 to re-record every line for the Reignited Trilogy.

The villain Ripto in Spyro 2 got his name from the way 'Spyro' looks when written in which language?

Japanese katakana for Spyro's name inspired it, and the warlock came back as the villain of several later games, Enter the Dragonfly among them.

Which name did Spyro the Dragon nearly have until worries about a Disney film featuring a dragon ruled it out?

Pete sat too close to Disney's Pete's Dragon, and the next idea, Pyro, was judged too mature, so the team settled on Spyro.

Which board sport does Spyro take up in minigames found in Spyro: Year of the Dragon?

Skateboarding joined races and gunfights among the minigames, which were split off from the main levels into smaller zones of their own.

Which villain turns the dragons to crystal in the first Spyro the Dragon after they mock him on television?

Gnasty Gnorc, half gnome and half orc, had been banished to a junkyard that he renamed Gnasty's World.

Which star of The Lord of the Rings films voiced Spyro in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning?

Elijah Wood played the purple dragon in all three Legend of Spyro games, a reboot of the series that leaned harder on combat than on platforming.

A playable demo of which fellow PlayStation mascot's game was hidden inside the original Spyro the Dragon?

Crash Bandicoot: Warped could be sampled from Spyro's disc, and Spyro's demo sat on Crash's, because the two studios worked across the hall from each other and swapped builds.

Spyro the Dragon's camera and controls were tuned with help from Matt Whiting, an engineer from which organization?

NASA flight-control specialist Matt Whiting steadied the camera after early versions, which tilted with every jump like a rocking boat, left playtesters feeling sick.

What is the name of the dragonfly who follows Spyro the Dragon and changes color as Spyro takes damage?

Sparx works as a living health meter: each hit changes his color, and after too many he vanishes, leaving Spyro one mistake from losing a life.

Which creatures does Spyro the Dragon's dragonfly sidekick eat to win back lost health in the original game?

Butterflies flutter out when Spyro attacks the harmless animals that roam most levels, giving his hungry sidekick something to chase.

Which animals were shown protesting against Spyro the Dragon in the first game's advertising campaign and spoof website?

Sheep fronted the ads to protest at being flamed by Spyro; an actor in an animatronic costume played their spokesman, Toasty, and the site was called sheepagainstspyro.com.

What kind of animal is Moneybags, who demands gems from Spyro to open the way forward in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage?

A bear with an eye for profit, Moneybags also sells Spyro new moves, but once Ripto is beaten every gem he extorted is handed back.

What kind of animal is Hunter, the athletic friend who first helps Spyro in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage?

Cheetah speed and long legs make Hunter a useful ally, and A Hero's Tail gives him playable sections fought with a bow.

What carries Spyro between the homeworlds of the original Spyro the Dragon once he has found enough collectibles?

A hot air balloon run by a friendly balloonist is the only way onward, and each pilot refuses to take off until Spyro has met a target for that world.

In the original Spyro the Dragon, which attack is the only way to beat enemies wearing metal armor?

A horn charge gets through because the armor is fireproof; bigger enemies turn the rule around and must be flamed, since they flatten Spyro if he rams them.

Which series, played by placing collectible figures on a portal, began with a 2011 game subtitled Spyro's Adventure?

Skylanders figures carry a tag that the Portal of Power reads, and Spyro was one of 32 heroes players could drop into the first game.

After Spyro: Year of the Dragon, the original Spyro developers moved on to create which PlayStation 2 platform series?

Ratchet & Clank was already being prototyped in 2000, before Year of the Dragon was finished, because the team felt it had nothing new left to do with Spyro.

Which studio rebuilt the first three Spyro games as the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, using a tool it nicknamed Spyro-scope?

Toys for Bob had no original source code to work from, so its Spyro-scope tool read the old games' level geometry and enemy paths to match each level's layout.

Spyro the Dragon was the second game from which studio, whose first release, the shooter Disruptor, had sold poorly?

Insomniac Games won another chance because critics had liked Disruptor, and the new game's producer urged a family-friendly follow-up to fill a gap in the PlayStation's library.

Which fantasy land is Spyro pulled into through a portal in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage while setting off on vacation?

Avalar's residents had summoned a dragon on purpose: they needed help against a warlock they had let in by accident a week earlier, so Spyro's break at Dragon Shores had to wait.

What kind of mythical creature is Elora, who summons Spyro for help in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage?

A faun, Elora is the one who thinks of calling in a dragon, and the game's epilogue shows her and Spyro missing their chance to kiss.

Which of these moves was beyond Spyro until Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, where Moneybags sells him the lesson?

Swimming fixed a real weakness: in the first game simply touching water hurt Spyro, and from here on he could dive for sunken treasure and hidden tunnels.

Which season is missing from the names of the three homeworlds in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage?

Spring is skipped: the three hubs are Summer Forest, Autumn Plains and Winter Tundra, and Ripto seizes a castle in each.

Which theme links the names of the four homeworlds that Spyro explores in Spyro: Year of the Dragon?

Times of day track Spyro's progress, from a sunrise hub through Midday Gardens and Evening Lake to Midnight Mountain.

Which apprentice steals the dragon eggs at the start of Spyro: Year of the Dragon but later changes sides?

Bianca turns on the Sorceress once she learns what her mistress plans to do with the hatchlings, and helps Spyro win the final fight.

In Spyro: Year of the Dragon, what does the Sorceress hope to gain from a spell using baby dragons' wings?

Immortality was the goal, which is why she stole the eggs; she had earlier banished the dragons without realizing they were the source of her land's fading magic.

Which playable ally in Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a monkey who was later lined up for a cancelled spin-off?

Agent 9 was to star in a James Bond-style parody of his own, but the project was dropped and reworked into another Spyro game that was never released either.

What kind of animal is Sheila, the double-jumping ally who joins Spyro in Spyro: Year of the Dragon?

A kangaroo with a double jump, Sheila is one of four extra playable characters, each unlocked by paying off Moneybags.

Which Star Wars actor voiced Malefor, the Dark Master, in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon?

Mark Hamill, whose best-known voice role is the Joker, played a villain who taunts Spyro that every purple dragon is destined to destroy the world.

Which actor voiced the Fire Guardian who trains Spyro in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning?

Gary Oldman was part of an unusually starry cast for the series, alongside comedian David Spade as Spyro's dragonfly sidekick, and he returned for Dawn of the Dragon.

Which black dragon fights for the Dark Master in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning before becoming Spyro's ally?

Cynder was stolen as an egg and cursed into serving him; once Spyro breaks the spell she shrinks back to a young dragon of his own age and size.

Which red dragon watches over Spyro's egg in the opening of The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning?

Ignitus saves the egg when the temple is attacked by sending it down a river, and it is found and hatched by a family of dragonflies.

Which element joins fire, ice and electricity as Spyro's fourth breath in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning?

Earth completes the set, and Spyro gains each new power as he rescues the guardian dragon who commands it.

Which animals make up the army led by King Gaul in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night?

Apes learned dragon magic from the Dark Master before he was sealed away, and they plan to revive him during a lunar alignment called the Night of Eternal Darkness.

Which Nintendo 64 platformer did Spyro the Dragon's designers cite as an influence, vowing to include more collectibles?

Super Mario 64 inspired Spyro's long views, landmark buildings and playable hub, and the team set out to make its own hero just as much fun to control.

Which handheld hosted Spyro: Season of Ice, the first Spyro title released on a system not made by Sony?

Game Boy Advance players had to thaw fairies frozen by a monster named Grendor, in the first Spyro game made without the series' original studio.

Which character, introduced in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, serves as the checkpoint in the lands that Spyro visits?

Zoe, a fairy, returned in A Hero's Tail with a bigger job, recording overall game progress as well as Spyro's position in a level.

Under which different title was Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage released in Europe and other PAL regions?

Gateway to Glimmer names the first realm Spyro lands in, and the 2018 remake dropped it in favor of the North American title everywhere.

Which items is Spyro awarded for reaching the end of each realm in the first two homeworlds of Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage?

Talismans are handed over by a local character at the end of each realm, and Spyro needs enough of them before he can fight that homeworld's boss.

What does Spyro breathe to catch the scattered dragonflies in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly?

Bubbles trap the dragonflies that Ripto scattered with a misfired spell; he had meant to capture them himself and weaken every dragon.

Which newcomer in Spyro: A Hero's Tail is a mole who burrows and climbs to places Spyro cannot reach?

Blink is armed with lasers and explosives, and his designers borrowed from The Goonies for his softer look, complete with a backpack.

Who was the first voice of Spyro the Dragon, heard only in the 1998 original before the part was recast?

Carlos Alazraqui aimed for the sound of a kid at camp whom everybody likes; years later his lines were re-recorded by his successor for the 2018 remake.

Which Nintendo DS release was the first Spyro game to play as a role-playing game with experience levels?

Shadow Legacy sends Spyro into a shadow realm to free his trapped allies, learning new spells and combat moves as he levels up.

About 80% of the original Spyro the Dragon's code was written in which language to suit the PlayStation's limits?

Assembly kept the game lean enough for the console's limited hardware, while the remaining parts were written in C for its simplicity.

Which fantasy film helped inspire Spyro the Dragon in its early days, when the game was darker and more realistic?

DragonHeart shaped a gritty first pitch called Lifespan, in which a dragon defended its lair against human invaders across thousands of years.

In The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, where does Spyro's egg come to rest after being sent down a river?

A swamp becomes Spyro's childhood home: dragonflies hatch the egg and raise him as one of their own, so he grows up believing he is a dragonfly too.

In Spyro: A Hero's Tail, what do dragon eggs unlock when Spyro returns them to their owner, Nanny?

Concept art is one of the prizes for completing a set of eggs, a peek at how the game was drawn, and the eggs also open the way to its minigame sections.

In the original Spyro the Dragon, how does Spyro collect the dragon eggs found in some levels?

Chasing down thieves became a series tradition, and the eggs returned as the main goal of Year of the Dragon, with new color designs.