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Spyro: Year of the Dragon for PlayStation 1
Spyro: Year of the Dragon for PlayStation 1 is a 3D platform adventure in which you recover stolen dragon eggs from the Forgotten Worlds. The Sorceress has had the eggs taken away, and Spyro follows her with Sparx. From four home worlds, you visit areas filled with gems, enemies, hidden passages and residents with problems. Some eggs are hidden, while others are earned by completing a task. You can therefore often choose between exploring further and returning for a challenge you missed.
Alongside Spyro, you control five other characters in their own sections. Sheila jumps high and kicks, Sgt. Byrd flies and fires rockets, Bentley uses a club and Agent 9 shoots a laser weapon. Sparx has separate top-down shooting areas. You pay Moneybags with gems to release imprisoned friends and open routes. Skateboarding trials, boxing and flying races offer objectives beyond simply jumping, breathing fire and collecting treasure.
The whole adventure is for one player; the different playable characters do not provide cooperative play. One standard PlayStation controller is enough, with support for an analogue controller. To save your progress, you need a PlayStation memory card with one free block. The game saves when you enter or leave areas and also offers a manual save option in the pause menu. Zoe's checkpoints help after losing a life but do not replace a saved file after switching off. The Atlas shows your collected eggs, gems and completed tasks.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 1 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
Spyro: Year of the Dragon for PlayStation 1 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Spyro: Year of the Dragon
Insomniac Games created Spyro: Year of the Dragon as the third Spyro adventure for the original PlayStation. It arrived in 2000, after Spyro the Dragon in 1998 and Spyro 2 in 1999. The new story made stolen eggs the main collectible and introduced the Sorceress and her apprentice Bianca. The title tied in with the year of the dragon. New heroes joined the familiar dragon without removing him from the story.
Around the original release, Ted Price explained why the studio added other playable animals. Their individual abilities and controls were intended to provide variety without burdening Spyro with ever more moves. The new friends therefore received both their own areas and sections within Spyro's levels. Short sporting and action tasks also took a larger role. The team used its PlayStation experience for more effects and more developed cutscenes, while treasure hunting remained the series' familiar foundation.
Year of the Dragon was Insomniac's last Spyro game. Universal owned the rights, and the studio chose to develop other characters and new projects. Stewart Copeland returned for the music; the original credits also name Ryan Beveridge. The adventure was later rebuilt as part of Toys for Bob's Spyro Reignited Trilogy. This PlayStation 1 release contains the original worlds and gameplay structure from 2000, not the later visual treatment or settings of that collection.
Similar games for PlayStation 1
Spyro the Dragon for PlayStation 1 shares fire breathing, charging, gliding jumps and gem hunting with Year of the Dragon. In that first adventure, you mainly free adult dragons from crystal and always control Spyro. Year of the Dragon replaces that central goal with finding eggs and lets friends take over some challenges. The first game therefore offers more repetition to master one control scheme; the third switches between different abilities more quickly.
Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer on PlayStation 1, like Year of the Dragon, puts strong emphasis on helping residents and completing short tasks. You search for talismans and orbs and learn skills including swimming and climbing. Year of the Dragon uses eggs as rewards and also distributes new abilities among other playable animals. Both let you return for missed objectives, but in the third game a passage may specifically require Sheila, Sgt. Byrd or another freed friend.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos for PlayStation 1 combines platforming with rescuing little friends and finding hidden collectibles. Individual levels have a clear ending at a gong, while Year of the Dragon more often groups several tasks around a central setting. Croc remains the only controlled hero and uses a tail attack. Spyro and his friends offer more varied attacks and movement. Returning is worthwhile in both, but you are not always searching for the same kind of missing item.
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped on PlayStation 1 alternates regular platform levels with vehicles and different controls, much as Year of the Dragon breaks up its adventure with skateboards and new characters. Crash usually follows a fixed route and focuses on crystals, crates and time trials. Spyro gives you more room to explore and earn several eggs within the same area. Both provide variety, but Crash more often organises it as a separate ride or tightly defined level.
Ape Escape for PlayStation 1 also revolves around finding creatures in three-dimensional areas and using new tools to reach them. Spike catches monkeys with a net and controls his equipment with the right analogue stick. That game therefore requires an analogue controller with two sticks. Year of the Dragon also works with a standard controller and spreads many special actions across other characters. In Ape Escape, the variety comes more from choosing the right tool for the same protagonist.
