History YMMV / SpyroYearOfTheDragon

* CompleteMonster: [[VainSorceress The Sorceress]] is the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen cruel ruler]] of the Forgotten Worlds. Tricking her apprentice, Bianca, into abducting 150 Dragon Eggs under the guise of restoring magic to her kingdom, the Sorceress reveals the true depths of her [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist selfishness and hypocrisy]], with her true intentions being to collect the dragon hatchling's wings for a spell to gain immortality -- nonchalantly stating that she doesn't even have to kill them; she just doesn't want them wriggling around while she removes their wings. Completely uncaring of the lives of her men, the Sorceress transforms her own minions into freakish monsters to fight Spyro (with the reactions of the minions heavily implying it's not fun in the slighest), and ultimately, due to her annoyance of Spyro's interference, creates a "monster to end all monsters" to wipe out every dragon. A genocidal tyrant who [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about herself]], the Sorceress stands out as [[VileVillainSaccharineShow the darkest and purest villain in the original Spyro trilogy]].

* CompleteMonster: [[VainSorceress The Sorceress]] is the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen cruel ruler]] of the Forgotten Worlds. Manipulating her apprentice Bianca into abducting 150 Dragon Eggs under the guise of restoring magic to her kingdom, the Sorceress reveals the true depths of her [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist selfishness and hypocrisy]], with her true intentions being to collect the dragon hatchling's wings for a spell to gain immortality -- nonchalantly stating that she doesn't even have to kill them; she just doesn't want them wriggling around while she removes their wings. Completely uncaring of the lives of her men, the Sorceress transforms her own minions into freakish monsters to fight Spyro, and ultimately, due to her annoyance of Spyro's interference, creates a "monster to end all monsters" to wipe out every dragon. A genocidal tyrant who [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about herself]], the Sorceress stands out as [[VileVillainSaccharineShow the darkest and purest villain in the original Spyro trilogy]].

* MoralEventHorizon: The Sorceress [[spoiler:planning to kill ''150 baby dragons'' just so she could use their wings for an immortality spell. And what's worse, she didn't actually ''need'' to kill them]].

** Spooky Swamp's [[EscortMission Escort Missions]] can be just as much of a pain as the Nancy one... to be honest, the first one is quite easy because the first firefly at least follows the road. The second one is a different story... also, unlike with Nancy, you can't just stay close to the firefly, because, while breaking boulders with Sheila is easy, ground-pounding the mushrooms takes longer, and the firefly changes direction at the last second.

* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct: Pamela Hayden is mostly known for comedic roles in voice acting and stand-up. Her role as Bianca, while also supplying funny moments, stands out as one of her most emotional characters, starting off a convincing SmugSnake only to turn out to be a deeply sympathetic character. Of particular note is her very poignant warning to Spyro at the start of Evening Lake which really sets the stakes of the game and the painful conflict of the character. While Melissa Hutchison was well recieved as Bianca's VA in ''Reignited'' for the large part, her reenactment was inevitably compared a great deal to Hayden's, who many felt gave a more nuanced performance.

** Despite going out of his way to ally with Spyro in this game, Hunter is only nominally playable in vehicle minigames, otherwise being mostly relevent as an NPC like Bianca. It would take until ''A Hero's Tail'' for Hunter to finally be fully playable in fact.

** The over-focus on other characters instead of Spyro himself. About half the game is spent controlling Spyro while the other half is spent controlling other characters with many, many different playstyles. Some feel it was a good way to spice things up, while others felt it took away from the game, to the point some claim Spyro was mostly there to get you to buy the game in the first place. (The fact that GameplayRoulette fell out of style near the mid-UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 era doesn't exactly help either...)

* ObviousBeta: The initial release of the game was rushed out for a Christmas release, and as a result suffered from numerous glitches, not to mention missing eight audio-tracks. Particularly noticeable during the final boss battle, where due to a glitch the music playing is the ''[[SoundtrackDissonance Sunrise Springs Homeworld]]'' theme. The Greatest Hits re-release fixed a lot of glitches and re-inserted the missing music, though unfortunately when the game was put up on the UsefulNotes/PlaystationNetwork, the version uploaded was the first print version.

* HarsherInHindsight: Refuse to pay Moneybags in Icy Peak and he will ask "What are you saving your money for, another sequel?" Sure enough, ''Year of the Dragon'' did not get a sequel, much to the fans' dismay.

* CompleteMonster: [[EvilSorcerer The Sorceress]] is the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen cruel ruler]] of the Forgotten Worlds. Manipulating her apprentice Bianca into abducting 150 Dragon Eggs under the guise of restoring magic to her kingdom, the Sorceress quickly reveals the true depths of her [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist selfishness and hypocrisy]]. Completely uncaring of the lives of her men, the Sorceress transforms her own minions into freakish monsters to fight Spyro, and ultimately plans to create a monster to wipe out every dragon, [[WouldHurtAChild even the hatchlings]], all so she can collect their wings for a spell that will give her eternal youth. She nonchalantly states that she doesn't even have to kill them; she just doesn't want them wriggling around while she removes their wings. A genocidal tyrant who [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about herself]], the Sorceress stands out as [[VileVillainSaccharineShow the darkest and purest villain in the original Spyro trilogy]].

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad The Sorceress]] is the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen cruel ruler]] of the Forgotten Worlds. Manipulating her apprentice Bianca into abducting 150 dragon eggs under the guise of restoring magic to her kingdom, the Sorceress quickly reveals the true depths of her [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist selfishness and hypocrisy]]. Completely uncaring of the lives of her men, the Sorceress transforms her own minions into freakish monsters to fight Spyro, and ultimately plans to create a monster to wipe out every dragon, [[WouldHurtAChild even the hatchlings]], all so she can collect their wings for a spell that will give her eternal youth. She nonchalantly states that she doesn't even have to kill them; she just doesn't want them wriggling around while she removes their wings. A genocidal tyrant who [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about herself]], the Sorceress stands out as [[VileVillainSaccharineShow the darkest and purest villain in the original Spyro trilogy]].

* DesignatedVillain: Sleepyhead the Wizard from Spooky Swamp. He's feared by the fireflies as someone who's sworn to kill anyone who lights all four tea lamps up, but in actuality, this is the result of him being woken up from his slumber, and he only attacks Spyro due to him trespassing on him while trying to sleep. The fact that he's a ZeroEffortBoss only exemplifies how tired he actually is, and he's killed all for just trying to get some sleep.

* GeniusBonus: Bianca's species may seem like just a play on the MagicianRabbit trope, but it has double meaning with the game's "Year of the Dragon" motif, as she is the antagonist who puts the festivity on hold by stealing all the unhatched dragon eggs. In the EasternZodiac, the Year of the Rabbit comes directly before the Year of the Dragon.

* CatharsisFactor:
** One of the first things you can do post-game is [[spoiler:chase down Moneybags and kick the ever-loving crap out of him to get back the gems you've spent throughout the game]].
** Defeating the Sorceress [[spoiler:twice]] is also quite satisfying, especially after it's revealed she [[WouldHarmAChild wanted to steal the dragon eggs so she could rip their wings off and use their magic to make her magic stronger]].

* StressRelievingGameplay: The bunnies in Midday Gardens--there's a lot of them, they're often bundled close together, you can take them out in any number of ways, and they always react spectacularly. Because there are so many of them together, they're a great farming spot for 1-UP butterflies.

** The bunnies in Midday Gardens--there's a lot of them, they're often bundled close together, you can take them out in any number of ways, and they always react spectacularly. Because there are so many of them together, they're a great farming spot for 1-UP butterflies.

** The ''fucking'' whack-a-mole minigame in Crystal Islands. Playing as Bentley, you have to find 20 moles as they surface from their burrows and hit them with your club before they can burrow away. Sounds easy enough... but there's also gnomes burrowing around, and if you hit one, you have to start all over again. On top of that, you only have a minute to do it... and Bentley is very slow while both the gnomes and moles are very quick.

* MoralEventHorizon: The Sorceress [[spoiler:planning to kill ''150 baby dragons'' just so she could use their wings for an immortality spell. And what's worse, she didn't actually ''need'' to kill them.]]

** Bentley boxing the Yeti in Frozen Altars. The first time isn't so bad and the yeti goes down pretty easy, but the second, 3-round fight can be the bane of a player's existence. The yeti is ''really'' good about blocking your hits - since Bentley's slow as a tank - and hitting back in the split seconds before you can block. The yeti's health also goes down slower compared to Bentley's, and he regains health after every round. You ''must'' knock him out to win, and outcomes for dubiously-connected hits tend to take the yeti's favor over yours.

** Two of Bentley's four levels are relegated to minigames - while he at least can move around and attack as usual in Crystal Islands' whack-a-mole sublevel, his sublevel in Frozen Altars is dedicated entirely to yeti boxing.

* ObviousBeta: The initial release of the game was rushed out for a Christmas release, and as a result suffered from numerous glitches, not to mention missing eight audio-tracks. Particularly noticeable during the final boss battle, where due to a glitch the music playing is the ''[[SoundtrackDissonance Sunrise Springs Homeworld]]'' theme. The Greatest Hits re-release fixed a lot of glitches and re-inserted the missing music, though unfortunately when the game was put up on the UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork, the version uploaded was the first print version.

* BestLevelEver: It may be insanely hard, but Fireworks Factory is very well remembered by those who've played the game - [[BadassAdorable Greta's actions]] while following you through the level, the [[DualBoss Twin Dragons miniboss]] (with the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinite Superfly and Superflame combo powerup!]]), and [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic one of the game's best soundtrack pieces]] are the major highlights. Is it no wonder that it was prominently featured in promotional artwork?
* BreatherBoss:

** There's also some hot debate over whether or not it was an EvenBetterSequel to ''Spyro 2'' or if it's a ContestedSequel that shows the original trilogy isn't flawless. Pros often point to the more fleshed out Spyro parts, the pretty good boss battles, and the storyline being surprisingly deep and creepy when you really start thinking about it. Detractors point out how less than half the game is spent actually ''playing'' as Spyro, with the other half usually consisting of being bounced around other characters [[GameplayRoulette with greatly different playstyles]], with quite a few of them[[note]]Shelia, Bentley, and a few of Sgt. Byrd's missions being the prime offenders[[/note]] controlling rather awkwardly at times.

** One of the most infamous is the EscortMission where you have to protect Nancy from Rhynoc Hockey Players all while the most annoying song (or pleasurable if you're a sadist) in the game plays. Expect to die many times before succeeding and having That's OK ingrained into your skull. That being said, if you stay as close as possible to Nancy, you can beat it somewhat easily.

** The ''fucking'' whack-a-mole minigame in Crystal Islands. Playing as Bentley, you have to find 20 moles as they surface from their burrows and hit them with your club before they can burrow away. OK, but there's also gnomes burrowing around, and if you hit one, you have to start again... and you only have a minute to do it... and Bentley is very slow and both the gnomes and moles are very quick.

** Bianca was quite popular for her role in ''Year of the Dragon''. Even ''Legends'' series-only fans find her character and development to be extremely enjoyable.