Video Game / Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Celebrate the "Year of the Dragon" with an egg-scellent new adventure!

Argus: Find the Eggs and bring them back, Spyro. You're our only chance!
Spyro the Dragon: You got it!

The third Spyro the Dragon game, and the last to be developed by Insomniac Games for the PlayStation. Released in 2000, the actual Year of the Dragon.

In the Year of the Dragon, a rare event that happens every 12 years, mass numbers of new Dragon Eggs are brought to the Dragon Realms. But they're stolen en route by a white rabbit thief who disappears into a strange hole. Spyro follows her and ends up in the Forgotten Worlds, where an evil sorceress rules. Now Spyro, with the help of his new friends Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9, has to recover all the Dragon Eggs and make sure the Baby Dragons get home safely.

This game, along with the first game and Ripto's Rage!, was remastered on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch with updated graphics as a part of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, with the latter two ports coinciding with the franchise's 20th anniversary.

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Spyro: Year of the Dragon contains examples of:

• 100% Completion: Getting all 15,000 gems and all 149 eggs awards you with a new level, Super Bonus Round, which is filled with treasure and ends with one last showdown with the Sorceress after which you get the 150th and final egg.
• Ambiguous Gender: The cat-fairies of Cloud Spires. They have feminine voices and wear dresses, but their faces are masculine. The Spyro Wiki refers to them as males.
• Acid Pool: Rivers and lakes of glowing green Acid can be found in Lost Fleet and purple ones throughout Midnight Mountain and the Super Bonus Round. The Invincibility Power-Up can allow Spyro the ability to swim through it for a limited time.
• Acrophobic Bird: Homer the firefly runs away from a gator instead of flying. Buson and Basho also don't think to fly over all the obstacles they have Sheila clear for them.
• Aerith and Bob:
  • The baby dragons all have some diverse names. Examples range from "Tom" to "Pee-wee" to "Thelonious."
  • Also the case with some realm residents. Seashell Shore has Sebastian and Stanley alongside Snappy and Slappy. Enchanted Towers has Pablo, Jasper and Mowat. Spooky Swamp has Homer, Bubba and Shiny. And so on...
• All Animals Are Dogs: Many of the baby dragons show this behavior, e.g. wagging their tails or scratching themselves with their paws.
• Alliterative Name: Four of the six Gnome Wizards in Crystal Islands have that: The Marvelous Magnifico, the Fantastic Frederico, the Astounding Arturo and the Magnificent Marvello.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: Both region boxes have a dynamic cover, but compared to the badass scowls on the NTSC cover above, most of Spyro's friends have happy or vacant expressions on the PAL version◊.
• Ancient Grome: Sunny Villa is populated by a race of anthropomorphic lions dressed in togas and wreath-crowns who bred giant chickens before the Sorceress sent her Rhynoc hordes to invade the place. The Rhynoc enemies that populate it are all dressed like gladiators.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: This game allows you to play as your animal allies: Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley and Agent 9. You first have to free them from Moneybags' custody and then complete their personal levels to be able to access the character-specific minigames in Spyro's normal levels. There are also the special Sparx levels where he fights other creepy crawlies.
• An Ice Person: The ice fairies of Frozen Altars have the power to change Spyro's fire breath to ice breath in their own realm. This ice breath causes every enemy to freeze.
• Animals Not to Scale: The sizes of Funny Animal and Talking Animal characters are all over the map; the hummingbirds are bigger than Sgt. Byrd, a penguin. Polar bear townsfolk in Icy Peak are smaller than Moneybags, a brown bear. Sheila and Agent 9 are the same height, when kangaroos are almost always bigger than monkeys. Fireflies in Spooky Swamp are the same height as any other NPC type, making them much larger than Sparx and the other more normal-scale bugs.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Once you've reached the end portal of a regular level, you'll open a shortcut connecting it with the beginning portion of the level.
  • In all the flying levels, Sparx will provide you with the easiest route to complete all the targets in one go. This is in stark contrast to the first two games, where you were left to find it out on your own.
• Anvil on Head: You have the option to do this to enemies in Sgt. Byrd's Base.
• Artifact Mook: The Octopus enemies from Seashell Shore show up again in Crystal Islands, but look out-of-place due to not being crystallized like the rest of the level's enemies.
• Artistic License – Ornithology:
  • In Harbor Speedway, the flock of birds Spyro races against are referred to as blue-footed boobies... except they look more like seagulls than anything else. In fact, they have yellow feet!
  • Despite what Sgt. Byrd's backstory may suggest, being raised by hummingbirds shouldn't be enough to make a penguin capable of Video Game Flight.
• Ascended Extra: Several minor characters from Ripto's Rage! make a return here, with slightly larger roles in their respective worlds:
  • The gem crop eating lizards from Glimmer have dug burrows in Sunny Villa's gladiator training arena.
  • The farmyard animals from Metropolis in the previous game return as Hunter's mortal enemies in this game's speedways, especially the sheep saucers.
  • Ooga and his dancing skeleton friend from Skelos Badlands are back with the lava toads that stole his bones again in Enchanted Towers. Ooga seems to be sick of his friend's dancing now, though.
  • The Yeti from Colossus returns to harass Bentley's little brother.
  • Handel and Greta are also back, with bigger roles on the respective level they show up compared to Scorch in Ripto's Rage.
• Aside Glance: Like in the previous games, both Spyro and Sparx will again turn to look at the player with questioning gestures if you stop using the console for a moment.
• Ass in a Lion Skin: After beating the Cat Hockey challenge in Frozen Altars, Spyro is rewarded with a dragon egg... which hatches to reveal a sheep. But then it suddenly splits open to reveal a baby dragon, which was somehow born wearing a sheep disguise (but to be fair, many of the other baby dragons that hatch throughout the game wear glasses and hats). It's also called "Ba'ah".
• Asteroids Monster: The larger starfish of Starfish Reef split into smaller ones when shot enough times. "That giant sting ray" also splits into smaller rays after a while.
• Autosave: The game autosaves whenever you're entering a level or the hub.
• Backtracking: The other playable characters make this necessary. To reduce it to a minimum:
  • Do Sheila's Alp before Sunny Villa and Seashell Shore.
  • Do Sgt. Byrd's Base before Enchanted Towers.
  • Do Honey Speedway and Lost Fleet before Hunter gets trapped.
  • Do Bentley's Outpost before Frozen Altars.
  • Do Agent 9's Lab before Haunted Tomb and Dino Mines.
• Badass Adorable: Greta in Fireworks Factory. Jumps over a gap that Spyro needs a cannon to get over, is apparently working with the Professor on a rocket plan, and knocks out a whole room full of mooks between Spyro and the level's objective all on her own.
• Badass in Distress: All of the playable allies that you need to rescue, as they immediately demonstrate after being freed from their cages by giving Moneybags what for.
• Bag of Spilling: Averted for Spyro, who retains his learned skills of swimming, climbing, and headbashing, but not for Sparx, as he loses his inherent ability to detect gems, and must relearn it.
• Bears Are Bad News:
  • One of the enemy types of Crystal Islands are crystal bears.
  • Moneybags, in a different way than normal for this trope.
• Beary Friendly: The Polar Bears and Pandas of Icy Peak and Bamboo Terrace respectively are friendly.
• Bedsheet Ghost: The Rhynoc enemies of Lost Fleet.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Most of Spyro's new playable allies present themselves as easy-going and composed individuals. Oh, and they will all beat the ever loving crap out of Moneybags for imprisoning them, of course. It says something when Agent 9's punishment is the least painful.
• Big Boo's Haunt: Lost Fleet is a shipwreck haunted by Bedsheet Ghosts.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Giant spiders and giant butterflies in the first speedway. The giant mosquitoes and fireflies of Spooky Swamp. Giant scorpions in Desert Ruins.
• Borrowed Without Permission: The plot of Seashell Shore is kicked off by three seals borrowing the submarine of the Rhynocs without asking, taking it for a joyride, and totaling the sub on a rock pile. They explain it to the Rhynocs, thinking that they'll take the story in stride, but unfortunately for the seals, the Rhynocs proceed to throw them in a jail cell.
• Brats with Slingshots: The Rhynocs of Spooky Swamp.
• Brick Joke:
  • In Sunny Villa, the first level in the game, the mayor gives you an egg he thinks came from one of the world's giant chickens. Once it hatches, though, he apologizes for giving Spyro "the ugliest chicken I've ever seen." In Charmed Ridge, Jack gives you another dragon egg thinking it belonged to a golden goose, only to proclaim "That's the ugliest goose I've ever seen!" Later, in the last level of the game, Dino Mines, the sheriff begs you to take away a dinosaur egg before it hatches. Once it turns out to be a dragon, though, the sheriff says that it's the cutest dinosaur he's ever seen.
  • One that is specific to Sunny Villa; many characters make comments about the giant chickens around the levels, as well as the giant Rhynocs all having giant chicken legs as clubs. If you destroy every Rhynoc, one will appear near the exit portal.
  • In Sheila's Alp, when a moose appears as an enemy, the goats comment that the last time they met him, he knocked Billy through a wall. One of the cutscenes in the initial ending has Billy stuck in a wall, with Sheila telling off the goats for teasing the moose again.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: Spooky Swamp is a swamp level that is home to various hostile wildlife creatures, including mosquitoes and piranhas who instantly attack everyone who dares to set foot in the level's water.
• Build Like an Egyptian: Haunted Tomb is inhabited by dogs wearing hats similar to Nofretete's, the enemies resemble Anubis or jump out of sarcophaguses, the walls are painted with Egyptian wall reliefs, Spyro slides down a colorful snake...
• Bullet Dancing: After being freed from Moneybags by Spyro, Agent 9 demonstrates what "a dancing bear" looks like.
  Agent 9: Quite the dancer, isn't he? Not much stamina, though. Too bad, I had a lot more ammo left! (cackles manically)
• Bullfight Boss: Subverted. When fighting Buzz, the monster can tackle but Spyro can still charge to throw him into the lava pit without receiving any damage.
• Call-Back: In the ending, Bentley does a mock interview with Spyro for fun, referencing the dragon interviews in the first game.
• Captain Ersatz: The appropriately named Tara from the Desert Ruins level is one of Lara Croft but as an anthropomorphic mouse.
• Cats Are Mean:
  • Subverted with Hunter the Cheetah. While he can be slightly cocky and sometimes arrogant he's still a loyal friend to Spyro and ends up being heroic when saving Bianca from being eaten by a Giant Rabbit.
  • Played straight in the level "Charmed Ridge" as the main enemies are 'Cat Wizards' who team up with the Rhynoc Army to capture a Princess Ami and force them to marry their prince, Azrael (a possible reference to the cat from The Smurfs). Though it turns out in the end that Princess Ami does want to marry the prince after all, suggesting that Azrael himself might subvert the trope as well.
• Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: The French-accented garrison of the Base tried to fight its invaders, but they needed the leadership and firepower of Sgt. Byrd (who is, incidentally, British) to succeed. All but one got captured within fifteen minutes.
• Climax Boss:
  • Scorch, the Monster to End All Monsters and penultimate boss comes after a plot revelation, has greater build up, and is moderately challenging. He can even create clones of Buzz, the first boss. The only flaw was that the previous boss (Spike) is considered by many to be That One Boss.
  • Spike himself serves as a minor case, since his fearsomeness is recognised by Bianca and the point she truly defrosts and acts openly fearful for Spyro's well being. This is omitted in the US version which for some reason disables Spike's opening cutscene. This was fixed in the Greatest Hits version of the game.
• Cold Flames: In Frozen Altars, a fairy welcomes Spyro the first time he arrives and makes his fire breath cold to freeze enemies.
• Cool Bike: Prince Azrael has one that can even fly. And when he drives off with Princess Ami, he performs a drift circle followed by a wheelie.
• Continuity Snarl: The manual of Year of the Dragon states that dragons are an Always Male One-Gender Race, who receive new dragon eggs from the faeries from an unknown once every twelve years in an event called the "Year of the Dragon". But in the actual game, many of the baby dragons hatch with female names and/or Tertiary Sexual Characteristics, with the Spyro Reignited Trilogy version of the game making these female hatchlings more prominent.
• Copy Protection:
  • Playing a cracked copy of Spyro: Year of the Dragon? Zoe the Fairy appears at the latter part of Sunrise Spring telling you that your copy is hacked and may be an illegal copy, which will lead you to experience "problems" you would not experience on a legal copy. And as a Shout-Out to EarthBound (1994), the game recreates the "save file erasure" thing from said game, although in a more subtle manner: instead of just taking you back to an empty "select your save file" screen, it just stops the boss battle against the Sorceress and then a travel-between-worlds Saving-Loading Screen appears, and after it, you return back to the Sunrise Spring Home with your hot air balloon, with the only difference that your save file has been written with a new status - namely, a big fat zero over everything you can collect. To sum it up, instead of erasing your save file, the game resets it back to the beginning. It counts as a Shout-Out as both cases of Copy Protection interrupt the Final Boss Battle. You can even see it here.
  • This article details other things the game can do if cracked incorrectly. While it can crash for seemingly no reason, it also employs another, more devious tactic: it silently removes gems and eggs from the game so that the player can never attain 100% Completion. Think getting that Last Lousy Point is bad enough? How about looking for one that, unbeknownst to you, doesn't actually exist? Oh, and if you're playing a European version of the game, it can change the language at random. Here's a sample of some of the strange things the game can do.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Sgt Bird is perfectly equipped with high power ammo to escape his prison. He still makes you pay for his escape however. The reason? It's limited ammunition, and he wanted to unload all of it onto Moneybags.
• Crapsaccharine World: The cutesy visuals remain, but most levels involve sorting out the problems caused by the oppressive rule of the Sorceress.
• Cruel Elephant: Small woolly mammoths are enemies in Frozen Altars.
• Crystal Landscape: The Crystal Islands were once a regular, non-crystal based world. Unfortunately, the Magicians from there ended up turning the inhabitants and the landscape into crystal with some of the Sorceress' magic that they stole.
• Crystalline Creature: The Crystal Islands are home to bears and flowers made entirely out of crystal, as a result of the same magic that turned the area into a Crystal Landscape.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the two previous games, this one comes off as slightly darker: aside from exploring the aptly-named "Forgotten Worlds" having a relatively unnerving feeling, there's the fact that other playable characters are released with what boils down to a ransom, The Dragon threatening you whenever you access a new world (which evolves into warning and then outright begging you to leave as her master exceeds her own limits), a Derelict Graveyard made of Saharan Shipwreck-ed ships surrounded by Hollywood Acid, giant snowlems sporting a Slasher Smile, cowboy dinosaurs throwing dynamite sticks — and shooting — at you, Spyro getting Eaten Alive by a whale, and so on. Then there's the Sorceress, who alone turns the dark-and-edgy-ness up to eleven.
• Dating Catwoman: Hunter gets a crush on the Sorceress' Number Two, Bianca. It soon becomes requited.
• Death Mountain: Sheila's Alp is a non-threatening example. Charmed Ridge is this too, but combined with a fairy tale theme as well.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Bianca confronts Spyro at the start of each world. In progression, she goes from taunting him and threatening him to leave, to frustratedly warning him to give up, to straight up begging him not to take it any further, even converting to First-Name Basis for him and Hunter, her Jerkass Façade slowly cracking as she realises the Sorceress is willing to go to murderous lengths to stop them. After the Sorceress finally goes too far, Bianca quits and is on Spyro's side for the final world.
• Degraded Boss: Scorch can create duplicates of Buzz, which only charge at Spyro and die in one hit.
• Demoted to Extra: Elora only appears in the ending. The Professor is also not as present as he was in Ripto's Rage although he gets his own level for Agent 9 to go through.
• Derelict Graveyard: The appropriately named Lost Fleet, filled with shipwrecks and ghosts haunting the grounds. However, the ghosts turn out to be Rhynocs in disguise.
• Developer's Foresight: When you beat up Moneybags at the end and get your gems back, it will only count the gems you actually gave Moneybags. If you manage to skip him at any point, he won't give that amount of gems you didn't pay. If you manage to skip him at every single opportunity, he won't give any gems at all and the chase immediately ends after the first attack on him. In addition, to prevent the player from permanently losing any gems from paying him after getting your gems back (it's a one-time event), Moneybags will be absent from every single area the player would have had to pay him, and the events he would have unlocked upon being paid will be unlocked free-of-charge.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Most of the harder skateboarding tricks score a lot of points, especially the Gnasty Gnorc ^note a backflip followed by a Twisted Lime, or a front flip followed by a Twisted Lemon, which gives 2500 points, and the Raging Ripto^note half a backflip followed by two rolls, which gives 3000. Subverted for the Thrash Master^note half a Twisted Lemon/Lime followed by a different Twisted Lemon/Lime and Super Thrash Master^note a Thrash Master followed by another Twisted Lemon/Lime, which are both difficult to pull off and only reward 100 and 300 points respectively. Compare that to a regular Twisted Lemon which also rewards 300 points and is considerably easier.
• Digging to China: The Forgotten Worlds are on the other side of the dragon realms. The residents of the former manage to infiltrate the latter by tunneling. Strangely, Spyro appears to fall into open air when chasing the intruders back through one of these tunnels, which is quickly explained when one of them is shown to have pseudo flight but still raises question about the structure of these worlds.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: The game has both dragons and dinosaurs that actually aren't that similar, but are confused for each other In-Universe, as the mayor of Dino Mines says that a dragon hatchling you rescue is "the cutest dinosaur I ever saw."
• Dirty Coward: During the third boss cutscene, the Sorceress searches for another minion to transform. One of the Rhynoc guards, realising she's eying him, starts pushing his kicking and screaming co-worker forward to her instead.
• Dishing Out Dirt: A cat wizard of Charmed Ridge creates a perpetual rock slide until he is defeated.
• Dynamic Difficulty: The game has this. The difficulty level changes the amount of enemies in the level or how hard the minigames are, decreasing the more times you fail or increasing the more times you succeed, and there are cheat codes that can change the difficulty at will. Playing the game with a low difficulty may prevent you you from obtaining 100% on certain levels due to certain enemies not spawning so you can collect their gems, but on the other hand, playing on the hardest difficulty renders the last two races in the game almost literally unwinnable (see Fake Difficulty).
• Easter Egg: The opponent of Bentley's boxing mini game can be controlled with the player two controller.
• Egg MacGuffin: The main collectable of the game are Dragon eggs that hatch when you acquire them. They never get used otherwise... which is a good thing, given that some characters state they wanted to cook them.
• Enemy Summoner: Cyber cyclopses built to kill Sparx that constantly spawn mechanical lady bugs also built to kill Sparx in Bugbot Factory.
• Escort Mission: Spyro must escort Nancy to finish her ballet performance from some bulky hockey Rhynocs in Icy Peak.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Bianca's reaction to the Sorceress' rant, Cutscene 12.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Shiela, Sgt Byrd, and Bentley are extremely friendly and calm natured creatures working to help Spyro save his herd's eggs. They also show absolutely zero restraint pummelling Moneybags for selling out to the Sorceress and charging for their freedom, however. It says something when Agent 9, the Heroic Comedic Sociopath of the freed captives, offers the least painful punishment for Moneybags.
• Evil Evolves: The Sorceress' plans to get rid of Spyro get increasingly devious, from sending increasingly bigger and deadlier monsters at him to attempting to destroy the eggs just so he can't save all of them to having a factory created to make an army of robot bugs just to get rid of Sparx so Spyro will lack protection. Bianca becomes more and more unnerved by this escalation, as she wanted as little collateral damage as possible.
• Evil Is Hammy: The Sorceress really chews the scenery in some scenes.
• Expy: The Rhynocs wearing tiny bucklers are this to the cowering Gnorcs of the Artisans Home.
  • He's big and monstrous and is the game's second boss. His attacks involve trying to crush you and shooting plasma bullets from his large cannon/s. In the first stage of the battle, the only way to hurt him is to hit large objects your flying ally drops on the battlefield and make sure they explode on him. In the second and third stages, your ally drops power-ups you need to use to hurt the boss, but be careful because he can steal them and use them against you. Every time you hurt him, the boss stomps on the ground and destroys all useful objects on the battlefield, and you'll have to wait for new ones to be dropped. Are we talking about Year of the Dragon's Spike or Gulp?
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Moneybags has this moment when he foolishly admits to Spyro that he is going to sell a dragon egg to make money. Spyro is not pleased to say the least, and Moneybags learns that the hard way when Spyro chases after him and take back all the gems and the dragon egg as retaliation.
  Moneybags: Don't worry, Spyro, I won't be needing anymore of your money... Now, now, don't look so surprised! I found one of the dragon eggs, and I'm going to sell it for a fortune back in Avalar. Errr... uh-oh... why are you looking at me like that? I... err... heh heh... I - I've got to be going now... Toodles!
• The Face of the Sun: The sun seeds and the miniature sun created by the lava fusion cauldron have smiling faces with sunglasses.
• Fake Difficulty: Both the blue-footed boobie race in Harbour Speedway and the yeti race in Super Bonus Round are set up so that on the game's harder difficulty they're borderline impossible to win in 1st place and you'll keep losing until Dynamic Difficulty kicks in or you use a cheat code to change the difficulty to a lower one.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: As part of the game's level theming, most levels and characters are Theme Park Version counterparts to some country or world culture.
  • Sunny Villa = Ancient Rome (and some Greece); inhabited by lions.
  • Molten Crater = the Pacific Islands; inhabited by walking tiki statues.
  • Sheila's Alp = the Swiss Alps (and some Australia); inhabited by mountain goats.
  • Icy Peak = northern Canada; inhabited by polar bears.
  • Spooky Swamp = rural Japan (with some Louisiana); inhabited by anthropomorphic fireflies who speak in all haiku, with Cajun accents.
  • Bamboo Terrace = rural China; inhabited by panda bears.
  • Sgt. Byrd's Base = France; inhabited by hummingbirds.
  • Frozen Altars = Antarctica (and some Aztec); inhabited by penguins.
  • Bentley's Outpost = the Himalayas (with some Pacific Northwest); inhabited by yetis.
  • Fireworks Factory = Ancient China (with some Japan); inhabited by martial artists.
  • Desert Ruins = the ancient ruins of the Middle East, loosely; inhabited by archaeologist rats.
  • Haunted Tomb = an Egyptian tomb; inhabited by dogs with big headdresses.
  • Dino Mines = the American Old West; inhabited by... gun-slinging dinosaurs and law enforcer rabbits.
• Flunky Boss: Spider Queen, Scorch and "that giant sting ray".
• Flying Broomstick: The cat witches who invaded the Charmed Ridge temple ride on these.
• Fractured Fairytale:
  • Charmed Ridge has nods to several fairy tales like Jack and the Beanstalk, The Golden Eggs Goose, and Rome an Juliet. Sunny Villa also has a mission which requires you to rescue Rapunzel from a tower. It turns out she's there of her own free will and has taken out a restraining order on the man attempting to rescue her.
• Friendly Fire: Sheila can trick the turrets of Seashell Shore into shooting Rhynocs.
• Frozen Foe Platform: In the Frozen Altars level, Spyro acquires ice breath that he can use to freeze enemies and NPCs. One secret area requires Spyro to freeze an NPC and then jump on him to reach a higher place.
• Fungi Are Plants: In Charmed Ridge, there's an area based around Jack and the Beanstalk where the "Jack" in question offers you various magic beans that Spyro needs to use to reach the golden goose. One type of bean grows into flower platforms, while the other grows into bouncy mushrooms and works exactly the same as all other seed/plant-based puzzle elements.
• Fungus Humongous: Moneybags sold Jack magic "seeds" that can spawn giant mushrooms in Charmed Ridge. He also sold seeds that sprout giant flowers.
• Furry Confusion: The game's inhabited with talking, intelligent animals, yet you also have regular animals running around that you can kill in order to spawn a butterfly for Sparx. Perhaps most notably in a cutscene during Midday Gardens where Bianca, who's an anthropomorphic rabbit, practices magic on a normal, non-anthropomorphic rabbit.
• Gainax Ending: The 100% Completion ending. After defeating the Sorceress for good and recovering the final egg, the game cuts back to the Dragon Realms, showing the baby dragons alongside their presumed parents and playing around. Spyro gives one of the baby dragons to an adult dragon, before it suddenly starts belching, causing the adult dragon to put the baby back down beside Spyro, where it lets out another belch. There's no dialogue at all in contrast to the other cutscenes, and we never see the likes of Hunter, Bianca, Zoe and other supporting characters again. Watch it here.
• Game-Breaking Bug:
  • Flaming Fluffy, the cat-shaped fairy that gives the egg to Spyro upon completing Cloud Spires, at the same time he (or she) speaks with you will not trigger the cutscene. Speak with Fluffy again, and he'll act like the cutscene has played, but will not give out the egg and just disappear into an invisible portal. This will trick the game into thinking that the realm has not been completed. Entering and exiting the sub-level with the sun seeds will bring Fluffy back, but he cannot be spoken to. The only way to complete the realm is to exit and reenter Cloud Spires. The glitch was discovered in 2011, and dubbed the "Fluffy Glitch" by GastrodonAmy. Here is her video on the glitch.
  • A nastier glitch can occur if the player has died a lot before entering Fireworks Factory. The game will despawn a few enemies to make the game easier on the player... but also forgets to put the gems the enemies had anywhere the player can reach them, thus rendering the game impossible to 100%. Thankfully, there are cheat codes for manually adjusting the game's difficulty, which sorts out the problem, once you know it's there.
  • Even worse is the Lost Gem glitch; killing a certain mosquito in Spooky Swamp while you don't have Sparx will cause its gem to fall into the water and be lost forever. If this happens, your only choice is to reset so the autosaving doesn't ruin your savefile.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: If you haven't freed Agent 9 before you challenge the Sorceress, he will still help you in battle, and it is never explained how he got released. If you leave the level before beating her, he will be imprisoned again.
• Gameplay Roulette: A large portion of the game is spent with Spyro driving several types of vehicles, or controlling different characters who play differently from Spyro. As a result, the game alternates between classical Spyro platforming, skating, 2D platforming, boxing, third-person shooter, top-down shoot 'em up, etc.
• Gangplank Galleon: Lost Fleet, although there are no pirates, but there are treasure ships. Would also be a case Big Boo's Haunt, if the ghosts weren't obviously fake.
• Genius Bruiser: Bentley the Yeti. He has a big club to wield down on enemies, but his extensive vocabulary clearly indicates he is also very smart.
• Genre Shift: One of Sheila's levels is a 2D Platformer and Agent 9 is basically a proto-Ratchet.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Not a boss per se but in your final confrontation with Moneybags, you chase down and attack him until he releases the egg and all the gems he took.
• Give Geeks a Chance: Gus the short nerd gerbil in Desert Ruins is the boyfriend to the curvy and attractive Tara, a Captain Ersatz of Lara Croft.
• Gotta Catch Them All: Gems and dragon eggs.
• The Great Whodini: The wizards from Crystal Island have this naming scheme. They also act like stage magicians despite being actual wizards.
• Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter: The Fireflies of Spooky Swamp speak entirely in haiku. Moneybags even adopts this manner of speech when he asks for gems to open a bridge in the level.
• Green Hill Zone: Sunrise Spring. There's also Sunny Villa, found in Sunrise Spring itself.
• Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Bianca to the Sorceress. Eventually reaches breaking point and leads to a Heel–Face Turn when she realises the plan is to kill all the baby dragons along with Spyro.
• Haiku: Once you enter Spooky Swamp, you will speak in it.
  • EVERYONE speaks in it. Even Sheila and Moneybags. Gets funny because Moneybags does not like speaking in Haiku (as specially noted when you talk to him after you've paid the fee to open the door to the next area).
  • Ironically, after you chase him down and get back all the gems he took from you, a dragon egg and a big load of satisfaction, once the Sorceress is defeated Moneybags says he's retiring to the swamp to become a haiku poet.
• Hand-or-Object Underwear: Two of the baby dragons exhibit this trope when hatched, covering themselves with their shells. One of which is appropriately named "Modesty".
• Hate Sink: Nobody likes Moneybags, hero or villain, and because of that, he gets his ass kicked by every unlockable rebel character, each upon release. Even Spyro beats the money out of him in a post-game "mission". Oh, and according to the epilogue you get from collecting all the skill points, he gets mugged by cowboy dinosaur bandits, just to add the cherry on top.
• Heel–Face Turn: Bianca, once she realizes what the Sorceress plans to do with the baby dragons once she's brought them to her world.
• Helpful Mook: The Golems of Haunted Tombs provide rocks for you to spit against them or other enemies.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Two instances occur at the beginning of the game. The first one occurs when one of the elder dragons gets his head stuck in a hole while chasing Bianca. The second one occurs shortly after when Hunter tries to jump down another hole but also gets stuck. Fortunately, one of the elders gives him a good stomp to force him down the hole.
• Here There Were Dragons: Literally: The Forgotten Worlds were once inhabited by Dragons, but the Sorceress banished them to the other side of the world, ignorant of the fact that dragons were the source of the worlds' magic, and thus magic is slowly dying out.
• Horny Vikings: The Rhynocs of Cloud Spires wear horned helmets and have decidedly opera and Norse Mythology themes.
• Human Ladder: Used by the pandas of Bamboo Terrace to operate their bridges.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Sparx could count. He collects all jewels you encounter for you, keeps track of your health, and, when you finish the Sparx bonus worlds (unlocked in a world when you've defeated the following boss), he gains new, useful abilities such as pointing in the direction where you might have missed some jewels, and even breaks open treasure pots and vases for you, which is pretty impressive when a dragon has to put in some effort to open them.
• I'm Going to Disney World!: Parodied near the end where Bentley asks Spyro, "What do you plan to do next? Perhaps a nice vacation at Dragon Shores?"
• Improbable Weapon User: The red Rhynocs of Sgt. Byrd's base use flower pots as weapons. And the Bedsheet Ghosts of Lost Fleet use flashlights.
• Improvised Armor: Some Rhynocs of Seashell Shore wear the shells it was named for, though they cannot see through them.
• Inept Mage: Crystal Islands got its name after thieves who stole magic from the Sorceress fled there and ended up encasing much of it in crystal by accident.
• Informed Species: Sparx refers to the racing champions of Harbor Speedway as blue-footed boobies, when they're very clearly the seagulls from the time trial. Word of God confirms this to be for Rule of Funny, just because they wanted to slip in the word "boobies".
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Hunter and Bianca (a cheetah and a rabbit) at the end. Doubles as Carnivore Confusion.
  • Sgt. Bird is also in a relationship with one of the fairies from Charmed Ridge.
  • Princess Ami is in a relationship with Prince Azrael - a fairy princess and a cat mage.
• Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Everyone is asleep during Bianca and the Rhynocs' infiltration of the Dragon Realms and theft of the eggs. By the time Bianca accidentally wakes Hunter up, there's only one left remaining and the dragon who launches after Bianca just misses grabbing it as she dives through a hole. The eggs are scattered across numerous perilous environments, nearly accidentally harmed by several NPCs and then the Sorceress drops the bombshell on Bianca that she wants to slaughter all of them out of convenience when she was previously advised that they would just be raised in the Forgotten Worlds.
• Kangaroos Represent Australia: Despite living in a Fantasy equivalent to the Swiss Alps, Sheila the Kangaroo has a stereotypically Australian name and an Australian accent.
• King Mook: The Crawdad King and The Spider Queen. Just guess what they're the king mooks of. Also, the Rhynoc Wizard.
• Kung Fu-Proof Mook:
  • Two kinds of Rhynocs go like this; the smaller ones are usually heavily armored or shield bearing which can withstand flame breath; Spyro needs to use Horn Attack on them. The Giant Mooks can resist Spyro's horn charge, but tend not to be protected, so use his Breath Weapon on them.
  • The Giant Armored Rhynocs of the Fireworks Factory, who have to be flamed from behind. Some of them turn around too quickly for Spyro to hit, but with all the fireworks around there are other ways to deal with them...
• Later-Installment Weirdness: This was the last game in the original Spyro trilogy by Insomniac, and while somewhat similar to the previous game, it's vastly different from the first game. The hardcore platforming is all but gone, with the emphasis being instead on minigames with a variety of different gameplay styles, as well as multiple playable characters each with their own style as well. It's clear that by this point Insomniac was considering the basic Spyro gameplay to be rather limited, which contributed to them abandoning Spyro in favour of Ratchet & Clank.
• Lethal Lava Land: Molten Crater and Fireworks Factory (it's a wonder the latter still stands).
• Life Meter: Sparx has his classic yellow, blue and green colors as life meters with the addition of a fourth life that is yellow but it shines like a star.
• Made of Explodium: In the first game, cacti were flame resistant. In Dino Mines, Spyro's basic flame attack with make them explode, like in Skelos Badlands in the second game.
• The Magic Comes Back: The plot of the game centers around dragons bringing it back. Mostly for malevolent purposes with benevolent side effects.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Gus, and his girlfriend, Tara.
• Mechanical Monster: The Sorceress has a mechanical centipede built to get rid of Sparx.
• Mini-Boss: Every home realm but the last has a level that contains one: the Shark Submarine of Seashell Shore, the Rhynoc Wizard of Spooky Swamp and the Chinese Dragons from Fireworks Factory.
• Mini-Dungeon: Each level has portals to side-levels where Spyro has to solve different kinds of puzzles to get more gems and eggs. Sometimes, one of Spyro's rescued friends are required for them.
• Mini Mook: Sparx encounters smaller versions of the Avalar crab enemies while in Crawdad Farm. The proper sized versions appear again when Spyro goes to Lost Fleet.
• Minion with an F in Evil: Bianca tries repeatedly to threaten Spyro to vamoose, always failing due to her bumbling demeanour. As the story progresses her facade slowly breaks, to the point she is practically begging him to leave the Forgotten Worlds so he won't provoke the Sorceress' wrath down onto him.
• Misplaced Wildlife: Sheila is a kangaroo who lives in the Alps, of all places. The manual hand-waves this by calling her an extremely rare alpine kangaroo.
• Mook Maker: In the Sparx levels, boxes that crawdads and crabs come out of, then flower pots spiders come out of, then shells that starfish and eels come out of. Also, the ninja boxes of Fireworks Factory and the panic doors of Agent 9's Lab. Haunted Tomb has both the sarcophagi of Mummy Rhynocs and jars for cobra.
• Mooning: The Coal-Throwing Rhynocs in Frozen Altars turn around and lift their Loin Cloths if you destroy their coal piles. You can freeze them in this position, which is a reference to some of the enemies from the first game.
• Moose and Maple Syrup: The residents of Icy Peak appear to exhibit this. To top it off, when you opt out of paying Moneybags for an optional side quest, the negative reply is "Take off, hoser!". In case you were wondering, the mission involves protecting an ice skater... from Rhynoc hockey players. The only native residents of the area you meet are named Bob and Doug, along with said ice skater (Nancy). All three of the native residents speak as if they are from the Great North.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Bianca's reaction when the Sorceress reveals her intention to kill the baby dragons for their wings.
• Mythology Gag: The trick names for the harder and hardest tricks for score-based skateboarding are named Gulp (plus Big Gulp), Crush (plus Orange Crush), Toasty, Doctor Shemp, Gnasty Gnorc and Raging Ripto.
• Named After Somebody Famous:
  • Nancy, the ice skater Spyro protects from hockey player Rhynocs in Icy Peak, is likely named after figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, who was infamously attacked by hired goons sent by rival Tonya Harding in an attempt to cripple her.
  • The firefly brothers Basho and Buson form Spooky Swamp are likely named after Matsuo Bashō and Yosa Buson, 2 Japanese poets famous for their haiku.
• Never Say "Die": Averted. It's actually the Sorceress' intentions to kill the baby dragons that prompts Bianca's Heel–Face Turn.
  Sorceress: Here's a spellbook. Whip up a monster, and eliminate him.
  Bianca: (hesitantly) Uhh... kill him?
  Sorceress: I don't care what you do, you useless brat! As long as you get rid of him!
  • Averted again much more comically by Bianca following the Sorceress' rather detailed reveal of all the horrid ways she'll trample and squash the baby dragons:
    Bianca: Buuuuuut... won't that kill them?
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: The Rhynocs and fireflies of Spooky Swamp aren't friends but share a common disdain for the local gators... except for the Rhynoc Wizard, who is fond of conjuring them up.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Some implausible combinations of concepts can be found in this game. Just among your playable companions alone, there's "a kangaroo who lives in Yodel Land", "a monkey with a laser gun", "a Genius Bruiser yeti" and "a Tuxedo and Martini jetpack-wearing penguin". Then there's things like "Wild West gunslinger dinosaurs", "A cat wizard who rides a flying motorcycle", and "Hover tanks in Ancient Egypt."
• Nothing Is Scarier: The Forgotten Worlds live up to their name beautifully — there are very few inhabitants in the home worlds excepting animals like sheep and lizards, and once each world is cleared, there's almost nobody there. It can get extremely eerie at times. What's more, at Midnight Mountain the rescued characters don't help you building the vehicle for the next world (obviously, as it is the last world) but they are nowhere to be seen.
• Oktoberfest: The goats and Rhynocs of the level Sheila's Alp are obviously based on this. Despite that, Sheila herself is an out of place Aussie-accented kangaroo.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. There are two Gabrielles in the game: the main hummingbird from Sgt. Byrd's base and the greeting ice fairy from Frozen Altars. Some realm residents also share names with the baby dragons.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The Dual Boss Fre Dragons of Fireworks Factory are vaguely "Eastern" segmented serpents made out of fire that fly without wings. Given that dragons were banished from the Forgotten Worlds by the Sorceress, she owns Fireworks Factory, and the fire dragons are hostile to the resistance against the Sorceress, this raises a lot of questions, though one could assume she created the pair.
• Outside-Context Problem: Zoe didn't expect there to be a "giant sting ray" in Starfish Reef (given it doesn't have a stinger, it was probably a manta ray).
• The Overworld: Sunrise Spring, Midday Garden, Evening Lake and Midnight Mountain serve as the hub worlds from where all the other levels are accessed.
• Palmtree Panic: Seashell Shore is a tropical beach with several palm trees. Agent 9's Lab is also similar in appearance.
• Papa Wolf: Though he isn't actually the dad, Spyro acts in this way when Moneybags reveals he found an egg and has no intentions of giving it to you. After putting up with him the whole game, you literally beat the gems out of him.
• Parasol of Pain: Wielded by the Rhynocs in Bamboo Terrace, who parachute in with them.
• Perpetual Storm: Cloud Spires after you activate the cloud-generator and Spooky Swamp.
• Pickup Hierarchy:
  • Primary: Characters; Dragon Eggs act as both this and secondary pickups.
  • Secondary: Dragon Eggs act as both this and primary pickups; Gems (tertiary as well).
  • Tertiary: Fodder, not technically collectible, but killing a certain amount releases a 1-up.
  • Extra: Skill Points.
• Piranha Problem: Spooky Swamp has a lake full of piranhas that eat you if you don't get out fast enough. The water itself is safe to swim in, but the piranhas are relentless and turn up almost as soon as you fall over the edge.
• Polar Penguins: Frozen Altars is inhabited by penguins. While it's based on South American pyramids, it's covered in snow.
• Poor Communication Kills: The fairies of Charmed Ridge and the cat wizards who invaded it do have at least one common interest but their differences lead to immediate conflict and assumptions are made.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: The Bugbot Factory is an automated robot-making facility the Sorceress had made to create robots capable of hunting Sparx to get rid of Spyro's primary ally and method of defense. Thankfully, Spyro is able to beat her before the factory is finished, but she had hidden an egg within it.
• Post-Final Boss: Unlike the previous two games, the area after the final boss has another boss in it: A rematch with the Sorceress.
• Power Pincers: The crawdad king can shoot fireballs from his. Of course he can also shoot rockets from the stubs and breathe fire once those are gone.
• Power-Up: 3 of them - the super flame (where Spyro breathes strong, long-ranged, exploding Fire Balls instead of fire streams) and free flight powerups return from the previous game, along with the Invincibility Power-Up that's usually used to solve puzzles.
• Power Up Mount: Some mini-stages require Spyro to ride on a mount and attack/race opponents to get the eggs, such as the Manta ray with cannons in Desert Ruins or the Hover Tank in Haunted Tomb. The True Final Boss battle with the Sorceress has both her and Spyro riding Flying Saucers for an aerial dogfight over an Acid Pool.
• Prenatal Possessions: Many of the baby dragons are shown to have some head decorations when they're freshly hatched. One of them even wears a sheep costume!
• The Quisling: Moneybags was just a nuisance who charged you to access areas in the second game. Here he outright helps the villains imprison heroic forces, and then uses them to blackmail Spyro for gems. A clever gambit, that is if each of the livid prisoners didn't submit him to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown the instant they were freed.
• Rabbit Magician: Bianca the Rabbit was apprentice to the Sorceress before defecting out of a mix of Pet the Dog moments with Hunter and discovering that the Sorceress was planning on killing the baby dragons for their wings, becoming the token magic-user among the heroes.
• Racing Minigame: Vs giant butterflies on the first available speedway. And this time you have to win. The difficulty ups to propeller planes in the second. Then giant bees, which are strangely harder than the planes, then blue-footed boobies whom you'll probably need the help of super charge to beat. Also, the Skateboarding Rhynocs of Lost Fleet.
• Red Ones Go Faster: In Molten Crater Money Bags guards a door to two egg thieves. The one wearing red runs faster (though this may just be because the Tiki there turns on the supercharge before you catch the red thief).
• Repeat Cut: Used for the final hit on Scorch to emphasize Spyro and Bentley managing to overcome the Sorceress' strongest monster.
• Repetitive Name: The pandas of Bamboo Terrace tend to have them, like Ling Ling and Sing Sing.
• Reused Character Design: Gus the mouse from Desert Ruins has the same design of the Glimmer gerbils from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! but larger and sporting some big glasses.
• Rhino Rampage: The Rhynocs — the soldier enemies of the game — are a race of anthropomorphic rhinoceros.
• Riddle Me This: The keepers of Haunted Tomb make Spyro and Agent 9 solve riddles before he can advance.
• Ride the Rainbow: Whenever Bianca appears outside of a cutscene, it is usually in the form of a rainbow weaving through the landscape before landing in-front of Spyro, Bianca appearing where it landed.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: All the realm residents tend to be very cute, except for maybe the Tikis of Molten Crater.
• Rock Monster: With the exception of the octopi, all the enemies of Crystal Islands are made of crystal.
• Ruins for Ruins' Sake: Desert Ruins, which is full of gigantic helmets of Roman soldiers and a Greek temple.
• Rule of Cool:
  • Sgt. Byrd the penguin being capable of flight and wields two rocket launchers on his shoulders.
  • Dino Mines has sharpshooting, cowboy T-Rexes.
• Save the Villain: In a cutscene in Midday Gardens, Hunter saves Bianca from getting eaten by a creature she made using her magic. Acts as Foreshadowing for her eventual Heel–Face Turn (and hooking up with Hunter).
• Scaling the Summit: Bentley's Outpost
• Scope Perspective: The game is mainly a 3d platformer; playing as Agent 9, however, will turn the game into a 3rd person shooter with a "sniping cam" option which turns the camera into the first person one.
• Sea Mine: The Rhynocs littered Seashell Shore's Ultra-high-speed-super-fluidity tunnel with them. The enemy submarines of Lost Fleet also drop them.
• Secret Level: The Super Bonus Round is only unlocked once you have all the gems from all levels, as well as all 149 eggs.
• Secret Relationship:
  • Hunter and Bianca wind-up together in the end. When Spyro is off looking for them, literally everyone is trying to keep him from finding out.
  • Sgt. Byrd can be found in Charmed Ridge on his way to his date with the fairy Isabelle.
• Segmented Serpent: The Fire Dragons in the Fireworks Factory resemble dragon dance puppets made out of a long series of round, scaly body segments, narrowing towards the tail, and tipped at the forward end with a whiskered dragon head.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Bentley the Yeti, despite his brute strength and outward appearance, actually has a very colorful vocabulary.
  Bentley [to Moneybags]: Why, you brazenly avaricious, duplicitous, larcenous ursine!
• Shifting Sand Land: Desert Ruins takes place in the middle of a vast desert.
• Ship Tease: Between Spyro and Elora during the ending (although only on Elora's side). She asks him if he's going to visit her any time soon and tells him to enjoy the fireworks show (with her) while Bianca and Hunter are kissing.
• Shoot the Mage First: In the Charmed Ridge level, there are cat mages who'll hinder you in many ways, one of them is enlarging the Rhynoc mooks, making them invincible in the process. Hit the cat mage to make the mooks return to normal and killable.
• Shout-Out:
  • The first time Bianca threatens Spyro, she warns him if he doesn't beat it she's going to be very angry... and you won't like her when she's angry. Sadly, a gargantuan green Bianca does not follow.
  • If you turn down Moneybags' offer to free Sgt Byrd, Moneybags remarks that the bird really ought to be let out; he's probably pining for the fjords.
    • And, when you agree to pay for Sgt Byrd's release, Moneybags starts to quote from the final scene of A Tale of Two Cities, before petering out.
    Moneybags: It's a far, far better thing you do today, Spyro, than you have ever done, and... err... well so forth, et cetera, you get the idea.
  • At the bottom of a lake in Seashell Shores, you will find a baby dragon named "Jason".
  • In a side area of Enchanted Towers, an inhabitant asks you to retrieve his pet wolf to him. The wolf's name is Farley and the owner is named Mowat. The author of the book "Never Cry Wolf" is Farley Mowat, and Mowat in the game himself says "Don't cry, wolf. Never cry, wolf."
  • The baby dragon inside the whale from Evening Lake is appropriately named "Jonah".
    • Another baby dragon does this - Sanders, who is given to you by someone who thinks it's a chicken's egg. Colonel Sanders is the name of the mascot for KFC. And the kicker? The baby dragon does the chicken dance.
  • Dino Mines:
    • A baby dragon that hatches in Dino Mines has a pink bow and is named Kiki.
    • The section where Agent 9 has a shootout with the Bailey Gang is named Sergio.
  • Fireworks Factory:
    • Agent 9 has two missions in the Fireworks Factory, both of which are entirely in first-person shooter mode. The mission name? "You're Doomed".
    • Greta's entire role here is a homage to The Matrix, with her white karate outfit, "fweeing her mind", jumping a huge gap and the Bullet Time segment at the end all referencing iconic moments from the movie.
  • Sheila's (an Australian Mammal) mission in Desert Ruins is in the form 2D platformer, in which upon entering Sheila mentions how she reminisces about the good ol' days. The Egg missions in this sublevel are titled "Krash Kangaroo I" and "Krash Kangaroo II". Looks like Sheila's a big fan of a certain bandicoot.
  • Say no to Moneybags when he tries to do the "Magical Extending Bridge Trick" in Crystal Islands, and he will threaten to turn you into "a blue hedgehog or something."
  • Haunted Tomb:
    • One of the possible answers to one of the riddles is a bandicoot.
    • In the same level, one of the riddles is, "I am a vessel without hinges, lock, or lid, yet within my walls, a golden treasure is hid." Readers of The Hobbit might recognize this riddle as one of the riddles that Bilbo asked Gollum.
  • Icy Peak
    • The two highly Canadian polar bears found in the main level share names with Bob and Doug McKenzie of SCTV's "Great White North" and Strange Brew fame.
    • The figure skating polar bear, Nancy, is named after Nancy Kerrigan, an American Olympic figure skater and the victim of a high-profile assault from a rival's hired goon. It suddenly makes a lot of sense why Rhynocs were so bent on whacking her with hockey sticks.
  • The prince of the cat wizards in Charmed Ridge is named Azrael.
  • Several of the baby dragons are named after jazz musicians, including Coltrane, Mingus, Miles, Brubeck, Thelonius and Herbi.
• Shovel Strike: The Small Ground-Dwelling Rhynocs of Seashell Shore wield shovels.
• Skate Heaven Is a Place on Earth: The skating area in Sunny Villa was originally a training ground for gladiators before Hunter made it a skatepark, while the area in Lost Fleet was just another part of the ship-graveyard. No telling what the racetrack in the Super Bonus Round was meant for (especially considering the world was used exclusively to house the Sorceress' treasure horde).
• Slide Level: One of the Mini Dungeons in the Crystal Islands level has Spyro sliding down a very long, slippery slide with lots of turns, while trying to collect the gems scattered on it. At the end of the slide is the door back to the main level, so you can freely retry if you missed some gems.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Year of the Dragon features four snow-ice levels: Icy Peak, Frozen Altars, Bentley's Outpost, and the Super Bonus Round.
• Snowlems: The Sorceress turns snowmen built during a Frozen Altars competition to life and they proceeded to wreck havoc around the region.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Original PlayStation/non-Greatest Hits/Platinum versions of the game (not counting the PAL version, which plays Spike's Arena) plays Sunrise Spring's theme when you're fighting the Sorceress. That's right, while the other bosses have imposing themes, the Big Bad gets the music used for the first world.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: One of Spider Queen and Bentley's abilities.
• Squishy Wizard: Literally! Could be seen here.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Ami and Azrael, though in this case they might be the cause of the cross rather than the victims of it.
• Stock Dinosaurs: Cowboy Tyrannosaurus appear in Dino Mines. They'll either shoot you with deadly aim or throw dynamite sticks at you.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: The Seals and the Rhynocs of Seashell Shore use no breathing apparatus underwater. Also, while Spyro had to be taught how to go underwater, the baby dragons he rescues are apparently born with the ability. One even sneezes while submerged.
• Super Spit: The venom spitting cobras of Haunted Tomb. Spyro too, being capable of spitting off projectiles that he puts into his mouth at long ranges.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Before rescuing Bentley, the sign near his side area in Bamboo Terrace notes to all explorers, by the Sorceress' decree, that that there is no yeti to be found [there] and that it is a myth, as far as [they] know.
• Swallowed Whole: Happens to Spyro the first time he swims too close to the whale's mouth in Evening Lake. Naturally, you find an egg inside named Jonah.
• Temper-Ceratops: Dino Mines has ceratopsians that operate turrets.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Several of the baby dragon hatchlings are shown to be female because they hatch with bows on their heads. This even applies in the Spyro Reignited Trilogy updated version of the game.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Two missions for Agent 9 in the Fireworks Factory are called "You're doomed" and "You're still doomed." And it is, indeed, one of the more difficult side quests in the game.
• Throw Down the Bomblet:
  • The Rhynoc Wizard and the Giant Armed Rhynocs of the Fireworks Factory throw cartoon bombs.
  • There are also Earthshapers in Haunted Tomb which throw exploding rocks and dinosaurs in Dino Mines which spit sticks of dynamite.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: While Moneybags starts off relatively goofy compared to his appearance in the previous game, by the end of this one he starts charging excessively for even the simplest things like opening a door simply because he knows Spyro has to pay him, all whilst feigning ignorance and then actively gloating about Spyro's transaction afterwards. There's even a moment where he openly mocks Spyro by saying that the password to open a secret door is the word "gullible". This is in contrast to Spyro 2 where, despite also charging Spyro a lot of Gems, he was a more polite gentlemen who usually upheld a "a deal's a deal" mentality.
• Totally Radical: Hunter speaks in slang most of the time.
• True Final Boss: The Sorceress is fought a second time in the Super Bonus Round once you obtain 20000 gems. Defeating her gives you the 150th and final egg, and an alternate ending.
• Underwater Boss Battle: Versus Bluto's nuclear powered shark submarine in Seashell Shore. Spyro gets to borrow a speed boat should he accept the challenge.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: Most prevalent here out of all the games. Between all the different characters and many minigames, gameplay can switch to skateboarding, first person shooting, sidescroller platforming, boxing, etc.
• Vehicular Combat: The dangerous sport of hovercraft battling in Haunted Tomb.
• Very False Advertising: When Rocky was talking about a party at the Tiki Lodge, players were not expecting it to be inside a volcano!
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The Sorceress lacks the comedic qualities that Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto possessed. She's an extremely cruel witch out to kill dragon hatchlings for their wings, and every cutscene she appears in is dead serious.
• Visual Pun: In Sunny Villa, the mayor gives you an egg, thinking it's from a giant chicken. Out pops baby dragon Sanders, who then does the Chicken Dance.
• Weather-Control Machine: The cloud generator and lava fusion cauldron of Cloud Spires.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Bianca is merely doing her master's bidding and stealing the dragon eggs in order to bring magic back to the Forgotten Worlds. She explicitly doesn't want Spyro or Hunter to get harmed from intervening and even has every intent of caring for the newborns. She finally breaks when she realises the Sorceress is a not-so-well-intentioned despot whose methods will involve killing all the dragons so she can make a spell with their wings, and promptly makes a Heel–Face Turn.
• What Does This Button Do?: In Evening Lake, Hunter comes across a button on the ground, which he pushes, causing him to fall into a cage, which closes as the Sorceress is heard laughing.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: While the baby dragons are returned to the Dragon Realms, it is not mentioned whether the problem of the Forgotten Worlds' fading magic has been solved. Since the Sorceress banished the dragons in the first place (and Hunter offered to talk to them about the problem), it can be implied the dragons could revive it to its former glory upon her defeat, but never stated outright. Even later games never clarify as Bianca moves to the Dragon Realms with Hunter afterwards.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The Giant Hammer-Wielding Rhynocs of Enchanted Towers are terrified of wolves, to the point they won't even bother to attack but just run away.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: When Sgt. Byrd presents his rocket launchers to Spyro, Spyro asks him why he didn't use them to escape from his cage. Byrd's answer is that he has limited ammo (which is a lie), and wanted to save it, to use as revenge on Moneybags.
• The Wild West: Dino Mines, dynamite and Gun Twirling on display. There are even underwater gunslingers.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: The larger Rhynocs of Cloud Spires attack this way.
• World Tour: Spyro visits several worlds based on a variety of a variety of historical lands and cultures.
• Wutai:
  • Bamboo Terrace is set in a peaceful Chinese setting, with pagodes and pandas.
  • Fireworks Factory is a more bustling example. It's set in an East Asian castle and its enemies include Ninjas jumping from the ceiling and dragons of the East Asian style.
• Yodel Land: Sheila's Alp features stereotypical Alp huts, big mushrooms and goats.

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