History VideoGame / SpyroTheDragon1998

* AllDesertsHaveCacti: The Peace Keepers homeworld, Dry Canyon and Cliff Town are desert levels with cacti decorating them.

* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: The game gives you an unusually large number of 1-Ups in [[DifficultySpike the Beast Makers area and levels]], including four in [[ThatOneLevel Tree Tops]] (few levels have more than two). Clearly, the dev team expected players to die a lot in this area, which, given the obtuse Supercharge routes required to reach the remote areas of the level and 100% it, nay well happen.

*** This game has the fewest cutscenes of the original trilogy, likely as a consequence of its dearth of developed NPCs to work with. ''Ripto's Rage'' added overarching plot cutscenes and scenes framing each level's story, while ''Year of the Dragon'' kept the grander plot scenes but dropped the framing scenes for levels.

*** This is the only game of the original trilogy that has a unique theme for its title screen. It is used as a {{leitmotif}} throughout the soundtrack. its title screen. It is used as a {{leitmotif}} throughout the soundtrack. The two sequels reuse different level themes as their title screen music pieces.

** Later games past the original trilogy treat purple dragons as special. At least one level in each world has a purple dragon to be released in it. One dragon in the Beast Makers - Sadiki - looks almost like a bigger Spyro.

** Spyro's moveset does not include a hover at the end of a glide, climbing, or the [[GroundPound Headbash]].
** Extra lives are dragon-shaped and found in shelled creatures, whereas they took the form of blue bottled butterflies in later games.
** There are no persistent [=NPCs=] beyond the balloonists and fairies. Dragons appear briefly and leave the map when rescued, leaving the maps feeling a bit empty.
** Bosses had no onscreen health meters when fighting them, none of them were fought in proper arenas (and generally [[GetBackHereBoss ran away instead of putting up a fight]]), and were entirely optional sans Gnasty.
** Levels and boss levels can be taken on in any order, as the goal of each world is simply to fulfill its balloonist's requirement; only the last world's levels were required, which was the exact opposite of the next two games[[note]]The pre-final worlds of the second and third games simply required reaching the end of the level to fight the boss, while both final worlds simply required roughly 2/3rds of the main collectible to fight the final boss[[/note]].
** Enemies were present in the home stages for each world while later games' homeworlds are peaceful.
** There are no minigames outside of the usul Speedway levels, and said Speedway levels were referred to as "Flight" instead.
** All water damages Spyro in this game, while later games had Spyro able to swim in most of it.

** This is the only game of the original trilogy that has a unique theme for its title screen. It is used as a {{leitmotif}} throughout the soundtrack. The two sequels reuse different level themes as their title screen music pieces.
** The designs for gem containers are mostly unique to this game, while timer chests (whose gems pop out the top and must be grabbed in the air) and propeller chests requiring three flames to open did not reappear in the next two games.

* AllDesertsHaveCacti: The Peace Keepers homeworld, Dy Canyon and Cliff Town are desert levels with cacti decorating them.

* HundredPercentCompletion: Which will unlock [[spoiler:Gnasty's Loot, a level ''full'' of gems. Collecting them all grants you an extra 20 percent, and a bonus ending]].
* ActionSurvivor: Of a sort. Spyro only avoids the crystalisation spell that gets everyone else because he's so small, the spell shoots over his head (although the manual states that he was away when it happens, contradicting the game's opening cutscene). He still jumps, however, even if there wasn't an [[JumpedAtTheCall actual call]].

* AllDesertsHaveCacti: Dry Canyon and Cliff Town are based on Texas/Mexico, [[JustifiedTrope which do have cacti though]].

* AnimatedArmor: In Haunted Towers, the Blue Weather Wizards there can animate an uninhabited suit of armor called Tin Soldiers. They can only be destroyed by supercharge or superflame.
* AngryGuardDog: The dogs in the Toasty level.
* ArmorIsUseless: Zigzagged. Spyro's BreathWeapon has no effect on armored enemies, but his charge does. Some large sized armored enemies and the AnimatedArmor in Haunted Towers are completely immune to Spyro's standard attacks.

* BellyFlopCrushing: The sheepdogs will try this if burnt by Spyro's flame.

* {{Backtracking}}: With open exploration comes the need to collect them all. Luckily, the inter-world balloonists allow Spyro to reach previous worlds at any time. Though it's possible to avert this if you know where everything is, unlike the next two games, as Spyro doesn't learn any skills or make any allies; everything in a world is available as soon as you enter it.

* BottomlessPits: When it's not liquids, it's this!
** BottomlessPitRescueService: High Caves; in this one level alone, falling into the one abyss with the supercharge ramp will cause a trio of fairies to rescue you and deposit you atop a supercharge ramp. [[note]]This is a very generous use of AntiFrustrationFeatures, due to the fact that the level is built around chaining supercharge ramps into gliding, so you can practice until you nail it or give up. [[/note]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: Gnasty Gnorc enslaves all the dragons [[MinorInsultMeltdown because one called him ugly]]. To be fair, he was probably just [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity looking for an excuse to use that spell anyway]]...

* DreamLand: The Dream Weavers world.

** Aside from Spyro's voice, several elements from the later ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'' and ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'' were missing, such as Spyro's hover, extra life butterflies, and persistent [=NPCs=] beyond the balloonists and fairies. Bosses had no onscreen health meters when fighting them, none of them were fought in proper arenas (and generally [[GetBackHereBoss ran away instead of putting up a fight]]), and were entirely optional sans Gnasty. In fact, no level was strictly required, as the goal of each world is simply to fulfill its balloonist's requirement; only the last world's levels were required, which was the exact opposite of the next two games[[note]]The pre-final worlds of the second and third games simply required reaching the end of the level to fight the boss, while both final worlds simply required roughly 2/3rds of the main collectible to fight the final boss[[/note]]. Enemies were present in the home stages for each world, and there were also no minigames outside of the usual Speedway levels, and said Speedway levels were referred to as "Flight" instead. Spyro also has SuperDrowningSkills in this game.
** Later games treat purple dragons as special. At least one level in each world has a purple dragon to be released in it. One dragon in the Beast Makers - Sadiki - looks almost like a bigger Spyro.

* ElementalPowers: The wizard enemies from Magic Crafters. Some move the [[DishingOutDirt earth]], others cast [[BlowYouAway wind tornadoes]], the big blue ones use [[AnIcePerson ice magic]] and the small floating ones with raining clouds over their heads attack with [[ShockAndAwe lightning]].

* TheFaceless: We never actually see the interviewer. In the original version, we only see his arm holding a clipboard, while in the Ignited Trilogy version, we don't see him at all.
* FairyCompanion: Sparx, while (mostly) mute, is a more helpful companion.

* GrimyWater: There is purple stagnant water (possibly tar or oil) in most levels attached to the Peace Keepers home and there is a whole lotta green goop in Beast Makers home and its levels.

** An average run-through of Haunted Towers will leave the player short a dragon and a sizable chunk of treasure. What's worse, there's no indication that there's any area outside of the one most of the action takes place in, save a tiny hole in the ceiling with no visible way to get through. The solution is to use the Supercharge slope, jump over a gap that most wouldn't think to cross that way, and then ramp to a completely nondescript ledge. Further confounding matters is a circular ramp close to the aforementioned jump that [[RedHerring looks like it should lead somewhere, but actually doesn't]].
** Tree Tops utilizes this in the ''worst'' possible ways, with extremely convoluted and unintuitive Supercharge routes (including one section where a Supercharge slope must be traversed ''backwards'') being required to reach the final Dragon and gems. Without resorting to a guide, figuring this out requires ''boatloads'' of [[TrialAndErrorGameplay trial and error]].

* HollywoodNatives: Kamikaze Tribesmen, Doctor Shemp, Strongarms and Banana Boys. Just add an extra bone in a makeshift orifice and it just might be considered offensive somewhere.

* InvincibleMinorMinion: There are fools in the Dream Weavers levels that are unkillable and [[HarmlessVillain don't attack]], but turn into clocks for a few seconds when hit, temporarily opening up a platform. Dark Passage's fools temporarily disappear into their own lanterns this way.

* LifeMeter: Sparx the Dragonfly takes 3 hits before leaving Spyro to his own defenses. Health denoted by bright yellow, color-sparkle blue, and plain green. Sparx also lets Spyro pick up gems ''adjacent'' to Spyro, so his absence would make Spyro's job harder.

* MugglesDoItBetter: The last enemies Spyro encounters are gnorcs with automatic weapons and grenades. They are the most dangerous enemies as their attacks are often tough to dodge, especially in the level's narrow passages. There are enemies that are harder to kill, but many of them can easily be run past, this is not the case with these gun toting adversaries.

* NotQuiteFlight: For most of the game, Spyro can glide in place of a typical DoubleJump. Attempted to be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in-story by virtue of Spyro being a young dragon not yet able to fly unassisted, although this falls apart when taking the Flight stages into consideration. The [[RealLife real reason]] is likely that the designers didn't want people to be able to fly wherever and whenever they want, making the game too easy.

* OneUp: Their chest make a distinctive sound and they take the form of Spyro figurines. You can also run through levels a second time and defeat the enemies again to gain pearls; collecting a whole ring will also increase your lives by 1.

* OurFairiesAreDifferent: Every save point is guarded by a fairy. Stationary fairies occasionally show up to give Spyro a supercharging kiss. They're all helpful to Spyro, though.

* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: The game gives you an unusually large number of 1-Ups in [[DifficultySpike the Beast Makers area and levels]], including four in [[ThatOneLevel Tree Tops]] (few levels have more than two). Clearly, the dev team expected players to die a lot in this area.
* TheOverworld: Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers and Gnorc Gnexus

* TimeTrial: The flight levels. The best rewards, however, are dictated by first clearing in the given time rather than just fastest time.

* TreasureRoom: Gnasty Gnorc was "sloppy" with hording the exposed gems, so some levels could be considered prone to such a layout. Most notably, the top-most room of Gnasty's Loot has a gratuitous arrangement of fireworks that fill the room with purple gems.

* WitchDoctor: Doctor Shemp

* DifficultySpike: The Beast Makers world is considerably more difficult than any of the other worlds before it. It has a higher completion requirement (50 out of 58 dragons) and it's the second world where you cannot skip without playing through at least one level (Artisans being the first). It also contains some rather hard levels in the game by that point, with notable mentions going to Misty Bog (tough enemies followed by healing butterflies being scarce), and Tree Tops (getting HundredPercentCompletion requires solving some tricky puzzles involving the supercharge ramps).

-->--'''Spyro the Dragon'''

-->'''Spyro the Dragon'''

* KungFuProofMook: In two varieties. {{Giant Mook}}s can't be charged, and armored ones are immune to fire. So, of course, a couple areas have giant, armored enemies, though there are still ways to deal with them. The armored giant spiders in the High Caves, for example, can be taken down with a supercharge. Armored giant gnorcs of two different variety and "haunted" knight armor also require more than Spyro's standard abilities to beat.

* ClownSpecies: The Fools are an InvincibleMinorMinion native within the Dream Weavers Worlds. While considerably harmless, they have the ability to affect the world around them. The Fools in Dream Weavers and Jacque's boss level is attacked become a timer that lower or tighten select platforms before the bell rings. The Fools in Dark Passage carry around lamps that, when lit, keep the Demon Dogs and Armored Turtles in their smaller, more docile state, becoming giant and much more of a threat when the lamp is extinguished.

* PortalDoor: Archways are how Spyro gets from a homeworld to one of its levels. Spyro exits through them after reaching an exit platform.

* WorldInTheSky: Virtually all the Dream Weavers levels (aside from Icy Flight). Some of the Peace Keepers and Magic Crafters levels may [[BottomlessPits possibly]] also go here.

** This is the only game of the original trilogy that has a unique theme for its title screen. It is used as a {{leitmotif}} used throughout the soundtrack. The two sequels reuse different level themes as their title screen music pieces.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Aside from Spyro's voice, several elements from the later ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'' and ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'' were missing, such as Spyro's hover, extra life butterflies, and persistent [=NPCs=] beyond the balloonists and fairies. Bosses had no onscreen health meters when fighting them, none of them were fought in proper arenas (and generally [[GetBackHereBoss ran away instead of putting up a fight]]), and were entirely optional sans Gnasty. In fact, no level was strictly required, as the goal of each world is simply to fulfill its balloonist's requirement; only the last world's levels were required, which was the exact opposite of the next two games[[note]]The pre-final worlds of the second and third games simply required reaching the end of the level to fight the boss, while both final worlds simply required roughly 2/3rds of the main collectible to fight the final boss[[/note]]. Enemies were present in the home stages for each world, and there were also no minigames outside of the usual Speedway levels, and said Speedway levels were referred to as "Flight" instead. Spyro also has SuperDrowningSkills in this game.

* BookEnds: Both Toasty's world and Gnorc Gnexus share the exact same theme.

-->'''Bruno:''' Gnasty Gnorc is turnin' our swamp into an electrified ''junk'' heap! And it used to be ''so beautiful''...
-->'''Spyro:''' I'm sure it was...

* BubblegloopSwamp: Beast Makers, including Village Terrace and Misty Bog.

* {{BFG}}: The enemies in the penultimate level mostly carry big machine guns.

This game, along with ''[[VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage Ripto's Rage!]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon Year of the Dragon]]'', were remastered on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne with updated graphics as a part of the ''VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy'', coinciding with the franchise's [[MilestoneCelebration 20th anniversary]].

* NoPronounciationGuide: The TV news anchor in the opening and closing repeatedly refers to Gnasty Gnorc as "guh-nasty guh-norc."

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Astor's confusion on there being five or six worlds, as well as his miscount of 12,000 or 14,000 references [[spoiler: one of those worlds being Gnorc Gnexus, with the 2000 gems he's lost count of being found in Gnasty Gnorc's personal treasure horde.]]