Spyro (Series)

Spyro the Dragon is a platform and action game series starring the video game character Spyro, which was originally published by Sony Computer Entertainment and Universal Interactive and developed by Insomniac Games for the PlayStation. The first game was a huge success and after 3 games on the original PlayStation, Insomniac Games went on to create the Ratchet & Clank series while Spyro was left in the hands of Universal Interactive. Many sequels and spin-off games followed on later consoles. The series has a total of thirteen games. The rights of this franchise are now owned by Activision.

The Spyro series has sold more than 20 million units worldwide.

Characters

 * Spyro the Dragon is an eager, headstrong, purple dragon and the main protagonist of the series.
 * Sparx  is a dragonfly and is Spyro's constant companion. He helps protect Spyro from damage, helps collect gems, and gives out helpful information throughout the game.
 * Gnasty Gnorc is the leader of the gnorcs and the main antagonist of the first game and a secondary antagonist in Spyro: A Hero's Tail.
 * Ripto is a stubborn reptilian character who is an ally of Gnasty Gnorc. He has two monsters named Crush and Gulp. He is a boss in a few of the Spyro games who has been spreading and/or causing problems.
 * The Sorceress is the ruler of the Forgotten Realms and the main antagonist of Spyro: Year of the Dragon.
 * Hunter  is a clumsy and cowardly cheetah and Spyro's best friend next to Sparx. He often helps Spyro to various challenges. He is a powerful athlete, a fast runner, trained archer, and skilled pilot of many different vehicles. In the Legend of Spyro series, his character is revamped to be much more heroic.
 * Red is the main antagonist of Spyro: A Hero's Tail.
 * Moneybags is a bear that is obsessed with money. He is often seen helping Spyro pass through obstacles and selling various items to Spyro.
 * Elora is a faun who helps Spyro throughout Avalar. She is often found in the home worlds and sometimes directs you to the nearest portal where you haven't obtained the talisman. She often gives you tips to help you throughout the game. She is also implied to be Spyro's love interest, which is most evident in the Epilogue of "Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage" where she is shown on a romantic ride with Spyro, with the caption saying "Spyro misses his chance with Elora."
 * Bianca is a rabbit who shares a love interest with Hunter. She is often seen using magic to help Spyro.
 * Sgt. Byrd is a penguin who was trapped by the Sorceress and freed by Spyro. He has a jet-pack and rocket launchers which give him an advantage to fly easily through the levels.
 * Agent 9 is a monkey who was also trapped by the Sorceress. He has a laser and can eliminate rhynocs with ease.
 * Sheila is an Australian kangaroo who also was trapped by the Sorceress. She can double jump, kick her opponents and stomp them easily.
 * Bentley is a yeti that was trapped by the Sorceress. He holds an icy bat which he uses to hit his opponents and crush them with, he also uses it to clear ways and solve puzzles.
 * Blink is a mole that was rescued by Spyro in Spyro:A Hero's Tail. He is the nephew of The Professor.
 * Ember is a pink dragon, who has a tremendous crush on Spyro. In Spyro: A Hero's Tail, she gives advice to Spyro to see an Elder to learn how to smash a Dark Gem. She later "dumps" Spyro for an armadillo named Bandit in Spyro: Shadow Legacy
 * The Professor is a mole that has been helpful in many series of the Spyro games. He is the uncle of one of the characters named Blink.
 * Flame is a red dragon who looks very much alike with Spyro (save for having smaller horns, a larger crest, and a long rounded muzzle.)
 * Crush is one of Ripto's two monsters and is a boss in Spyro: Ripto's Rage. Is sometimes seen with a club.
 * Gulp is known for his ability to devour anything in his way. He is one of Ripto's two monsters and is a boss in Spyro: Ripto's Rage.
 * The Dragon Elders are a group consisting of the oldest and wisest of the dragon families. The Dragon Elders are Tomas, Magnus, Titan and Astor. Red was also a former Elder prior to his exile.

The Legend of Spyro Series
 * Cynder is a dragon that was born on the same year as Spyro and was a dragoness that was turned evil by Malefor. After being defeated by Spyro, she loses the evil powers that corrupted her and eventually becomes allies with Spyro and Sparx. (but not exactly with Sparx) She later admits to Spyro that she loves him.
 * The Guardians Consists of the dragons based on the elements. Ignitus(fire-breathing), Terrador(earth-breathing), Cyril(ice-breathing), and Volteer(electricity-breathing).
 * The Chronicler An ancient dragon recording successes and failures of the passing age. A new Chronicler is chosen at the end of each age.  In Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, Ignitus becomes the Chronicler of the new age.
 * Malefor is a wicked purple dragon and the main antagonist in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. As stated by the character Ignitus(supposedly), he was the only purple dragon besides Spyro to have ever lived. However, Malefor claimed that many had existed before his time.
 * Gaul is the Ape King and the main antagonist in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night as well as Malefor's field commander prior to his death.

Locations

 * The Dragon Realms are the main setting of the series where most of the dragons including Spyro live. In the original Spyro game, only six realms were known to exist, but in sequels it was revealed that others also existed.
 * Avalar is a separate world that was being threatened by Ripto in Spyro: Ripto's Rage. It's home to various creatures including fauns like Elora and cheetahs like Hunter.
 * The Forgotten Realms are the ancient home of the dragons before being driven out by the Sorceress and serve as the setting for Spyro: Year of the Dragon.

Items

 * Gems are the hoard of dragons and often used as currency. In many of the games, there were a set number of gems per level, and these were counted towards the player's overall percentage of game completion. In the older games they would be used to pay the character Moneybags who would make later parts of the level accessible. However, ever since A Hero's Tail, this was no longer the case: gems could be collected by defeating enemies, and used to purchase consumable power-up items from shops. In the Legend of Spyro series, the gems are used as powerups themselves, eliminating "Fodder" from the game. In A Hero's Tail there were two special gems: Light and Dark, the player had to destroy dark gems to proceed to new areas within the game while collecting light gems allowed use of some of the professor's inventions and opened certain doors. In the reboot of the series they are found in larger Spirit Gems as well as when an enemy is defeated. There are four main types of gems; red are collected to fill up Spyro's health bar, green are used to power his breath attacks, purple to power his fury attacks and blue to upgrade his abilities in the main menue.
 * Orbs are the devices in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage used to get Spyro back to Dragon Shores. With enough, the Professor could open a portal (that Ripto earlier destroyed) and send Spyro back.
 * Dragon Eggs are a minor pickup in the first game that collected by defeating blue thieves. They serve a much more significant role as the primary pickup used to progress through the game in the Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon– they are comparable to orbs in the second instalment. They also appear in Spyro: A Hero's Tail, collecting them will unclock concept art.
 * Dragonflies are the primary pickup in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly where Spyro must catch them using his bubble breath.
 * Light Gems are bright glowing crystals that Spyro must pick up in Spyro: A Hero's Tail to power certain machines.
 * Dark Gems are dark purple crystals that obsorb the life of the world and were placed across the Dragon Realms by Red. Spyro must destroy them to progress in the game.
 * Scriber's Quills are collectible items in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night that are used to unlock concept art.

Cancelled 3D animated film
On October 25, 2007, it was announced that the film rights for Spyro the Dragon had been purchased by The Animation Picture Company. Daniel and Steven Altiere wrote the script, which was going to be based on the recently released The Legend of Spyro trilogy. The film was going to be titled The Legend of Spyro 3D and was supposed to be coming out from Los Angeles, California, and its animation would be done in Korea by a South Korean Animation studio, Wonderworld Studios. It was also going to produce the movie along with Universal Animation Studios. The film was also supposed to be produced by John Davis, Dan Chuba, Mark A. Z. Dippé, Brian Manis and Ash Shah. The film was to be distributed and advertised by Velvet Octopus along with Universal Studios. Mark Dippe was going to direct the film. This film was originally supposed to be released in theaters on Christmas 2009 for the United States and Canada, but it was delayed and it was also supposed to be released on April 10, 2010, but was never confirmed, proven to be false. The next day, it was confirmed by Daniel Altiere himself that the movie had been officially cancelled due to decisions made by Activision. That direction in which Activision decided to take was later on revealed on February 2011, to be in the form of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, which will be the second reboot of the Spyro series.

Stewart Copeland
Stewart Copeland, the drummer of the band The Police, composed the soundtracks for the first four Spyro games. The score for Spyro the Dragon was given high praise for its originality, portraying oriental/fantasy-like themes for the Dragon Worlds.

Copeland made music for each world in the games as well as music devoted to each level, giving them each their own feel according to the natural surroundings, architecture and inhabitants of the place. For example, in Spyro the Dragon the Artisan's world of shepherds, sheep, medieval towers and endless green knolls has an oriental-sounding mixture of bells and drums where as the Beast Makers' midnight swamp has a solid rhythm. It is the stage for all kinds of sounds, including strange vocals and exotic instruments in styles from all over the world.

In Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, a song by a British New Age composer Medwyn Goodall called "Free Spirit" from his 2001 album Meditations and Visualisations was featured in the game. It was used as a background music for the Summer Forest level.

Rebecca Kneubuhl and Gabriel Mann
Kneubuhl and Mann, previously members of the a cappella band Spiralmouth who also composed musical pieces for Crash Twinsanity and Crash Tag Team Racing from Spyro's companion franchise Crash Bandicoot, composed many of the musical pieces for each game of The Legend of Spyro trilogy. Kneubuhl and Mann have also performed songs with lyrics which are based on the protagonist's bonds with his closest allies, such as "This Broken Soul" in The Eternal Night, and "Guide You Home (I Would Die for You)" in Dawn of the Dragon.

Hans Zimmer
Famed Hollywood film soundtrack artist Hans Zimmer is slated to compose musical pieces for Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.