Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Spyro 3)(PS1, 2000)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5/7** Challenge-7/8* Story-5.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-7/8* Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Getting 100% (underwater stream mini-game, country speedway)
**Sheila and Sgt Byrd, hover vehicle
+
There are now sub levels within levels where you switch to an alternate playable character and use their abilities to progress (can't switch on the fly; Sheila - double jump/air hop and spring jump, Sgt Byrd - flight with side strafing+pick up and drop certain objects+shoot semi-homing rockets, Bentley the Yeti - can smash boulders and reflect shots+shove boxes but can't run, Agent 9 - shot+sniper shot+throw bombs+dodge left/right, Sparx the Dragonfly - shoot+charge/dash+power-up shot+strafe in top down view gauntlet/free-roaming shooter-style segments)
Some Platform Adventure/AA elements however Spyro doesn't gain new and permanent abilities with which to reach new parts of previously visited areas here (the alternate characters are usually not used to further explore in the main level you find them in, can backtrack for certain character specific and optional sub levels later on such as Sgt Byrd's sub level in the last level of hub area 1 (similar to a MV but less flexible and natural feeling), still partially non-linear (hub areas with several level entrances open at once - about 3-5 regular levels at once per hub area if you focus on getting the eggs, can exit a level at any point to go unlock more hub areas and levels (collection progress is saved), the levels are a bit open-ended overall and you can unlock a shortcut in each one, can replay beaten levels - can only enter them from one spot though, some breakable walls/floors)
One exception to the above is in the enchanted towers level where you explore it and then go into a door on the same level to switch to Sgt Byrd, letting you explore more of the level via flight
The added hop/"hover" at the end of glide jumps returns (can't use the hop at the top of a jump to double jump as Spyro though, still can't use the drop/headbash from mid-air as an attack?)
Basic quest log/journal (shows collecting percentages+number of gems out of the total number per level and if you've gotten the other items for any visited levels, doesn't show previous dialogue)
The flight-based bonus levels return and now incorporate charge running as well (time limited, you'll crash if you land in water)+there's a race through rings vs butterflies in each one
Can upgrade Sparx by beating his levels here (extended range and speed to pick up gems, +1 HP, break open treasure vases+warp directly to any level in the game)
The recurring thieves with eggs quest from Spyro 1 returns for some levels and hub areas
Skippable cutscenes (can also speed up text on a per paragraph basis)
Optional vibration/rumble
Partially destructible environment besides various doors and walls/floors (some doodads)
Various optional mini-bosses
Pretty good art direction (looks a bit like a Looney Tunes cartoon), very good animation and good visual variation, great draw distance (achieved by gradually lowering the detail level the further away something is), some nice effects (ice, falling snow, liquid smoke; no rain however)
Many hidden items (these tend to be visually teased and test your spatial awareness skills)
Decent voice acting (all NPCs are voiced?)
Many side quests/mini-games inside levels (for getting eggs here which are sometimes used as a key to progress; some good: tony hawk-inspired skating mini-games, supercharge egg thief chase (like the boost pads in Spyro 1), Gauntlet-style top down view sparx levels, rail shooter segment in FP view; some decent: sun seed herding on a timer, clearing the path for the bombers in spooky swamp - first one is decent but second one's path too random, recognize the spot the ?-marked pot is in (lame rewards though), shark submarine boss fight - resource management with the boat ammo+repairs itself though it can also "forget" your existence if you're in the right spot, defend the ballerina - a bit too zoomed in, cat herding race on ice (similar to hockey in Spyro 2, second submarine hunt), manta ray shoot 'em up segment (variation on taming and race training from Spyro 2), top down view Smash TV-style arena shooter gauntlet for agent 9 (easy until the last one); some are kinda slow and easy or they're just another search mission)
Can replay the main boss fights when traveling between hub areas
Skill points reward (20 in total, what to do shows up in the atlas after beating the final boss)=epilogue in the atlas/quest journal showing a bit of what happened after the events of the game
Decent reward for 100% completion (149 eggs+15k gems needed for a "super bonus round" level where you play these mini-games: chase a bunch of egg thieves, pilot a submarine, rocket skateboard race vs a yeti gang where you can also shoot them, take out sheep saucers with super fly+fireball/super flame, another flying saucer battle vs the sorceress) however you don't get the permanent fireball which could be used in a new game+ like in Spyro 2
Fight alongside an NPC for a bit in the fireworks factory level
The whale in the third hub area (neutral creature that swallows you and has an egg inside)
Some decent humour (Bentley, Lara homage)
Get your revenge on Moneybags in the end-game (chase him and flame the gems out of him)
Pretty good bosses overall (main ones tend to have multiple phases and a decent challenge, fight alongside the current hub area's new character during some boss fights (in others they drop ammo/power ups for you)
Some good puzzles (some super charge puzzles, golden goose (variation on planting seeds to grow platforms by spitting them into soil spots from Spyro 2) and some decent ones (stomp the turrets as Sheila (higher jump=stronger stomp)
Going off the main paths with power ups activated to break metal boxes for gems, lead a dog towards platform moving switches by spitting a ball at them - aiming the spit could've been a bit better, temporarily frozen enemies as platforms (Metroid/MM1) - underused and you only have the power in one level, hazardous liquid shield timing puzzle, volley shot to reach a switch powering an electronic barrier (similar to Spyro 2), some of the riddles in the tomb level)
+/-
More linear structure in that you now have to finish the main side quest in each level of the first hub area to unlock the next hub area
Collectathon and killathon aspects (400 gems to free Sheila and 700 gems at one point in the second hub (then 1000 in the third, etc.) - easy and gems are generally worth more than 1 each, 100 eggs to get to the final boss - this requires actively looking for them and beating most mini-games and bonus levels, helping the first NPC of each level - fairly easy overall, 14 eggs to unlock all the levels in the first hub area - fairly easy),
Only some levels have a power up gate here (so does each hub area) but on the other hand you don't need to activate it by collecting glowing spheres (temporary flight, long range fireball, temporary invincibility which lets you swim in hazardous liquids, freeze attack which lets you use enemies as platforms (underused here though), fireball+extended flight combo; can move through each gate over and over to keep picking one up)
Underwater swimming and charging/boosting+charging into/out of water+headbash/ground stomp+climbing are default abilities here
Frequent checkpoints and you can save your collection progress anywhere (1 slot per game though (and only 3 per card?), shows current level and overall completion percentage; the game also auto-saves when entering or exiting a level), Still uses extra lives+unlimited continues (collection progress is kept when dying)
Can attack NPCs but nothing happens besides a minor animation
Can't jump on enemies to attack them except for with the stomp move
Item drop magnet with upgradeable range and speed
No touch damage from most enemies
Some animal cruelty (the neutral creatures are also the ones that drop HP)
Unusual health bar returns (colored dragonfly mascot following you around)
Still no enemies in hub areas besides the neutral creatures that drop HP - Spyro 2
No traditional shops to unlock (for power ups or 1-ups)
Can't accelerate nor decelerate during flight besides landing and headbashing on the ground, then jumping back up (have to use this during one of the flight races)
Some dynamic difficulty balancing based on egg collection and what the current (hidden) difficulty setting is - goes from easy-hard only so there's three settings and it mainly affects enemy layout
No Elora (could talk to her to have her teleport you to an unplayed level in the current hub area) - you eventually unlock teleportation but it happens very late
Few and minor framerate drops
Redbook music with tracks that fade out and restart (no dynamic transitions afaict)
The short hop/double jump Spyro can do while gliding kills almost all of his forward momentum
Mandatory boss battles return (one per hub area, were mostly skippable in 1)
Only two permanent attack types (temporary flamethrower and exploding projectile attack power ups - used only against the second boss?)
You never grow into a big dragon here either
Mini-games tend to be placed in separate rooms that you warp to here (feels more arcade-like)
Can headbash the thrown steel barrels here
Many pits in later levels
The lock-on feature used in the submarine mini-game could've been used elsewhere too (as an upgrade or alternate weapon for agent 9 for example)
When falling into some lethal liquids you still get a short time window where you can jump out of water without dying (lava instantly hurts but makes you bounce upwards like in Mario 64) - seems there are fewer such liquids here than in the prequel though
Some of the power-ups and mini-games aren't quite as fully explored as the supercharge/boost pads in Spyro 1 - difficulty options or a couple of optional challenge levels could've helped here
Missing some of the more interesting puzzles/mini-games/enemies seen in Spyro 1 (make enemies break metal boxes with their cannons in the second area, enemies that trigger timed platforms, wizards that raise platforms to avoid you and block your path) and Spyro 2 (gliding from on top of the castle hub area, manta ray taming and race training, flight+spitting rocks at enemies one, fireball timing puzzles, monkey catching, final boss, springs besides the mushrooms in one level)
-
No mini-map here (Spyro 2) - leads to more backtracking and getting lost+having to refind locked chests after finding the key, The lack of a map means you have to stop and look up/down at various points to notice paths which slows the game down
Some control/interface issues (unresponsive controls and inconsistent hit detection in the yeti boxing mini-game, camera is still somewhat slow to turn with your avatar when set to Active and holding the rotate button doesn't really help - can press L1/R1 to quickly put it behind Spyro here though, the camera follows a bit too closely when jumping so when stomping you can't see the ground mid-jump, jumping is still a bit slower than running unless you're also bashing which only Spyro can do, Sheila's spring jump is awkward to use - kills almost all forward momentum and you have to first jump for it to trigger+you have no jump height control when using it so it's kinda slow, turning the camera sometimes doesn't work if you're near a wall - turning controls are also still reversed (L=clockwise turn and vice versa) and it can't be changed unless you emulate, if you just tap the charge button then a jump during it won't register (a problem during the second save the villagers quest), still can't move while using the FP free-look/aim mode (it's smooth but the top speed when rotating isn't quite fast enough and you still can't turn around completely), steering while running gets weird during some boss fights (first main boss, shark submarine), most stair climbing is a bit slow since you still get stunned for a bit from charging even into short walls (which could've sped up the climbing), no right analog stick support - released after Ape Escape and the controller had existed for 2+ years (could've been used for moving and aiming+spitting at the same time), seemingly pointless inconsistency in which enemies and pots you can and can't tackle/shoot at times), can't charge/boost while surface swimming, still no button config meaning you can't map the hop at the end of a glide jump to a shoulder button (it's mapped to triangle while jump is cross), minor delay before the FP view mode triggers - have to wait for your char to completely stop (Sheila is slower here), still fairly easy to turn instead of circle around if you rotate the stick too quickly as Spyro (causes a short break animation, doesn't happen as Sheila), a bit too easy to fall of the skateboard during that mini-game, need to stand in front off NPCs and eggs to interact, can't turn on the spot while swimming underwater, Sgt Byrd's acceleration is too slow and there's no "drop quickly" move - strafing is also weird in that if you try to steer during it then the camera rotates instead (same thing happens when using the hover vehicle during one mini-game challenge), can't go faster while on ice, agent 9 moves kind of slowly and can't move while throwing bombs)
Have to unlock Sparx's (the fly mascot/HP display) ability to point towards the nearest treasure here by beating his second level in the mid-game - or you can use a cheat code
The unintended double jump from Spyro 2 isn't in it (can be added via a gameshark code)
Some trial & error (pretty easy to miss unlocking Sparx's levels because you have to unlock them in order and after beating a hub area's boss (the game doesn't tell you this), no margin for error in the flight-based bonus levels where you take out a bunch of different targets or in the underwater stream mini-game, country speedway - unintuitive path and zero margin for error, kamikaze attacks from some enemies (skelos badlands)?, you're not told about all the objectives when first entering a flight bonus level and there are still no course maps in them?, super charge puzzles?, a few very tight jumps?)
Some dead space and dead ends plus some padding in that various gems are too far off the main path of a level. Various eggs are just lying out in the open as well
Some tedious parts (some backtracking if you miss a jump in a high spot and for ammo (in various levels you have to use objects to spit to take out enemies - could've given you like 2-3 shots per object swallowed instead), it takes ~25 seconds to load a game from boot up due to unskippable logos (less than 10 seconds if you're already in-game), in the second skatepark you can't follow up doing the highest ramp jump with going to the right and doing the platforming part since you can't slow down, no urgency to the turret segments in the first ice level, kind of drawn out twin dragon mini-boss fight though the space harrier reference is neat, Bentley moves too slow and can't run, stairs are fairly often placed in such a way that you'll run into them and ruin your flow if you try to run and jump up them, magic platforms disappearing if you enter water in crystal islands)
Don't get the intro and outro cutscenes for every level like in Spyro 2 and level transitions aren't as seamless as in 1 either
No strafe/roll move as Spyro here - makes combat simpler
NPCs sometimes give useless hints
The splash screens before cutscenes don't look that good
Some scripting oddities (NPCs act as if you've never met when returning to a level and egg reward cutscenes also repeat if you re-finish side quests - can skip most of the latter's animations by pressing start though, can't talk to some earlier side quest NPCs whose quests you've finished (a bit awkward), can only talk to Sheila and the Bentley after freeing them, some NPC dialogue doesn't update after finishing a side quest)
Somewhat weak impact from your standard fire breath attack (the attack itself, not the effect on enemies and objects)
Some difficulty spikes (underwater stream mini-game, more?)
Sometimes lame rewards for opening locked chests (just some gems)
Invisible roof in the sky for Sgt Byrd's segments
Many of the skill point challenges are more time consuming than challenging
NPC dialogue cuts out the music completely (a semi-fade would've been better) - also cuts out when moving near doors to mini-games
Some annoying music (Sgt Byrd, Enchanted Towers Stunt Skateboarding, Bentley, Midnight Mountain hook)
Non-interactive cannons in fireworks factory level (basically cutscenes taking you from one place to another, mario 64 and sonic 3 had interactive ones)
Some difficulty dips (overly straightforward first Bentley level and reflecting enemy shots is too easy, the sniper segments for agent 9 are too easy, some parts of crystal islands and other late game levels, the third flight race is easier than the previous two)
The ricochet feature of agent 9's shots could've been used for puzzles (see D/Generation for example)
Less of a build-up towards the final boss than in Spyro 2 and no proper introduction to it+the first hub area's music is used which doesn't fit a final boss, kinda lame standard ending ("gotta find all the eggs!"+the sorceress survived)
Notes:
-Unlockable easy mode and hard mode via cheat codes (mainly affects enemy layout, changes based on egg collection)
-Mini-game difficulty edit cheat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdGQ4rWTqKw&t=7m15s
-Double jump gameshark code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeNMHPUBsYU
-Got about 110 eggs and 12000 gems
Level Design-7 Frustration-7/8* Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Getting 100% (underwater stream mini-game, country speedway)
**Sheila and Sgt Byrd, hover vehicle
+
There are now sub levels within levels where you switch to an alternate playable character and use their abilities to progress (can't switch on the fly; Sheila - double jump/air hop and spring jump, Sgt Byrd - flight with side strafing+pick up and drop certain objects+shoot semi-homing rockets, Bentley the Yeti - can smash boulders and reflect shots+shove boxes but can't run, Agent 9 - shot+sniper shot+throw bombs+dodge left/right, Sparx the Dragonfly - shoot+charge/dash+power-up shot+strafe in top down view gauntlet/free-roaming shooter-style segments)
Some Platform Adventure/AA elements however Spyro doesn't gain new and permanent abilities with which to reach new parts of previously visited areas here (the alternate characters are usually not used to further explore in the main level you find them in, can backtrack for certain character specific and optional sub levels later on such as Sgt Byrd's sub level in the last level of hub area 1 (similar to a MV but less flexible and natural feeling), still partially non-linear (hub areas with several level entrances open at once - about 3-5 regular levels at once per hub area if you focus on getting the eggs, can exit a level at any point to go unlock more hub areas and levels (collection progress is saved), the levels are a bit open-ended overall and you can unlock a shortcut in each one, can replay beaten levels - can only enter them from one spot though, some breakable walls/floors)
One exception to the above is in the enchanted towers level where you explore it and then go into a door on the same level to switch to Sgt Byrd, letting you explore more of the level via flight
The added hop/"hover" at the end of glide jumps returns (can't use the hop at the top of a jump to double jump as Spyro though, still can't use the drop/headbash from mid-air as an attack?)
Basic quest log/journal (shows collecting percentages+number of gems out of the total number per level and if you've gotten the other items for any visited levels, doesn't show previous dialogue)
The flight-based bonus levels return and now incorporate charge running as well (time limited, you'll crash if you land in water)+there's a race through rings vs butterflies in each one
Can upgrade Sparx by beating his levels here (extended range and speed to pick up gems, +1 HP, break open treasure vases+warp directly to any level in the game)
The recurring thieves with eggs quest from Spyro 1 returns for some levels and hub areas
Skippable cutscenes (can also speed up text on a per paragraph basis)
Optional vibration/rumble
Partially destructible environment besides various doors and walls/floors (some doodads)
Various optional mini-bosses
Pretty good art direction (looks a bit like a Looney Tunes cartoon), very good animation and good visual variation, great draw distance (achieved by gradually lowering the detail level the further away something is), some nice effects (ice, falling snow, liquid smoke; no rain however)
Many hidden items (these tend to be visually teased and test your spatial awareness skills)
Decent voice acting (all NPCs are voiced?)
Many side quests/mini-games inside levels (for getting eggs here which are sometimes used as a key to progress; some good: tony hawk-inspired skating mini-games, supercharge egg thief chase (like the boost pads in Spyro 1), Gauntlet-style top down view sparx levels, rail shooter segment in FP view; some decent: sun seed herding on a timer, clearing the path for the bombers in spooky swamp - first one is decent but second one's path too random, recognize the spot the ?-marked pot is in (lame rewards though), shark submarine boss fight - resource management with the boat ammo+repairs itself though it can also "forget" your existence if you're in the right spot, defend the ballerina - a bit too zoomed in, cat herding race on ice (similar to hockey in Spyro 2, second submarine hunt), manta ray shoot 'em up segment (variation on taming and race training from Spyro 2), top down view Smash TV-style arena shooter gauntlet for agent 9 (easy until the last one); some are kinda slow and easy or they're just another search mission)
Can replay the main boss fights when traveling between hub areas
Skill points reward (20 in total, what to do shows up in the atlas after beating the final boss)=epilogue in the atlas/quest journal showing a bit of what happened after the events of the game
Decent reward for 100% completion (149 eggs+15k gems needed for a "super bonus round" level where you play these mini-games: chase a bunch of egg thieves, pilot a submarine, rocket skateboard race vs a yeti gang where you can also shoot them, take out sheep saucers with super fly+fireball/super flame, another flying saucer battle vs the sorceress) however you don't get the permanent fireball which could be used in a new game+ like in Spyro 2
Fight alongside an NPC for a bit in the fireworks factory level
The whale in the third hub area (neutral creature that swallows you and has an egg inside)
Some decent humour (Bentley, Lara homage)
Get your revenge on Moneybags in the end-game (chase him and flame the gems out of him)
Pretty good bosses overall (main ones tend to have multiple phases and a decent challenge, fight alongside the current hub area's new character during some boss fights (in others they drop ammo/power ups for you)
Some good puzzles (some super charge puzzles, golden goose (variation on planting seeds to grow platforms by spitting them into soil spots from Spyro 2) and some decent ones (stomp the turrets as Sheila (higher jump=stronger stomp)
Going off the main paths with power ups activated to break metal boxes for gems, lead a dog towards platform moving switches by spitting a ball at them - aiming the spit could've been a bit better, temporarily frozen enemies as platforms (Metroid/MM1) - underused and you only have the power in one level, hazardous liquid shield timing puzzle, volley shot to reach a switch powering an electronic barrier (similar to Spyro 2), some of the riddles in the tomb level)
+/-
More linear structure in that you now have to finish the main side quest in each level of the first hub area to unlock the next hub area
Collectathon and killathon aspects (400 gems to free Sheila and 700 gems at one point in the second hub (then 1000 in the third, etc.) - easy and gems are generally worth more than 1 each, 100 eggs to get to the final boss - this requires actively looking for them and beating most mini-games and bonus levels, helping the first NPC of each level - fairly easy overall, 14 eggs to unlock all the levels in the first hub area - fairly easy),
Only some levels have a power up gate here (so does each hub area) but on the other hand you don't need to activate it by collecting glowing spheres (temporary flight, long range fireball, temporary invincibility which lets you swim in hazardous liquids, freeze attack which lets you use enemies as platforms (underused here though), fireball+extended flight combo; can move through each gate over and over to keep picking one up)
Underwater swimming and charging/boosting+charging into/out of water+headbash/ground stomp+climbing are default abilities here
Frequent checkpoints and you can save your collection progress anywhere (1 slot per game though (and only 3 per card?), shows current level and overall completion percentage; the game also auto-saves when entering or exiting a level), Still uses extra lives+unlimited continues (collection progress is kept when dying)
Can attack NPCs but nothing happens besides a minor animation
Can't jump on enemies to attack them except for with the stomp move
Item drop magnet with upgradeable range and speed
No touch damage from most enemies
Some animal cruelty (the neutral creatures are also the ones that drop HP)
Unusual health bar returns (colored dragonfly mascot following you around)
Still no enemies in hub areas besides the neutral creatures that drop HP - Spyro 2
No traditional shops to unlock (for power ups or 1-ups)
Can't accelerate nor decelerate during flight besides landing and headbashing on the ground, then jumping back up (have to use this during one of the flight races)
Some dynamic difficulty balancing based on egg collection and what the current (hidden) difficulty setting is - goes from easy-hard only so there's three settings and it mainly affects enemy layout
No Elora (could talk to her to have her teleport you to an unplayed level in the current hub area) - you eventually unlock teleportation but it happens very late
Few and minor framerate drops
Redbook music with tracks that fade out and restart (no dynamic transitions afaict)
The short hop/double jump Spyro can do while gliding kills almost all of his forward momentum
Mandatory boss battles return (one per hub area, were mostly skippable in 1)
Only two permanent attack types (temporary flamethrower and exploding projectile attack power ups - used only against the second boss?)
You never grow into a big dragon here either
Mini-games tend to be placed in separate rooms that you warp to here (feels more arcade-like)
Can headbash the thrown steel barrels here
Many pits in later levels
The lock-on feature used in the submarine mini-game could've been used elsewhere too (as an upgrade or alternate weapon for agent 9 for example)
When falling into some lethal liquids you still get a short time window where you can jump out of water without dying (lava instantly hurts but makes you bounce upwards like in Mario 64) - seems there are fewer such liquids here than in the prequel though
Some of the power-ups and mini-games aren't quite as fully explored as the supercharge/boost pads in Spyro 1 - difficulty options or a couple of optional challenge levels could've helped here
Missing some of the more interesting puzzles/mini-games/enemies seen in Spyro 1 (make enemies break metal boxes with their cannons in the second area, enemies that trigger timed platforms, wizards that raise platforms to avoid you and block your path) and Spyro 2 (gliding from on top of the castle hub area, manta ray taming and race training, flight+spitting rocks at enemies one, fireball timing puzzles, monkey catching, final boss, springs besides the mushrooms in one level)
-
No mini-map here (Spyro 2) - leads to more backtracking and getting lost+having to refind locked chests after finding the key, The lack of a map means you have to stop and look up/down at various points to notice paths which slows the game down
Some control/interface issues (unresponsive controls and inconsistent hit detection in the yeti boxing mini-game, camera is still somewhat slow to turn with your avatar when set to Active and holding the rotate button doesn't really help - can press L1/R1 to quickly put it behind Spyro here though, the camera follows a bit too closely when jumping so when stomping you can't see the ground mid-jump, jumping is still a bit slower than running unless you're also bashing which only Spyro can do, Sheila's spring jump is awkward to use - kills almost all forward momentum and you have to first jump for it to trigger+you have no jump height control when using it so it's kinda slow, turning the camera sometimes doesn't work if you're near a wall - turning controls are also still reversed (L=clockwise turn and vice versa) and it can't be changed unless you emulate, if you just tap the charge button then a jump during it won't register (a problem during the second save the villagers quest), still can't move while using the FP free-look/aim mode (it's smooth but the top speed when rotating isn't quite fast enough and you still can't turn around completely), steering while running gets weird during some boss fights (first main boss, shark submarine), most stair climbing is a bit slow since you still get stunned for a bit from charging even into short walls (which could've sped up the climbing), no right analog stick support - released after Ape Escape and the controller had existed for 2+ years (could've been used for moving and aiming+spitting at the same time), seemingly pointless inconsistency in which enemies and pots you can and can't tackle/shoot at times), can't charge/boost while surface swimming, still no button config meaning you can't map the hop at the end of a glide jump to a shoulder button (it's mapped to triangle while jump is cross), minor delay before the FP view mode triggers - have to wait for your char to completely stop (Sheila is slower here), still fairly easy to turn instead of circle around if you rotate the stick too quickly as Spyro (causes a short break animation, doesn't happen as Sheila), a bit too easy to fall of the skateboard during that mini-game, need to stand in front off NPCs and eggs to interact, can't turn on the spot while swimming underwater, Sgt Byrd's acceleration is too slow and there's no "drop quickly" move - strafing is also weird in that if you try to steer during it then the camera rotates instead (same thing happens when using the hover vehicle during one mini-game challenge), can't go faster while on ice, agent 9 moves kind of slowly and can't move while throwing bombs)
Have to unlock Sparx's (the fly mascot/HP display) ability to point towards the nearest treasure here by beating his second level in the mid-game - or you can use a cheat code
The unintended double jump from Spyro 2 isn't in it (can be added via a gameshark code)
Some trial & error (pretty easy to miss unlocking Sparx's levels because you have to unlock them in order and after beating a hub area's boss (the game doesn't tell you this), no margin for error in the flight-based bonus levels where you take out a bunch of different targets or in the underwater stream mini-game, country speedway - unintuitive path and zero margin for error, kamikaze attacks from some enemies (skelos badlands)?, you're not told about all the objectives when first entering a flight bonus level and there are still no course maps in them?, super charge puzzles?, a few very tight jumps?)
Some dead space and dead ends plus some padding in that various gems are too far off the main path of a level. Various eggs are just lying out in the open as well
Some tedious parts (some backtracking if you miss a jump in a high spot and for ammo (in various levels you have to use objects to spit to take out enemies - could've given you like 2-3 shots per object swallowed instead), it takes ~25 seconds to load a game from boot up due to unskippable logos (less than 10 seconds if you're already in-game), in the second skatepark you can't follow up doing the highest ramp jump with going to the right and doing the platforming part since you can't slow down, no urgency to the turret segments in the first ice level, kind of drawn out twin dragon mini-boss fight though the space harrier reference is neat, Bentley moves too slow and can't run, stairs are fairly often placed in such a way that you'll run into them and ruin your flow if you try to run and jump up them, magic platforms disappearing if you enter water in crystal islands)
Don't get the intro and outro cutscenes for every level like in Spyro 2 and level transitions aren't as seamless as in 1 either
No strafe/roll move as Spyro here - makes combat simpler
NPCs sometimes give useless hints
The splash screens before cutscenes don't look that good
Some scripting oddities (NPCs act as if you've never met when returning to a level and egg reward cutscenes also repeat if you re-finish side quests - can skip most of the latter's animations by pressing start though, can't talk to some earlier side quest NPCs whose quests you've finished (a bit awkward), can only talk to Sheila and the Bentley after freeing them, some NPC dialogue doesn't update after finishing a side quest)
Somewhat weak impact from your standard fire breath attack (the attack itself, not the effect on enemies and objects)
Some difficulty spikes (underwater stream mini-game, more?)
Sometimes lame rewards for opening locked chests (just some gems)
Invisible roof in the sky for Sgt Byrd's segments
Many of the skill point challenges are more time consuming than challenging
NPC dialogue cuts out the music completely (a semi-fade would've been better) - also cuts out when moving near doors to mini-games
Some annoying music (Sgt Byrd, Enchanted Towers Stunt Skateboarding, Bentley, Midnight Mountain hook)
Non-interactive cannons in fireworks factory level (basically cutscenes taking you from one place to another, mario 64 and sonic 3 had interactive ones)
Some difficulty dips (overly straightforward first Bentley level and reflecting enemy shots is too easy, the sniper segments for agent 9 are too easy, some parts of crystal islands and other late game levels, the third flight race is easier than the previous two)
The ricochet feature of agent 9's shots could've been used for puzzles (see D/Generation for example)
Less of a build-up towards the final boss than in Spyro 2 and no proper introduction to it+the first hub area's music is used which doesn't fit a final boss, kinda lame standard ending ("gotta find all the eggs!"+the sorceress survived)
Notes:
-Unlockable easy mode and hard mode via cheat codes (mainly affects enemy layout, changes based on egg collection)
-Mini-game difficulty edit cheat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdGQ4rWTqKw&t=7m15s
-Double jump gameshark code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeNMHPUBsYU
-Got about 110 eggs and 12000 gems