Did you think it was the Year of the Dog? Activision would prefer to think of it as the Year of the (small, cute, purple) Dragon: the much-anticipated Spyro remaster has been confirmed.
Fans of classic 3D character platformers, who have found themselves wanting recently, are suddenly flush with games. From the somewhat disappointing Yooka-Laylee to the well-received-but-holy-crap-was-it-always-this-hard Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, and of course Super Mario Odyssey, it’s been a good time for people who like to jump on things. You know, like platforms. In three dimensions. With colourful characters.
Now another series is back: Activision have confirmed a Spyro remaster, called the Spyro Reignited Triology, which features remasters of the first three games.
Spyro the series looked like it wasn’t so much dead in the water, but had been completely stripped for parts by the Skylanders toys to life franchise. What began as a Spyro the Dragon spin-off quickly grew into its own beast, and the cute, purple dragon was pushed further into the background.
After a while, the name “Spyro” was removed altogether, and the titular hero was forgotten with it.
But nostalgic fans are nothing if not persistent (and loud, and pretty belligerent, to be honest) and, following the success of the Crash Bandicoot remaster, a Spyro remaster seemed like the next logical step.
The Spyro remaster will include the first three games in the series – Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Revenge, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon – which have all been fully remastered by Toys for Bob, the developer behind the Skylanders series. And damn fine it looks, too!
The Spyro Reignited Trilogy launches for PS4 and Xbox One on September 21, 2018. There hasn’t been a release date confirmed for a PC version yet, and no, before you ask, we don’t yet know if it’s coming to Nintendo Switch.
