Spyro Reignited Trilogy review: The purple dragon with attitude is back

Back in the late 1990s Spyro, the purple dragon with a bad boy attitude, aspired to be the next Mario or Sonic. Though he never reached the same heights of mascot fame, he was beloved by fans and has at least done enough to earn this remastered edition for nostalgia junkies. With the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, his PS1 games have been rereleased with updated graphics, re-recorded sound and music.

It’s still thrilling to guide Spyro through each imaginative and colourful new world, full of amusing cartoon characters, as you breathe fire and headbutt enemies, then gracefully glide away on dragony wings.

Other aspects of the games haven’t aged so well. The levels in the first game feel oddly empty and small. The second game remains the highlight of the series, with great humour and level design.

By the third game, you can tell the original developers Insomniac (the studio behind 2018’s hit Spider-Man game) were straining against the limits of Spyro’s design. To add more things for players to do, they added extra playable characters like a kangaroo and a missile-firing penguin, and new mini-games like stunt skateboarding (clearly ripped off from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, which was really popular in the late 90s).

And while the new graphics look spectacular, they come at the cost of exceptionally long loading times. Have a book or something to hand so you don’t die of boredom.

A fun, silly game with dozens of hours of content, Spyro is just as appealing – and frustrating – as it was 20 years ago.