I played the rest, then played the best. This remake collection was a great way to round out a Spyro retrospective, as it shows that the original games have aged very well.
Although I have a fondness for the graphics of the time and think they look fine, the most immediate and strikinig point about these remasters is their looks. Toys for Bob have done a brilliant job making them look modern, cartoony, and lush. You could even be forgiven for thinking they’re brand new games, which speaks well to their design. As much as the visuals have been updated, the gameplay is authentically retained—aside from some welcome quality of life features like the abilities to fast travel between levels, and Sparx pointing to gems being available in all three games at all times.
I really enjoyed experiencing the first and third games for my first time; I still feel 2 is the strongest but it’s a matter of small degrees. 1 is more basic and 3 pads itself with tedious minigames, plus there are minor missteps in 2, but they’re all very good. The whole collection captivated me until I’d got 120%, 100%, and 117% respectively, plus the skill points and trophies. The collectathon formula pushes my buttons, and controlling Spyro with Sparx nabbing gems for you is a rollicking joy you don’t get much elsewhere.
My only niggles are minor. This collection has some long loading times, and it even removes the satisfying animation of gems flying out of you to be tallied during these screens. Cutscenes have no subtitles (which was fixed in a patch just after I finished playing). It was also clearly a little rushed, with 3 especially having numerous quirks and bugs on top of the latter two games not being on disc due to deadlines. Even so, the improvements I’ve mentioned, the gorgeous character redesigns (particularly Elora and Sheila, but Spyro himself looks fab too), plus the addition of a minimap feature, makes this the definitive way to play these top-tier PSX classix.
