Hunter

Hunter the Cheetah, known as Hunter for short, is a friend of Spyro and one of the main characters of the Spyro franchise. He first appears in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. He is voiced by Gregg Berger up to his appearance in Spyro: A Hero's Tail, where he was voiced by Jess Harnell.

History
When Hunter first meets Spyro, they are in Avalar, just after Spyro is yanked out of the Dragon Worlds by the Professor. Hunter is, at first, suspicious of Spyro because he had never met a dragon before. He had read a book about dragons and thought that they were dangerous and cannot be trusted. After a little while, Hunter starts to trust Spyro, and by the end of Spyro's adventures through Avalar, Hunter and Spyro become friends.

After Ripto's defeat, Hunter goes to the Dragon Worlds to join the Year of the Dragon celebration. When all of the dragon eggs are stolen by Bianca, Hunter and Spyro go to the Forgotten Worlds to rescue the eggs. Hunter then falls in love with Bianca, and Bianca joins the good side. At the end, Bianca and Hunter kiss at Fireworks Factory.

After the defeat of the Sorceress, the Year of the Dragon celebration resumes, but then Ripto returns and steals all of the dragonflies. Hunter does not appear much in this game; he appears near the beginning and at the end.

A while after the celebration, when Red takes over the Dragon Realms in Spyro: A Hero's Tail, Hunter becomes more helpful. Not only does he teach Spyro some basic skills, he also helps to retrieve some vital items that Spyro could not get at.

Hunter wear pads and helmets, as well as a pair of shorts, for the skateboarding minigames in Spyro: Year of the Dragon. In the game's Speedway levels, if Spyro finds Hunter, he can be played as in a series of minigames, all relating to his attempt at thwarting an alien invasion

Personality
Hunter is depicted as a sort of laid-back skater type. While he's a loyal friend and marginally knowledgeable with basic tasks, he seems to have trouble grasping the severity of Spyro's missions and can be relatively naive and gullible, leading him to be captured and tricked easily. Like his name implies, he is a very competent longbow hunter, and is strong and agile enough to hold his own in a fight, if need be. His physical skills also make him a phenomenal skateboarder, and he often prides himself in his applying his species' speed to everything he does, and expresses minor jealousy or pride when Spyro breaks or fails to break his skateboarding records, respectfully. He also seems to be a bit of a conspiracy buff, with an interest in space and extraterrestrials. Hunter hates to get wet. "it's a cat thing..."

Trivia

 * Hunter, like Ripto, was voiced by Gregg Berger in Ripto's Rage!, Year of the Dragon, and Enter the Dragonfly.
 * In Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, Hunter entered in the code 2-2-4-7-5 on the Superportal keypad, claiming that it was his birthday as he entered it. Insomniac Games has affirmed it was meant as Feb 24, 1975.