Balloonist

Balloonist
Home World:	Dragon Realms
First appearance:	Spyro the Dragon (game) (1998)
Latest appearance:	Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018)

The Balloonists are inhabitants of the Dragon Realms who help Spyro get to the other parts of the Dragon Kingdom. They only appeared in Spyro the Dragon. The Balloonists take control of their own hot air balloon and will let Spyro travel to any Home World he has been to before using this Balloon, or to a new home world after performing some sort of task in either rescuing the dragons, the gems or collecting the stolen Dragon Eggs. There is one balloonist in every Homeworld in the game.

Balloonists all wear a leather flight helmet and cover most of their face except their eyes with a scarf. Each balloonist can be distinguished by the color of their clothes. It is unknown what species they are, although they do resemble the Gnorcs in the level Gnorc Cove because they also cover their face with a scarf.

List of Balloonists

• Marco is found in Artisans. He allows Spyro to travel to Peace Keepers once he has freed at least ten Dragons.
• Gosnold is found in Peace Keepers. He allows Spyro to travel to Magic Crafters once he has collected at least 1,200 gems.
• Tuco is found in Magic Crafters. He allows Spyro to travel to Beast Makers once he has obtained at least five Dragon Eggs.
• Cray is found in Beast Makers. He allows Spyro to travel to Dream Weavers once he has freed at least fifty Dragons.
• Amos is found in Dream Weavers. He allows Spyro to access Gnasty's World once he has obtained at least 6,000 gems.
• Hak is found in Gnorc Gnexus. He allows Spyro to backtrack to any of the previous Dragon Worlds. Unlike the other Balloonists, Hak does not have any requirement for Spyro to use his hot-air balloon.

Gallery

• 
  The early boatman before the Balloonists were included

Trivia

• In an early screenshot of Spyro the Dragon, the Artisan Balloonist was originally a Boatman, and Spyro would’ve used a boat to travel to the Peace Keepers home. Unused text strings in the Tabloid demo also mention the Boatman: "Welcome to the Peacekeepers world. You can return to the Artisan world by speaking to the Boatman."
• The Balloonists bear a striking resemblance to the Gnorcs in the level Gnorc Cove.
• Their lines are simply text, and thus they can't be heard speaking.
  • This does not apply with Spyro Reignited Trilogy, where all the Balloonists have been given voices.