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Gem
- This article is about the collectibles from the original Spyro series. For the natural resource for dragons in the Legend reboot, see Gem (The Legend of Spyro).
| Gem | |
|---|---|
 UI art of a red gem from Crash Team Rumble | |
| First appearance | Spyro the Dragon (1998) |
| Location(s) | Throughout the worlds |
| Effect | Used as currency |
Gems, also named treasure or jewels[1], are a collectible item in many canon games of the Spyro franchise, starting with their debut appearance in Spyro the Dragon. Starting with Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, they are used as currency, usually to pay Moneybags, who has an obsession with gems. In most games, Spyro is required to collect every gem to add to the game's completion score.
Variants
Similar to Rupees from The Legend of Zelda series or Coins from the platforming and role-playing games of the Super Mario franchise, a gem's numerical value and worth is determined by its color. Gems with higher denominations are less common than those with a higher value:
| Color | Value |
|---|---|
| Red | 1 gem |
| Green | 2 gems (5 in Spyro: A Hero's Tail) |
| Blue | 5 gems |
| Yellow | 10 (100 gems in A Hero's Tail) |
| Pink/Purple/White (Season of Flame) |
25 gems |
Story
Spyro the Dragon
Gems, frequently known in-game as treasure, make up the hoard of the Dragon Treasure, which Gnasty Gnorc stole from the dragons. He used some of the treasure to create an army of Gnorcs. Because of Gnasty Gnorc's sloppy personality, several of the gems were scattered around the Dragon Worlds.[1]
Treasures are needed to advance to new Home Worlds in Spyro the Dragon; particularly Magic Crafters and Gnasty's World. They can be found in gem containers, from treasure chests to metal vases, or are simply lying around in the open. Gnasty Gnorc's army of gnorcs and villains are created from the treasure and will turn back into gems when defeated. Once a gem has been collected from an enemy, they will instead become Life Spheres if defeated again.
There is a total of 14,000 treasure in the game total. 12,000 are officially counted as missing from the dragons' treasury and are needed to open the realm Gnasty's Loot. The remaining 2,000 treasure are contained in Gnasty's Loot, which is considered a bonus realm and counts beyond 100% completion in the game.
In this game, the gems are all the same shape, with the crown composed of a hexagonal pyramid and the pavilion made up of a hexagonal cylinder atop an inverted hexagonal pyramid. Each gem color determines the value of the gem:
| Red | 1 | |
| Green | 2 | |
| Blue | 5 | |
| Yellow | 10 | |
| Magenta | 25 |
In the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, the geams have been modified to more closely resemble an octagonal version of a classic Round Cut with a flat, octagonal pavilion. The blue and magenta Gems have also had their colors slightly tweaked.
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
Gems are needed in order to pay Moneybags in exchange for access to various realms, areas within realms or abilities. Spyro will also need all 10,000 of them to unlock the mystery door in Dragon Shores, which contains the permanent Superflame powerup. Unlike the previous game, enemies will not spawn gems after being defeated. Instead, they will produce Spirit Particles, which are needed to activate powerup gates.
Some gems in Ripto's Rage! are different from the original. All of the gems have received their own unique cuts to further differentiate them from each other. The Red gem has been changed to resemble a Brilliant cut, albeit one without a proper girdle. The Green gem now resembles a Trillion cut. The previously Blue gem's colour was changed to a more indigo hue, and it was given an Emerald-esque cut. The Yellow gem was given a cut resembling a cross between an Asscher and a Radiant. Lastly, the Magenta gem has been changed to a darker color, and it shares the same cut as the Red gem, albeit squished to resemble an Oval cut more.
| Red | 1 | |
| Green | 2 | |
| Purple | 5 | |
| Gold | 10 | |
| Magenta | 25 |
The Reignited Trilogy likewise adds its own refinements to each gem. The Red gem appears identical to all of the gems from the first game's remaster. The Green gem is still a Trillion cut, but has a more detailed pavilion. The Purple gem now has the same shape that the Yellow gem used to have, while the Yellow gem itself has a much taller crown, greatly increasing its resemblance to an Asscher cut. The Magenta gem has been completely changed to a type of Rose cut with a hexagonal silhouette and matching pavilion.
Spyro: Year of the Dragon
Gems are once again needed to pay Moneybags in order to progress through realms. In addition, Moneybags will require payment in exchange for unlocking other playable characters, who were imprisoned by the Sorceress and entrusted to his guard. Spyro will need all 15,000 gems in the game to unlock the Super Bonus Round. Once there, Spyro can collect 5,000 more to make 20,000 in the game total.
Like the gnorcs and various enemies in the first game, the Sorceress's army of Rhynocs and various other enemies in this game will turn back into gems when defeated. If defeated again after the Gems have been collected from them, they'll simply disappear and produce nothing.
Gem varieties in Year of the Dragon follow the same scheme as Ripto's Rage!. The same goes for the Reignited version of the third game.
| Red | 1 | |
| Green | 2 | |
| Purple | 5 | |
| Gold | 10 | |
| Magenta | 25 |
Spyro: Season of Ice
Gems retain their core purpose from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon. In all four Fairy Worlds, Spyro must pay Moneybags with gems to unlock access to a Sparx World. All of the gems add up to a total value of 7,000 gems, which also became the total value in the two following games, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly and Spyro 2: Season of Flame.
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
Ripto and his monsters have returned, they made an army of Riptocs that stole the gems and scattered them around the Dragon Realms. Gems need to be collected in the Dragon Realms once again to recover the dragon treasure. These gems rotate clockwise on the ground and pausing the game doesn't stop their rotation {sometimes speeds it up}. In the Thieves Den, some of the green gems grow legs and run around in circles due to having been turned into monsters by the Riptocs. These gems rotate counterclockwise on the ground and pausing the game stops their rotation.
Gem varieties are the same as the last three games, with the main difference being that magenta gems are absent so the yellow gems are worth 25 instead of 10.
| Red | 1 | |
| Green | 2 | |
| Purple | 5 | |
| Gold | 25 a |
a a few golden gems still have the value of 10
Spyro: Advance series
The gems in Season of Ice, Season of Flame, and Attack of the Rhynocs behave identically to the ones in the second and third games. However, the purple 25 value gem is replaced with a sky blue gem of a different shape, likely due to the Gameboy Advance's limited color palette.
| Red | 1 | |
| Green | 2 | |
| Purple | 5 | |
| Yellow | 10 | |
| Blue | 25 |
In Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy, gems are used to buy trading cards from Moneybags.
| Red | 1 | |
| Green | 2 | |
| Purple | 5 | |
| Yellow | 10 | |
| Blue | 25 |
Spyro: A Hero's Tail
Red, the fallen dragon, uses a new type of gem, the Dark Gems, to poison and shrivel the land and fuel his evil power. These gems must be destroyed to reach certain parts of areas, find dragon elders who give you new abilities and fight the bosses for each world. Conversely, Light Gems are used to power the Professor's machinery. In addition, the game contains regular gems, which unlike the ones in previous games are infinite in number. Enemies drop new gems every time you kill them and each area does not have a certain amount of gems contained in them. The gems are used in Moneybags' shop to buy lock picks, upgrades, secondary breath attack uses, teleportation passes and other temporary items. They have slightly different amounts:
| Red | 1 | |
| Green | 5 | |
| Purple | 25 | |
| Yellow | 100 |
Spyro: Ripto Quest
Spyro collects all 500 gems of the game to pay Moneybags for the final machine part to stop Ripto. Unique to this game are gems of values 3 and 4 that can only be found within containers. Due to gems being instantly colleted when containers are opened, these gems' colors go undefined.
| Red | 1 | |
| unseen | 2 | |
| unseen | 3 | |
| unseen | 4 | |
| unseen | 5 | |
| unseen | 10 |
Spyro: Shadow Legacy
This is the only game in which a strict upper limit is placed upon the number of gems Spyro can hold at a time; initially he can carry no more than 999 gems. However, larger wallets can be purchased to carry more. In keeping with the game's RPG elements, Spyro can spend gems to purchase various items from the shops of Moneybags' sons, Maxwell, Marvin, Merton and Marshall.
Other game appearances
Crash Team Rumble
Gems are a replacement for wumpa fruit in the Artisans Arena and Summer Forest maps.
Gallery
-
UI icon of a gem in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon -
Spyro: A Hero's Tail -
UI art of a green gem from Crash Team Rumble -
UI art of a blue gem from Crash Team Rumble
See also
- Main article: Gem (The Legend of Spyro)
Gems are scattered around the Dragon Realms. Dragons are known to draw strength from these crystals to rejuvenate their health and mana. Spirit Gems are a special kind of gem that give dragons health, mana energy and experience points all at once.
Trivia
- Some of the treasure in the Skylanders franchise resembles classic gems, similar to the treasure that resembles orbs.
- The style of the gems differ from Spyro the Dragon to the rest of the games in which they appear. In the first game the gems appear as primitive polyhedrons, whereas in later games, they appear much more similar to actual cut gemstones.
- This is strikingly similar to the Crash Bandicoot series. In the first games, all of the gems had primitive square facets, while in Crash 2 onward, they all had Brilliant cuts.
- The Spyro Reignited Trilogy seems to reference this by the fact that the gems in the Spyro the Dragon portions all appear to be brilliant cut, reflect the colours of the original game, and make the same collection sounds.
- This could potentially mean that the gems in the Dragon Realms are different from the ones in Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds.
