Spyro: A Hero's Tail

Spyro: A Hero's Tail
PlayStation 2 cover
Developer(s):	Eurocom Entertainment Software
Publisher(s):	Vivendi Universal
Producer(s):	Caroline Trujillo
Release date(s):	November 9, 2004 November 12, 2004
Genre(s):	Platformer
Rating(s):	ESRB: - Everyone
Console(s):	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube
Composer(s):	Paul Lawler Keith Leary David Marsden Craig Sharmat Steve Duckworth
Mode(s):	Single player
Media:	Disc
Input:	Controller

Spyro: A Hero's Tail is the ninth game installment in the Spyro franchise. It received a multi-platform release for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube in 2004.

Summary

The game introduces a new antagonist, Red, a former Dragon Elder banished years before the events of the game, and sees the protagonist, Spyro, attempt to defeat him by destroying the Dark Gems that fuel his power with the aid of his best friend Sparx, Hunter, Sgt. Byrd the flying Penguin, and a new character, Blink the Mole. 

Story

All has been tranquil in the Dragon Realms, when Gnasty Gnorc returned with a legion of Gnorcs planting around huge dark stones around the Dragon Kingdom and soon the world. But Gnasty wasn't alone; he was with a red dragon carrying a staff with a similar dark stone at the end. The red dragon used his staff's dark power to create a barrier by the entry to Gnasty's lair so no one wouldn't interfere before flying off. The Professor saw what had happened on his computer screen, and quickly summoned Spyro and Sparx to his lab, showing them what had occurred. Spyro was told by the Professor that the dark stones are Dark Gems, which fuel the evil power of the villainous red dragon, Red. Spyro quickly charged out of the lab's door and went off to destroy the Dark Gems.

Spyro goes to visit Dragon Elder, Tomas, and discovers that Red was once a Dragon Elder. The young dragon then learned how to destroy Dark Gems with his Horn Dive. Spyro found Sgt. Byrd nearby, who told Spyro that he would help him on his quest. When Spyro was traveling in Crocovile Swamp, Spyro freed a Mole named Blink, who is the Professor's nephew, and became allies. Spyro came across with another Dragon Elder named Magnus, who told Spyro that Red was part of the Order of Dragon Elders, till his hunger and lust for power made him try to overthrow their leader. Magnus then taught Spyro how to Pole Spin. After Spyro found and destroyed all ten Dark Gems in the Dragon Kingdom, the barrier leading to Gnasty's Lair was broken. Spyro defeated Gnasty in a battle and was granted the power of Electric Breath by a fast-talking Electric Fairy. The electric breath can activate electronic devices and short-circuit robotic foes.

Spyro then used the Professor's teleporter to go to the next Realm, the Lost Cities. Before Spyro arrived, Red was furious that Gnasty was defeated by a "dragon whelp", and he sent Ineptune, a huge, mermaid-like sea witch who is fond of pollution, to deal with Spyro. Spyro travelled to the Cloudy Domain to speak to another Dragon Elder named Titan, who was once a good friend with Red until he turned evil and was banished for his terrible crimes. Titan taught Spyro how to use Wing Shield ability, which reflects blunt projectiles. After Spyro destroyed the 20th Dark Gem, the barrier leading to Ineptune's lair was destroyed. Spyro then defeated that nasty sea witch and acquired Water Breath from a Water Fairy, which he can use to slow down enemies and activate water-triggered machinery.

Spyro used the Professor's teleporter again to go to the next Realm, the Icy Wilderness. Red was enraged of what had happened, so he sent a mammoth to stop Spyro. When Spyro found the mammoth, he was so cocky that the mammoth easily defeated him. Sparx, however, was able to escape and got help from Spyro's old friend and rival, Hunter the Cheetah. Hunter rescued Spyro from captivity within the Ice Citadel. After that, Spyro found Astor, another dragon Elder, who was trapped in a dungeon. Astor taught Spyro how to do the Wall Kick ability, which lets him climb up walls that are close together. After Spyro destroyed the 30th Dark Gem, Spyro finally confronted Red in combat. During the fight, Red claimed that Spyro is no match against his "infinite power", but Spyro defeated him. Red was able to escape, but "accidentally" dropped his staff, which released the Ice Fairy, who granted Spyro the Ice Breath ability, which temporarily freezes enemies and stream jets, which become icy poles to spin to and jump from.

Spyro then gained access to the last Realm, Volcanic Isle. The Professor said to Spyro that Red is hiding in a factory hidden deep within the volcano. Being a mole, The Professor tried to dig to his lair himself while Spyro found a way in. Spyro ventured into the volcano, and forces his way into the Dark Mine, destroying Dark Gems along the way. Once he arrived in Red's factory and destroyed all 40 Dark Gems in the Realms, Spyro found the Professor held captive by Red, and forced to improve the Gnorc minions by giving them armor, intelligence helms, etc. Red interrupted their conversation and claimed that he had the upper hand, but Spyro disagreed and pushed Red into a lab room. The Professor claimed he would help stop Red, but his attempts only transformed him into Mecha-Red, a larger, more powerful version of the dragon with robotic weapons. After many attempts, Spyro defeated Red once and for all; the Professor shrunk him down to a "more manageable size" and plans on using Red as an assistant and for a good use for his laboratory. Thus, the story ends happily.

Controls

Spyro

Movement	PS2	Gamecube	Xbox
Jump	X	A	A
Charge	O	X	B
Double Jump	X + X	A + A	A + A
Glide	X + Hold X	A + Hold A	A + Hold A
Horn Dive	X + X + O	A + A + X	A + A + B
Breath Attack	□	Y	X
Secondary Breath	R1	R	R
Breath Selection	D-Pad	D-Pad	D-Pad
Wing Shield	Δ	B	Y
Underwater dive	Hold O to swim	Hold X to swim	Hold B to swim
Water paddle	Hold X	Hold A	Hold A

Sgt. Byrd

Movement	PS2	Gamecube	Xbox
Fly	Hold X	Hold A	Hold A
Turbo Boost	□	X	X
Missiles	R1	R	Right
Bombs	L1	L	Left

Blink

Movement	PS2	Gamecube	Xbox
Jump	X	A	A
Double Jump	X + X	A + A	A + A
Butt Bounce	X + O	A + X	A + B
Claw Attack	O	X	B
Dig	O	X	B
Lasers	□	Y	X
Bombs	R1	R	Right
FP Target	L1	L	Left
Crouch	C	B	Y

Hunter

Movement	PS2	Gamecube	Xbox
Jump	X	A	A
Double Jump	X + X	A + A	A + A
Pounce Stomp	X + X + O	A + A + X	A + A + B
Punch	O	X	B
Bow Swipe	X + □	A + Y	A + X
Shoot Arrow	□	Y	X
Flaming Arrow	R1	R	Right
FP Target	L1	L	Left
Bow Spin	Δ	B	Y
Slide Attack	X + O	A + X	A + B

Sparx

Movement	PS2	Gamecube	Xbox
Shoot	X	A	A
Missiles	O	B	X
Smart Bomb	□	Y	Y
Turbo	R1	R	Right
Brake	L1	L	Left

Levels

Worlds
Home Worlds	Levels	Speedways
Dragon Kingdom	Dragon Village Crocovile Swamp Dragonfly Falls Gnasty's Cave	Island Speedway
Lost Cities	Coastal Remains Cloudy Domain Sunken Ruins Watery Tomb	Cloudy Speedway
Icy Wilderness	Frostbite Village Gloomy Glacier Ice Citadel Red's Chamber	Iceberg Aerobatics
Volcanic Isle	Stormy Beach Molten Mount Magma Falls Dark Mine Red's Laboratory Red's Lair	Lava Palaver

Development

During early development, Spyro: A Hero's Tail was called Spyro: The Dark Realms. Its level design, cutscenes, and polygon complexity were inspired by those from the Jak & Daxter game installments developed by Naughty Dog. Five homeworlds were planned, the fifth being called "Secret Hideout", consisting of Dark Mine, Red's Laboratory, and Red's Lair. "Secret Hideout" merged with the fourth homeworld during development.

A scrapped gadget named the "Aqualung" was planned to give Spyro the ability to breathe an infinite underwater breath.

• 
  Spyro: A Hero's Tail's original title

Reception

The game received mixed to averge reviews. A Hero's Tail is regarded better than Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, but it still fell short of Insomniac's original Spyro trilogy. However compared to the original trilogy, A Hero's Tail is considered to be aimed at a younger audience, leading to some harsh criticism, such as its short length and lack of general difficulty or originality.

GameSpot gave the game 5.8 out of 10: "Although Spyro's production values have shot up, its gameplay has remained more or less the same since the series' 1998 debut. Back then, players lacking Nintendo 64s didn't have too many good 3D platformers to choose from, so Spyro's gameplay foibles were acceptable, in light of its uniqueness. The novelty has worn off. Today, modest improvements on this tired formula, like giving Spryo's once-vestigial, T-rex-like arms the ability to grip ledges, just aren't enough to make the game feel innovative. Filling the title with disruptive and boring minigames to artificially increase play time apparently wasn't a good move, either. Despite all the new window dressing, Spyro: A Hero's Tail is the same game you played six years ago, and you probably remember it being better."

IGN gave it a 7 out of 10, praising the game for having a decent amount of fun with its challenges and length, but criticizes its lack of innovation in style and play mechanics.

See also

• Spyro: A Hero's Tail/Cheat codes
• Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy
• Spyro: Shadow Legacy

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Spyro: A Hero's Tail/Gallery.

• 
  Logo
• 
  Raw cover art for A Hero's Tail by Drew Struzan
• 
  GameCube version
• 
  Title screen (GameCube version)

Trailer

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Trivia

• This is the first Spyro game to be completely produced in Europe.
• If you collect enough eggs of one color scheme (eight sets of ten eggs are found in the game), you will get certain rewards, such as getting Flame or Ember as playable characters, mini-game galleries, limited concept art, and a 3D model viewer.
• The adult dragons have ears, while the younger ones (Spyro, Flame and Ember) don't possess this feature.
• Zoe no longer takes the role as the tutorial fairy; this goes to Trina instead. However, Zoe still serves as the one who zaps Spyro to save his progress, but she only has one line in the whole of the game (mentioning her purpose of saving Spyro's position and his progress overall also).
• For this game only, Jess Harnell voices both Spyro and Hunter, taking over for Tom Kenny and Gregg Berger. In addition, the entire cast has been replaced by voice doubles.
• The fourth wall was broken numerous times:
  • Spyro often does it, as he is seen looking at, or even talking to the player many occasions.
  • After finding a Light Gem by completing Outlandish Inlet in Sunken Ruins, Sparx will comment that "I'm so good, this game should be called Sparx the Dragonfly!".
  • When confronting the Mammoth, Spyro claimed that he'll just walk around a few times to find his weakness and beat him three times, referencing his simple way of fighting and the amount of hits to the bosses.
  • After Spyro was captured by Mammoth, Sparx became worried if it was too late to save him, only for Hunter to make a note that if Spyro died, he would just be sent to a "previous save", referencing the game's checkpoint.
  • When Spyro is first introduced to the Ball Gadget, The Professor mentioned red coins (Super Mario Bros.), Heart Pieces (The Legend of Zelda) and Gold Tokens.
  • In the secret ending, Tomas, Astor, Magnus, and Titan watching the end credits on TV. There, Tomas looked at the names only to realize that the game is over, than Astor expressed his relief as he didn't like it, pointing out there was "too much talking and the actors playing the other elders were just plain awful!".
• Some enemies during production, including sharks, were removed in the final version of the game.
• If the game is left idle, Spyro will fall asleep after standing for a long time.
• If Spyro flames or charges NPC characters, they will make a reaction. If Hunter hits Spyro with an arrow, he will also react.
• The demo of the game featured a wildly different soundtrack composed by Guy Cockcroft, also known as Red Button Audio with a mood closer to the original trilogy. For the final game, the music was completely reworked by four different composers, who took the soundtrack on a more unique direction. The original soundtrack was later remastered and archived online.
  • Four unused music tracks and various jingles are still left in the game disc, leftover from the demo.

References

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