History VideoGame / SpyroAHerosTail

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[[caption-width-right:350:Become the hero.]]

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* BubblyClouds: Cloudy Domain, a flying city above Coastal Remains.

* InterfaceSpoiler: Once the player enters the final area of the game, one of the area's objectives is to [[spoiler: defeat Mecha-Red, making the twist of the final battle very obvious.]]

* InfinityMinusOneSword: Water breath: You cannot kill most enemies with it, only stunning them, which at that point, you may as well use fire or electric breath instead. The only real use is powering specific types of machinery. Like with Ice Breath, it does however, kill Fire-forged mooks in the Volcanic Isles....and that's it.

* MoneyForNothing: Unlike the past games, you can get an infinite amount of gems from killing enemies, looting chests, as well as finding them on the floor, instead of the game having a fixed, finite amount of gems per world. Gems are given to you at such a high rate that it's possible to, by the end of the game, buy all the upgrades except the double gem power up, max out your elemental breath ammo, buy three keys and a keychain, '''and''' buy a butterfly jar, and ''still'' have a gem total that goes up into the hundred-thousand range. There are some rather pointless upgrades Moneybags sells, such as "The Shockwave", which, despite being the most expensive upgrade Moneybags has, [[PowerupLetDown it doesn't have the range to really justify its price]], the "Double Gems Powerup" is made largely pointless due to the liteny of gems around the place, and you can go the whole game without ever needing to use the sub-shots the elemental breaths provide, which makes increasing and restocking their ammo by buying them from Moneybags ''also'' rather pointless. Of the upgrades that ''are'' worth your time, there's only really five items that are useful for you to buy on your adventures;

* EternalEngine: Dark Mine and Red's Laboratory, complete with MechaMooks.

** The Rock Monsters in Molten Mount seem to be directly referencing the same monsters from Fracture Hills seen in ''[[VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage Ripto's Rage.]]'' They are near-identical design-wise, they sound the same, they both hit you with hammer-shaped objects (Axes in Ripto's Rage, Clubs in A Hero's Tail), and the way you kill them (push them into Lava) is identical here too.

* {{Irony}}: The critters in Cloudy Domain are... Chickens. Yes, the birds that are well known for ''not'' being able to fly are somehow strutting all over a flying city. They look as out of place as you'd expect them to be.

* KarlMarxHatesYourGuts: Teleport passes ''always'' cost 100 gems, irrespective of if they are purchased from the Main Shop or a Remote Shop Pad elsewhere in the Realm.

* KillItWithWater:
** Water Breath is only really useful against fire-forged mooks, such as Fire Hawks. Otherwise, it's used for puzzle solving.

** Red... because he's red and evil.

* RaceLift: Moneybags went from an upper class Brit to being Russian (despite sounding vaguely Indian).

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: You'd be forgiven for thinking that Moneybags is meant to sound Indian; He's actually meant to sound Russian.

* AffablyEvil: Not evil, but Moneybags' personality in this game is more jovial and lighthearted, often poking fun at himself, as well as lightly jesting at Spyro's naivete of his store prices. Compared to his other appearances where he's intentionally obstructive of Spyro's goals on a regular basis, Moneybags in this game ''actively helps you'', as purchasing from him is treated as if her were a legitimate (albeit excited about gems) merchant, not an all-out gem hoarder as he was previously. To wit, the one CashGate he owns is part of a tutorial on using keys, and he never uses the tactic again to corner off area's like he does in the original trilogy. The meanest thing he says to Spyro in this game is ''"Ah Spyro, my favorite Wallet!"'' in the shop, and that's about it.

* SameCharacterButDifferent: Moneybags' personality in this game is more lighthearted, with most insults being in jest at Spyro's naivete of his store prices. Compared to his other appearances in the original trilogy, where he's intentionally obstructive of Spyro's goals on a regular basis. In this game, Moneybags ''actively helps you'', as purchasing from him is treated as if her were a legitimate sale. He's still excited about gems, but he's not an all-out gem hoarder as he was previously.

* SurferDude[=/=] TotallyRadical: Dude, [[{{NPC}} Otto the surfer dude]] uses "dude" as pretty much every second duding word. Dude. Completing his quest has him say dude repeatedly for a single sentence.

* CanonForeigner: Ember, Flame, and the Dragon Elders, though a lot of the latter dragons have names based on dragons that appeared in the first Spyro game.

* BossArenaIdiocy: Its safe to say that in the boss fights against then, Ineptune and Red's [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi overconfidence is their weakness.]] Ineptune can only be harmed when she gets frequently gets close enough to the platform Spyro is on to spray acid at him, leaving the crystal on her belt buckle a sitting duck for Spyro to charge into and damage her, and she never wises up from this. Red, meanwhile, is immune to all of Spyro's attacks and can only be harmed by exploding crates that he sometimes summons into the arena--like with Ineptune, he never wises up that he's [[HoistByHisOwnPetard putting himself at a disadvantage with this.]]

* DestructionEqualsOffSwitch: Destroying Dark Gems removes their influence, and returns the affected part of the realm to normal. Curiously, this is inverted in Molten Mound and Dark Mines, where destroying Dark Gems opens up new pathways and areas that are '''intentionally''' already a part of the existing architecture, meaning the Dark Gems ''help you'' at certain points late in the game.

* EasyLevelTrick: As soon as you get to Molten Mound, stop using fire breath, and switch to using Ice Breath instead. It has all the necessary benefits of water breath (killing fire-forged enemies), and it lets you [[ArmorIsUseless bypass the armor on gnorcs]] by [[KillItWithIce freezing them before they can react.]]

** The Rock Monsters in Molten Mound seem to be directly referencing the same monsters from Fracture Hills seen in ''[[VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage Ripto's Rage.]]'' They are near-identical design-wise, they sound the same, they both hit you with hammer-shaped objects (Axes in Ripto's Rage, Clubs in A Hero's Tail), and the way you kill them (push them into Lava) is identical here too.

* KillItWithFire: Pretty much how you kill most of the enemies in the game as Spyro. Armored enemies need to be charged first to remove their armor plates, ''then'' be set on fire, and the fire-forged enemies in Molten Mound are impervious to your fire attacks.

** Ice Breath lets you freeze enemies, and [[LiterallyShatteredLives charge into them to kill them.]] The Eskimoles in Icy Wilderness are immune to ice breath, while some of the mooks in Molten Mound like the fire hawks are impervious to fire and electricity attacks, and so need to be taken out with either water or ice breath instead.

* LethalLavaLand: Molten Mound and Magma Falls.

* HubLevel: Each of the first three Realms have one; The Dragon Kingdom (containing Crocovile Swamp and Dragonfly Falls), Lost Cities (which contains Coastal Remains and Cloudy Domain), and Icy Wilderness (Which houses Frozen Village, Gloomy Glacier, and Ice Citadel). The final Realm (Volcanic Isles) is just a succession of its levels in order (Molten Mound, Dark Mines and Red's Laboratory).

It was succeeded by the [=Nintendo=] DS game; VideoGame/SpyroShadowLegacy, which continues the plot of this game, with most of the cast returning. This is the last home console game for ''Spyro'' before the franchise got rebooted into the "Legend of Spyro" series.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: After meeting the SurferDude otter, Spyro gives a deadpan AsideGlance and says: [[TheStoner "Just say no".]]

* VocalEvolution:
** Spyro sounds less nasally here, and also is quite a lot more sarcastic.
** Sparx is still voiced by Andre Soqliuzzo. However, he now uses a deeper voice capable of full English (though blends it with some of his usual high-pitched buzzing akin to the previous titles).

* WholeCostumeReference: The [[PrettyInMink ermine-trimmed]] [[PimpedOutDress gown]] the [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Ice Princess]] wears is based on an actual gown Ann Boleyn once wore.

* EskimoLand: Icy Wilderness[=/=]Frostbite Village.

* JigglePhysics: Averted with Lily the Mermaid, as her animations for her breasts are pre-rendered.

** While the Ice Breath will freeze almost any enemy in the game, the Eskimoles in Icy Wilderness are completely immune to its effects--it won't even stun them.

** The Rock monsters in Molten Mount are notably immune to ''all four'' of Spyro's breath attacks, and can only be defeated by charging them enough until they get knocked into nearby pools of lava.

** While the game has a somewhat open-ended structure, it does require you to gather enough Light Gems and learn certain abilities to access new worlds and levels. Also, 100% completion of three of the four realms is impossible to do in one go--you need at least 70 Light Gems to access a Secret Area in Dragonfly Falls, and 95 to access another in Icy Wilderness. However, with the exception of two of the Ball Gadget segments, as well as Hunter's trek through Gloomy Glacier to save Spyro, all of the other side-character levels and mini-games are optional and can be skipped if you aren't aiming for 100% completion.

** In the first battle with Red, whats the best way to dodge his very fast freezing attack? Simple; by standing ''right in front of him''. While Red will sometimes try to whip you with his tail if you get too close, it works as a great blind spot as [[ArtificialStupidity he never once thinks to lower his staff to hit you down there.]]

* CashGate: Surprisingly {{Downplayed|Trope}}, as the only one in the game is technically run by Moneybags, it's just a locked gate part of a tutorial, in which he tells you to go to his shop and buy a lockpick to open it. After that, you'll only buy shop items from him optionally, though you ''do'' need to buy lockpicks from him into order to unlock chests containing Light Gems and Dragon Eggs (as far as the player knows, Moneybags ins't behind locking away these collectibles either.)

** The Water Breath is, to be frank, as useful as a man's nipple. It basically functions as a key for a handful of switch puzzles scattered throughout the game, and it has no offensive capabilities at all--both its normal function and secondary breath can only stun enemies at most, something which can already be done with the Electric breath.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: Ice breath: It has all the useful upsides of water breath (killing fire-forged enemies), it lets you [[ArmorIsUseless bypass the armor on gnorcs]] by [[KillItWithIce freezing them]], and it's quicker to kill such enemies to boot. There is almost no reason to '''not''' switch to ice breath as soon as you acquire it by [[spoiler:defeating Red for the first time]]. The only enemy it cannot freeze are the Eskimo's in Frozen Village (who wear big coats), but you can just charge into them anyway, and they'll die.

** Ice Breath lets you freeze enemies, and [[LiterallyShatteredLives charge into them to kill them.]] The Eskimo's in Icy Wilderness are immune to ice breath, while some of the mooks in Molten Mound like the fire hawks are impervious to fire and electricity attacks, and so need to be taken out with either water or ice breath instead.

* LaserHallway: Some of the rooms connected to the Celestial Showroom have them, with one room requiring you to fly over two moving lasers, and three static barriers to get to a dark crystal, and another requiring you to a similar thing on a raised moving platform to get a Light Gem.

** There are some huts in Coastal Remains that spawn natives indefinitely, a few web holes in Crocovile Swamp, which will spawn an infinite number of [[GiantSpider spiders]], and an Eskimo Hut that will infinitely spawn Eskimo's in Frozen Village.

** Ineptune is clearly inspired by Ursula from [[WesternAnimation/TheLitteMermaid Disney's adaptation of The Little Mermaid]], in that she's a [[FatBitch morbidly obese merperson]] and (presumably) a sorceress of sorts.

* SuperNotDrowningSkills: As with ''Year of the Dragon'', Spyro can swim and breath underwater indefinitely. Coastal remains has a section where this is averted due to pirahna-infested waters, but asides from that, everything else is fair game.
* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: The Volcanic Isles has ''a lot more gems'' laying about the place in comparison to the other Realms. This appears to be for the purposes of keeping your health full with the Butterfly Jars (which normally cost 1875 gems to purchase).

* CashGate: Surprisingly {{Downplayed|Trope}}, as the only one in the game is technically run by Moneybags, it's just a locked gate part of a tutorial, in which he tells you to go to his shop and buy a lockpick to open it. After that, you'll only buy shop items from him optionally, though you ''do'' need to buy keys from him into order to unlock chests containing Light Gems and Dragon Eggs.

* GlobalCurrency: Some gems are worth more than others; Yellow Gems are worth 100 gems, Red Gems are worth one gem, Purple Gems are worth 15 Gems, and Green Gems are worth 5 Gems.

** While the game has a somewhat open-ended structure, it does require you to gather enough Light Gems and learn certain abilities to access new worlds and levels. Also, 100% completion of three of the four realms is impossible to do in one go--you need at least 70 Light Gems to access a Secret Area in Dragonfly Falls, and 95 to access another in Icy Wilderness. However, with the exception of a couple of the Ball Gadget segments and Hunter's trek through Gloomy Glacier to save Spyro, all of the other side-character levels and mini-games are optional and can be skipped if you aren't aiming for 100% completion.