YMMV / Spyro Reignited Trilogy

• Adorkable: Spyro has some shades of this here, notably during some of the rescue animations and several of the credits' artwork. For instance, in one picture, he's sculpting with Nils of Town Square. Nils is making a picture of Zoe, while Spyro's making one of himself and putting Cool Shades on it.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Gnasty Gnorc was a Flat Character in the original, implied to be just waiting for the dragons to start badmouthing him so he would have an excuse for crystallizing them. Here in the remake, there are more things added to Gnasty's lair that hint he might suffer from an Inferiority Superiority Complex, meaning he could have gotten genuinely offended by the interview in the game's opening.
  • Tonal and enunciation changes have given some of the dragons slightly different personalities from the original even with the same lines. For example, Cyrus in High Caves goes from pleading Spyro to help with the green druids to being more annoyed by them than anything else, and Cedric from the same level sounds like he's dispensing learned advice rather than the rougher sound and practical knowledge of the original voice actor.
  • While Elora's lines stay the same, some of the way she says them in the new version seem to make her friendlier and more flirty with Spyro than in the original: most notably "I'm a faun, you dork!" where she sounded irritated and insulted in the original, but more amused at the silly mistake in the remake.
• Anti-Climax Boss: As in the original, the True Final Boss fight with the Sorceress is rather lackluster, both for the build up to the fight and how much is required just to unlock the fight.
• Awesome Art:
  • Various landscape elements from the original levels have been fleshed out considerably. For example, Stone Hill's buildings are replaced with more intricate castle-like structures, and the pit in Misty Bog now features a reflecting pool.
  • Every original dragon from the first game has their own unique design and body type. All 74 of them (not counting the Gnasty's World repeats).
• Awesome Music:
  • The epic orchestral piece in the game's trailer, as well as the short bits of Stewart Copeland's original music for Stone Hill at the beginning and end of said trailer.
  • The remade version of Dark Hollow counts as well.
  • The remade version of Lofty Castle doesn't stray far from the original and adds an aetherial air to it, as well as an extra "verse". Possibly one of the few Reignited tracks to truly exceed the original.
  • The option to switch back to the originals means two sets of Awesome Music are in the game, letting players pick their preference.
• Base-Breaking Character: Depending on who you ask, Mr. Bones is still a hilarious character with his dance, or he has become a ridiculous attempt to pander younger audiences with his MLG-inspired song and his dance that now includes the floss that has been popularized by Fortnite. There is also those who like him, although as a Guilty Pleasure.
• Broken Base:
  • The character redesigns. Like crazy. Some love the new makeover Toys For Bob granted and believe it gave many of the more limited models of the PS1 era more detail and personality. Others dislike how much they deviate from the original designs and believe they barely even represent the same characters anymore. Others have a more divisive opinion, and believe that while Toys For Bob's new designs work nicely as their own take, they seem misplaced in a remake of the original games and as a modern re-introduction to the earlier Spyro world, and would have served better in a spin-off series like previous retools such as Legend of Spyro and Skylanders.
  • One of the biggest issues dividing the fanbase are changes in characterization between the originals and Reignited. Spyro goes from being confrontational, slightly aggressive and very direct to being more "generically" goodhearted and eager as just one example. One of the biggest changes is with Spyro's relationship with his allies in Ripto's Rage!, as Reignited sees their relationship being much friendlier from the get go. Contrast the irritated way Elora says her "I'm a faun, you dork" line in the originals versus the more playful and amused way she says it in the remake, which can be seen here. Some believe this is Toys for Bob sanding off the "edgier" aspects of the originals in an attempt to be more kid-friendly (in the vein of what happened to Ratchet & Clank), while others view this characterization to be more consistently entertaining thanks to stronger animation and voice acting.
• Breather Boss: Spike in Year of the Dragon. Compared to Gulp who had a difficulty boost in Reignited Trilogy, Spike himself is the opposite as he takes 6 hits instead of 9, his plasma gun fires one less shot per phase^note one shot instead of two in the first phase, two instead of three in the second, and three instead of four in the last and his AI is less aggressive. Ironically enough, Spike was considered That One Boss in the original version.
• Demonic Spiders:
  • Literally with the Metalback Spiders in the first game, who move even faster than in the original game while maintaining their resistance to Spyro's normal moves.
  • Also from the first game are the Green and Blue Wizards. Not only are their attacks much faster and harder to avoid than before, but they have a dramatically increased attack range, and will often attack from offscreen.
  • Earthshapers were bad enough in the original Spyro 2. Here, they're outright relentless. Not only are their attacks faster due to their much shorter wind-up, but they're more resistant to Spyro's charge — they recover more quickly, and it only knocks them back a very short distance, forcing you to ram them more often in order to knock them into lava pools or traps laid by the Fauns. To worsen matters, their higher knockback resistance also has the side effect of making the already-infamous Alchemist escort mission in Fracture Hills even more tedious to complete than before.
  • The Rocket Pigs in Metropolis weren't too much of a menace in the original Spyro 2, but now they're a nightmare. They're much quicker to light their rockets, and once they do, they zoom towards you at an alarmingly fast speed — fast enough to blow up in your face before you even have a chance to react. If more than one attacks at once (and they often will) it's a quick death waiting to happen, especially if you're already low on health.
  • Many of the Rhynocs with fast reaction times in the original Year of the Dragon are even faster to react here, and will strike Spyro the moment he gets in their attack range, leaving very little room to dodge. Notable examples include the Bullwhip Rhynocs in Molten Crater, the Mallet Rhynocs in Enchanted Towers, the Clubber Rhynocs in Frozen Altars, and many, many more.
  • The Cat Wizards in Charmed Ridge have much faster reaction times than in the original Year of the Dragon, and their attacks are more accurate to boot, making it difficult to take them out without taking a hit in the process.
  • While the dinosaurs in Dino Mines are, for the most part, slightly toned down compared to the original Spyro 3, the same cannot be said for the Seahorses. They are even more aggressive than before, frequently attacking from off-screen and often being able to hit Spyro before he can defeat them. The dynamite floating around the area doesn't help matters.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Bubba, one of the dragons from Misty Bog, mainly due to his bombastic laugh, boisterous attitude, voice, and design. Toys for Bob may have taken notice of the reactions to Bubba's design, as they came out with a new design for Nestor that vaguely resembles Bubba's design translated to an Artisan's dragon.
  • Nestor himself became almost as, if not more, popular after his new design was revealed. The fanon's idea of him being Spyro's father probably helped.
  • Gavin also became quite popular after his new design was revealed, which was that of a manly-looking, mustachioed barista dragon with tattoos and piercings.
  • Magnus is also extremely popular, if the amount of fanarts is any indication. It is most likely due to his light-hearted personality and jiggly belly. He also has a particularly-inspired design, being based on a sumo wrestler.
  • While on the topic of Peace Keepers, Gunnar and Trondo have quite a few fans as well; the former for his more unique design and the latter for being is a badass-looking Dreadlock Warrior dragon, complete with a combat knife!
  • Lucas is rather well-liked. Having very unique horns (coiling horns with a levitating globe between them) and wings (treasure map wings) probably helped with that.
  • Among the Dream Weavers, the most notable one (judging from the amount of fanarts) is their leader, Lateef, thanks to his design and having a very unique pose of balancing on his tail while in Lotus Position.
  • While not as popular as some of his fellow Dream Weavers, especially the aforementioned leader of them, Copano nonetheless has a small but dedicated fanbase, possibly for being one of the harder dragons to reach and just looking very cuddly in general.
  • The Fracture Hills fauns were popular to begin with, but Elora and Spinner are fan-favorites thanks to the former having one of the best redesigns and the latter for her adorable idle animations.
• Epileptic Trees: In the remake's first game, in the castle that Spyro starts in front of, a door was added and caused lots of speculation over what it could possibly be for; this is fueled by the fact that the door actually responds when Spyro charges into it (and is, in fact, the only door in the game that does so in this way), but no way has yet been discovered to open it. Glitching out of bounds has shown that there is, in fact, a room beyond the door; however, it seems rather barren. The most common guess is that it'll eventually be used for possible DLC in the future. However, what the DLC in itself may be is a further mystery.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: An idea that popped up on DeviantArt was Bianca training in magic with the Magic Crafter dragons after the events of Year of the Dragon.
• Fanfic Fuel: The remake's version of Dino Mines in Spyro 3 replaces the generic bandit from the Wanted Posters around the level with Sheila, Byrd and Bentley. Now the question is, what have they done to deserve appearing in those wanted posters?
• Fan Nickname: Fans frequently refer to the redesigned adult dragons as "dragon daddies", as a joke about how they seem very Popular with Furries.
• Fanon:
  • It's not exactly obvious what occupations Argus and Oswin hold in the Artisans world since they don't carry work equipment like the other dragons there. However, most agree Argus might be a food critic due to his girth and the fact he's holding a half-eaten watermelon when freed. Less conclusively, it's popular to believe Oswin is a librarian solely due to the area he is found, possibly scroll in particular given his Eastern attire.
  • Given the fact that Spyro's parents have never been touched upon in the Classic continuity and that the credits of Reignited Trilogy shows Spyro hanging out with the various Artisan dragons and learning from them, fanon has taken to the idea that Spyro was collectively raised by the Artisans as a whole rather than having conventional parents. This is somewhat conclusive given that Year of the Dragon and its old manual shows that the all-male dragons receive their Eggs from fairies every decade or so, meaning none of them have parents and such and thus would obviously raise each other.
  • While not officially sanctioned by Activision, one of the artists for the Reignited Trilogy created this unofficial, balloonist-inspired design of Spyro as an adult, which had been readily accepted by fans.
  • Given his more saurian-like appearance, many fans have begun to depict Ripto with a tail in their works.
• Fans Prefer the New Her: The continuity between Bianca's two outfits was met with near-universal acclaim. This might well have been the artists' intention with her original model's Good Costume Switch, but it's much more explicit in Reignited, as she wears much more of her robe as a cloak rather than just a strip of purple cloth.
• Game-Breaker: The infinite Superflame in Ripto's Rage! is still as game-breaking as ever. However, unlike the original, there is still some merit in using it in your 100% completed file, as it can make some otherwise challenging achievements/trophies incredibly easy.
• Good Bad Bugs:
  • Before it got patched out, the Reignited version of Ripto's Rage! gave us the double Ripto glitch: by flaming Ripto right after he's lost all his health during the first phase of the fight but before he summons Mecha-Gulp, his first phase would actually stay on the arena with his second phase, turning the fight into a Dual Boss battle.
  • By exiting Ripto's Arena on the same frame it's entered and entering Canyon Speedway during the following cutscene, Spyro can activate the infinite freeflight glitch, which allows him to fly infinitely in almost every level in the trilogy.
  • Owing to a miscalculated vase in Agent 9's sub area, it is possible to finish Dino Mines with 702 of 700 gems. This trick could potentially come in handy if you're just not finding the Last Lousy Point in another level and still want to access the Bonus Stage. Unfortunately, this doesn't work in some versions.
• He's Just Hiding: This goes for Ripto (and by extension, Crush and Gulp): despite meeting his apparent end in lava like he did in the original version of his game, fans have theorized that he'll be brought back again due to his popularity, as he was in the original continuity. The removal of the epilogues ^note which revealed his survival to begin with has muddied the waters on that theory, though this hasn't deterred fans from hoping he'll return regardless.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Prior to the delay, some pointed out that these remakes of the original Insomniac Games titles were originally scheduled to come out in the same month as Insomniac's own title, Spider-Man (PS4).
  • Also prior to the delay, quite a few fans noticed that the game was set for release on "the twenty-first night of September".
  • It's only appropriate that this remake comes out about one year after Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy: both Crash and Spyro were high-profile PlayStation mascots, both Reignited Trilogy and N. Sane Trilogy have a gap of 13 years since the last game in their continuities, and the idea for Spyro the Dragon popped up about one year after Crash's original release.
  • In the Spanish dub, it's funny to listen Miguel Zúñiga and Adolfo Pastor voicing cheerful and eccentric dragons. Zúñiga was Paarthurnax (and Ulfric Stormcloak to that matter) in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim who, while still a good guy and very wise, sounded very thundering; and Pastor voiced most of the dragons found in random encounters of the vanilla game.
  • As mentioned above, Agent 9's gameplay was given a massive overhaul to fit modern standards, including the standardization of analog sticks. Who does he now most play like? Why none other than the franchise Insomniac did after Spyro, Ratchet & Clank! (who Agent 9 originally played like a very early version of)
  • Upon closer inspection, one can notice thumbs on Spyro, most likely as a light jab towards Insomniac for moving on from Spyro due to him supposedly not being able to grab things. The year after this remake came out, Spyro was confirmed to appear in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, so this effectively allowed him to drive a kart with a steering wheel!^note Although he previously did drive for his appearance in Crash Nitro Kart, but only in the Game Boy Advance version.
  • Year of the Dragon's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater-inspired minigames wound up being oddly prescient of the remakes for the first two games being announced two years later.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
  • Some have complained that the boss battles against Crush and Gulp were too identical to the original, and could have used new mechanics. Though regardless, the majority of the fanbase absolutely love how shot-per-shot accurate their battles are.
  • Considering how well-received the redesigns of the first game's dragons were, some fans were disappointed that Sanzaru didn't give Year of the Dragon's baby dragons similarly unique redesigns, mostly reusing the same "skinny" and "fat" models with minor differences in accessories and colors — and even leaving some possible model, color, and horn combinations completely unused. Ba'ah got the most flak, because his unique animation of being hatched in a sheep's costume was not adapted, killing the entire joke.
  • In comparison to the other three new characters from Year of the Dragon, many will argue that Sgt. Byrd still isn't fun to play as. The rockets having a lock-on feature was a welcome addition, but not only can the lock-on be inconsistent, but there weren't any substantial changes to Byrd's controls, making him feel as clunky as he always was.
  • A common criticism of the third game, even among the most diehard fans, is that the Sorceress and Spyro never speak with each other, which is especially egregious coming off the heels of Spyro and Ripto's strong adversarial relationship in the second game. Indeed, after her final cutscene before the Scorch fight, the Sorceress has no more lines at all. Many fans hoped that even a small cutscene would be added to precede the Sorceress fight (either one or both), but none was.
  • Many fans were hoping that the remake would fix the bosses in Spyro 1 and make them more like actual traditional bosses that put up a fight rather than spend the majority of the time running away and going down easily in two or three hits (and in Metalhead's case, two rounds of simply destroying the electric generators). They were disappointed to see that those bosses are still the same as they were in the original, with many fans citing that Toys for Bob could've taken the creative liberty to improve on this rather than copy Spyro 1's exact boss fights shot-for-shot.
  • People also aren't happy that hovering wasn't added to Spyro 1, which made traversing gaps in 2 and 3 much more safe. This is especially annoying on the PC Port due to the game physics being tied to the frame rate, and having the extra leeway does help mitigate the issue a fair amount.
  • Really, this applies to the whole trilogy in general. Unlike Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which made several additions and changes to its source material (namely adding Time Trials to the first two games, removing the no-death requirement for most of the gems in the first game thus reducing the game's difficulty significantly, and even adding a couple of new/originally cut levels), the Reignited Trilogy has only a few minor changes, most notably the addition of skill points in the first game.
• Jerkass Woobie: Surprisingly, the trilogy makes Gnasty Gnorc into one of these. Not only is his lair littered with inspirational posters and self-written love letters, but when Lindar calls him ugly, Gnasty Gnorc looks genuinely hurt and upset. All of this combines to make Gnasty Gnorc look like someone with legitimate self-esteem issues underneath his brutish, vindictive exterior.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The noticeably slightly chubbier model for Spyro has led to several jokes about Spyro being "thicc".
  • The facial design of the Idol Springs/Colossus inhabitants, which the Spyro subreddit has taken to photoshopping onto other characters.
  • "Switch or Switch?". This comes from an accident on a website that seemingly leaked the trilogy for Nintendo Switch. It repeated "Switch" twice, resulting in fans joking as if they're two different consoles.
  • Jokes about the game being furry and scalie bait, due to the reasons stated in Popular with Furries below and on the main franchise page.
  • "He went from goofy to somewhat fuckable real fast," regarding a comparison image between Ripto from the classic game, and his new design in Reignited.
  • "Spyro is just like Dark Souls" was a thing for a while due to a notorious Eurogamer article where fighting Buzz was compared to "suddenly being dropped into Dark Souls in the middle of a game of tiddlywinks".
  • "Chunky Spyro", a Game Mod that makes Spyro extremely obese, has been gaining notoriety not only for being super adorable and super disturbing at the same time, but also because of featuring in a series of image macros captioned "I'M SO FULL FROM SUBWAY/CIGARETTES YUM".
  • Starting from 2020 after the announcement of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, Activision's neglect of the Spyro franchise in comparison to Crash's following their revivals^note As of 2023, one game compared to four has become a frequent joke amongst both fandoms, some even going as far to declare Spyro as having been relegated to a side character in the latter's series.
• Memetic Psychopath: Thanks to now being identifiable in the game's intro, Lindar has developed a reputation for being a troll of legendary proportions in certain parts of the fandom due to going out of his way to insult Gnasty Gnorc on live TV and causing him to attack.
• Moe:
  • Elora's redesign has drawn this reaction as well as her "I'm a faun, you dork" dialogue, which has been made more playful.
  • Bianca may look just about the same, but her more rabbit-like features and the much greater advances in animation make her a great deal cuter than she originally was. Hearts might melt when she holds her own ear like a teddy bear while the Sorceress announces her true intentions.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • The bagpipes in Fracture Hills have gone from annoying, to this, going from a generic, ear-grating tune to a much more festive-sounding melody, complete with added drumbeats.
  • The sound of Spyro's claws clicking against the floor when he runs is this to some fans.
• Narm: After the famously cathartic segment where you chase down Moneybags and beat your gems back out of him, he strangely talks to you using the same animations as earlier, meaning he's still got a smug grin and is patting his gem bag even though he's just been beaten to a pulp.
• Older Than They Think: Pretty much everyone commonly agree that the addition of a door to the castle in the Artisans homeworld in the first game is an idea from Toys for Bob. The concept, actually, goes way back to one of the earliest version of the original PS1 game, showing◊ that a door (or better, a gate) was actually supposed to be there since the beginning, but it was later Dummied Out.
• One-Scene Wonder: The rescued dragons are this even more than in the original game, thanks to each one having an unique, colorful design that gives them loads of character despite their very little screentime.
• Popular with Furries:
  • The original trilogy was already this, and this remaster only solidified the franchise's status as a scalie fan's favorite even further than before. The dragons of the first game (and by a lesser extension the third game) in particular enjoy a newfound popularity thanks to them going from Palette Swaps to Cast of Snowflakes. Especially Bubba, and Toys For Bob knows it:
    Hey @SpyroTheDragon, guess who's got tickets to the dragun show? 💪💪
  • Nestor also hit it off pretty big with scalies after he got his new design. While Nestor isn't as muscular as Bubba (though he himself is still quite well-built), his cool and collected demeanor, along with his sculptor/architect-like attire, gives him a classy, gentlemanly air. It helps that, being the first dragon in the game, he got a lot of attention in his animation once freed.
  • This was taken to a new level by Gavin, who is a tattooed, mustachioed, horn gauge-wearing barista. He's especially a hit with the more hipster furries and scalies.
  • The strong, rotund build of the redesigned Magnus has proven to be very appealing. In fact, the Peace Keepers as a whole are popular among the Furry Fandom, since most of them are buff-looking warrior dragons.
  • Consequently, the game has gardened a notable LGBT Fanbase rivaling that of Bowser's thanks to the aforementioned dragons' redesigns, among others.
  • Elora's more animal-like redesign has received very generous amounts of fan art. Bonus points for not only being very cute, but being generally nicer and more playful in her demeanor.
  • Bianca's new design doesn't change too much, but her cloak now doubles as a Badass Longcoat, she looks much prettier and more expressive overall, and she has much more of an endearingly-awkward Shrinking Violet demeanour to her body language.
  • While Tara already had a strong following with furries due to being a mouse Expy of resident Ms. Fanservice, Lara Croft, some furries didn't vibe with her initially due to her being too obvious a reskin of Bianca's model. In Reignited Trilogy, however, she was redesigned from the ground up to remove her Bianca-esque traits and lean heavier into the Tomb Raider influences, resulting in her furry following exploding.
• Polished Port: While it requires a download due to the cartridge being too small, and it does have some cosmetic graphical downgrades, the Nintendo Switch version runs at the same locked 30fps as the other console versions, while also letting players play the game on the go as well.
• Questionable Casting: While the reception of the remakes has overall been positive, the voice choices have left a number of people scratching their heads. While The Other Darrin is to be expected considering the length in time between the original games and the remake, some of the choices can be quite odd and make it seem like the developers weren't trying to preserve the original tone and voice of the characters. The most notable example is Hunter; despite Gregg Berger, Hunter's original VA, being on board and reprising his role as Ripto as well, his role as Hunter was given to Robbie Daymond instead.
• Remade and Improved: Similar to Crash Bandicoot, Spyro is a beloved platformer during the PSX era, and, unsurprisingly after the success of Crash's remake, Spyro's trilogy was likewise given a remake in the Reignited Trilogy collection and considered the definitive version. Praise often goes to the added detail to the worlds, enemies, and NPCs having much more personality and unique animations, distinguishing redesigns on many characters, and still retaining the same fun as the originals.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Not so much the characters as their controls, but many gamers are more positive towards the controls for Bentley and Agent 9 (both of whom the fandom otherwise enjoyed to begin with) in this game compared to the original. Bentley's movement and attacks are less sluggish, Agent 9's blaster shoots faster and his controls are similar to the Lock-Strafe mode of the Ratchet & Clank series, and even Sheila has been tended to with a much faster Kick attack.
  • The Fauns in Fracture Hills were considered scrappies in the PS1 version due to both their condescending attitudes and their grating valley girl accents, but in Reignited, they're much more well-liked for having cute Scottish accents to match the Satyrs and the Magma Cone Fauns, as well as having their condescension severely downplayed.
• The Scrappy: Bartholomew wasn't a hated character in Year of the Dragon, as he was mostly a mild troublemaker who saw Bentley as a Big Brother Mentor. In Reignited Trilogy, however, he's widely hated due to his Annoying Younger Sibling traits being more emphasized, from his idle animations involving him checking his smartphone and picking his nose and eating it, to his voice acting being much more whiny than it was in the original game.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • The hover ability from the second and third games wasn't imported into this version of the first game, so pressing its button just cancels Spyro's glide instead (just like in the first game's original PS1 version). While this wouldn't normally be a problem since the first game wasn't built with the hover in mind, some of the longer glide-jumps (such as gliding from the exit platform to the cliffside in Cliff Town) are quite strict without the extra height of the hover to compensate.
  • Ripto and Crush run somewhat slower in their boss battles than in the original game, which unfortunately makes the battles too easy for some players, who preferred the faster bosses as seeming more threatening.
  • The motion blur added to the games is widely agreed to be too intense, to the point of being disorienting when combined with frequent camera movement. Fortunately, the option to remove this motion blur was quickly incorporated.
  • The grass, while very impressive from a graphical standpoint, has an unfortunate side effect of obscuring gems on the ground. This can make 100% Completion in certain levels that feature grass (like Zephyr in Ripto's Rage!) deceptively more difficult, as it's now more easier to miss a gem that was originally in plain sight and have the gem counter run short of the cap, resulting in Backtracking to areas you've overlooked or forcing you to adopt a go-everywhere mentality while constantly watching Sparx point toward gems. The speedrunning community in-particular has expressed annoyance of this oversight because it has the potential to break any Speedrun.
  • The darker lighting underwater has made some levels a lot harder on the eyes, especially Aquaria Towers which takes place almost entirely underwater.
• Self-Fanservice: Elora's appearance was already upgraded in the remaster to much acclaim, but the fanbase is very fond of making her even more gorgeous, especially by giving her large breasts. There is even a mod to make her busty in the game itself known as "Faunbags".
• Sequel Difficulty Spike:
  • In the remake, Spyro's drop speed when Gliding is just fast enough to make certain glides much harder than before, such as the one across the river in Cliff Town, or to the rock with the Pink Gem in Dr. Shemp. This is most noticeable in the first game where Hovering isn't available, but is mitigated somewhat with the inclusion of Charge Jumping.
  • In the remake, certain melee attacks from enemies are now much quicker, which means Spyro can get hit even when Charging at them (such as the cloaked Gnorcs in Cliff Town, the Pot Lid Tikis in Idol Springs and the Bullwhip Rhynocs in Molten Crater).
  • The PC version suffers from physics issues that makes jumping anything from trivially-small gaps to gliding sections harder to do, simply because you're running at a higher framerate.
• Strangled by the Red String: Just like in the original Year of the Dragon, Hunter and Bianca share only a few scenes together before the end credits reveals them as a couple.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • The box art that was leaked just before the reveal trailer, which many fans considered bland and unimpressive. This was eventually shown to be just a placeholder image for the final cover.
  • The fandom certainly got "reignited" to say the least when it was revealed that only the first game would be available on physical copies, with the rest of the trilogy having to be downloaded digitally. Activision's incredibly vague statement concerning the issue didn't help matters. As a result, a lot of fans who were previously excited for the game suddenly became very skeptical, with some going as far as to threaten cancelling their pre-orders, if not boycotting the game entirely. To make matters worse, those who stated they didn't mind it or were willing to deal with it were heavily attacked online. The game was subsequently delayed until November 13, 2018, speculated to be because of the aforementioned physical copies download debacle, with the date being confirmed by IGN when they asked Activision for a statement. About two weeks before release, Activision stated to IGN that, despite the delay, the game would still require a 36GB download if you had a physical copy of the game. To rub salt in the wound, March 2019 saw the release of a Motion Blur toggle, as well as halving the games' filesize (from almost 70GB to 31GB), which raises even more questions, such as "If Activision could compress the game by 40GB, why didn't they?"
  • Deaf players were not happy to learn that the game would not include subtitles, similar to the backlash the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy received for doing the same. Thankfully, a patch remedied this.
  • History Repeats itself, as a month prior to the Switch port releasing, the game's details was released onto the eShop to start the pre-orders, which also detailed its filesize; a suspiciously small 6.3GB (For any perspective that's the high end of 3DS Game downloads). The site was later updated to say 15GB, with the splash art being updated to say that it requires an update. This meant the Switch port was also getting an update on release. Server Dataminer NWplayer123 revealed the contents of the update to be largely containing the games' cinematics (unlike the PS4 and Xbox One versions, which contained the other two games). The update data seems redundant considering that 16GB Switch cartridges can easily hold 15GB of data on a cartridge, and many saw this as Activision cutting costs to obtain cheaper, 8GB Switch cartridges.
• That One Achievement:
  • Finding the blue wizard hat in Haunted Towers is considered the trickiest skill point in Spyro the Dragon. Especially considering it's in an area you couldn't normally stand on in the original. Most of the others are less out-of-the-box.
  • No-hit runs for the bosses, including difficult ones like Gulp, Spike, and Scorch. Ripto counts too, although he was already hard.
  • The achievement/trophy "What Really Grinds My Gears" requires you to burn all six gears in Twilight Harbor. However, all of the gears are really well-hidden so finding them is a chore on itself, ranging from being hidden in very dark corners of rooms or blending in with the environment so well that they're easily overlooked. This can result in tediously running back and forth in the level just to make out where they're even located, because unlike other levels, this level doesn't have an easy shortcut that takes you back to the beginning to cut on travel time.
• That One Boss: Gulp has gained a significant spike in difficulty compared to his boss fight in the original Ripto's Rage!. He now charges much faster and will follow you around the arena, and his energy orbs have better accuracy, making them very difficult to dodge (so the running-in-circles strategy is even more important). This can make getting to the items needed to attack Gulp a very frustrating task, and should you take a lot of damage, you run the risk of dragging out the fight even longer because Gulp can go after the fodder to heal himself. If you ever decide to go after the skill point for this fight the legitimate way (without the Superflame), good luck. ^note  For trophy and achievement completionists, a perfect run is not required, with the goal attached to the Gulp fight being defeating him without using fodder.
• That One Sidequest:
  • The supercharge areas were always a little bit of a pain in the original games, but with a scenery redesign comes more detailed rocks... and more things to run headlong into and lose all your gained distance on the egg thief you were after.
  • While the improved controls make it significantly easier than it was in the original Spyro 2, the infamous Trolley challenge can still be a pain in the ass for newcomers, since it still requires flawlessly timed jumps and blasts to avoid crashing or getting blown up, and any slip up forces you to do the entire challenge all over again. Not to mention there's some bizarre hit detection issues with the cannon, as it can sometimes fail to detonate a TNT crate, even if it directly connects with it.
  • Hunter's Crystal Popcorn challenges, especially the second one, are even more infuriating than in the original Ripto's Rage!, as his AI has been buffed to insane levels. It's not uncommon for him to have three or four crystals by the time you grab your first, and even if you do build a lead, he'll close in and surpass you in seconds. Even the original game's Easy Level Trick of standing on the vents to snatch the crystals before he can is much harder to pull off. Luckily, Dynamic Difficulty kicks in after a few losses this time, unlike the original, toning his AI down ever so slightly.
  • Remember how frustrating it was escorting the Alchemist in the original Spyro 2? Try doing it against the buffed Earthshapers in Reignited. While one hit would've been enough to throw them off originally, their improved resistance to knockback now all but requires you to hit each Earthshaper at least twice now, leaving much less room for error and even less time between Earthshapers. Combined with their faster attacks, you can expect dozens upon dozens of failures before you finally get that goddamned Alchemist through.
  • The super highspeed water tunnel in Seashell Shore was hard in the original game, but the new shadows applied to the remake version makes it harder to see what's up ahead sometimes so you need to be very good at remembering the sequence of Rhynocs and mines in the tunnel.
  • The Nancy ice skating challenge is still just as much of a pain as it was in the original, also suffering sometimes from the new shadow effects making it hard to see the purple dressed hockey players before it's too late.
  • The skateboard challenge in Lost Fleet wasn't particularly difficult in the original, but Reignited turned it into a bugfest that makes the Rhynoc race much harder to complete. Aside from many invisible walls, the worst offenders are an auto-adjust feature of Spyro that causes him to crash and an invisible wall right in the middle of a presumed shortcut. At least you can use a bug to your advantage: If you're right in front of a Rhynoc, he inexplicably pushes you forward with rocket speed.
  • While the slide in Crystal Islands was given some Anti-Frustration Features, the one in Haunted Tomb became even harder to maneuver without falling off.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • The updated graphics and changes in the designs of both characters and sound in the Reignited Trilogy are strongly divisive with a portion of older fans who strongly prefer the PS1 version of the original games in terms of execution and design. In particular, a lot of the architectural details were originally very art nouveau in style and often beautiful and subtle in their design. For the remake, they were often either rendered in a much more chunky, cartoony look or just removed altogether. As well, the muppet-like faces of the original have held up surprisingly well in their own unique way, making it odd to some that they had to be replaced at all.
  • Some fans have criticized the level redesigns and color palette changes. The most frequent complaints are that the colors aren't bright enough, or that the new dialogue interface looks ugly. Some of these got updated after the game's release date was pushed back.
  • Gulp's roar was changed from a very iconic bellowing in the original game, to a more bear-like grunting in the remake, which was negatively received by some fans who preferred Gulp's original roar.
  • Speaking of level changes, the changes made to Twilight Harbor (removal of guns and grenades) in Spyro 1 and Scorch in Spyro 2 (renaming of Bombo to Bob) have certainly drawn criticism, though people understand the latter a bit more.
  • The removal of the titular mist from Misty Bog in Spyro 1 has been a point of crticism from some fans. Especially so as unlike other examples, the level's mist didn't hamper vision at any critical point and added to the atmosphere. It's enough to make the name an Artifact Title.
  • While most of the character redesigns have been met positively (Elora, Ripto, the crystallized dragons, etc.), some have been received with criticism. To be specific:
    • Sheila's redesign is particularly divisive, as she now has a red haircut and a shirt. Some think the additions are pointless attempts to add Tertiary Sexual Characteristics, while others think they help to make Sheila more visually interesting instead of just being an average, non-distinct looking kangaroo.
    • Spike's redesign, which makes him look less intimidating and more goofy, has been criticized by some fans, as it makes him seem less of a threat than the original.
  • The change in voices for some characters has received mixed receptions depending on the voice in question, but Gregg Berger not voicing Hunter has irked quite a few fans, especially since he still voices Ripto. Even this has received some criticism, as his Ripto is considerably different from the original.
  • The Sorceress' new voice: some believe her new calmer, bossier performance isn't as good as her original raspy voice.
  • Bianca to a lesser degree garners criticism, as while her new design and voice are considered endearing to many, some believe it detracts from the point of her character arc, where in the original her more devious look and acting were to make her bad guy act more convincing, only taking softer expressions and vocal tone as she became more sympathetic. With Reignited however, it is pretty obvious from first glance that Bianca isn't cut out as a bad guy at all, making her turn less impactful.
  • The fact that Skill Points unlock a concept art gallery in each game is cool. The fact that, in Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon, said galleries completely replace the beloved Epilogues, much less...
  • Some feel this way towards the updated music, citing that it's nowhere near as good as the originals. Thankfully, the remakes also come with the option to use the original trilogy's music instead.
  • While the cosmetic cheat codes from the original games are implemented into the remakes, all of the ones that affect gameplay (aside from maxing out lives) have been cut, annoying players who would've liked to use the "All Abilities" cheat from Ripto's Rage to avoid having to backtrack.
  • For some, how the backgrounds are depicted, which often take no heed as to what they were originally. For example, the mountains in Town Square are no longer a deep purple, the sky in Sunny Flight is bright blue rather than green, and the oil rigs in Twilight Harbour have been completely removed.
  • Some fans were disappointed that Mr. Bones' dance in Ripto's Rage! and Year of the Dragon was slightly changed. Instead of starting with pelvic swaying, Mr. Bones now starts his dance by doing the floss that has been popularized by Fortnite, with some fans claiming it to be just pointless shilling of the battle royale game that has virtually no ties to Spyro whatsoever (it's also reminiscent of the bowdlerization of Crash's pelvic thrusting section in his famous Crash Dance).
  • Juliet's voice in Zephyr originally sounded like a man awkwardly pretending to sound like a woman, while in the remake she sounds like a proper female voice. A lot of the fans took this negatively, saying that Juliet's original voice was supposed to sound bad. It doesn't help that Bo Peep, also in Zephyr, remained voiced by a male.
  • One of the more controversial changes to Year of the Dragon is that Ba'ah, the baby dragon obtained from the cat hockey sidequest in Frozen Altars, does not hatch in a sheep's costume this time, making his name The Artifact.
  • The Fireworks Factory level has most of the dialogue intact, but the Shout-Out to The Matrix is less obvious than it was in the original version due to Greta's kick having the Bullet Time removed.
  • Many were disappointed that Moneybags' line to Spyro, should he not have enough gems to enter Icy Speedway, was changed from suggesting that Spyro spent his gems on "flirtatious fauns" in Fracture Hills to "fanciful frivolities", and saying he was always a sucker for a pretty face to saying he was always a spendthrift. The new line isn't nearly as funny.
  • Changing the muskets that enemies in Scorch had to elastic band launchers upset several players for reasons similar to the changes to Juliet's voice, Bombo's name, and Moneybags' line; they were annoyed by the bowdlerization and were unhappy with the removal of guns from the level just like the bombs and guns being removed from Twilight Harbor. Many were quite annoyed by the removal of guns and bombs likely caused by Moral Guardians and wanted them brought back. Same goes for the rhynocs in Charmed Ridge in the third game.
  • In the original Year of the Dragon, the robotic sharks in Desert Ruins were identical to the ones in Aquaria Towers. In Reignited, they now use the model for Bluto's shark submarine - which has lost its unique design and is now just a slightly-modified version of the Aquaria Towers sharks.
• Ugly Cute:
  • The small Devil Dogs somewhat resemble french bulldogs with their redesigns. The bigger ones, on the other hand...
  • Some of Gulp's mannerisms come off as adorably goofy, especially with his more bulldog-like face in the remake.
  • Crush himself also has his share of moments, particularly at the beginning when he knocks Ripto off of Gulp's head when trying to smash Zoe with his club (He looks so concerned that he hit Ripto instead). and later on when we find out about how the three arrived in Avalar. Just look at that goofy grin he puts on when Ripto proclaims himself as king!
  • And of course, we come to Ripto himself... There's something highly endearing about watching him Finger Gun at everyone as he's saying "Say hello to your new king!"
  • Several elder dragons aren't exactly known for their appealing looks.
    • Maximos is rather pudgy and features a prominent double chin, but almost seems adorable with his tiny horns and wings along with his gleeful expression while he squats before going on to gush about how delicious vultures are.
    • Zeke is an elderly Beast Maker covered head to toe in snails whose design is highly based on matamata turtles and as a result has all kinds of jagged ridges over his body and a pig-like snout.
    • Mudada veers into the Unintentional Uncanny Valley for a number of people because he totes around a fairy plush like a young child, but for those who don't mind that he usually gives off the appearance of a cuddly giant stuffed animal.
  • A lot of the new baby dragon designs look very weird, but somehow remain adorable.
  • The gnorcs now look much more like orcs and trolls in contrast to their initial froggy appearances, their droopy pointed ears more prominent than ever and nearly all of them sport misshapen fangs. Gnasty is certainly as ugly as the dragons make him out to be, but the puppy-dog look in his eyes at being called such have given him some sympathizers.
  • The catbats in Skelos Badlands now look a lot more like felines, and therefore a bit more huggable. You know, if you can ignore the fiery hairballs they spit at you.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
  • Sparx has been redesigned to more closely resemble an actual dragonfly, which is jarring especially compared to his previous designs (which were more cute to the majority of the older fans than anything), and because his actual concept art pulls off the look much better than the final model does.
  • Bombo/Bob the Flagkeeper looked like a goofy muppet in the original...but in the remake he's a white-eyed, wrinkle-faced, ghoulish-looking humanoid who looks downright creepy. Though this may have been intentional given he is meant to be a diabolical sorcerer.
  • Jack in the Charmed Ridge level in Spyro 3 looks quite odd due to having large Black Bead Eyes in an otherwise detailed face. The result almost evokes Black Eyes of Evil.
  • The whale in Evening Lake is given human teeth, to downright disturbing effect.
• Visual Effects of Awesome:
  • The updated graphics seen in the reveal trailer look absolutely gorgeous. It’s especially noticeable since comparison shots are used as well to highlight the changes made. This is further cemented with screenshot previews from the Beast Makers homeworld and the Tree Tops level.
  • Similar to the above, the skyboxes have been upgraded from vague vector shading to full depictions of environments that stretch out to the horizon, making them feel more like actual locations than floating island levels.
  • A small thing, but Spyro's run cycle even incorporates better handling of his weight, matches his actual speed, and feels more fluid than the original game (Spyro even leans his head in as he turns). It's to the point that just making him trot about is a satisfying experience.

---