Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Spyro: Year of the Dragon is the third game of the Spyro series and the last for PlayStation. It was also the last Spyro game developed by Insomniac Games.

Anti-Piracy Message
This game is unique in that it has a LOT of anti-crack "booby traps", checking for alterations to the game alongside the existing copy-protection. One wrong bit and the trap is triggered. This deliberately made cracking the game a real pain!

Once the trap has been triggered, all sorts of weird things will happen. Zoe will politely inform you that your game is hacked early on in the game. Random eggs and gems in levels other than the one you're in are removed to render the game unwinnable. The game deliberately crashes in odd and confusing ways. The language in the European version changes randomly... all sorts of "fun" things to make pirates pull their hair out!

Here's an article by one of the developers, explaining the whole process.

Unused Text
Located in the main directory of the disc is a file called 'SPYRO3.TRD'. It contains the following text:

Now is the winter of our discontent... It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... Call me Ishmael... Stately, plump Buck Mulligan... Call me Jonah. My parents did... Gaily bedight a gallant knight... Beware the ides of March... Tyger tyger burning bright... ... I always get the Shemp...

This text is also present in the files for both prequels. (in the "DRAGON.TRD" and "SPYRO2.TRD" files respectably)

'Shemp' is referenced multiple times in the Spyro series, starting with the boss in the first game called 'Dr Shemp'. It's thought to be an in-joke by the developers whenever an unexpected error occurred or when one of the developers messed up, and in either case, they would "get the Shemp". It was likely added to reduce any leftover space on the disc, a conclusion further supported by its inclusion in the files of the playable Crash Bandicoot demos accessible in the series.

Brian Allgeier, we love you. Grouped in with the epilogue text within the Atlas is this sneaky message by Insomniac Designer Head Brian Allgeier, who at the time of Spyro 3's development was a level designer at the company.

The very last egg, no really it is. Where do you think you're going with that egg. You just put that back this minute. You can't trust anyone these days. A (rather long) string of text which appears to have been inserted purely for humour and doesn't occur at all in the game (because it's far too long to fit into an Atlas description for a start) Stop, thief. Possibly tied to the above string, again rendering it as part of the developers' quirky sense of humour. Beach Party! It is unknown what this string corresponds to, although it is grouped right before the Midnight Mountain egg descriptions. It may well be another case of humour, although based on its location in the memory it could also have been a scrapped Dragon Egg, although no levels in the game correspond to a "beach" setting, rendering this unlikely.

Unused Animation
2 unused variations of the bullets Bentley provides you with in the Scorch's Pit boss level can be triggered if one hacks the game. The first, symbolised by a spiked snowball rather similar to the Crystal Glacier Talisman from the previous game, acts as a 'smart bomb', killing all other entities on the battlefield (both enemies and chickens, but there is no effect on the boss). The second is a temporary invincibility function, which acts like the power-up usable in Evening Lake and is represented by the same small shield icon which has represented invincibility since Spyro 2. The latter may have been scrapped for a number of reasons, whether due to Scorch's lack of challenge or due to how the invincibility isn't an offensive powerup and as a result may slow the player down, while the former was probably scrapped because it was too damaging and thus is overpowered.

Unused Enemy
There's an unused re-colouration of the fire trolls that doesn't give off a 'steam' effect and is green instead of orange. It doesn't seem to have any sort of attack and it just runs at the player.

Dialogue Test
The game has a hidden mode for testing dialogue voices from the current level. It can be accessed by pressing Square, Square, Circle, Circle, Square, Square, Circle, Circle in the pause menu. Text indicating the chosen NPC and sound clip will appear below the pause menu. Use Up and Down to select the voice you want to hear.

You can exit the dialogue test by inputting the cheat a second time.

Unused Dialogue
By using the dialogue test cheat in Evening Lake, two unused dialogue strings of The Professor can be heard.

Oh dear... Oh dear, I've been trying to build a rocket to take you to Midnight Mountain, but I appear to have misplaced my plans! Now I can't even remember where I was working...

Don't worry about me, I'm just gathering my thoughts- eh, let's see... I was working on the plans, some ninjas appeared... eeh, geh, then everything gets fuzzy.

Unused Music
Multiple areas across the game reuse prior level themes in early builds of the game (and in some cases the final build), such as Enchanted Towers playing the same theme used for Sgt. Byrd's Base. Whilst this is a common practice frequently employed in platformers and adventure games, Year of the Dragon is notable for level themes differing depending not merely on the build of the game, but on its region, multiple pieces of music remaining exclusive to NTSC builds of the game and not occurring at all in PAL versions. Even more strangely, some of the corresponding themes are present on the PAL disc, and it is unknown as to why they don't play in-game.





The themes for Evening Lake and the Sorceress' Lair, both used in their intended areas in the Greatest Hits release, are rendered unused in every other variant of the game, including the original US version as well as (unusually) the PAL Platinum release, the latter of which applies the majority of the Greatest Hits edits otherwise. Even more bizarrely, these 2 themes are the only Greatest Hits exclusive themes that can be found on the PAL disc, the others (including the Enchanted Towers Skate Park, Crystal Islands, Haunted Tomb, Lost Fleet and more) not being present at all.

Unused Areas
Spyro: Year of the Dragon has several unused areas in the game. It is likely that these areas were meant to be accessible, but never made it into the game for unknown reasons.

Fireworks Factory Cave
S45LIJrfUkM

In the level 'Fireworks Factory', there's a hidden cave with a life inside, and can only be reached through hacking or glitching. The cave is located near the start of the level, and acts as though it was supposed to have a wall that could be busted when rammed into, but doesn't.

Midnight Mountain Island
'Midnight Mountain Home' has a small island that is far out of reach to the player during normal game play that has three lives on it. This island was originally intended to house the Super Bonus Round portal before it was moved. In the words of senior artist Craig Stitt: A long time ago the portal to the Super Bonus Round was on that island. The only way to get to that island was beat the Sorceress in the final battle. Once you had done that a VERY VERY tall whirl wind would appear in the room just outside the entrance to the final boss round. This whirlwind would take you up high enough that you could glide ALL the way out to that island. If I remember right it was like a 20 or 30 second glide. It was very cool. I was actually the artist who modeled the level.

Unfortunately, the way vacations that year worked out, I needed to take mine right before we shipped the game. When I came back I discovered that the Super Bonus Portal had been moved MUCH closer and that the super-whirl-wind had been removed (for unknown reasons). Unfortunately, the artist who made all the changes (as per the programmer's and designer's request) failed to remove the old island way off in the distance. Same with the programmer who overlook removing the goodies that had been placed there.

By the time I was back from vacation the game was done and out the door.

The very tall whirlwind object still exists in the game and can be restored. (Ignore the egg on the island at the end, it was added by the hacker.)

Dino Mines Arena
YGjcMaUAjNE

There's a completely different area in 'Dino Mines' that may be accessed using a swim-in-the-air glitch. Once executed, the player must swim to a wall past a red building and go behind it, and there will be a portal that is hidden and regularly inaccessible. Once through the portal, the player will be in an empty arena with a platform in the middle. It was likely going to be used for a boss battle to obtain an egg, much like in Spooky Swamp. To return to the normal level, there is an invisible portal in the middle of the platform. However, simply exiting the level may prove better, seeing as Spyro has nothing to stand upon exiting, and will fall continuously until game over. (occasionally the player may end up on the opposite side of the wall standing on the ground however, indicating where the portal once was located.)

Midday Gardens Room
texZ4f42uGI

Inside of the room where the Balloon/Whirligig/Rocket is, there is a texture of a locked door paved over what used to be a doorway to another room. Using the swim in air glitch, you can see from a distance that this did indeed used to lead to a room. The previous purpose for this unused room is currently unknown. If you get too close to the structure, it will un-draw itself from the level geometry, as if you are far away from it.

There is no collision data for it.

Revisional Differences
The game had some noticable changes between the original NTSC release and the Greatest Hits version. Partly because the game had to be rushed[needs verification]. Because of this, some music tracks are repeated, since all the tracks weren't completed at the time. Here is a brief list of the differences. Keep in mind that this list may still be incomplete:


 * In the original version, the cutscene "Spike is Born" goes unused. (It can still be accessed via the cutscene cheat once the game is completed along with the others) This was fixed in the Greatest Hits version where it plays directly before the Spike's Arena boss fight.
 * A serious bug present in the speedways was removed in the Greatest Hits version. If one were to quit the level before obtaining the level's egg then that egg would become completely unobtainable.
 * The music for Lost Fleet was changed from the music used for "Super Bonus Round" to a remix of Sheila's theme.
 * The music for Evening Lake was changed to its intended track. In the original, it erroneously plays the theme of Sunrise Spring.
 * The music for the skateboarding levels was changed to its own unique track.
 * All of the speedways except the Harbor Speedway use different music tracks in the Greatest Hits version.
 * In the original release, the Sorceress's boss theme goes unused, since it erroneously plays the Sunrise Spring track. This was fixed in the Greatest Hits. (similar case like Evening Lake)
 * Dino Mines plays Molten Crater's theme in the original version.
 * Enchanted Towers' two subgame areas for Spyro (The Lost Wolf and the Stunt Skateboarding areas.) play the music track for Desert Ruins instead. In the Greatest Hits version, they use a different theme not heard anywhere else in the game. The main area of Enchanted Towers however still plays Sgt. Byrd's theme however, probably because Sgt. Byrd can be used in the main part of the level.
 * Haunted Tomb plays Cloud Spires in the original version rather than its own unique theme that it gets in the Greatest Hits version.
 * Crystal Islands plays Seashell Shore's theme in the original version but gets its own theme in the Greatest Hits version.

None of these changes are present in the 'Platinum' release, the European equivalent of Greatest Hits, except for the 'Spike is Born' cutscene being present and the speedway bug being fixed. Unusually, the Sorceress' boss theme in the Platinum release still isn't her original theme, but is in fact Spike's Arena.

Early Demos
At least two playable demos of the game were released, one a late in development version of the game that appears to only differ from the full game in terms of the music, and an earlier version with the same music and levels but many differences from both the retail version of the game and the other demo.

Both demos include three levels (Sunny Villa Skateboarding, Molten Crater and Seashell Shore). This could suggest that at the time of the first demo's release, Sunny Villa was not a fully playable level, despite being the first level that many players go to. In both the skateboarding and Seashell Shore levels, the music that is used is the skateboarding music, and Molten Crater uses Fireworks Factory's music. In both the Seashell Shore and Molten Crater levels, the Sgt. Byrd and Sheila sections of the level do not change in music as they would in the retail version of the game.

Some of the differences of the earliest demo from the retail version that have been spotted so far include:
 * The music is sometimes different (as explained above).
 * The text colour appears to be more saturated.
 * The resolution appears to be different, as there are small black indents on the top and bottom of the screen while playing.
 * The start menu only contains the options 'Continue' and 'Quit Demo'. This is common for Demos. Spyro3HUDDemo.png
 * The small rotating egg in the egg counter display is green with a single white patch. It's unknown whether this was intended to be the final graphic for the display or whether it was just to easily tell whether the eggs was rotating correctly or not (hence the white patch). The eggs themselves, however, use the same texture as their final texture.
 * The name text that appears when an egg is found has no black window behind it.
 * The egg hatching sound and animation is different.
 * Some of the dragon names are different (confirm which?).
 * Many gems are placed in different locations, and some enemies give out different gems.
 * In the skateboarding level, Hunter's shorts are red, as opposed to purple in the retail version. He also appears to have a purple patch on his arms and is holding an invisible skateboard.


 * There is no time trial in the skateboarding level, and so there is no skill point.
 * There is no skill point in either of the other two levels either, as the 'funky chicken' is not present in seashell shore, and the bottle in Molten Crater is replaced with the game safe that is normally in a different location. It could have been moved because supercharging the safe in that position would be particularly difficult, or perhaps it was moved only for the demo. The crack on the wall where this is hidden appears to not be present. It's unknown at this time if the skill point in the Sgt. Byrd section is present, but due to the other two being missing it is unlikely.
 * There is no display that tells you that you've collected all the gems and eggs in the skateboarding level, but there is in the other two levels. This is almost certainly due to the fact that the skateboarding level is not a full level.
 * In the Sgt. Byrd section of Molten Crater, Sgt. Byrd can be seen to use a different, much less detailed texture. While in the full game he sports a green hat and belt and has a white patch on his chest, in the demo his hat is less detailed and is silver in colour, he has no belt and the white patch on his chest has a small yellow region at the top. His shoulder cannons also appear to be a slightly different colour and the inside of his mouth is completely purple as opposed to a more realistic red colour that becomes darker further into his mouth.
 * Strangely, the texture which is used in this demo seems to match official artwork of the character- he even keeps the silver helmet in the later game, Spyro: A Hero's Tail.
 * The cracked wall hiding an egg in the Sgt. Byrd section uses a different (less visible) crack texture, and is for some reason significantly more difficult to break, requiring 5-6 hits of Sgt. Byrd's cannon. The crack which usually hides the Skill Point is also less visible.


 * There is only one flower as opposed to multiple in Molten Crater, and the colour of the flower is slightly different


 * The tunnel at the end of Molten Crater leads to a much higher point than in the retail version. This defeats the point of the tunnel as it means you can't return to the end of the level from the start, as you are able in most levels. Strangely, the texture at the bottom of the arch that makes it blend into its surroundings better was removed in the retail version.