Prerelease:Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.

To do: Add sources for this information, probably some images too.

Original Story

Enter the Dragonfly had several variations in its story. In its first design, a new antagonist was meant to be created - being a big evil dragon that was meant to be harvesting all of the "Dragon Essences' from all the dragons that were meant to be in the game. At this point in development, dragonflies weren't even thought of at all. However, when this idea was shut down by some of the heads of Universal, Ricci Rukavina suggested bringing back old villains from prior Spyro titles. In fact, the evil dragon idea was later used in the next sequel to Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly - Spyro: A Hero's Tail. According to a level designer on Spyro 4 named Scott Smith, Ricci claimed that "There are no evil dragons in the world of Spyro." Ricci later left Universal after the release of Enter the Dragonfly. Scott Smith stated all this on an investigation into the game's development and can be found on Youtube.

The second cut variation of the story happens to be the one that most people are familiar with and is still very much a part of the final game. Gnasty Gnorc was planned to team up with Ripto and destroy Spyro once and for all. Of course, Gnasty never returned but is referenced within the game in the first cutscene and statues of his likeness can be found within the level Jurassic Jungle. The game's final story was established quite late into the development cycle as well as the majority of the cutscene animation being done right before the game was finalized in September of 2002.

Removed Levels

Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest level is referenced throughout the code of the game, but is never mentioned in the gameplay of the final release. Some early character dialogue referring to the level was removed before the final version, and judging by the dialect of the dialogue that was supposed to be in this level, its animal inhabitants would most likely have been Scottish Foxes. In early versions of the game, the level was named "Emerald Forest", but the atlas code and text refers to the level as "Enchanted Forest," meaning the level's original title was Emerald Forest and was changed during development. The two minigames that were supposed to appear in this level are unknown. There is no dialogue for them nor is there any code that mentions them. Oddly, the music for this level, and the music for its two minigames exist in a music CD given away at WalMart on release. The disc contained the soundtrack for the game, including these 3 unused tracks. There is no known image of what this level would have looked like, and even during the development stages it didn't have an image where it should have in the atlas. In the atlas, the Enchanted Forest is listed as the last level of the game.

Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska is referenced in several places in the game's code but is not a playable level. For example, Thieves Den's chest has the name "BA_Crystal" while the key for the chest is straight-up named "Baked_Alaska". The level would've been an orange desert type level that's full of a frozen environment. The level features Gem Mining Penguin NPCs that would've accompanied underground gem caves with geodes - likely similar to Glimmer from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage. This level was unearthed during an interview with one of the game's designer's Randolph Planck, who called it the game's "most infamous cut level." Durotar from World of Warcraft is also described as being very similar in design and texture work to Baked Alaska. The level was cut sometime during the final half of development because the producer, Ricci Rukavina didn't like the feel of the level (as happened with a large amount of other cut levels in fact).

Cutthroat Cove

Cutthroat Cove is mentioned in the same places as Baked Alaska, that being on the Jurassic Jungle Chest and code, even some textures for the level remain in the final release and are used throughout the game's levels. This level was meant to be a Spanish Caribbean type level that would've featured Viking Iguanas as NPCs according to the game's original director, Joel Goodsell as said in an interview conducted in 2019. This level began as another cut level known as Dragon Keys, but was split into the final level Luau Island, and removed level Cutthroat Cove. Here is a direct quote from that interview, "Pirate Gnorcs were to be pillaging and burning the town. I remember chickens being the fodder. I'm sure it had a mini-game, though I do not recall what it may have been. I do not believe we ever built any of this level (at least not while I was there)."

Unused Music

This game has a few unused tracks due to the exclusion of a level (Enchanted Forest) in the final release.

Mid-Flute

This song most likely was going to be the main theme for "Enchanted Forest" considering its place on the Audio CD.

Andes

This song was intended for a Speedway minigame within "Enchanted Forest" due to the BPM when compared to other Speedways, placement on the audio CD and confirmation from the track's composer, Peter Neff.

Songa

This song was most likely supposed to be used for the other minigame in "Enchanted Forest".

Pirates

Pirates can be heard playing within two unused clips as well as within a short unused 25-second audio file in the final game. This track would've been part of a removed level known as "Cutthroat Cove" due to the name "Pirates" matching the theme of the level. The full clip of this song is not available since it wasn't included in the final game and was not in the game's soundtrack.