Proto:Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!/Early Demo

This is a sub-page of Proto:Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!.

To do: More screenshots would be nice.

The earliest known demo of Spyro 2, found among others in game demos compilations. Being the earliest demo we know of, it contains many differences from the final game.

Only two levels are accessible, "Skelos Badlands" and "Sunny Beach".

General Differences

• On the level select menu, an early version of the game's logo is displayed.
• The demo features an early pause menu design.
  • Selecting the "Guidebook" option doesn't do anything, likely just due to it being disabled for the demo.
  • The title of the level doesn't fit the namespace very well, and is written in all capital letters.
    • Similarly, all in-game dialogue is displayed in all-caps, despite being written in standard casing in the game's text files.
  • The slot for the talisman is a slightly lower resolution.
  • The image for the orb in this menu is simpler-looking and white instead of green. Orbs still use their final appearance in-game, however.
  • The demo features slots for the orbs that have yet to be obtained, while the final just has transparent copies of the orb image that become opaque when obtained.
  • The total number of spirit particles was set to 99 by default for both levels, but was cut down to the actual number of enemies in each level in the final.
    • Oddly, the image for the spirit particle count is a bit transparent in the demo.

Demo	Final

• Much of the game's text used in the Guidebook - including the cutscene names - are not present, yet.
• The gem icon in the HUD is slightly different. It appears to rotate more slowly, and it contains two extra frames of animation when compared to the final animation. This might be what causes the apparent difference in animation rate.

Demo	Final

• There's no background music whatsoever. The Start menu also lacks sound effects, and there's no audio dialogue for any of the characters. Most of the other sound effects are present, however.
  • The lack of music is actually due to the STR file being faulty. Recovering the STR reveals that there are only three music tracks in the game - the title screen theme from Spyro the Dragon (duplicated multiple times, exactly the same as in the Spyro the Dragon demos), an early version of Sunny Beach's theme (as heard in the later demos) and, for some reason, the theme for Hurricos.
• Much of the gem placement throughout the demo differs from the final game.
• Sparx still uses his Spyro 1 design, as well as his Spyro 1 movement patterns.
• Spyro can still roll as he does in Spyro 1 with the shoulder buttons.
  • One thing to note is that it appears the mechanic was changed a bit as the rolling is clunkier than it was in Spyro 1, and the distance in which Spyro rolls is greatly increased. The animation also does not match the speed & distance Spyro rolls.
• When diving underwater, Spyro does not immediately begin charging once in the water. This has the effect of slowing the player down quite significantly.
• There is a rather frustrating oversight present in this version where charging shortly after flaming will entirely cancel the flame and make it disappear, greatly decreasing its range.
• The Super-Flame breath power up has a significantly shorter delay when using it, allowing Spyro to freely spam it.
• When a powerup gate is inactive, the collected spirit particles float around the number inside the gate.

Demo	Final

• When a powerup is running out, the notes that play are in ascending pitch and are equally spaced instead of being a single pitch played at increasing speeds.
• The invincibility icon seen in powerup gates uses a slightly different design, appearing red and yellow instead of grey (similar to the design seen in the invincibility icon above the powerup timer).
• "Question Mark Jars" display a picture of an arrow instead of a question mark. The arrow may have been changed because it could have been a little misleading.

Demo	Final

• The Exit pedestal from the first Spyro game was reused as a way to exit the level after reaching the end. It doesn't have sparkles rising up from it though; instead the word "EXIT" hovers above it. The final version replaces the exit vortices with portals.
• When collecting an orb, the number of collected orbs is shown, but there is no "orb(s)" text alongside the number.
• The orb collection sounds are totally silent, as is collecting a talisman.
• The sound played when collecting an extra life is not present, nor is there a sound for breaking life jars.
• There is no sound when Spyro jumps while charging.
• All character dialogue is displayed in all capital letters. As it turns out, this is true of many of the game's internal text strings.
• When the character dialogue that starts a minigame ends, the green-text goal summary that follows in the final is missing here.
• No notification is shown when the player collects all the gems or orbs in the level, nor when the level is complete.
• There is no game over screen - the demo ends immediately upon dying.

Level Differences

Aquaria Beach

• The level is called "Aquaria Beach" in this demo instead of "Sunny Beach". For more info, read the unused text section.
• The ledge opposite the first ladder is longer than it is in the final game.
• The bridge crossed before entering the final section of the level is significantly less detailed, more closely reflecting a bridge built into the rock than a man-made bridge.
• The final room of the level is quite a bit smaller than it is in the final game.
  • Strangely, the game crashes if one climbs up onto the wall that surrounds this room and angles the camera in a certain way. The final game does not exhibit this behavior.

Dialogue

A number of dialogue strings were changed. These are written below as they appear in the game's code, whilst in-game they're rendered entirely in capital letters.

Only those dialogue strings which changed in development are listed below. Some strings may also be unused in the demo.

Character	Demo	Final
Prince Tortiss	Hi Spyro, it's a good thing you're here. A bunch of Water Workers are trying to box up all of the turtles and ship them off. If you can help shepherd those baby turtles over there to safety, I'll be mighty grateful.	Hi Spyro, it's a good thing you're here. If you can help shepherd those baby turtles over there to safety, I'll be mighty grateful.
Prince Tortiss	The baby turtles made it to safety? Good... I knew you could do it.	No matching string exists in the final game.
Prince Tortiss	I heard that the Water Workers showed up in Aquaria Towers as well.	No matching string exists in the final game.
Master Chef	Oh sure, taunt a hungry chef...what will I serve my dinner guests for the first course?	Oh sure, taunt a hungry chef...what I'm gonna serve my dinner guests for the first course?
King Fromit	The baby turtles asked me to thank you for helping them.	No matching string exists in the final game.
Advisor Gromit	Impressive! Most impressive... Please take this sacred... errr... thingamajig as a token of our everlasting gratitude. A fairy left it with me, but I don't know what to do with it.	Impressive! Most impressive... Please take this sacred...errr...thingamajig as a token of our everlasting gratitude.
Advisor Gromit	Have you ever been to the aqua-dome in Aquaria Towers? I hear it's beautiful in the spring!	No matching string exists in the final game.
Advisor Gromit	No matching string exists in this demo.	The Water Workers have boxed up most of our baby turtles. The boxes are incredibly strong! With a more powerful flame breath, maybe you could break them open and release the turtles.

Some of the text strings also include extra spacing between lines in this demo.

Additionally, the following text strings intended to guide the player as to what to do in each of the mini-games are not present in this demo:

Keep turtles out of cauldron.
Defeat 11 enemies to activate superflame powerup.
The powerup is the two pyramids on the round platform.
Use superflame powerup to open boxes.
Open all the boxes to free the baby turtles.

Finally, Advisor Moppet's use of the word "climb" is highlighted in green in the final game, whereas in this demo, the word is the same color as the rest of the text.

Skelos Badlands

• The flags in this level are red instead of yellow.
  • Additionally, when flamed, the skull at the top of the flag plays a little animation where it falls down and becomes lopsided. The final flag design removes this animation, and the skull instead stays put.
• Several of the cacti are missing.
• The life jar normally near the lava at the end of the level is located near the bridge surrounded by enemies, in the area that leads back to the start of the level.
• The shape of the bridge in the area leading back to the start of the level was somewhat altered in the final game.
• The lizard counter appears slightly differently to the final game.
• When you collect all of the bones, Spyro has to manually go back to where the skeleton is assembled. In the final, Spyro is immediately teleported to the skeleton once all the bones are collected.
• Neither of the level's Skill Points are present. There's also no text indicating that Skill Points exist at all at this point of development.
• None of the minigames play unique themes; they instead continue to play the level's main theme (i.e., neither the lava lizard themes nor the bone dance theme plays).

Dialogue

A number of dialogue strings were changed. These are written below as they appear in the game's code, whilst in-game they're rendered entirely in capital letters.

Only those dialogue strings which changed in development are listed below. Some strings may also be unused in the demo.

Character	Demo	Final
Lumpy	Well done, grasshopper! Take this shiny umm, thing we found, to aid your journey!	Well done, grasshopper! Take this shiny uhh, thing we found, to aid your journey!
Lumpy	Thank you for helping us again, Spyro! You deserve another shiny thing. I was going to use it as a nightlight.	Thank you for helping us again, Spyro! You deserve another shiny thing. I was going to use it as a night-light.
Lumpy	If you ever visit Skelo Glacier, look up my cousin Tuk. He's the one with the bone through his head.	No matching string exists in the final game.
Gronk	Hey, dragon, I hear you're pretty tough. I bet my cousin Glug you wouldn't be able to make it through badlands without getting singed. If you find him, I owe him a lotta bones.	Hey, dragon, I hear you're pretty tough. I bet my cousin Glug you wouldn't be able to make it through Badlands without getting singed.
Gronk	I guess I owe my cousin a lizard steak. That's the last time I make a bet with that guy.	No matching string exists in the final game.
Glug	Excellent! You made it through the Badlands! I knew I'd win that bet, my cousin gronk is a fool to bet against a dragon. Take this talisman for helping me out.	Excellent! You made it through the Badlands! I knew I'd win that bet...my cousin Gronk is a fool to bet against a dragon. Take this talisman for helping me out.

Some of the text strings also have additional spacing between periods / ellipses and words in this build.

Additionally, the following text strings intended to guide the player as to what to do in each of the mini-games are not present in this demo:

Cross the bridge.
Save the villagers.
Save the villagers!
Save the villagers again!
Get bones from Lava Toads

Unused Text

Level Names

Almost every level names can be found in the game's code, even though they go unused. A common theme with these early names is that every level that isn't a homeworld, a speedway, or a boss arena can be linked with another level (the only exceptions to that rule being Glimmer and Hurricos). They indeed have a direct link, both in term of theme and name, as can be seen in the game's text files:

Demo Name	Final Name
Glimmer	Glimmer
Summer Forest	Summer Forest
Colossus Springs	Idol Springs
Colossus Steppes	Colossus
Hurricos	Hurricos
Aquaria Towers	Aquaria Towers
Aquaria Beach	Sunny Beach
Ocean Speedway	Ocean Speedway
Crush Dungeon	Crush's Dungeon
Autumn Plains	Autumn Plains
Skelos Badlands	Skelos Badlands
Skelos Glaciers	Crystal Glacier
Zephyr Harbor	Breeze Harbor
Zephyr Meadows	Zephyr
City Speedway	Metro Speedway
Scorch Dunes	Scorch
Scorch Oasis	Shady Oasis
Fracture Cone	Magma Cone
Fracture Hills	Fracture Hills
Icy Speedway	Icy Speedway
Gulp Overlook	Gulp's Overlook
Winter Tundra	Winter Tundra
Mystic Savannah	Mystic Marsh
Mystic City	Cloud Temples
Canyon Speedway	Canyon Speedway
Metropolis Acres	Robotica Farms
Metropolis Spires	Metropolis

Notably, all the demo names are written in capital letters, but for the sake of readability the cases have been made consistent in this table.

While there is no trace of either Dragon Shores or Ripto's Arena, there is one additional string after these levels - "SUPER BONUSRIPTO". It is unclear as to whether this would have referred to Ripto's Arena or Dragon Shores, but it's interesting to note that the bonus level at the end of Spyro 3 was given the similar name of "Super Bonus Round".

Orbs

In this demo, the word "Orb" is only ever referenced in-game by the chef character - never by any in-game menus. Indeed, in the final game, many characters refer to them with nondescript names like "doodads" instead of using the term "orb". Even the orb collection screen fails to display the word "orb" in this build.

You also can't collect the same orb twice since that requires leaving the level. As a result, the following string goes unused:

YOU ALREADY HAVE THIS GLOBE

Despite the fact that the Chef calls them orbs, apparently, at around this point in development, the official term for the orbs was actually "globes". Either the word "orb" was one of the many nondescript names given to the items, or this text string was a leftover from an even earlier version where the name orbs was still not decided upon.