Proto:Spyro the Dragon (PlayStation)/Tabloid Demo/Dialogue

This is a sub-page of Proto:Spyro the Dragon (PlayStation)/Tabloid Demo.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

One of the most notable differences from the final game is the vastly different dialogue delivered by the dragons and the balloonist in this version of the game. In particular, the majority of dragons use a dialogue mode unseen in the final game and later used for the hint signs in the Japanese version of the game - the screen is covered with a greenish filter and text is displayed on-screen with "Press X to continue" written at the bottom. This mode is also used by the balloonist - the dialogue boxes that would normally appear when approaching the balloonist had not yet been programmed into the game. Similarly, there are no fairies to be found, and so the dialogue boxes that are displayed upon approaching them are also not yet present.

Artisans

The Artisans world is unique in this demo in that the dragons do use cutscenes, but they aren't the cutscenes used in the final version of the game. It seems as though this was not the original intention, as there are text strings from a much earlier version of the game which seem to correspond to each of these dragons, as mentioned in the unused dialogue section of this page.

Aside from differences in the dialogue used in these cutscenes, the animations and camerawork used also differ from the final game.

Dragon	Demo Dialogue	Final Dialogue
Nestor	Nestor: Thank you for releasing me! Free the dragons in the Artisan world, then seek out the balloonist. He'll transport you to the next world. Spyro: What about Gnasty Gnorc? Nestor: That's all I can tell you.	Nestor: Thank you for releasing me, Spyro. Free ten dragons in the Artisan world, then find the balloonist. He'll transport you to the next world. Spyro: What about Gnasty Gnorc? I'm going after him! Nestor: Find dragons first. That's all I can tell you.
Delbin	Spyro: Where's Gnasty? I'll torch him! Delbin: Go after some sheep first. Those little creatures release butterflies, which Sparx the dragonfly eats. Sparx protects you.	Spyro: Where's Gnasty Gnorc? I'll torch him! Delbin: Keep your horns on, Spyro! You have much to learn first! Do you know what the dragonfly following you is doing? Spyro: Um... Delbin: His name is Sparx, and he's helping and protecting you. Keep an eye on him, and see what I mean...
Silvus (Tomas)	Silvus: Press the jump button twice to glide. And... and don't be afraid. Spyro: Of What? Silvus: Falling from high mountain peaks, plummeting into prehistoric glaciers, crashing through- Spyro: Oh that.	Silvus: Hey Spyro, press the jump button twice to glide and... and don't be afraid. Spyro: Afraid? Of What? Silvus: Falling from high mountain peaks, plummeting into prehistoric glaciers...! Spyro: Oh, that.

Interestingly, despite the fact that Argus was removed from this demo, data from his cutscene can be loaded into the game, but it doesn't display as intended due to there not being a dragon pad near to where the cutscene takes place.

Situation	Demo Dialogue	Final Dialogue
Toasty locked	Spyro: Cool flash! Do that again! Argus: The artisans boss is through the portal behind me. But you are not yet ready, Spyro. Conquer one of the Artisans lands first. Spyro: Aww.	Spyro: Cool flash! Do that again! Argus: The artisans boss is through a portal in the dragon mouth. But you are not yet ready, Spyro. First you must complete one of the other Artisans lands.
Toasty unlocked	Spyro: Cool flash! Do that again! Argus: The artisans boss is through the portal behind me. You can challenge him now, if you feel you are ready.	Spyro: Cool flash! Do that again! Argus: The artisans boss is through a portal behind me. You can challenge him now, if you feel you are ready.

Spyro's first line in each of Argus' cutscenes was also rerecorded in the final game, though the difference is subtle. The fixed cutscene can be seen in the unreleased June 1998 prototype.

Stone Hill

The dragons in Stone Hill use written dialogue in favour of cutscenes in this version. The ID numbers listed are the internal ID numbers of the dialogue strings.

ID	Dragon	Demo Dialogue	Final Dialogue
0	Gavin	WHEN YOU FREE A DRAGON OR STEP ON A DRAGON PLATFORM, YOU ARE SAVING YOUR PROGRESS IN THE LEVEL.	Gavin: Watch the dragonfly, Spyro. His color indicates his power. When he eats butterflies, he stays strong, like me. Spyro: Uh... Sure.
1	Lindar	WATCH THE DRAGONFLY SPYRO. ITS COLOR INDICATES ITS POWER TO PROTECT YOU.	When you free a dragon or step on one of their platforms, you're saving your progress. That could be useful if you run into trouble. Not that you ever run into trouble, Spyro.
2	Gildas	FOR THE LONGEST GLIDE, PRESS THE X BUTTON AT THE TOP OF YOUR JUMP. AND TRY PRESSING THE TRIANGLE BUTTON TO DROP IN MID FLIGHT.	Gildas: Spyro my friend, how about a hint on gliding? Spyro: You bet! Gildas: For the longest glide, press the X button at the top of a jump. And try pressing the triangle button to drop down in mid flight.
3	Astor	THIS VORTEX WILL TAKE YOU BACK TO THE ARTISAN HOME WHERE YOU CAN ENTER THE OTHER ARTISAN LANDS. IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE EXPLORING THEN DO NOT STEP INTO THE VORTEX.	Astor: After you've freed all the dragons, pass through this fancy vortex thingamajigger, it'll take you back to the Artisan home. But first let me tell you a story... Spyro: No thanks, see ya!

Interestingly, it appears as though Lindar and Gavin switched their dialogue topics with each other at some point during development. This also happened with a few other dragons during development, as suggested by the unreleased June 1998 Prototype.

Dark Hollow

The dragons in Dark Hollow also use written dialogue instead of cutscenes.

ID	Dragon	Demo Dialogue	Final Dialogue
5	Alban	THOSE LITTLE CREATURES ARE WEARING FIREPROOF ARMOR. TRY A CHARGE ATTACK INSTEAD OF YOUR FLAME.	Oh it's you. I wasn't sure if you'd escape those annoying little creatures. Of course they wouldn't bother me, but here's a hint - metal armor is fireproof, but a charge attack will take care of them.
6	Darius	BIG ENEMIES CANNOT BE CHARGED, BUT THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO DEFEAT THEM. USE YOUR WITS AND DON'T FORGET YOUR FLAME	Big enemies like this Gnorc with the club cannot be charged. But a quick flame? That should defeat them.
7	Oswin	USE THE TRIANGLE BUTTON TO ZOOM IN AND LOOK AROUND!	Oswin: Psst, Spyro... want to know a secret? Use the triangle button when you want to zoom in and look around. Spyro: Oh, your secret's safe with me...

Unused

Written dialogue is present in the code for dragons all the way up to the Magic Crafters world (which also corresponds to the fact that dragon names are only present in the code up to the Magic Crafters world - no dragon names or dialogue strings from Beast Makers onwards are present). The names of the dragons they're associated with is not immediately clear from the dialogue, so content clues are required to link them to the correct dragon.

Placement Confirmed

Some of the dragons have been observed to use text dialogue in the June 15th 1998 prototype. These dragons are as follows:

ID	Dragon	Level	Demo Dialogue	Final Cutscene Dialogue
8	Nils	Town Square	TOWN SQUARE IS FULL OF TREASURE AND DRAGONS, BUT YOU MUST GLIDE TO EXPLORE. USE THE L2 AND R2 BUTTONS TO EXPAND YOUR VIEW.	Welcome to Town Square, Spyro! Begin exploring by gliding to that area with the bulls. Use the L2 and R2 buttons to get a good look.
19	Alvar	Town Square	DID YOU SEE A MAN DRESSED IN BLUE RUNNING AROUND... HE'S A THIEF! AND HE'S STOLEN A DRAGON EGG! CATCH HIM SPYRO!	(Grunts) Spyro, did you see a man dressed in blue running around here? He's a thief, and he's stolen a dragon egg! You've got to track him down and-and get that egg! Run! Run! (Pants) I'm getting a little winded.
20	Thor	Town Square	GOOD WORK SPYRO, YOU'VE SEEN ALL OF TOWN SQUARE.	Thank you for releasing me.
21	Halvor	Cliff Town	THANK YOU FOR RELEASING ME SPYRO. AND REMEMBER, ARMORED ENEMIES CANNOT BE FLAMED.	Spyro: How's a dragon supposed to flame metal armor, anyway? Halvor: Remember, Spyro. Flame won't harm metal. But charging with your horns? That should do the trick.
22	Nevin	Toasty	GOOD LUCK DEFEATING THIS BOSS. HE HAS SOME TRICKS UP HIS SLEEVE.	Nevin: Gnasty Gnorc has put one of his most devious henchmen in charge of the Artisan world. Spyro: Bring him on! I think I smell a barbecue! Nevin: Be careful, Spyro! This boss has many tricks up his sleeve.
25	Conan	Dry Canyon	THANK YOU FOR RELEASING ME SPYRO.	Thank you for releasing me.
26	Boris	Dry Canyon	THIS CANYON HOLDS MANY HIDDEN REWARDS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A GOOD GLIDER.	Boris: Dry Canyon rewards good gliders. You are a good glider, eh, Spyro? Spyro: I was... born to glide! Boris: Hmph.
27	Ivor	Dry Canyon	AH, SO YOU'RE THE YOUNG DRAGON I'VE HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT. THANK YOU FOR RELEASING ME.	Ivor: Is that you, Spyro? Are you the young dragon I've been hearing so much about? Ever since you were a wee puff of smoke, we've known... ehh... Spyro: You've known...? Ivor: Ah, I forget.
28	Maximos	Dry Canyon	INCREDIBLE GLIDE SPYRO! I THOUGHT I'D BE STUCK HERE FOREVER.	Incredible glide, Spyro! I thought I'd be stuck here forever with those ugly vultures standing on my head. Those birds might look tough, but they're pretty tasty... flame-broiled... with a pinch of salt...
29	Unknown Dragon (Gale?)	Cliff Town	THERE ARE SOME BIG GLIDES COMING UP. I HOPE YOU ARE NOT AFRAID OF HEIGHTS!	N/A
30	Enzo	Cliff Town	THANK YOU SPYRO! SEE WHERE YOU CAN GLIDE TO FROM THIS SPOT. I'VE CREATED A WHIRLWIND TO HELP YOU GET BACK UP HERE.	Spyro: Hey, what's on the other side of that river? Enzo: Why don't you glide there and find out?
31	Marco	Cliff Town	YOU'VE REACHED THE HIGHEST POINT IN CLIFF TOWN. YOU CAN GET TO ALMOST ANYWHERE FROM HERE.	You've reached the highest point in Cliff Town. You can get to almost anywhere from here. If I were you, I'd use that whirlwind there.
32	Ulric	Ice Cavern	A WORD OF CAUTION YOUNG DRAGON...DO NOT TRY TO CHARGE THOSE LARGE ENEMIES.	A word of caution, little one: Wait until you grow big, (clears throat) like me, before charging those large enemies.
33	Todor	Ice Cavern	SOME BIG ENEMIES ARE WEARING ARMOR, BUT ARMOR CAN MAKE THEIR FEET VERY SLIPPERY IN THE ICE CAVERN.	Todor: Psst. Spyro. Some big gnorcs up ahead are wearing armor... and in the Ice Caves, armor can make their feet very slippery! Spyro: Hmmm...
34	Andor	Ice Cavern	THANK YOU FOR RELEASING ME SPYRO, AND FIND THAT GNASTY GNORC!	Thank you for releasing me.
35	Ragnar	Ice Cavern	YOU'VE DONE VERY WELL SPYRO. THE OTHER DRAGONS SAID YOU WEREN'T READY BUT I KNEW THEY WERE WRONG.	Ragnar: You've done well, Spyro. Some dragons thought you weren't ready, but I knew they were wrong. Spyro: I'm ready, alright! ...Ready for what?
36	Asher	Ice Cavern	IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU SPYRO.	Thank you for releasing me.
37	Trondo	Doctor Shemp	THIS GUY THINKS HE IS SO COOL, BUT HE SHOULD WATCH HIS BACK!	This guy thinks he’s so cool! You don’t know what it’s been like listening to him over and over! But I’ll tell ya one thing... he should watch his back.
38	Devlin	Town Square	DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU GET YOUR LONGEST GLIDE BY PRESSING X AT THE VERY TOP OF YOUR JUMP...	Thanks, Spyro, (laughs) I had the worst itch on the tip of my wing. Oh, did you know that you get your longest glides by pressing X at the very top of your jump?
44	Zane	Alpine Ridge	GREAT CHALLENGES AWAIT YOU SPYRO. DEFEAT GNASTY, FREE THE DRAGONS...	Zane: Spyro, you're not afraid of those big noisy gigantic awful beasts, are you? Spyro: Of course not! Zane: I didn't think so.
45	Eldrid	Alpine Ridge	THANK YOU FOR RELEASING ME SPYRO.	Ahh, thank you for releasing me!
46	Zander	Alpine Ridge	GREAT WORK SPYRO. THE MAGICCRAFTERS COULD USE A DRAGON LIKE YOU.	Great work, Spyro! If you keep this up, you'll learn all the tricks of the Magic Crafter world.
47	Kelvin	Alpine Ridge	I'M GLAD YOU FOUND ME SPYRO. AND CATCH THAT THIEF!	Kelvin: Remember that these blue thieves haven't stolen eggs only in the Magic Crafter world. Spyro: Don't worry! I'll take care of 'em.
48	Ajax	High Caves	TRY COMBINING SUPERDASH WITH YOUR OTHER POWERS TO REALLY EXPLORE THE HIGH CAVES.	Spyro: I hate those bugs! When I become big and strong, like you, I'll squash 'em all. Ajax: Until then, remember that supercharge makes you invincible.
49	Cyrus	High Caves	PLEASE TAKE CARE OF THESE DRUIDS. THEY INSIST ON MOVING EVERYTHING IN SIGHT.	Please do something about these green druids, they insist on moving everything in sight!
50	Cedric	High Caves	THANK YOU FOR RELEASING ME. SUPERDASH MAY HELP YOU IN MORE THAN JUST JUMPING FAR.	Try combining supercharge with jumping and gliding, and really explore the High Caves.
51	Jarvis	Wizard Peak	AH, SPYRO! I WAS CAUGHT HERE AT MY FAVORITE SUPERDASH SPOT. USE IT TO BASH THOSE WIZARDS!	Welcome to Wizard Peaks! This is my favourite supercharge spot, use it to bash those wizards.
52	Hexus	Wizard Peak	THERE'S MUCH MORE TO DO... MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB, PEAKS TO CONQUER...	Thank you for releasing me.
53	Lucas	Wizard Peak	THANK YOU FOR RESCUING ME SPYRO.	Lucas: Listen carefully, Spyro. There's a secret area in the Artisan home. It is at the waterfall. Try jumping on the stones there. Spyro: Artisan home... waterfall... sounds good!
54	Altair	Blowhard	CHEERS SPYRO. KEEP AFTER THAT BOSS!	Altair: Thanks for releasing me, Spyro. You have no idea how long I've been trapped in crystal... and, uh, neither do I... who are you again? Spyro: Umm, I'm outta here.

Placement Speculative

The remaining strings are trickier to link to a dragon - however, one can be reasonably certain about most of the dialogue strings as many of them are near perfect matches with the cutscenes used in the final game. The remaining strings can be determined by their placement in the ID list - dragons from the same level tend to appear next to each other in the list.

A few of the strings - early ones in the ID list - seem to correspond to the Artisans dragons. The dialogue is highly different from any of their cutscene dialogue, but the tutorial-like nature of the strings and certain things that are mentioned in the dialogue suggests that they wouldn't be a good fit for any other dragons. In particular, four of these strings take up ID numbers 14 to 17, and adjacent ID numbers tend to correspond to dragons in the same level. Argus' second dialogue string appears to have been added to the game much later on, given by its ID number.

ID	Demo Dialogue	Speculated Dragon	Final Cutscene Dialogue	Reasoning
14	EACH TIME YOU SEE A CRYSTAL DRAGON WALK UP TO IT TO RELEASE IT. MANY DRAGONS WILL ALSO GIVE YOU HELPFUL CLUES.	Nestor	Nestor: Thank you for releasing me, Spyro. Free ten dragons in the Artisan world, then find the balloonist. He'll transport you to the next world. Spyro: What about Gnasty Gnorc? I'm going after him! Nestor: Find dragons first. That's all I can tell you.	It makes sense for this dialogue to be the first the player encounters.
15	THE MAGIC WHIRLWIND IN THIS TOWER WILL TAKE YOU TO THE TOP. LOOK FOR WHIRLWINDS TO TAKE YOU TO HIGH PLACES.	Silvus (Tomas)	Silvus: Hey Spyro, press the jump button twice to glide and... and don't be afraid. Spyro: Afraid? Of What? Silvus: Falling from high mountain peaks, plummeting into prehistoric glaciers...! Spyro: Oh, that.	Silvus is located next to a whirlwind.
16	THE MAGIC ARCH HERE IS NOT WORKING. A DRAGON LATER IN YOUR ADVENTURE WILL TELL YOU HOW TO ACTIVATE IT.	Delbin	Spyro: Where's Gnasty Gnorc? I'll torch him! Delbin: Keep your horns on, Spyro! You have much to learn first! Do you know what the dragonfly following you is doing? Spyro: Um... Delbin: His name is Sparx, and he's helping and protecting you. Keep an eye on him, and see what I mean...	Delbin is next to the Sunny Flight portal, which perfectly matches the description given by this dialogue.
17	THIS ARCH TAKES YOU TO MEET THE BOSS WHO IS RUNNING THE ARTISAN WORLD.	Argus	Spyro: Cool flash! Do that again! Argus: The artisans boss is through a portal behind me. You can challenge him now, if you feel you are ready.	Argus is located next to the Artisans boss portal.
42	YOU MUST FIND THE EXIT VORTEX IN ONE OF THE OTHER LEVELS BEFORE YOU CAN USE THIS PORTAL.	Argus	Spyro: Cool flash! Do that again! Argus: The artisans boss is through a portal in the dragon mouth. But you are not yet ready, Spyro. First you must complete one of the other Artisans lands.	The description perfectly matches the Toasty portal requirements, and this description matches no other levels.

Here are the unused dialogue strings likely associated with other levels:

ID	Demo Dialogue	Speculated Level	Speculated Dragon	Final Cutscene Dialogue	Reasoning
23	WELCOME TO THE PEACEKEEPERS WORLD. YOU CAN RETURN TO THE ARTISAN WORLD BY SPEAKING TO THE BOATMAN.	Peacekeepers	Titan	Titan: Welcome to Peacekeepers Spyro. Look how our treasure has been turned against us, and stolen. Recover our treasure, Spyro. Spyro: Collect treasure. Got it.	Contents of dialogue matches Titan's placement and final dialogue.
24	THE PEACEKEEPERS HOME IS A TRICKY PLACE. EXPLORE THIS AREA CAREFULLY TO FIND A COUPLE OF SECRETS.	Peacekeepers	Magnus or Gunnar		The string doesn't really match either of their final dialogue, but the content of the dialogue suggests that it's a Peacekeepers dragon. There's still one Peacekeepers dragon unaccounted for, however.
43	WELCOME TO THE MAGIC CRAFTERS HOME.	Magic Crafters	Cosmos	Welcome to Magic Crafters! I want you to release the dragons, reclaim our treasure, and recover the eggs from those pesky blue thieves.	Closely matches final dialogue.
55	YOU'VE NEARLY DISPATCHED THIS TRICKSTER SPYRO. KEEP GOING!	Blowhard?	Unknown Dragon (Finlay?)	N/A	Seems to reference a boss of some sort, and the surrounding dialogue suggests it's used in Blowhard. However, Blowhard only has one dragon in the final game, Altair, and his dialogue is already accounted for. Some light can be shed on this in the June 15th prototype of the game, where the inventory lists two dragons despite only one of them being present in that build. This could potentially hint to a dragon that seems to have been removed from the level. It may correspond to the unused dragon name, "FINLAY", which also sits next to another Blowhard dragon in the names list.

Balloonist Dialogue

As mentioned before, the balloonist also used the same dialogue mode as the dragons in this version. The dialogue that is included in the list makes references to levels up to the Magic Crafters world, but nothing beyond. In the final game, balloonists use their own dialogue mode complete with an entirely different set of dialogue strings to go with it. Furthermore, there are two dialogue strings for each time the balloonists tell you what they require before taking you to the next world - one for the first time you speak to them and another for each successive time. Both have been included for comparison reasons. The locations listed below are also inferred from the dialogue.

ID	Location	Demo Dialogue	Final Dialogue (First encounter)	Final Dialogue (Successive encounters)
9	Artisans	I CAN TAKE YOU ACROSS THE SEA BUT NOT UNTIL YOU HAVE RESCUED 10 CRYSTAL DRAGONS. SO BEAT IT.	IF YOU PROVE YOUR WORTH BY RESCUING 10 DRAGONS... THEN YOU MAY USE THIS BALLOON TO FLY TO A NEW WORLD.
10	Artisans	HOP ON BOARD SPYRO. WE ARE GOING TO THE PEACEKEEPERS.
11	Peace Keepers	I'D LOVE TO TAKE YOU BACK TO THE ARTISAN WORLD IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO.
12	Peace Keepers	COLLECT 500 TREASURE THEN COME BACK AND TALK TO ME.
13	Peace Keepers	GREAT, YOU HAVE ENOUGH TREASURE... I CAN TAKE YOU TO THE MAGICCRAFTERS HOME NOW.
39	Magic Crafters	I CAN TAKE YOU BACK TO THE PEACEKEEPERS HOME IF YOU WOULD LIKE.

The following string (ID 41) is used in the demo when the player speaks to the Balloonist:

THE OTHER WORLDS ARE VERY
EXCITING...I'LL TAKE YOU
THERE IN SEPTEMBER.

Unused IDs

Almost all ID values from 0 to 55 are associated with a dialogue string - either from a dragon or a balloonist or boatman. ID values 4 and 18 are inexplicably empty though, possibly indicating the removal of a couple of dialogue strings.