Spyro: Season of Ice

Spyro: Season of Ice
Also known as: Spyro Advance (JP) Developer: Digital Eclipse Publisher: Universal Interactive Studios Platform: Game Boy Advance Released in JP: December 26, 2002 Released in US: October 29, 2001 Released in EU: November 16, 2001 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article

Spyro's first handheld adventure. A two-headed Rhynoc named Grendor has kidnapped all of the fairies of the land! Of course, Spyro is the only one that actually does anything about it...

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Prerelease Info

Unused Graphics

International	Japan

Interestingly, the game has portrait graphics for both of Grendor's heads, Sparx, and Spyro that go completely unused. Spyro and Grendor only speak in cutscenes, but these portraits are never used there. Sparx does not have dialog in any of the cutscenes. These graphics were also updated for the Japanese release, but go unused there as well. The Sparx portrait would be re-used in the game's sequel with some extra animated frames.

The Japanese portrait also depicts Sparx as green to be consistent with his Japanese appearance, despite Spyro Advance keeping his international color scheme.

A star graphic exists alongside the other dialog portraits that isn't used.

(Source: RayCarrot)

Unused Menu

Graphics for a menu titled SPARX PRE ALPHA HAPPY PACK can be found in the game files. The menu contains earlier level titles for the Sparx levels.

The final levels are known as Ant Farm, Wasp City, Caterpillar Gardens, and Beetle Burrows. The way the levels are organized here suggest that Beetle Burrows was once the third level, and Caterpillar Gardens the final.

(Source: Raymap)

Unused Text

Mission Dialog

To do: These lines might have been translated into German, French, and Italian for the European release. Find and document those as well.

There are multiple NPCs in the game that offer quests in which the player has to collect a certain amount of objects scattered about the level to earn a fairy. These NPCs also have dialog for returning to them without all the objects collected, yet this text is never used in any of the international releases, and the game instead re-uses their initial greeting dialog. The Japanese version actually fixes this oversight and restores the dialog.

The Professor (Time Machine Lab)

"PROFESSOR: I need more Sporks than that to get this engine going, Spyro."

Louie (Star Park)

"LOUIE: There are still a few pieces of the launch pad out there, Spyro."

Moneybags and Gabrielle

To do: This could probably be re-worded to explain it more clearly?

In Summer Fairy Home, a cutscene occurs where Moneybags actually refunds the player all of their Gems near the portal to Dragonfly X. However, there are lines meant for Gabrielle in this cutscene that went unused, resulting in the conversation with Moneybags being disjointed. Spyro Advance translated these lines, and properly sets up the cutscene. Below is a recreation of how the cutscene is meant to play out, alongside the version that's actually used.

Used Conversation

Unused Conversation

"MONEYBAGS: Well, my good looks are the only thing more precious to me than gems. So, I'll return them." "But I want you to know that I'm only doing this because I am scared of you."

"GABRIELLE: Stop it right there Mister. Spyro and Sparx earned all those gems, and they've been doing a great job rescuing us fairies. " "So unless you want me to zap you into a poor little mouse, you'll give them back those gems." "MONEYBAGS: Well, my good looks are the only thing more precious to me than gems. So, I'll return them." "But I want you to know that I'm only doing this because I am scared of you." "GABRIELLE: Thank you. There may be hope for you yet, Moneybags."

(Source: SpyroGBALocPatcher)

Regional Differences

License Screen

The license screen was updated in the Japanese release. The copyright year has been updated to 2002, and the Konami Corporation is credited for publishing and distributing the game in that region. The license screen also now uses a different font from the international release. Amusingly, a typo not present in the original license screen was introduced ("licensed" is now misspelled as "licenced").

International	Japan

Title Screen

With most, if not all, games, it's a matter of course that the Japanese release will always have a very different-looking title screen. Spyro: Season of Ice is no exception.

International	Japan

Cutscenes

The main characters have completely different models used for the game's cutscenes. Strangely, the red balloon from the intro cutscene has eyes. For no reason.

International	Japan

Character Icons

Some of the characters now have different designs for their icons as well. Hunter's icon is easily the most changed of the lot. Bianca, as with the cutscenes, just has bigger eyes and more rounded cheeks. Moneybags looks a little more sinister compared to his international design. And the blue fairy has been changed to look more like it does in the overworld, with icy-blue skin. The design for the fireflies from Twilight Bulb Factory and the Professor have also been overhauled. The rest have few changes, usually to make them look directly at the screen.

International	Japan

Market Mesa Llamas

The sprites for the Llamas in Market Mesa have been completely redone. They now look much better, with smoother animation. Additionally, the llama's rotation is messed up in the US version. As a result, their rotation always stops at their sides, never showing their fronts. This is fixed in the Japanese/ European version.

US	Japan/ Europe

Miscellaneous

• Pressing Select in the international version opens the Atlas. In the Japanese version, it brings up a map of the entire stage, which is infinitely more useful.
• The Pause Menu's 'Quit Game' functionality has been removed entirely in favor of a 'Save Game' option in the Japanese release. This allows the player to save the game at any point, whereas saving could only be done in the European and US releases by travelling to a different location.
• A lot of the gems have been moved around.
• The portals have been moved forward by a pixel.
• Grendor's angry growl when he gets hit has been replaced with the same roar as the Yeti from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!.