Punch-Out!! (NES) Review

Which I think is reason enough to play the first game. So let's get on that. The version I'm playing is the original Mike Tyson version, because it's just more satisfying to fight Tyson then Mr. Dream. Just for clarification.

In Punch-Out!! you play as Little Mac as you attempt to fight your way to the top of the WVBA (World Video Boxing Association), fighting a variety of colorful opponents with the support of Doc Louis. Your goal is to get the highest rank by defeating Mike Tyson himself.

Actually there's not much to the plot of this game.

The gameplay in Punch-Out!! is simple. Being locked in place, you have the ability to punch with your left and right fists (Done by pressing A or B respectively.) while aiming towards your opponents head or stomach (Stomach is the default while holding Up allows you to punch the head.). Little Mac is able to dodge left or right in order to avoid damage. Or, he can block in order to greatly reduce damage received, which is done by pressing Down on the D-pad. The key to dealing damage is by dodging attacks and punching while your opponent is open. If you manage to land a hit before they attack, you earn a star. Pressing Select executes a devastating uppercut that gets more powerful the more stars you have, maxing out at three. You lose all your stars if you take damage however, so it's risk vs. reward.

In typical boxing fare, knocking your opponent down will start a count to 10. If your opponent stays down for those 10 seconds, you win. If they get back up, the match continues. If you knock them down three times within a single round, then you win by TKO. This also applies to you however, which will become clear if you decide to take "The Challenge". If you make it to the end of the third round, then a split decision will determine who wins the match. Which is again, very clear if you take "The Challenge".

Now in terms of presentation, this game looks very good for a game made in 1987. All the sprites look really good and are filled with personality. Though sometimes the expressions can look a little...strange.

Yeah...like that...

In terms of the soundtrack, it's full of catchy themes that like to stick in your head. Themes like the Fight Theme, and the Game Over theme are particularly catchy, while the Jogging Theme has gone to transcend meme status. I won't explain why, but it has, and it's one of the catchiest themes in the series.

Now it needs to be mentioned that this game is very hard. It starts easy enough, but then you'll remember that you're playing a game on the NES. Your skills of dodging and punching at precise moments will be tested. Knowing exactly when to receive stars and exactly when to use them will be rough, and memorizing what attacks opponents use and how to dodge them will be key. Thankfully, there are unlimited continues and passwords you receive that help you continue, but it will take multiple attempts to take down later opponents. And especially ESPECIALLY when attempting "The Challenge".

Okay, enough beating around the bush. You all want to know what "The Challenge" is, and many of you probably already know. But "The Challenge" is just my name of the bout between you and...

Mike Tyson. This monster of a opponent is fast and will knock you clean out if you're not good enough. It takes one punch ONE PUNCH to knock you down, meaning you can only afford three mistakes per round. If you're to defeat Mike Tyson, you will need to be perfect, knowing when to strike and when and how to dodge his death-bringing punches. If you can survive the first round, then it becomes slightly easier, reflecting the real Mike Tyson's tactics, but he can still take you out in a matter of seconds if not prepared. Thankfully, there exists a password for fighting Tyson(007 373 5963), and he also won't bite your ear off, but prepare for a challenge when you fight him. But I'm a man! So I went up to Tyson with my fists out ready for a fight and...

Ignoring the extreme difficulty of Mike Tyson, Punch-Out!! is a very fun game. It's simple, yet engaging enough to keep you interested and on your toes for the entire game. Just be ready to have your reflexes and your memory tested, because you'll get destroyed if you're not paying attention. But its worth playing, regardless of what version it is. Once again, the version I was playing was the Mike Tyson version, which can only be played through an original copy of the game, or through emulators. If you get the game on the Virtual Console, Mike Tyson will be replaced with Mr. Dream, who is exactly the same as Mike Tyson. It's just not the same fighting him however, though it does make for some funny Kirby jokes, seeing as he does hail from Dreamland. No seriously, look it up.

The Silent Protagonist wants you to join The Nintendo Fun Club today!

All images are the property of their original owners. If I made these, then this probably wouldn't happen.

Dating Sim Showcase: Real Life: A Bishoujo Adventure

Crap.

This seems to be a typical practice on Forever Alone Day. Eh. Despite that, this is actually how it is in reality. Believe it or not, the guy who writes about games on the internet doesn't have any female admirers. Shocking I know. However, I have the world of video games to keep me in check! Common games where you can peruse romance with characters are Visual Novels, otherwise known as Dating Sims. Yes it's a bit like reading-actually its exactly like reading, but here you can make your choices and influence your story and romance with no real-life consequences. And due to there being many free visual novel engines, there are many indie visual novels that are free! So how about we pick one and see if I can find true love in the virtual world instead. So get ready for a story. I picked one of these at random and played through it. So here is my story in Real Life: A Bishoujo Adventure, which I will refer to as Real Life for the remainder of the writing.

And though there isn't much to this game, I will be detailing the experience in it's entirety. So I'll just throw out the *SPOILER WARNING* right now.

Our story begins with a typical flashback detailing the typical young love cliche of a pinkie-promise to meet again sometime in the future when having to part ways. So basically this begins like the most basic anime you can imagine.

Oh see. Even the protagonist agrees.

So I head up to the place I'm apparently staying. My friends are gone, sans one in the bathroom, so I head up to my room to drop off the luggage.

And if this isn't my kind of room, I don't know what is. Not digging the body pillow and the blanket, but I'm just fine with those posters and especially the laptop. A bit dusty though, so I set out to find the broom. Once it's in hand, I begin to head back to my room to clean up. On the way back, the bathrooms doorknob begins to turn, so I stop to ask about the strong perfume I noticed in the main room.

Ah. Well isn't that a typical thing to happen in these anime-type games.

So as this would probably not go in real life, this girl literally tackles me and then proceeds to knock me unconscious with the broom. Amazing. So a bit later once I've regained consciousness, I learn that my friends were booted out of the place for being hardcore party-animals and nearly starting a fire. So now three female tenants are staying here, but I'm allowed to stay due to my well-organized behavior. That of which was not apparent due to the fiasco earlier, as blond Clearly-Tsundere is quick to point out. I say that that was a bit rude due to it being an accident, but a quick shriek tells me that she clearly doesn't agree. Thankfully, the others agree to let me stay, and the majority rules here.

And thanks to the incident, we can get straight to introductions. First is Sue, who is really nice, who then tells me the name of Miss Clearly-Tsundere, which is Feria. And then Feria accuses me of purposely stalking her by waiting in front of the door. I'm never gonna live that down am I? Then I notice Lucia, who immediately turns away as soon as I turn to meet her. Ah, a quiet, shy girl with glasses? Guess I know who I'm after. I head back to my room, ready to call it quits for the day when the doorbell rings, and...

Okay, now we're bringing in the little sister? And she even called me onii-chan. I guess we have three check-marks now in terms of cliche anime characters. A Tsundere, a shy quiet one with glasses, and now a little sister. Good. I try to send her off by telling her that it's not good for her to be in an all-male house, but then the other girls show up. Fate has a sense of humor you see, and then she decides to stay here with us. Thankfully, another attempt from Feria to kick me out is shot-down, and before I know it, it's time for the next episode.

Wait, what?

Waking up early to the thoughts of the possibility of having to share this room with my step-sister isn't exactly the best way to start the day, but whatever. I head out to fill the electric kettle, and on the way back I run into Lucia. I try to start a conversation, but that doesn't work so  I begin to head back to my room when...

Oh dear. With quick thinking, I decide the best course of action is to perform CPR myself. In doing this, I receive a quick whack across the head from Feria, who apparently doesn't care about the unconscious woman right in front of her. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. Not long later, Lucia has regained consciousness (at the cost of waking everyone up and a few more bruises on my end.). As I head back to my room to tend to my wounds, Lucia stops me and thanks me for the help while she was unconscious. Which is followed by another attempt to kick me out of the house by Feria. But with that out of the way, the next episode begins.

Being the night owl that I am, I'm over here working in the dead of night when I hear a girl. Presumably this is Sue, hard at work to make sure breakfast is made for tomorrow. That is, until a loud "KYAHH!" breaks the peaceful night. Priorities set, I rush down to the kitchen to figure out the problem. Which happens to be a cockroach. Typical. One fell swoop with a rolled up newspaper and the problem is gone. And Feria shows up and begins accusing me again. This is already becoming typical. Of course, justice is served when a huge black rat comes out and rushes under Feria. Which warrants a "KYAHH!" from her too. The next morning, our team is prepped and ready for battle against the rat. With pesticide in one hand and a broom in the other, we begin our attack. Or rather, I begin my attack. When the rat comes out, I attempt to strike it. My first swing misses, but the next two hit dead on. Before it's finished off however, it reaches the guest room and...

Oh. Alrighty then. So, after that happened the rat ran back.into the kitchen, where a few more  strikes knock the rat down. Victoly! The girls begin to enter and we begin to discuss what to do about it. I suggest boiling the thing, but I'm shot down quickly. So the rat is charged with banishment from the establishment. As I head back in, Feria begins to brag about our victory, but the appearance of another rat tells us that our fight is not yet over. With one more "KYAHH!" from Feria, it's onto the next episode.

Which begins with the shuffling of a ladder. Man, these girls aren't good at keeping quiet are they? Said girl is Feria, who is set on bringing the ladder to the kitchen. Based on the time, the day will be over at this rate, so I opt to help her. Turns out that she blew a light out, and needed the ladder to reach up and change the bulb. She begins to climb up and fix it, while I grab onto the ladder to keep it stable. My efforts are rewarded with a quick kick to the head courtesy of Feria and an accusation of trying to look up her skirt. As to please her, I head out and wait around the corner, because using a ladder without anyone keeping it stable is just asking for trouble. And sure enough, the sounds of her beginning to fall rushes me back into the kitchen ready to help. Of course, I'm a bit too late to stop the fall, but I try my best to catch her. The result:

Something that's bloody typical. Oh and look at that. Everyone else comes in here to check what's wrong. I wonder what this looks like to everyone else. Actually Ferias on top, so not as bad as I think, but still not the desired effect. Let's see how long it takes for Feria to let me live this down. But with that, let's head to the next episode and see how the little-sister arc goes.

And what a way to start the morning. With a pair of panties waiting in the bathroom sink. Of course, I can't just ignore this and risk the chance of anymore false rumors spreading about because of this, so I head out to find the owner.

First, I talk to Rena, because I suppose we're on the best terms out of anyone else in this house. And she denies that these are hers and runs out. Y'know, that only makes you more suspicious. So lets just keep that in mind if this isn't the other girls.

Then I talk to Lucia to ask if these are hers. And I'm told no. Or rather, she gestures that they're not hers. OK then. At least this was quick.

Next is Sue, who immediately begins to assume that this is a part of my panty collection. Which sounds like something Rena would do to spread rumors, but I digress. She says that they aren't hers and that she doesn't know who they belong to.

Oh shut up.

Well this is gonna suck.

Just what I thought. Anyways, she mentions that her panties are striped, so they can't be hers. Did I just hear something I shouldn't have. A few more whacks later and I have to guess the owner. Based on suspicions, I decide that it is Rena, and wait around the bathroom for her to retrieve them. And sure enough, I was right. I won't tell her, but I'm very content with being right. And with that, the final episode starts.

School begins soon. This is my final weekend. It's decided. I'm heading out. Going alone would be pointless however, so I have to choose who I want to tag along with me. I made my decision earlier to peruse Lucia, so I head out to ask her. Finally. This is the moment the whole game was leading up to. I knock on the door and wait for the response. I then notice the note on the ground and-

The Silent Protagonist can't even find love in a video game. *Sigh*

Happy Forever Alone/ Singles Awareness/ Valentine's Day!

All images are the property of their original owners. Trust me, I can't draw.

Bravely Default (3DS) Demo Impressions

I am not one for playing demos. Demos seem to raise expectations, which color the final opinion of the full game. The most recent example with this for me was the demo for Sonic Lost World, which started covered the first level, when the game was still hiding it's many problems. Don't worry, I'm not opening that can of worms again, but I figured an example was required to prove my point. As such, I've been avoiding many demos, particularly on Nintendo systems. One for the expectations issue mentioned above. Second for them having limits to how many times you can play the demo. That is just dumb. When I decide to go into demos when I'm feeling particularly bored of the recent Animal Crossing adventures, I either try to play a demo for a game I have high hopes for, like Metal Gear Solid 3, or a game I don't particularly care for. The ladder is the case for Bravely Default. I had heard of this game countless times before, but nothing was really selling me on buying the game. Eventually the chatter on my Twitter feed got to the point that I entered the demo with not really high expectations. But having played the demo, it might have convinced me to get it. This writing will be recapping what happened to me while playing this demo, while covering the mechanics of the game when the time comes. Good? Then lets jump in.

When I jump in, I notice the plot. Or rather, the lack of. Or maybe it was that I wasn't paying attention because I knew this plot probably won't come back in the full game. Either way, I pick up that I should go around the area getting jobs from people. I also gain access to the ability to rebuild a village, representing this games Streetpass abilities. There are multiple areas you can interact with in the area around your village. In order to interact, you must send a worker to do the task, which will take a certain amount of real world time. Like the first thing you do, building a potion shop, takes about fifteen minutes. This is where multiple workers comes into play. You can have more workers working on the same job, reducing overall work time. Those fifteen minutes can potentially be cut in half with the right amount of workers. How do you get more workers? Well building up your village attracts attention, but the main way to get workers is via Streetpass. However if my hi-jinks during National Streetpass Weekend are any indication, getting those bloody tags is not something that I can easily do. So I just sent one worker to build a potion shop and went out on my merry way to find a job.

Though I found it strange that a 3D RPG had a 2D town that allowed movement in the Z-axis strange, I didn't think too much of it while I searched for a quest. The quest that I later found from a kind lady told me to head out to the desert and defeat enemies while collecting beast liver. 5 of them. Okay, so the game was taking hints from the typical MMO. Hey I'm game. After obtaining my quest I entered my menu to discover a job selection. When experimenting to change a character to a knight, I was surprised to see that it yielded a result with nothing for me to lose. Before long I had a knight, a black mage, a sword-master, and an entertainer, feeling like this was an all-around team that would get me through the demo. I would later learn that this was false. Now decked out with all new classes, I head out to the desert and begin the typical RPG grinding method of running around in circles until your protagonist suffers a spontaneous seizure. Not long after beginning the method was when I ran into my first battle of the demo.

Seeing as this is an RPG, the first thing I noticed about the battles was the music in that it's fantastic. Curious as to who composed this battle theme, I set out to the internet to find my answer. As it turns out, the composers for the battle themes in this game are none than Linked Horizon. Who's that you may ask? The people who made Guren no Yumiya. What's that you may ask? The theme to Attack on Titan. Okay, so the battles immediately have a plus. It's also here where I learn of the Brave and Default battle system. In order to perform an action, you must have at least 0 BP. Performing an action makes you lose 1 BP, and you regain 1 BP at the end of a turn. Fairly standard stuff. Then comes the Default command. In doing this, you won't be able to perform any action for the current turn. However, you'll also gain 1 BP, without having to spend 1. Then comes the Brave command, which lets you use multiple BP points to perform multiple commands at once. So you can attack an enemy for two commands, heal an ally, and then attack once more for good measure. You can perform the Brave command up to 4 times per turn, but this also comes at a set back. If you go below -1 BP, you'll have to wait a certain number of turns before you can attack again. So there lies the choice. Do you want to wait first and then use your multiple commands? Or do you want to use your commands first at the cost of being a sitting duck for a few turns. And I think it's a really interesting system. Granted the extent of my experimenting was using all of my BP for all of my party members to try to end the battle as soon as possible, but I think the full game would hold more than enough time to experiment with this system. However it was this battle where I realized that my class choosing's we're very flawed. I had an entertainer who couldn't do much entertaining. And I had a black mage with no magic. Realizing my flaws, I quickly change the classes again, leaving me with two knights and two sword-masters. With that, I set out yet again to new adventures.

Heading the typical RPG overworld direction of south, I stumble upon a neat looking tower. Though poisoned from an untimely run-in with some snakes, I felt I was strong enough to best whatever was in the tower. So I head in ready for exploration when I'm immediately blocked by a dragon. Based on recent interests, running into a dragon really surprised me, but I still felt that I could take it on. One turn later three of my party members are on the floor and my last one was near death. I'm a man who will always continue to fight a losing battle if there's a small chance for victory. This was not one of those times however, so I quickly turned around and ran. Thankfully, Lady Luck and Madame Fortune were in a really good mood, because I managed to make it back to the town with one poisoned party member barely hanging on with 1 HP. One quick trip to the inn and one saving of the game later, I set out to hopefully finish the first quest in the game before I bit the dust. After multiple battles, I started to get a feel for the Brave Default gameplay, and soon felt like I could take on anything. Then a group of green imps showed up. I thought I could use Brave to defeat the enemies in one turn, but that was not the case. The poison from another battle still slowly dwindled my health away, and the imps managed to deal a large amount of damage while I was helpless. The floor needed sweeping, and it looks like I was the broom. In laymen's terms, I died.

However I refused to end this demo without completing at least ONE quest, so I proceed to reincarnate and set out one last time to complete my quest. But not before upgrading my potion shop in the village (yeah remember that?). Multiple battles with many close calls later, I have all of the beast liver that I need to collect. Now I just need to hope that the game doesn't pull the plug and sic a dragon on me. Thankfully I made it back with no difficulties, and proceed to find the woman who gave me the quest to receive my award. Said award turns out to be a big stack of gold. Thanks lady! I begin to sweep the town looking for another quest, learning all of the mechanics of the game again because half of these people tell me how the game works, and eventually reach the other end of the town. With no other quests to find, I begin to set out again, but with no idea what to do or where is safe for me to go, I decide that the demo has satisfied me enough.

So thoughts? A really solid demo. It looks great, sounds great, and has really interesting gameplay. However, I'm still not quite sold. Moneys not easy to come by for me, so I have to be careful about what I buy, and the demo though raising expectations, still hasn't done enough to warrant a buy. Perhaps its because I didn't care too much for the story, or maybe its because I didn't give the demo enough time. Regardless, I'll just hang in the shadows for now and see how the game does and decide if I should get the full version. BUT, I do recommend the demo to just about everyone. It takes up a lot of blocks sure, but what you get for just a demo is pretty amazing. Heck, even if you already have the game, download the demo anyways, as it has plenty of content that is excluded from the main game. So get on that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get ready for Forever Alone Day.

The Silent Protagonist can have his 3DS on all weekend and not get any Streetpass tags. But then he goes to McDonalds and manages to get 4 tags. How?

All images are the property of their original owners. I wish I could make stuff that looks this good.

Spyro the Dragon (PS1) Review

Well thanks Brainscratchcomms! You fuel my nostalgia drives just enough to make me dust out the copy of Spyro 1 and take another trip down memory lane. Yeah Spyro. Y'know, that one Skylander that was apparently important enough to be in the title of the first Skylanders game? Yeah, that one. Well for all the kids reading this, prepare to have your minds blown, because Spyro actually had games besides Skylanders. Crazy right? And most of these games were actually good.

No, not those ones.

Not that one either.

I didn't care too much for that one personally.

I actually liked that one, but no, not what I'm looking for.

Oh, definitely not.

Yeah, cause that's what we needed in a Spyro game, edgy plot.

There we go. This trilogy of games is what fueled my childhood. I played the heck out of all of these games, and I think it its time to share some of its magic with you. For the focus of today's review, I'll be talking about the first entry if the trilogy, Spyro the Dragon.

The plot of Spyro 1 is as follows. In The World Of Dragons, there lived a being called Gnasty Gnorc. Gnasty Gnorc was this really unplesent...thing who resented the Dragons and their shiny gems. Eventually the dragons banished him to the Dragon junkyard, where Gnasty began experimenting with magic spells. Later, while the Dragons are being interviewed for...something, the question of Gnasty Gnorc is brought up, and one dragon brings up that Gnasty Gnorc is not only not a threat, but is ugly. The nerve. Gnasty uses these magic spells he's been experimenting with to turn all the Dragons into crystal statues. Except for Spyro, because he was too small for Gnasty to hit. And because Gnasty can't just try to hit Spyro with the spell again, Spyro sets out to rescue all of the Dragons, and defeat Gnasty once and for all. And so, The Adventure Begins.

Spyro the Dragon is a 3D platformer. You'r goal, to put it simply, is to navigate the levels and collect everything you can collect. This can range from the multicolored gems, to the Dragon Eggs that you receive from defeating thieves in the first three worlds, and of course the Dragons. To save the dragons, you touch them. That's it. Walk up to them and watch as all those valuable crystals just break instantaneously. And something that's really cool about the dragons is that they're all fully voice acted and always have something to tell you. Some are tutorials, some introduce you to a new world, and most will just say "Thank you for releasing me!". No, like an eighth of the dragons say that line. There are a total of eighty dragons in total, but you don't need to save them all to complete your adventure. Only a certain number of dragons are needed to advance to another world, and eventually Gnasty. The boss levels also need a certain number of dragons but more on those later. Now as for the gems and Dragon Eggs, you don't need to collect those. If your a completionist, you'll need these in order to unlock the secret final level, but in order to beat the game, you don't need a single gem. But you'll collect them anyway. I mean just look at how shiny they are.

Now as for what Spyro can do, well he can do quite a bit. Besides doing the obvious things a platformer hero can do like jumping and using his legs to walk, Spyro is able to use his wings to glide mid-jump and temporarily stay in the air. His wings a puny though, so it's just that. Temporary. In terms of attacking, Spyro is able to breath fire and charge into enemies. You'll have to use these two attacks in order to deal with different enemies. Though most enemies go down with a quick breath of fire, some enemies wear metal, requiring you to charge into them. It's not a large array of attacks, but burning an enemy so hard that they turn into a gem is surprisingly satisfying. In terms of handling damage, that's where Sparx comes in. You've probably seen that little thing floating around Spyro by this point. That's Sparx the Dragonfly (Get it?), who serves as your health bar. When he's yellow, your at max. When he's blue, your still okay. When he's green, you get one more hit. After that hit, Sparx disappears, and Spyro becomes a one-hit wonder. In order to restore health, you take it out on smaller animals, which drop butterflies that Sparx eats to restore health. Now how a little dragonfly is able to determine a dragons health is beyond me, but it still gets the job done.

There are five worlds for Spyro to explore, each filled to the brim with enemies, gems, dragons, and levels to explore. The levels are...surprisingly linear, with only a number of them having side-paths, and only requiring backtracking when you locate a key for a chest. And the boss stages are exactly the same. Linear levels with a multi-hit mook at the end. And every single one is incredibly easy. But many bosses do have some charm to them, like the first one, which is a pumpkin dressed in a Grim Reaper costume, which is revealed to be a sheep on stilts. So there's that. Then, there's the flying stages, where your granted infinite flight and have to get 4 different groups of 8 items before the time runs out. Hitting a target grants more time, and the game saves your times. But that's not what your there for, as these stages are not required to beat the game, and are only needed to be play for 100% completion. But these stages are pretty good.

Now I've mentioned the extreme nostalgia that I hold to this game. But as I've grown older and have since grown more critical about games, this game just doesn't hold up like it used to. The first thing is that, for what you can actually do, levels are much too large. These are essentially sandboxes with an exit, and since there are no other objectives to accomplish, the game lacks variety, and the levels start to blend after a while. Occasionally a level will mix things up, like a level that has different power-ups, or a level that is nothing but charging, but many of the levels just feel the same and lack any real identity. If you were to give me a name of a level, I wouldn't be able to tell you what's in it. This is fixed in the sequels, but its present here. And also, for a platformer, there's not much in the way of platforming. You wouldn't tell from the above image, but besides the occasional "glide over a bottomless pit", there's not much in the way of actual platforming other than just jumping on things while jumping to other things, with no fear of death. And when the game does require platforming, a couple oddities in Spyro's control start to appear. Some of the jumps you need to make are really tight, and you'll just miss them by a little bit. Future games will add a little hover at the end of a glide, which helps in situations like these. But in this game, you can only continue gliding towards the ledge and pray to a god that you'll make it, or else you'll hit the ledge and fall like a purple rock. And when gliding to smaller platforms, you'll notice another oddity. When gliding, there's no easy way to stop. As mentioned before, a hover will help you position yourself with precise platforming. In this game, you can only press Triangle and drop straight down, making it likely that you'll miss your mark while gliding.

Despite the bland levels, the game is great presentation wise. The models look great for a 32-bit systems, and the colors chosen for the models and levels make everything stick out. There are some really dark areas, particularly the fourth world, but since dark was that worlds theme it's okay there. Also the world is just filled with personality and charm. Ignoring the sheep boss mentioned above, enemies will react to Spyro approaching and occasionally taunt him. And this is just normal mooks. And everything is based on medieval times, so everything has a natural, artificial setting and layout to it. And all the dragons you save have medieval like names, such as Thor and Conan and...Cleetus...I suppose. And though levels might be barren, very few are boring. Levels in the 5th world then to be a highlight, as well as Tree Tops, which though driving children to insanity, is one of the best levels in the game. Spyro's world is just bursting with stuff like this, and it makes the game really stand out. It just feels like a dragons world, and that's really cool. And the music. Oh man the music. The soundtrack was composed by Stewart Copeland, who was the drummer for the band The Police. Though not the best soundtrack on the face of the earth, Copeland managed to make every track feel like they belonged. The tracks just...fit with the worlds that they're played in, and that's just amazing. Great job Copeland. Great job.

The inner 7 year old will forever disagree with this, but Spyro 1 is a flawed game. A few oddities in the controls and bland levels with few objectives and little variety. Despite this though, the game is still fun. The games pretty to look at and great to listen to, the world oozes with charm, and is still good overall. This game just has a few issues that were fixed in the sequels, and Spyro 1 suffers the problem of "not much inherently wrong, just part of a trilogy where the sequels were better". But this game is still fun to play. Its just not as good as future games. It's short, clocking in at about 5 hours, but it makes for a nice game to sink your teeth into. It's also cheap. It's on the PlayStation Network as a PSOne Classic for only 6 dollars. For that price, Spyro 1 is worth playing at least once. Nothing fantastic, but a fun time nevertheless. Still worth your time, and still recommended.

The Silent Protagonist thank's you for releasing me!

All images are the property of their original owners. If I made them, I would have a much more vivid imagination then I actually do.