Early this week, discussion about a potential remastering of the original Spyro the Dragon trilogy spread all over the internet, aided by some pretty obvious hints from Activision. This morning, any skepticism was put to rest with the official announcement: the purple dragon is indeed back in the Spyro Reignited Trilogy.
Created by Toys for Bob, the developers behind Spyro’s Skylanders franchise, the Reignited Trilogy will feature updated versions of the original Spyro the Dragon, Ripto’s Rage!, and Year of the Dragon. All three have been “scaled up” into glorious high definition for PS4 and Xbox One, and they really do look amazing:
“Remastering a classic is a unique undertaking for a game developer,” writes Toys for Bob Design Director Toby Schadt for the official PlayStation Blog. In order to keep the experience “true to the spirit and feel of the original,” movement, physics, level geometry, and collision have all been “matched as closely as possible.” To accomplish this, they reference a mysterious tool called the “Spyroscope,” which “sends fairies into the original games who convert game details into a format that designers can easily interpret, allowing for extremely accurate game object placement and motion.” In short, fans of the original can expect everything to be right where they left it.
This isn’t to say that the Reignited Trilogy will have no features to call its own. Schadt notes that they had not forgotten about “integrating quality-of-life improvements that modern players expect,” and promises “analog stick camera control, auto-save system, more fast-travel options,” and more.
The Spyro Reignited Trilogy will launch for both PS4 and Xbox One sometime in September 2018. With the news that Spider-Man will also be launching for PS4 in September, it’s shaping up to be a good month for gaming—although, with Spyro and Spider-Man as the two marquee titles, you might be forgiven for wondering what year it was.