The developer for the upcoming Spyro Trilogy remake, Toys For Bob took to the PlayStation Blog to discuss some of their experiences on remaking the legendary classic title.
Spyro has been a legend in gaming history for more than 20 years now, he debuted back on the PS1 and has captured the hearts of gamers all around for the games funny dialogue, interesting boss fights, and addicting gameplay. Toys For Bob had to pull off bringing back Spyro in the modern day, similar to what Vicarious Visions did with the return of Crash Bandicoot.
Some of the higher up team members at Toys For Bob answered some questions about their time remaking the title. Check out some of the highlights from the in-depth questionnaire down below:
What do you think the fans will be most surprised about when they get their hands on the Reignited Trilogy on November 13?
Peter: It’s gotta be that pang of fond memories – it’s profound! There’s a reason these games are so beloved, and having them fully scaled up on today’s consoles just makes it clear that the Reignited Trilogy is a really memorable experience.
Why do you think fans connect so much with these games, and particularly, with the Spyro character?
Russell: Players really like that Spyro is an underdog, he is a small dragon that is taking on the world. For me, playing Spyro makes me feel like when I was younger, fun, carefree and courageous. There’s something timeless about a journey like that!
Jan: I think it comes down to creating lasting memories. Character-based games create deep connections between players and protagonists because we’re bringing those characters to life as we play. Spyro, in particular, is super playful and fun to move around, and I think those feelings of happy muscle memories are really sticky, even 20 years later.
Above all, what is the one thing that you hope the fans take away from the Reignited Trilogy?
Russell: I hope people feel like we were honoring the original games, because we loved these games, too.
I got to work on a game that inspired me when I was younger and hope we did its justice for today’s audience. If I had to boil it down, the details that we wanted to fold in, like the minimap across the three games or the different color theming between the titles, that you can see on the game select screen… little touches like that were our way of adding life. It felt like we got to restore a treasure of the past.
Jan: We hope both returning fans and newcomers feel the same magic and sense of wonder we all felt 20 years ago when we first played Spyro The Dragon, through the amount of love, passion, and attention to detail that we put into bringing him back to life. It really mattered to us that this was done the best possible way, because we’re huge Spyro fans as well!
On a personal note, I hope fans enjoy how Spyro controls in the game. When reimagining Spyro’s controls, our goal was to design them in a way that felt familiar, yet fresh and modern.
In addition to nailing details like how high he jumps or how fast he runs, there was a lot of art, math, and magic put into modernizing how the player interacts with Spyro, and how Spyro interacts with the world. Some things will obviously change in a remake, but the magic stays the same!
