Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage is a worthy follow-up to the original Spyro the Dragon, dropping Spyro off in much more whimsical levels and adding many features missing from the original game. Proper characters, side-quests, and minigames all help elevate this game and make it feel like an overall grander experience than the original Spyro. This game was also the introduction of Tom Kenny as Spyro's voice, an excellent update from the original VA's more whiny performance.

Spyro 2 has a few levels that feel like a slog to get through, and like most entries in the Spyro series the bosses tend to be a disappointment rather than a thrill to fight. The main collectibles of the game, the Talismans and Orbs, are much less personal than the Dragon Statues from the original which makes collecting them less satisfying. Power-ups are locked behind defeating a certain number of enemies within a world, as enemies no longer drop gems, which makes for a confusing change for players of the first game. There are a handful of missions in the game that can cause a lot of frustration for players as well (trouble with the trolley, eh?).

Spyro 2 was a solid direction for the series to take, adding a lot of elements that would stay in the series from that point on. There are questionable design choices in Spyro 2, though it still stands as the best the series has to offer.