A game that goes absolutely off the rails in the best kind of way. While Spyro 1 was a very simple game that focused on one thing, and Spyro 2 was a more well-rounded, filled out experience, Year of the Dragon throws as many ideas as it can think of into the game, stuffing it with a wild amount of content with reckless abandon, sacrificing cohesion in favour of an unpredictable game that always has a curveball waiting for you. While undoubtedly less consistent than the first 2 entries, feeling less finished than them as well, I can't help but appreciate this kitchen sink approach a lot for how many weird and wonderful moments it leads to, and it makes the game as a whole an absolute joy to play.
The style of side objectives that the player experiences is the biggest point of deviation from the 2nd game, and results in the most divisive element of it as well. The 2nd game largely utilised Spyro's basic movement options and had the surrounding elements contribute to the individual tasks that you needed to do, with the behaviour of the enemies and environment being the main factor that provided variety, with the couple of exceptions such as the trolley of Breeze Harbour being very rare moments that stood out a lot. In contrast, Year of the Dragon messes about with gameplay styles a lot, not only having 5 other playable characters that control differently, but adding some vehicle sections in for good measure, with further gameplay styles often found within that. The Agent 9 missions especially feel emblematic of this approach, being a 3rd person shooter in his own level, but then having every other instance of him in the game take on a different control scheme, with one being top-down, one being a rail shooter, and other one being a Doom inspired FPS. His missions are also emblematic of the fact that Year of the Dragon is not afraid to put the player through some janky nonsense, as most of those missions are very rough to control, regardless of how neat it is that they exist in any capacity. This is echoed through the entire game, as while there are some places where it works well enough for what it needs to do, for every cool skateboarding or submarine section, there's a barely functional boxing or slide section close by.
This focus on minigames and similar side objectives ends up being a cause for a lot of the core approach to individual level design to be changed as well, taking one step further away from cohesion since in all fairness, it would probably be extremely hard to naturally incorporate most of these additional setpieces into the one stage without leaving huge chunks emptiness all over the place, but still being compelling despite this. Now a lot of the extra objectives are separated by portals, with the main stage being made more linear and straightforward, with most deviations being additional, longer paths rather than small aspects of the level that sneakily hide a few extra gems or the like. While this isn't my preferred approach to these games, it has its own unique properties that make it appealing in its own regard, especially with how it ties into the game as a whole having a far more surreal, dreamlike quality to them, rather than the unbridled whimsy of Ripto's Rage. Little thought has been put into how these stages within the world itself, the inhabitants just exist in these themed locations and it's treated as normal, you're told how certain areas function and events that happen even when it's clearly playing out differently to how it's been described and it all feels very disconnected in a way that ends up wrapping around to being a very similar atmosphere to Spyro 1 in places, only this time the world feels more populated. While the stages don't invite a similar sense of needing to explore the boundaries of the space you exist in, many stages are still able to feel extremely expansive, as if you're only able to see a small slice of something far greater, but this time there are a few more instances of something completely different jumping out at you as well.
Everything about Buzz's fight especially stands out to me in this regard, with landscape being hellish, further supported by the music and the strange, grotesque design of Buzz himself. It's intimidating and lacks a lot of the usual lighter feel that the game has, but is also the first boss and nothing in the game comes close to this again, with even later boss fights being in more mysterious arenas as opposed to surrounding you with mountains and lava, not to mention that the boss designs themselves are far more "normal" despite being imposing nonetheless. I also love what they did with Moneybags in this game, transforming him from a greedy roadblock into someone who's downright malicious in his attempts to squeeze every last gem out of Spyro, no longer just being content with blocking doors, but actively imprisoning animals and even trying to peddle a dragon egg, being far more smug about the whole ordeal as well, blatantly mentioning that he's being paid off by the sorceress as well. His presence also contributes to the Sorceress being a far more insidious force in the story as a whole, providing many more tangible examples of awful stuff she's doing, and while she still isn't as fun or interesting a Ripto, it's appreciated and continues adding that slightly darker edge to what's otherwise a really bright and charming game.
While this game is far less cohesive and is packed with a few sections and ideas that are genuinely insufferable, Spyro Year of the Dragon makes up for it by using its disparate elements in a way to craft its own unique feel, one based on its own incongruencies and constant need to expand outwards, rather than refine which ultimately leads to an experience that works so well because of its inconsistencies, rather than despite them. The worlds are so bright and charming, there's more weird stuff to spice things up than ever before, so much about the game embodies the PSX jank that I'm so fond of, I just adore it even if it doesn't lean into the same collectathon appeal that makes me so enamoured with the first game.
The style of side objectives that the player experiences is the biggest point of deviation from the 2nd game, and results in the most divisive element of it as well. The 2nd game largely utilised Spyro's basic movement options and had the surrounding elements contribute to the individual tasks that you needed to do, with the behaviour of the enemies and environment being the main factor that provided variety, with the couple of exceptions such as the trolley of Breeze Harbour being very rare moments that stood out a lot. In contrast, Year of the Dragon messes about with gameplay styles a lot, not only having 5 other playable characters that control differently, but adding some vehicle sections in for good measure, with further gameplay styles often found within that. The Agent 9 missions especially feel emblematic of this approach, being a 3rd person shooter in his own level, but then having every other instance of him in the game take on a different control scheme, with one being top-down, one being a rail shooter, and other one being a Doom inspired FPS. His missions are also emblematic of the fact that Year of the Dragon is not afraid to put the player through some janky nonsense, as most of those missions are very rough to control, regardless of how neat it is that they exist in any capacity. This is echoed through the entire game, as while there are some places where it works well enough for what it needs to do, for every cool skateboarding or submarine section, there's a barely functional boxing or slide section close by.
This focus on minigames and similar side objectives ends up being a cause for a lot of the core approach to individual level design to be changed as well, taking one step further away from cohesion since in all fairness, it would probably be extremely hard to naturally incorporate most of these additional setpieces into the one stage without leaving huge chunks emptiness all over the place, but still being compelling despite this. Now a lot of the extra objectives are separated by portals, with the main stage being made more linear and straightforward, with most deviations being additional, longer paths rather than small aspects of the level that sneakily hide a few extra gems or the like. While this isn't my preferred approach to these games, it has its own unique properties that make it appealing in its own regard, especially with how it ties into the game as a whole having a far more surreal, dreamlike quality to them, rather than the unbridled whimsy of Ripto's Rage. Little thought has been put into how these stages within the world itself, the inhabitants just exist in these themed locations and it's treated as normal, you're told how certain areas function and events that happen even when it's clearly playing out differently to how it's been described and it all feels very disconnected in a way that ends up wrapping around to being a very similar atmosphere to Spyro 1 in places, only this time the world feels more populated. While the stages don't invite a similar sense of needing to explore the boundaries of the space you exist in, many stages are still able to feel extremely expansive, as if you're only able to see a small slice of something far greater, but this time there are a few more instances of something completely different jumping out at you as well.
Everything about Buzz's fight especially stands out to me in this regard, with landscape being hellish, further supported by the music and the strange, grotesque design of Buzz himself. It's intimidating and lacks a lot of the usual lighter feel that the game has, but is also the first boss and nothing in the game comes close to this again, with even later boss fights being in more mysterious arenas as opposed to surrounding you with mountains and lava, not to mention that the boss designs themselves are far more "normal" despite being imposing nonetheless. I also love what they did with Moneybags in this game, transforming him from a greedy roadblock into someone who's downright malicious in his attempts to squeeze every last gem out of Spyro, no longer just being content with blocking doors, but actively imprisoning animals and even trying to peddle a dragon egg, being far more smug about the whole ordeal as well, blatantly mentioning that he's being paid off by the sorceress as well. His presence also contributes to the Sorceress being a far more insidious force in the story as a whole, providing many more tangible examples of awful stuff she's doing, and while she still isn't as fun or interesting a Ripto, it's appreciated and continues adding that slightly darker edge to what's otherwise a really bright and charming game.
While this game is far less cohesive and is packed with a few sections and ideas that are genuinely insufferable, Spyro Year of the Dragon makes up for it by using its disparate elements in a way to craft its own unique feel, one based on its own incongruencies and constant need to expand outwards, rather than refine which ultimately leads to an experience that works so well because of its inconsistencies, rather than despite them. The worlds are so bright and charming, there's more weird stuff to spice things up than ever before, so much about the game embodies the PSX jank that I'm so fond of, I just adore it even if it doesn't lean into the same collectathon appeal that makes me so enamoured with the first game.