The original was my favorite of the Insomniac trilogy, back when I played through those, but I actually think the remake feels the least touched up of the three in Reignited.
It's in little things. It probably would've been too much to expect every NPC get a custom redesign this go-around, but I feel like besides the major players, there's mostly only token updates to the character models, with obviously necessary changes to stuff like the NPCs of Scorch. Animations of characters talking loop more obviously than they did in Spyro 1. The Easter Eggs involving Insomniac staffer/kids are absent (though I guess that'd be a bit weird to preserve as a different company). The reference to Hunter's birthday wasn't updated, so either he's 43 or that one skeleton is flossing in 1999. Stuff like that. I'll acknowledge that it's ultimately nitpicking, but given how much care Spyro 1 (and Year of the Dragon, kinda) got in Reignited, it really jumps out at you if you're looking for it.
But maybe Toys For Bob didn't mess with Ripto's Rage too much because the base game was so rock solid. This is where Insomniac started experimenting with alternate gameplay modes and other odds and ends to spice up the experience of each of the worlds. There's a lot to love here, with the increased emphasis on scenarios and eccentric NPCs - of course Spyro playing both sides of the war between Breeze Builders and Land Blubbers is great, Handel and Greta are a ton of fun, Robotica Farms makes for a fun contradiction, etc. You still mostly have the purity of form that made Spyro 1 good, but you also have a variety of mini-games to spice things up. The boss fights are unilaterally improved from Spyro 1, and while Gulp and Crush are just kinda there, Ripto is perhaps the closest a PS1 platformer ever came to the brilliance of Gruntilda in Banjo-Kazooie.
I got a couple complaints, but the only substantial one is that you have to unlock the new moves. I didn't mind it playing the original version, but replaying it in Reignited after "getting" Spyro 1, it sorta feels stifling, having chunks of the levels cut off because you don't have all the moves. At least in Year of the Dragon, tying level chunks to absent characters makes it feel a lot less arbitrary when you're unable to do everything on your first run. At least that's sort of the joke they're playing up here, with Moneybags coercing you into giving him all your hard-earned Gems.
Dragon Shores is the least interesting of the original trilogy's victory laps, but even then there's some cute stuff, like the Skill Shots, the dunk tank with the most annoying NPCs, and the permanent flame upgrade. Could be worse.
Also, on the subject of the remake, I definitely fall into the camp of preferring Original Hunter. Surfer Dude Hunter's a cute enough take, but I feel like it's juuuuuust a little funnier to have Hunter be just some guy who's a dopey moron. On the flipside, everyone else's redesign does wonders for them, especially Elora. Took her from an easily-disposable character rightly forgotten in later games to... maybe my favorite supporting character? Holy moly.
With the original games, Ripto's Rage was definitely my runaway favorite. But I dunno, I think it's about on-par with the first game on revisit. The flaws are a lot more obvious this go-around, but it's not enough to detract from the overall experience, which I still find quite excellent. Good comfort food game, through and through.
A random story to close this out - I had never never never never never never never never never understood the European name, "Gateway to Glimmer", until this playthrough. Like, I dunno, it'd be like assigning Gen 1 Pokémon the subtitle "Grass Outside Pallet". But while playing this game with my father watching, he made a reference to the overall game world as "Glimmer". Obviously he meant Avalar, but since the game places so much focus on Elora/Hunter/The Professor warping Spyro in to the Glimmer subworld, I get where the confusion comes from. ...still a silly name, though.
It's in little things. It probably would've been too much to expect every NPC get a custom redesign this go-around, but I feel like besides the major players, there's mostly only token updates to the character models, with obviously necessary changes to stuff like the NPCs of Scorch. Animations of characters talking loop more obviously than they did in Spyro 1. The Easter Eggs involving Insomniac staffer/kids are absent (though I guess that'd be a bit weird to preserve as a different company). The reference to Hunter's birthday wasn't updated, so either he's 43 or that one skeleton is flossing in 1999. Stuff like that. I'll acknowledge that it's ultimately nitpicking, but given how much care Spyro 1 (and Year of the Dragon, kinda) got in Reignited, it really jumps out at you if you're looking for it.
But maybe Toys For Bob didn't mess with Ripto's Rage too much because the base game was so rock solid. This is where Insomniac started experimenting with alternate gameplay modes and other odds and ends to spice up the experience of each of the worlds. There's a lot to love here, with the increased emphasis on scenarios and eccentric NPCs - of course Spyro playing both sides of the war between Breeze Builders and Land Blubbers is great, Handel and Greta are a ton of fun, Robotica Farms makes for a fun contradiction, etc. You still mostly have the purity of form that made Spyro 1 good, but you also have a variety of mini-games to spice things up. The boss fights are unilaterally improved from Spyro 1, and while Gulp and Crush are just kinda there, Ripto is perhaps the closest a PS1 platformer ever came to the brilliance of Gruntilda in Banjo-Kazooie.
I got a couple complaints, but the only substantial one is that you have to unlock the new moves. I didn't mind it playing the original version, but replaying it in Reignited after "getting" Spyro 1, it sorta feels stifling, having chunks of the levels cut off because you don't have all the moves. At least in Year of the Dragon, tying level chunks to absent characters makes it feel a lot less arbitrary when you're unable to do everything on your first run. At least that's sort of the joke they're playing up here, with Moneybags coercing you into giving him all your hard-earned Gems.
Dragon Shores is the least interesting of the original trilogy's victory laps, but even then there's some cute stuff, like the Skill Shots, the dunk tank with the most annoying NPCs, and the permanent flame upgrade. Could be worse.
Also, on the subject of the remake, I definitely fall into the camp of preferring Original Hunter. Surfer Dude Hunter's a cute enough take, but I feel like it's juuuuuust a little funnier to have Hunter be just some guy who's a dopey moron. On the flipside, everyone else's redesign does wonders for them, especially Elora. Took her from an easily-disposable character rightly forgotten in later games to... maybe my favorite supporting character? Holy moly.
With the original games, Ripto's Rage was definitely my runaway favorite. But I dunno, I think it's about on-par with the first game on revisit. The flaws are a lot more obvious this go-around, but it's not enough to detract from the overall experience, which I still find quite excellent. Good comfort food game, through and through.
A random story to close this out - I had never never never never never never never never never understood the European name, "Gateway to Glimmer", until this playthrough. Like, I dunno, it'd be like assigning Gen 1 Pokémon the subtitle "Grass Outside Pallet". But while playing this game with my father watching, he made a reference to the overall game world as "Glimmer". Obviously he meant Avalar, but since the game places so much focus on Elora/Hunter/The Professor warping Spyro in to the Glimmer subworld, I get where the confusion comes from. ...still a silly name, though.