Unremarkable and odd places in Spyro the Dragon

#spyro #liminalspace #unremarkable #ps1 #psx

[HerbziCal]

I don't imagine you'll ever see this, but on the level "Misty Bog" on the outskirts of the level map, there is a little shack with collision on an island surrounded by purple death water that you can only reach with full health and three perfect glides. If you haven't been there already, you would love relaxing there for some time.

[brettczarnecki]

That last area is so good. It really captures the childhood idea of games being endless if only you could get out of those boundaries

[KilterTalks]

Mario Odyssey has areas where it kind of feels like you're somewhere you weren't meant to be. Oftentimes, Nintendo would put a pile of coins there just as a wink and a nod, letting the player know that those locations weren't an oversight. A lot of that is due to how versatile the Cappy mechanics are in that game. It makes me think that might be a good choice for an Odd and Unremarkable episode.

[MrMatthias]

You have described a feeling I thought I'd never be able to feel again. I had the exact same feeling about the upper level of Stone Hill when I was a kid. I always wanted to break through the barriers and explore the vast hilly plains beyond. Thanks for the brief trip back to my childhood

[HalfDuck]

I only had the demo version of this game, and that itself gives some weird vibes... You can complete all of the first homeworld, but the balloonist will never take you to the next world, and says you must wait. But the demo lets you keep playing, so you explore for hours in that first homeworld. Nasty Gnorc will never be stopped, but it's not so bad with the beach and nice green paradise to explore.

[chompy]

EVERY level in Spyro the Dragon is a weird space once you've cleared it of enemies. They're so empty.

[louroboros]

Spyro’s skybox tech is pretty unique. It appears they use vertex coloring instead of bitmap textures to convey forms on the horizon and in the sky. It’s really effective. It gives it that smooth almost n64 vibe since there’s no nearest neighbor, and there’s a lot of artistry in crafting these since you’re not simply drawing a picture on a bitmap or whatever. I want to go meet the technical artists that worked on Spyro and commend them for making something for the PS1 that actually looks great so many years later.

[tic-tack]

You awakened a core memory in me, I was obsessed with the out of bounds area of Stone Hill as a kid. It was such a strange feeling, I did genuinely believe the level went on and on beyond the barriers. I wanted nothing more than to break through and just run around those huge green hills, it really captured my imagination. At one point I even thought to myself that if I were ever dying, I'd use my Make A Wish to implore the developers to remove the barrier so I could run on those hills like I'd always wanted to. It's silly now but I've never forgotten the feeling I had when I looked out at that skybox.

[Jacksongirard]

"When you're a kid you're dumb" absolutely describes my friend and I playing all of these games. We would spend way too much time trying to achieve things in spyro and lego starwars that, in hindsight, are so obviously not possible. But that was FUN, and I miss it.

[ethanandmackthedreamteam]

I remember finding the beach in Stone Hill when I was a little kid and losing my mind. Finding that made me determined to 100% the game, something I rarely did at that age. I couldn’t get past Wild Flight and Tree Tops and I couldn’t save my game due to a lack of a memory card.

[Generalized]

this was MY odd places game growing up, so many little corners and misc areas

[jezzlepops]

I also spent hours in stone hill trying to find a gap in that barrier. HOURS I TELL YOU.

My favourite spot in Spyro 1 is in the High Caves level. You cross the moving wizard pillars to get to a room which once you clear of treasure, is just like a room to chill in. You can go through the window to get back to the main area with the fairy trio and the other side just gives a view of the sky and mountains.

I used to imagine it was like a throne room or like... Spyros apartment carved into a mountainside.

Speaking of rooms. I'm reminded of Spyro 2 aswell. In Summer forest there's an orb behind two doors and you have to use the windows to get to it.

Well once you get the orb it's literally just a room with a platform inside. Nothing going on at all. Again I imagined it was Spyros secret room, hidden in this palace only accessed via an underwater door. It was all just so intriguing for my child brain.

[pwnedd]

It just dawned on me that I think one of the reasons these unremarkable and odd places are so intriguing is because they are... authentic. In the real world and in the videogame industry, everyone is concerned with polishing off rough edges. Making everything crisp and clean. But nature isn't like that at all. And when humanity's creations contain some of that natural arbitrariness and chaos, the result is magical! And it's real! And it's art! And this fully clicked in my mind due to your videos, Any Austin. So, thank you!

[KyleWall]

My personal theory re: Mario 64, all of the levels feel a lot more compact causing them to never feel particularly empty except for maybe Wet Dry World. Spyro lets you see vast expanses and landscapes that feel a lot larger than anything in M64. Hence the different vibe

[sevenratsinaburlapsack]

When I was a kid (10ish?), I accidentally got out of bounds at the pool of water along the edge of one of the levels. I was able to fly around and look at all the worlds "behind the scenes", but not interact with anything. It was such a fascinating, dreamlike experience for me.

[the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

The feelings concerning that last area are very relatable to me. Considering Spyro was one of, if not the first 3D adventure platformer game like it that I played, it introduced many gaming concepts to me. Such as the concepts of "out of bounds" areas, level limits, invisible walls, developers knowingly creating "secret" areas, etc. Like, it simultaneously introduced concepts, then immediately introduced futher concepts that contradicted them. Finding an area that you "weren't supposed to be in" that then suggested a seemingly infinite area of rolling hills, only to find an intentionally placed barrier stopping you from proceeding, was baffling to me. It would be like somehow discovering an ancient tomb in the woods behind your house, but the hallway past the first room is blocked by a toll gate. Surely there was more? But there wasn't. Felt like coming across an impassible barrier in a dream, you'd expect to be able to get past it somehow, but no matter what you do, you just... can't. It felt so strange, so novel.

I miss the novelty of childhood.

[NutyRiver]

The Stone Hill plains are so special. It’s like you’ve “broken out” of the level, letting you view the different pieces of the level from the outside and even glimpse the secret area. And since it’s the first level in the series it sets the tones of exploration, vastness, and thinking outside of the box.

[TheGreatMasterGII]

The landscape in Spyro has always been inspiring for me, and this video highlights some of my favorite things about it.

[thepersonwhocomentz]

I can't tell you how alone I felt I was in my feelings about the top of Stone Hill for years. I wasn't sure if anyone felt the same way as I did, but the way you articulated my feelings about it was positively perfect. The moment you said "I can't tell you how many hours I spent running around here trying to break out of the sides... I figured there MUST be some way... when you're a kid, you're very dumb, so you assume that there IS stuff out there, even though there's not, " I instantly connected with that. I, myself, wanted so badly to break into that damn infinite expanse of rolling, green hills, never knowing that that was all there was. Being an adult really kills a lot of that mystery, unfortunately!

[HaughtyToast]

Killing all of the enemies in the Magic Crafters hubworld gets really weird because it is usually super active and noisy with all the enemies chanting manipulating the terrain. Then suddenly it just becomes quiet with normal ground that doesn`t move so it feels so incredibly different.