Spyro The Dragon

Spyro PS2 Tech Demo (2001) [Fake]

Update: as wrote by a former Argonaut Games developer “Hi All… just to let you know this article is false. Croc 3 was never in development at Argonaut (beyond a 2 page proposal I put together) and there was no Spyro demo.

Original post:

In 2001 during development of Croc 3: Stone Of The Gobbos, Argonaut Games developed a tech demo for an unnamed Spyro The Dragon game. The game was not intended to be released, however it was playable and had a homeworld. The game prototype was done to expand on the engine both Croc 3 and Malice used. It was a tech demo developed for Playstation 2. Nothing else is known.

Thanks to a former Argonaut Games employee for the information. 

Spyro’s Kingdom [Cancelled – PS3 / Xbox 360 / Wii]

Spyro’s Kingdom is a cancelled game in the Spyro Series, which was developed, then scrapped, then redeveloped, then scrapped, but became Skylanders. Version 1 was developed by Helios Interactive and was to be exclusive to PC and Nintendo Wii. This version got cancelled, however, it was revived later by Toys 4 Bob with version 2, which introduced the portal of power and skylander figures, then called “Kingdom Heros”. Later it was redone again and finally released as Skylanders.

VERSION 1- Helios Version
The game was presented to
Activision, complete with working demo and production art. However, Activision decided against this game, and instead went on to create Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, the third reboot in the Spyro franchise. It is unknown if the game was cancelled before or after the cancellation of the Spyro movie, which was also set in the ‘Legend’ reboot.

Something interesting to note is that the flying mechanic is very similar to that used in Skylanders – It is unknown if this was on purpose or not.

Post by RadSpyro

Videos:

Version 2 -Toys 4 Bob Version
This version is highly similar to Skylanders, even including portals and figures, however, this version did not require the figures or portal to play, and it had online play. Activision liked the concept and decided to go with it, later they had Toys 4 Bob remove the online play and make the figures and portal required. The version 2 was going to be Nintendo Wii Exclusive. However when word of this got out to fans, there was backlash and the fans on several forums expressed hate and did death threats. Later they announced it would also launch on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as well.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121019073502/spyro/images/7/7b/Spyro%27s_KingdomLogo.jpg

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121019062627/spyro/images/thumb/d/df/Spyro%27s_Kingdom1.jpg/185px-Spyro%27s_Kingdom1.jpg

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/spyro/images/thumb/6/64/Selecing_Spyro_on_Spyro%27s_Kingdom.jpg/185px-Selecing_Spyro_on_Spyro%27s_Kingdom.jpg

more information: http://spyro.wikia.com/wiki/Spyro’s_Kingdom 

Agent 9 / Prime 8 [PS2 – Cancelled]

Agent 9 is a character from the Spyro The Dragon game series, a space monkey that first appeared in Spyro: Year of the Dragon for the original Playstation. Sometimes in 2003 / 2004, Vivendi Universal wanted to use Agent 9 to be the protagonist of his own platform adventure game, out from the Spyro world.

Vivendi asked to Blue Tongue Entertainment to create the initial concept for this new project, in which Agent 9 became a James-Bond-alike spy, but after a series of focus group with kids, they had to redesign the character to make him more “cool” to appeal more to the right audience. Agent 9 became Prime 8, with a more “hip” look and a gameplay that should have been similar to the Ratchet & Clank series. Sadly, even after this redesign, something went wrong during the development and Prime 8 was never released.

The Blue Tongue project was not the only Agent 9 in development: another pitch was asked to Backbone Entertainment. Backbone created a series of concept designs  more true to the original character (as seen in Spyro the Dragon). In the end there were at least 2 different “Agent 9” projects, but we can speculate that Vivendi Universal did not like any of them and these games were never finished.

Clarity Jones from Backbone Entertainment wrote:

Prime 8, which was a game we were developing as a spinoff of Spyro The Dragon, actually eventually became Death JR for the PSP. When Prime 8 was cancelled, we still kept messing around with the engine and eventually Death Jr was conceived.

Thanks a lot to Peter Overstreet for donating his artworks, created for “Agent9 Backbone”!

Images (Agent 9):

Images (Prime 8):

Images (Agent 9 Backbone Version):

Video (Agent 9):

 

Spyro The Dragon [PSX – Beta]

spyrologo.jpg

In the screen below we can see a beta version of Spyro The Dragon: the statue has another appearance in the final game and is not made of gold. The red gem inside the “return home portal” is not in there anymore. In the final game when the player touches a dragon statue, the dragon that is captured inside there will come out: the first dragon that Spyro rescues was called Silvus in the beta.

Also, Dirty Harry found some more differences in this beta demo:

  • Alternate music before rescuing Nestor.
  • Vortex looked more like the Dragon Pads.
  • Alternate dialogue from rescued dragons. Completely different voice from Nestor.
  • 1-ups are gold instead of silver.

Spyro was originally going to be a “traditional” green dragon but the developers chosed purple instead because it was more original. In the artworks, we can even see some different character designs for Spyro.

Thanks a lot to Lord Deathsaur, Dudaw and Dirty Harry for the contributions!

Images:

June 1998 Beta:

June 1998 Beta:

July 1998 Beta:

Change Log:

Gh0stBlade – Added June 1998 vids recorded by LXShadow/July 1998 beta video! 08/12/14