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“A dragon? You brought a dragon to Avalar?! I hate DRAGONS! NAAAARRGGGHHH!”
    —Ripto, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!

Ripto is an evil dinosaur who first appeared in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! as the game’s main antagonist. He is one of Spyro's greatest opponents and his persistent enemy, appearing in several games in the Spyro the Dragon series. Ripto has two major minions, Crush and Gulp, who serve him and carry out his orders.

Appearance

Original Design

Ripto is a short, orange dinosaur with green eyes and a large snout, and a single large, twisted horn. He wears a large purple cape with a large collar wrapped around his head, and a white undershirt with purple trousers and a red and gold amulet. Notably, he does not have any teeth.

Reignited Design

Ripto’s redesign is largely the same as his original design, except he has a much more reptilian appearance: his irises are now black slits, and his sclera now have a yellowish tint. His muzzle also has wrinkles around his mouth, which now has sharp teeth. His cape is also slightly tattered, with noticeable tears.

Personality

Ripto is a despicable madman who enjoys power simply for the sake of it. He delights in causing all sorts of trouble and havoc with his magic, and is known for his general disgust for Dragons. In truth, Ripto despised his small stature, and he took it out on the world to prove that his wrath was much bigger and scarier than his modest size suggested. Frustrated, short-tempered and spiteful, Ripto pulled off deception and trouble that would suit a large, intimidating creature. One thing is for certain: he's an ill-tempered villain who despises being called short (this is displayed when Spyro called him "shorty").

Like the Forgotten Worlds' evil queen known as the Sorceress, Ripto is a dictator who typically sends out his minions, Crush and Gulp, to do his dirty work (though Crush and Gulp are both unintelligent). While he is insolent towards them, it is indicated that he does care about them to some extent, as he mourns Crush being crushed and promises to reward Gulp if he successfully eats Spyro.

Abilities

Being a dinosaur, Ripto has a keen sense of smell, which he used to determine whether or not dragons are present. Upon his arrival in Avalar, he used his sense of smell to conclude that dragons weren't around the realm, and when Spyro arrived in Glimmer, Ripto immediately smelled Spyro's presence before actually noticing him.

Magic

Ripto's notable ability is to conjure various magic spells at his disposal using his scepter. However, as a dinosaur, he was unable to properly use magic like Dragons do. When acquiring three of the same powered up Orbs, he can either unleash waves of fire from his scepter, breathe blasts of acid from his mouth, or surround himself in a blue energy barrier that can harm his enemies on contact. In Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, he can use his scepter to create a barrier of ice and fire, or turn himself into a large mutant version of himself. However this will leave his scepter unstable. In Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage, he can generate a forcefield of water impervious to damage and summon pillars of fire from the ground.

In Crash Team Rumble, along with launching fireballs from his scepter, Ripto can summon lightning strikes and conjure waves of water to leap into the air.

Story

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!

As a dinosaur who hated dragons, Ripto enlisted Crush and Gulp at Molten Crater in order to help him wage war on their race. When attempting to warp from one world to another, the threesome were accidentally intercepted by the Super Portal in Avalar thanks to Hunter's mistake. Upon arrival, Ripto set about conquering Avalar and all of its realms. Thinking fast, Elora took measures to hinder his progress, shutting down the Super Portal to prevent reinforcements (most likely his Riptoc minions who would not yet appear until the events of Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly) from arriving, and delegating Zoe and her fellow fairies to scatter the orbs (which power it) across all the realms of Avalar.

Ripto Gulp Crush Glimmer

Ripto, Crush and Gulp in Glimmer

Sometime afterwards, Ripto trailed Hunter, Elora, the Professor, and Zoe to the depths of the Glimmer where he discovered them near a portal. After destroying the portal that brought a dragon named Spyro into Avalar, Ripto became enraged at the sight of the creature. The tyrant was forced to retreat however, when Gulp accidentally devoured his scepter during a distraction made by Zoe, but not before vowing to deal with Spyro later. During his reign over Avalar, Ripto succeeded in turning the citizens of some of the realms against each other, causing outbreaks of war between some realms and within others. These quarrels are soon resolved by Spyro when he travels to each realm and intervenes. Spyro battled and defeated Crush and Gulp successfully. At the climax of Spyro's battle with Gulp, Ripto seemingly met his end when the throne he was sitting in tilted back and he plummeted into the abyss of the Autumn Plains homeworld.

However, Ripto survived, 'persuaded' Moneybags to sell him some bombs in order to steal the Super Portal's power crystal for a new scepter. After threatening Elora, the Professor and Hunter with bombs, he locked himself inside the castle in the Winter Tundra. In his arena, Ripto tried to test the power crystal on his new scepter on three sheep, but the fodder ran off before the tyrant's attack could reach them, angering him. Spyro arrived and volunteered to be a target for Ripto's power crystal, mockingly promising to stand still. Ripto agreed but found that Spyro was prepared to fight to the bitter end. During their final battle, Ripto conjured a magically-created, mechanized version of Gulp, as well as a large mechanical pterodactyl, both of which he used for attacking and protection throughout the conflict. However, Spyro ultimately triumphed by knocking the tyrant into a pool of lava during a dogfight.

In the epilogue of the original game, it is revealed that Ripto survived his battle with Spyro and was being used as a toy by one of Spyro's friends, an adult dragon. In the Reignited Trilogy, the epilogues are omitted.

Spyro: Year of the Dragon

In the original epilogue of Year of the Dragon, Ripto and Gnasty Gnorc were holding a summit to discuss "The Spyro problem". A picture of Ripto can also be found on the underside of Spyro's Skateboard, and a skateboard trick, the Raging Ripto, is named after him.

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly

Ripto Monster

Ripto's transformation

One year later, Ripto successfully attacked the Dragon Realms during the Year of the Dragon festival, scattering the Dragonflies far and wide and leaving the young dragons defenseless. In addition, he sent an army of creatures under his command called Riptocs to terrorize the worlds and find the dragonflies. Once again, Ripto was foiled by Spyro during a battle in which he turns into a giant monster. In the aftermath of the fight, Ripto ranted about his hatred of Dragons, and Spyro discovered that Ripto's magic didn't work correctly because he was a dinosaur, and as such, their magical properties could not sustain the proper use of magic. This has led to Ripto's hate of Dragons and is the reason why he is so relentless in destroying them.

Other appearances

Spyro 2: Season of Flame

Ripto Attack of the Rhynocs

Ripto in Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs

Ripto employed the workless Rhynocs as his new minions and ordered them to attack the Dragon Realms and steal the fireflies, which are the source of the Dragons' fire breath. After a long journey, Spyro defeated Ripto's henchmen, Crush and Gulp, and finally arrived at Ripto's volcano, defeating him to bring the fire breath back to all of the Dragons.

Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs

Ripto is once again the main antagonist. A portal leading to the Professor's Secret Lab was accidentally created in front of Ripto, allowing him to enter and steal the Professor's warp device. The villain then began sending his Rhynocs through the portal to many lands to wreck havoc and cover ground, before kidnapping the Professor and warping Spyro away. Ripto was once again defeated by Spyro, leading the dragon getting the warp device back.

Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy

Later, Ripto formed an alliance with Dr. Neo Cortex to destroy their enemies, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. They start by genetically modifying Ripto's "Riptoc" minions and disguising them as Crash and Spyro, leading the two heroes to believe they are against each other. Instead of fighting one another like Ripto and Dr. Neo Cortex had wanted, Spyro and Crash worked together to defeat their arch-nemesises and free the world once again.

If the player collects Ripto's trading card after defeating Cortex, they will able to play as Ripto in Party Mode.

Crash Team Rumble

In Season 2, Ripto makes a playable appearance in Crash Team Rumble as a Booster-type character. He was accidentally let into Crash's world due to N. Gin and Ripper Roo's tampering with a relic station that activated a portal to Spyro's universe. Ripto enters the portal believing to have spotted a dragon on the other side, but upon arriving, it was revealed to be only Dr. Neo Cortex, N. Gin, Ripper Roo, N. Brio and Alternate N. Tropy. Upon witnessing the power of Ripto's scepter, the other villains all made a grab for it, but Ripto blasted them off him with lightning. He then deduced that there were no dragons around this new realm before setting off to conquer Crash's world and name it "the new Riptonia".

Quotes

“Well, well. Someone forgot to invite ME to the party.”
    —Ripto, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
“A dragon? You brought a dragon to Avalar?! I hate DRAGONS! NAAAARRGGGHHH!”
    —Ripto, upon seeing Spyro for the first time, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
“Say hello to your new king!”
    —Ripto, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
“Ack! You despicable little creature! I'll kill you”
    —Ripto, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
“No! Crush! You may have been able to defeat that simpleton, but Gulp will be more than a match for you!”
    —Ripto, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
“Say goodbye, flame breath! Gulp, lunchtime!”
    —Ripto, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
“You little fools! After I destroy you all with my new scepter, I'm going to rename this place Riptonia!”
    —Ripto, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
“Hmm... I like that idea. Dragon, you've just sealed your fate!”
    —Ripto, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
“Very clever, dragon. You know you should join me. We would make a great team.”
    —Ripto, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
“D'oh! If there's anything I hate more than a dragon—it's a purple dragon! You've caused me enough problems, Spyro! This time, I'll take care of you permanently!”
    —Ripto, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
“HOCUS POCUS!!!”
    —Ripto, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly


Gallery

Main article: Ripto/Gallery

Trivia

Scepter Error

The scepter error

  • He is the main antagonist of five entries: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, Spyro 2: Season of Flame, Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy.
  • Despite the implication that Gulp had swallowed Ripto's scepter in Ripto's Rage! prior to recreating it with the Power Crystal, during the boss fights against Crush and Gulp and the "Gulp Defeated" cutscene, Ripto is actually seen holding his Scepter because the same model is used as the one during his boss fight; this, however, was later corrected in the Spyro Reignited Trilogy.
  • The manual for Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! or Gateway to Glimmer in Europe says that Ripto was picked on at school as a child. He became so used to not joining in with games that now he only wants to ruin everyone else's fun.
  • Ripto got his name because Spyro's Japanese Katakana name (スパイロ) looked like the word "Ripto".[5]
  • He appeared in the epilogue of Spyro: Year of the Dragon with Gnasty Gnorc discussing the "Spyro Problem". A picture of him can be found, oddly enough, on the underside of Spyro's skateboard.
  • In Spyro: Year of the Dragon, a skateboard trick, the Raging Ripto, is named after him. This is performed by doing either two front flips or two black flips and three side rolls, essentially a Gnasty Gnorc with an extra roll. It is the highest scoring trick in the game, giving 3000 points the first time it is performed.
  • Ripto is one of the few main villains to make numerous recurring appearances in the Classic Spyro games, despite his apparent defeat in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. This makes Ripto the closest to an archnemesis that the original Spyro had in the Classic series.
  • Despite Ripto's apparent hate for dragons, one of his servants, Crush, is a dinosaur that somewhat resembles a dragon, only his wings are VERY tiny (barely noticeable in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!), is given a club, and supposedly does not breathe fire.
  • Ripto bears a very strong resemblance to Lord Balthazar, a villainous sorcerer from the Smurfs series.
  • Emperor Percival Tachyon, the main antagonist in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, is rumored to be based on Ripto: they are both evil dictators who hate the species that the protagonist is (Ripto hating Dragons, Tachyon hating Lombaxes).
    • Tachyon also uses a scepter—however, his is meant to show his status as an emperor, where as Ripto's is to allow him to perform magic.
    • Additionally, they both have a rather short stature.
  • In the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Ripto isn't holding his sceptre when he first arrives in Avalar.
  • Ripto was suggested as a boss for Spyro: A Hero's Tail, but was scrapped once Eurocom decided on the 'elements' for each realm.[6]

References

  1. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! game manual, page 7.
  2. Spyro 2: Season of Flame game manual, page 11.
  3. Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs game manual, page 17.
  4. Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy game manual, page 15.
  5. 1999 Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1, page 90.
  6. Spyro: A Hero's Tail - Developer Answers, Ripto.
Characters
Main Characters
Spyro the Dragon - Sparx the Dragonfly - Hunter
Elora - Professor - Zoe - Moneybags
Villains
Ripto - Crush - Gulp
Colossus Yeti - Master Chef - Bombo - Ox
Non-playable characters
Agent Zero - Alchemist - Bazil - Big Gnorcs - Bonebuilders - Breezebuilders - Brother Kipp - Droids
Electrolls - Fairies - Fauns - Fisher - Foreman Bud - Gemcutters - Green Colosi - Greta - Handel
Hippos - Ice Builders - Inventor Droid - Juliet - Land Blubbers - Little Bo Peep - Logistics Droid - Mayor
Ooga and Mr. Bones - Queen Finny - Robot Farmers - Romeo - Scarlet Lizards - Seahorses - Turtles
Water Wizards - Water Workers - Wizards - Yellow Colosi Monks
Locations
Worlds
Summer Forest - Autumn Plains - Winter Tundra
Glimmer - Colossus - Idol Springs - Hurricos - Sunny Beach - Aquaria Towers - Skelos Badlands - Crystal Glacier
Breeze Harbor - Zephyr - Scorch - Fracture Hills - Magma Cone - Shady Oasis - Mystic Marsh - Cloud Temples
Robotica Farms - Metropolis - Dragon Shores
Speedways
Ocean Speedway - Metro Speedway - Icy Speedway - Canyon Speedway
Boss Arenas
Crush's Dungeon - Gulp's Overlook - Ripto's Arena
Terms
Talisman - Spirit Particles - Gems - Orbs - Cheat codes
Media
Snowman Ads - Mikey Ad
Characters
Main Characters
Spyro the Dragon - Sparx the Dragonfly - Hunter
Bianca - Spirit Dragon - Zoe
Villains
Ripto
Crush - Gulp
Non-Playable Characters
Alligator Farmers - Bartholomew - Bears - Dragons - Dragonflies - Moneybags - Monkey Monks
Dragon Masters - Rodtikiney - Pigs - Professors - Thieves - Yetis
Locations
Worlds
Dragon Realms
Dragonfly Dojo - Crop Circle Country - Luau Island - Cloud 9 - Monkey Monastery
Honey Marsh - Thieves Den - Jurassic Jungle - Ripto's Lair
Terms
Dragonflies - Gems - Cheat codes
Characters
Playable Characters
Spyro the Dragon - Sheila - Agent 9
Villains
Ripto - Crush - Gulp
Non-playable characters
Hunter - Zoe - Bianca - Moneybags -Bentley - Professor
Locations
Worlds
Sunny Plains - Celestial Plains - Starry Plains
Country Farms - Shamrock Isle - Canyon Hop - Minty Mines - Temple of Dune - Tiki Tropics
Alpine Adobe - Crush's Dungeon - Candy Lane - Haunted Hills - Winter Mesa - Watertopia
Rumble Jungle - Lunar Ledges - Arctic Outback - Gulp's Overlook - Moon Fondue - Gypsy Road
Dreamy Castle - Volcano Vaults - Ripto's Mondo Volcano - Ripto's Volcano (Boss)
Terms
Gems - Rhynocs - Fireflies - Dragon Breaths
Characters
Main Characters
Spyro - Sparx - Ripto - Sgt. Byrd - Moneybags - Hunter - Bianca - Agent 9
Villains
Ripto
Dragon Shores
Worlds
Virtual Playground - Fairy Library - Yeti Serengeti - Byrd Barracks - Thieves' Guild - Rabbit Habitat
Banana Savannah - Kangaroo Hoodoos - Moneybags' Mansion - Cheetah Spot Spa - Professor's Secret Lab
Rhynocs n' Clocks - Chateau Ripto
Terms
Gems - Homeworld - Powerups - Dragon Breaths - Hearts of the Lands
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