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Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

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Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
Image:rr.png
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: SCEA
Collectibles: Image:gem.png 10,000
Image:orb.png 64
Released: NA (November 2, 1999)
EU, AU (November 5, 1999)
JP (March 16, 2000) Playstation Network (May 7, 2009)
Genre: Platform
Mode: Single-player
Rating: Everyone 3+
Platform: Playstation

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (Spyro the Dragon 2: Gateway To Glimmer in the UK, and Spyro x Sparx: Tondemo Tours in Japan) is the second game in the Spyro the Dragon series.

The protagonist of the series, Spyro the Dragon, decides to take a vacation to Dragon Shores with his friend Sparx. The portal he enters takes him to the land of Avalar instead. A sorcerer known as Ripto has invaded the world of Avalar, and is wreaking havoc on its citizens with his magic. Idols come to life and attack their creators, Eskimos are encased in ice cubes, and a civilization of seahorses has had its water confiscated. Spyro must travel through the land of Avalar, undoing the damage done by Ripto and ultimately defeating him.

Contents

[edit] Setting

Ripto's Rage is set in Avalar, rather than the Dragon Realms, where the previous installment was set. The world of Avalar is split up into three homeworlds, all of them named after a season of the year: Summer Forest, Autumn Plains, and Winter Tundra. All three homeworlds feature a certain number of realms, one or two speedways, and Boss Realm. Avalar's name may have been derived from the legendary island Avalon.

[edit] Characters

The Dragons of the previous installment have been replaced with an entirely new cast of characters, including fauns, satyrs, anthropomorphic animals, and robotic businessmen.

[edit] Playable Characters

[edit] Non-Playable Characters

[edit] Story

In the land of Avalar, residents Elora, Hunter, and the Professor have been working on their latest and largest portal. During a test, Hunter persuades the Professor to enter his birthdate, 22475 (which could mean February 24, 1975 or April 22, 1975) as the portal's target coordinates, inadvertently activating it and allowing a small sorcerer named Ripto into the realm, along with his two dinosaurs, Crush and Gulp. Sensing that the world he has landed in is free of Dragons, Ripto declares that he is going to "move in" and take it over, and he instructs Crush to go back and pack his things. However, Elora is able to deactivate the portal by instructing fairies to remove the orbs powering the portal and scatter them throughout the realms of Avalar. As Ripto begins to terrorize Avalar, Elora and the Professor plan to "catch" a Dragon in order to drive Ripto off.

Meanwhile, the Dragon Realms have been experiencing rainy weather for some time, and Spyro declares that he needs a vacation. He locates the portal to the realm of Dragon Shores and enters it. However, he finds himself instead landing in the realm of Avalar, intercepted by a portal built by the Professor. Ripto immediately enters the scene and destroys the portal, objecting to the Professor's success in bringing a Dragon to Avalar. Ripto is, however, forced to retreat when Gulp accidentally swallows Ripto's magical scepter. Elora asks Spyro to help save the realm of Avalar by defeating Ripto.



Japanese Coverart
Each of Avalar's homeworlds is captured by Ripto immediately after Spyro enters it, and either Ripto or one of his main minions await Spyro in a dungeon area at the end of each. Spyro must gain access these dungeons by collecting all of the Talismans in the homeworld, and in the case of the final confrontation, collecting 40 orbs total also. The Talismans are being held by the leaders of each realm. Somehow, perhaps using his magic, Ripto has succeeded in turning the citizens of the realms against each other, causing outbreaks of war between realms and races within realms. In addition, Ripto has sent his minions to terrorize citizens and stop Spyro from saving the worlds of Avalar.

In the end, Spyro is able to bring peace to each of the realms that have been corrupted by Ripto's machinations. After defeating both Crush and Gulp, Spyro is hurtled into Winter Tundra, where he finds out that Ripto has taken over the homeworld and holed himself up in the castle. The Professor instructs Spyro to gather up forty orbs, which will enable him to storm the castle Ripto has claimed and retake Avalar for the peaceful natives to whom it belongs.

Spyro successfully gathers the forty orbs and enters the castle. With the assistance of Hunter, Spyro fights Ripto to the bitter end. As Ripto spawns a mechanical Gulp, and later a mechanical pterodactyl (who could be one of Ripto's deceased henchman that died before the events of the game), Hunter dons his wings, flies over the arena, and drops orbs supercharged by the Professor to give Spyro enhanced abilities for a short amount of time. Spyro ultimately devastates Ripto, sending him sinking into the lava below.

After Spyro beats Ripto, he is congratulated by Hunter, Elora, the Professor, and Moneybags. The Professor opens a portal to Dragon Shores with the remaining orbs, and Hunter attacks Moneybags in order to retrieve the gems he took from Spyro throughout the events of the game.

[edit] Cutscenes

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage has a total of eleven cutscenes, available at these links:

[edit] Gameplay

Gameplay flows in a manner similar to the original game Spyro the Dragon, with few variations in control and Spyro's main abilities intact. The only notable difference is the removal of Spyro's side-rolling ability (previously activated by L1 and R1), which some would argue was useless in the first place.

[edit] Returning Abilities

Spyro retains the ability to jump and glide, and he is only able to fly (gain altitude) in speedway levels or with a certain temporary powerup.

Spyro can attack with his fire breath and his charge. He can take down many varieties of enemies with either attack.  However, metal-armored enemies are impervious to Spyro's flame, and enemies much larger than Spyro are immune to his charge attack.

[edit] New Abilities

Spyro also acquires a variety of new abilities throughout the game. Toward the beginning, Hunter teaches Spyro how to glide, and he includes instructions on how to hover at the end of a glide in order to gain extra height. Many levels were designed with this in mind, and this game accordingly contains longer glide distances than its predecessor, Spyro the Dragon.

European Coverart
Moneybags then teaches Spyro a few new abilities. Of course, all of these come at the expense of a "small fee" of gems. The abilities Moneybags teaches Spyro are:

Swimming: Swimming on the surface of water is an ability Spyro has from the beginning of the game. Swimming underwater enables Spyro to travel to new areas, recover gems and battle enemies. Entire levels are even set underwater. Once Spyro learns to swim from Moneybags, the square button may be pressed to dive from the surface. (There is no time limit on underwater swimming, since Spyro is apparently amphibious and has no need to return to the surface to breathe, and Sparx is encased in a bubble.) Underwater, the 'x' button causes Spyro to paddle in any direction the player chooses, while pressing the square button causes him to charge. Pressing the circle button, which usually corresponds to the flame attack, causes Spyro to emit nothing but a stream of bubbles unless he is currently powered-up with Superflame.

Climbing: Certain walls bear ladder imprints and can be climbed. Simply jumping against the wall will make Spyro dig his claws in, and he can climb in any direction for as far as the imprints go. Spyro frequently must cross from ladder to ladder in order to reach new areas.

Headbash: The headbash enables Spyro to break certain rocks and special gem containers. The headbash is achieved by leaping into the air and then pressing the triangle button. Spyro will execute a forward somersault and launch himself downwards, horns first. Spyro can also drop into a Headbash from a glide by hitting triangle twice--first to Hover, then to Headbash.

[edit] Powerup Gates

In addition to Spyro's returning and new abilities, many levels in the game feature powerup "gates" which temporarily give Spyro enhanced abilities that allow him to defeat certain enemies, reach new areas, or complete certain missions. Powerup gates are at first inactive, but become active once Spyro has defeated a certain number of enemies within the level.

The Powerup Gate powers are:

  • Superfly
  • Supercharge
  • Spring Jump
  • Superflame
  • Invincibility
  • Ice Breath

All of the powerups except for supercharge and spring jump are limited to a specific amount of time, displayed in a time meter. Supercharge can only be attained if Spyro charges through the powerup gate, and will be maintained for as long as Spyro can sustain the charge without hitting anything substantial.  The spring jump launches Spyro up into the air straight from the powerup gate, and leaves him with no enduring abilities.

If Spyro gains all 10,000 gems and 64 orbs (which requires some back-tracking), a magic door opens in Dragon Shores, which contains a permanent superflame powerup gate. Once acquired, the ability will be active in every realm, and will even be active if the player begins a new game.


Back-tracking is often necessary to obtain all of the collectibles in certain levels. Clever and persistent players can, however, get around certain obstacles without the use of the intended skills or powerups. For instance, in Glimmer, Spyro can reach the landing above the ladder in the crystal cave using the Superfly powerup outside.

[edit] Realms

  • Dragon Shores
    • Dunk 'em Down in Water (3 Tokens)
    • Tunnel of Love (1 Token)
    • Coaster Ride (3 Tokens)
    • Shooting Range (3 Tokens)


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