The original Spyro is undisputedly the most difficult of the 3 original games for the
Playstation 1.
This was through a combination of fiddly controls, unforgiving enemies and, perhaps most importantly,
unintuitive level design.
If we’re looking at it purely from the combat challenge the winner has to be Misty Bog.
You have to fight against fire-proof gnorks- which aren’t too much of a challenge, you
simply head butt them.
Then there are boars that you can’t head-butt though you can flame.
And then you have TERRIFYING TREES that do THIS followed by THIS.
These are a test of your reflexes, but once again you can defeat by flaming at the right
time.
And then there are attack frogs which you can flame or charge, but who have a long-range
weapon that will get you occasionally regardless of the approach you use.
The level pits you up against a combination of these different enemies, at the same time
and in large quantities.
And to make things more difficult there are very few health-giving chicken on this level.
And those that are happen to be guarded by an enemy you have to defeat, who typically
requires charging and who inconveniently stands just in front of deadly goo that you can fall
in and DIE.
But practice makes perfect and even if it costs you a few lives you’ll eventually
end up beating this level through sheer attrition.
I’m going to go through the 3 parts of the game that can’t be beaten through skill,
but rather through trial and error and a lot of rage-induced controller-chucking.
Third on the list is Jacques, or as I used to call it, Jack-queues.
This is kind of a boss level of sorts, only he sucks massively.
However, once you’ve defeated him and have inevitably tried and failed to escape from
the level from this position, you’ll soon find that you can’t complete this level.
You’ll find this dragon, just out of reach since this pillar is too high to jump on.
You’ll go back to the end of the level again to try and jump out again.
And you’ll fail, again.
And then you’ll give up and look online for the answer.
But back then, 10 year old Philip didn’t have this option.
Somehow he found the solution that 20-something me couldn’t be bothered to.
This level is fairly late on in the game and they were starting to run out of ideas for
monsters.
In this level for example there are supposedly female monsters affectionately holding flowers,
which I find strangely endearing.
Just thought I’d mention that- has nothing to do with this video but I remember thinking
it back then and I still feel this way now, so useless monsters with flowers, you’ll
forever have a place on 2kliksphilip!
But the level is also full of fools, who are enemies that don’t die, but rather turn
into a clock that will change the level in some way for a limited amount of time.
Most just activate a platform nearby, but there’s one who seemingly does nothing.
You’ll likely flame one and think ‘hmm that’s strange he doesn’t do anything’,
but then you’ll carry on your way thinking you were so awesome you managed to get past
that bit without even needing him.
But no- this one fool lowers the platform somewhere else in the level and you’ve got
to quickly do THIS to get on it.
Unintuitive, yes.
But easy once you know how.
You’ll then be able to explore a very interesting bit of the level, hidden down a deep and narrow
canyon beyond the rest of it.
Next I’ve chosen Tree Tops, an infamous level remembered by all who suffered it.
Everything about this map screams ‘unintuitive’.
It’s freakin’ massive!
A large tree here, distant platforms there and boost ramps everywhere.
You can’t beat it with logical thinking- every boost ramp is a painful case of trial
and error to master.
And sometimes they’ll fail through no fault of your own.
And the developers knew how POOPY this level was, too- by this stage in the game most dragons
rescued spout generic thanks or a joke of some kind, yet the ones you rescue on this
level are crammed full of advice on how to complete the ludicrous challenges of this
level!
Just getting to the end of it is an achievement.
The neh-neh-neh-neh-neh enemies are harder still as you engage in difficult multiple-ramp
chases to the far corners of the map.
And yet, none let you get to this far off platform, which is out of the way even for
the Tree Tops level.
You can see it.
But nothing seems to get you there.
You leap from boost ramp to boost ramp and yet you either end up in a dead end or plummeting
to your death far below.
That’s because you’re thinking far too rationally.
The correct solution is….
Down the obvious one… through this area to the next obvious one, then BACK UP THE
NEXT ONE and then a botched glitchy jump onto a 4th that you’d never expect you’d have
to make.
And there you have it.
You can now execute that final egg thief and leave this level behind… until you unexpectedly
have to replay it for a Youtube video about it in a decades’ time and somehow find it
even harder than you did this time!
And what’s more, this level is about midway through the game.
It stands out as being FAR harder than anything else around it.
Gnasty Gnorc would have stood a better chance if he were to hang around these branches for
the whole game.
I know that for most of you who completed Spyro 1, Treetops will be the one you remember.
But at least you knew where you were trying to get to.
And it’s incredible how patient a child can be if you dangle a treat in front of them,
even if it’s just out of reach of their futile, floppy attempts.
But there’s one that I feel is even less logical than the one in Tree Tops: and that’s
Haunted Towers.
Much like Jack-Queues it’s a level from the final homeworld so I guess the developers
assumed the player must like the game enough to want a challenge by this point.
Most of it’s easy.
This level’s fad is indestructible knights.
You have to be kissed by a fairy to be able to destroy them and even with limited time
with this ability it’s very easy to beat.
The average player will reach the end of this level with little difficulty, though I made
it impossible for myself in my latest playthrough when an enemy dropped his gem off the side
of the map.
But there’s a nasty little twist: you’ll beat the level and your heart will drop when
you realise that a large chunk hasn’t been explored and is nowhere in sight.
You know what hint they gave poor 10 year old Philip?
THIS.
In part of a skippable cutscene.
Look, there’s a hole in the ceiling!
What could be up there?
And more importantly: how the hell do you get up there?
You’ll notice a ramp outside, which must be something to do with the run boost earlier
on in the level.
Great, let’s try that.
Nope, it’s impossible to get all the way around it.
It’s just too tight!
Oh look, there’s the gem I lost earlier.
So what are you meant to do?
This.
Totally unintuitive- at least with Tree Tops you could see where you had to get to, even
if the path there was like something out of the Crystal Maze.
But this?
From the rest of the level this outside platform doesn’t look important, as if it’s part
of one of the many castle rooms you explore later on.
There isn’t even a dragon or gems here to indicate otherwise.
And the ramp is a pointless diversion!
In a kid’s game!
What were they thinking?!
Even when expecting it in my most recent playthrough, the puzzle’s presentation threw me off and
I had to consult a guide.
Insomniac games must have expected 10 year olds everywhere to hurl Spyro to his death
over and over again to find this sort of stuff.
They’re monsters.
And yet…
it worked.
I, and likely a handful of other 10 year olds around the world, did manage to find this
and complete the game.
But most probably couldn’t and had their childhood marred by a sub-100% complete score
on this level, preventing them from completing Spyro.
They learned their lesson and made the second and third games far easier, fairer and more
intuitive.
But is this necessarily better?
In our adult life, when we look back nostalgically at our childhood games, what will we remember?
Enjoying ourselves on the fun but fair levels from Spyro 3… or falling to our dooms over
and over again, tears streaming down our faces at the painful sight of our hard-earned lives
dropping away with every failed attempt on the dastardly Treetops level from the original
Spyro?
I know which one I remember.