Spyro in the 90s: Comparing the First Two Adventures
Insomniac Games' first two Spyro games arrived a year apart and represent a clear step up in scope from the first game to the second.
First-game exploration
Spyro the Dragon (September 1998) built its levels around open, explorable 3D worlds you could glide and charge through relatively freely, collecting gems and freeing trapped dragons.
Play a modern remaster of the first two Spyro games
Spyro Reignited Trilogy remasters Spyro the Dragon and Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, discussed above, along with the 2000 sequel, on modern hardware.
Check price on Amazon →Sequel abilities
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (November 1999) added new abilities, including swimming and climbing, that expanded where levels could take you compared to the original's more limited moveset.
Collectibles and progression
Both games are built around collecting items to unlock progress (gems and dragons in the first, gems and orbs earned from side objectives in the second), but Ripto's Rage leaned further into NPC side quests as a source of collectibles than the more level-contained original.
Later series entries
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (2000) completed what's usually called the original PS1 trilogy, but falls just outside our 1990 to 1999 scope, so it isn't covered here as a 90s release.
Frequently asked questions
What did Spyro 2 add over the original Spyro the Dragon?
New traversal abilities, including swimming and climbing, that expanded where levels could take players compared to the original's more limited moveset.
Is Spyro: Year of the Dragon a 90s game?
No, it released in 2000, just outside this site's 1990 to 1999 core scope, so it isn't covered as a 90s release here even though it's often grouped with the first two games as the original trilogy.
How far apart did the first two Spyro games release?
About 14 months: Spyro the Dragon in September 1998 and Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! in November 1999.
Sourcing and corrections
Release dates and gameplay differences for Spyro the Dragon and Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! were checked via web search against sources including Wikipedia in September 2026.