Spyro: Fragmented Memories

I am a 22 year old mildly autistic man that loved Spyro as a kid and still love it to this day. It has a lot of variety, from the different unique stages to different villains. However, I have an incident involving the remake of the first Spyro game. This happened when I was a seventeen year old living at home with my parents. At the time, they were out of the house doing errands. I was at home playing the first Spyro remake on my Nintendo Switch when it glitched out at the final battle of the first game with Gnasty Gnorc.
Immediately after this glitch, I quit the game and then restarted it by pressing the A button. I thought that this was no big deal, so I moved on. When I got to my save file, it was deleted without any explanation. My theory at this point was that the glitch could have deleted my save file upon me quitting the game. I did not think about screenshotting this game at the time because I forgot the Nintendo Switch can take screenshots. Not wanting to think too much about this, I started a new save file and began playing the first Spyro the Dragon game again.
The game was acting fine until I reached Peace Keepers, the second world in the original and the remake. When Spyro got off the balloon, a unique cutscene happened. The small purple dragon was moving towards the entrance of Peace Keepers until some type of magic surrounded him. As the magic swirled around him, Spyro began holding his head in pain and screamed like he was having a very bad migraine. After a few seconds of screaming, the magic disappeared instantly like nothing happened, but Spyro was confused saying “Where am I?”.
The small purple dragon looked at his hands, terrified, saying “Who am I?!” A lightning bolt hit the pier, accompanied with noises of loud thunder. A cloud of smoke quickly came on screen, distracting Spyro. Gnasty Gnorc appeared out of the cloud of smoke, laughing evilly. He then said while standing proud and still gloating “Your memories are now broken into pieces across these four new realms, purple dragon! The Dragon Realms are now mine to conquer and nothing will stop me!” Gnasty Gnorc then left laughing evilly and turned into a flying puff of smoke and left. Spyro then looked at the water, seeing his reflection not in shock, but in confusion. After looking at his reflection, the small purple dragon walked into the entrance, ending the cutscene.
This left me confused because it was never in the game when I played it the past twenty times. I figured that the game must be hacked by someone or a virus corrupted it through the glitch earlier. The world of Peace Keepers was the same, but with enemies from the Artisans world. These enemies were easy to defeat because they couldn’t get in the tents or use the cannons. Also, while traveling around the barren desert, I noticed that only one level was open, and that was Dry Canyon.  
In this level of Peace Keepers and the rest of the game, I would encounter some type of a floating film reel next to a dragon statue. When Spyro touched one of them, this would bring back a little bit of Spyro’s memory, like when he first breathed fire, for example. However, nothing major in Dry Canyon had changed, except for when the dragons were freed. They would discuss that a memory-erasing spell can be destroyed when the individual gets their memory back(aka getting all the film reels). As a completionist, I did so gladly for the rest of the game.
Eventually, after being unable to enter most of Peace Keepers' levels, I went to see if I could confront Dr. Shemp, the boss of that world. Surprisingly, the level was accessible and I entered the portal. It just immediately started off with confronting Dr. Shemp, instead of a level where you can travel to collect gems or a dragon statue. No advice from the dragon, just the boss fight, and an arena similar to a coliseum with the witch doctor on equal ground with Spyro. This was surprising because all bosses in the original and in the remake of Spyro the Dragon would get hit and then run away, repeating the pattern two more times. All was going well until Dr. Shemp got hit once, causing him to spasm out, with his staff forcibly hitting the ground nonstop, causing the arena to lose some bricks on the ground, revealing a dark abyss beneath. The new objective of the fight was now clear, which was to destroy the staff before it causes you and Dr. Shemp to fall into the new abyss below. The staff would take three more hits with Spyro’s fire breath, and then explode, causing Dr. Shemp to fall from the arena into the abyss below, with a loud thud being heard. 
After that, Spyro was immediately taken back to Peace Keepers, which gave me a thought. If Dr. Shemp’s boss fight was different from the original remake, what other things can the game change? I took Spyro to the balloon to take him to the next world, Magic Crafters, which triggered another cutscene. The next cutscene was Gnasty Gnorc breaking his television in anger because of Spyro beating Dr. Shemp and swearing to make the small purple dragon’s journey a lot harder. A light bulb appeared above Gnasty Gnorc, giving the orc-like warlord an idea. This put a smile on Gnasty Gnorc’s face as he laughed evilly, as it cuts to black, ending the cutscene.
When Spyro got off the balloon, I immediately took control of him, guiding the small purple dragon into the cave. The cave was normal, but the enemies looked tired and depressed, like they did not want to be there. The small purple dragon(in my control) went up to one of them and they sighed as he dashed into them, sending them flying. My reaction was being confused because I never witnessed something like this in Spyro 1 or any game I played before. As I stayed still, Sparx, the dragonfly, looked at the screen and encouraged me to keep going.
With Sparx’s encouragement, I continued looking around Magic Crafters and encountered some unusual features. These would include realistic looking caves in the style of Tomb Raider, random pits with no way to get out that force you to quit the level, or creatures that look like pelican jaws inside of the grass. The creatures inside of the grass would use their large jaws to trap the little purple dragon inside to suck his health away. Besides this, this part of the Dragon Realms wasn’t that far off from the remake or the original. The levels of this world, however, were very different, including their names.
Starting with Alpine Ridge, or its new name, Cliffside Mountain, it was now literally a cliffside level with Spyro going up a mountain with a path that occasionally zig zags. One of the enemies were the cartoony spiders you would see in High Caves. However, these would crawl down the mountain to block the path to the top. Unlike that level though, Spyro can use his flame breath to destroy them. The other enemy type were wizards that would take away certain chunks of the path to stop Spyro’s progress that could be damaged by his dash attack via flying. The gems and the egg were easy to collect because they were on one singular path. For the four dragons, they advised the small purple dragon facts about the enemies and to keep collecting his fragmented memories(six of the floating film reels were in this level), which were easy to collect. The memory that was shown after being completed just showed Spyro learning how to dash at enemies(or sheep) with a few dragons cheering him on. The end portal back to Magic Crafters was standing in the core of the mountain, instead of the top, meaning Wizard Peak’s new equivalent could still be in the game. 
As Spyro returned to Magic Crafters, I paused the game to look at the skill points for the whole game, which were interesting to say the least, because there were five skill points from the past two worlds missing and two new additions specifically for Gnasty’s World and Gnasty Gnorc. Before I show the list, I am going to explain what skill points are. They are basically hidden achievements like how PlayStation trophies are, except they give Spyro lives.
Skill Points
Mountain Maze- Light all the flames
Blowhard- Ride Blowhard’s platforms
Electric Trap- Avoid the electrical floor
Metalhead- Find Metalhead’s weakness
Dream Weavers- Secret path to Nightmare Castle
Nightmare Castle- Hide from the Shadows
Frightening Tower- Activate the alarms
Jacques- Shock Jacques three times while not being damaged
(new addition)Gnasty’s World- Perfect
(new addition)Gnasty Gnorc- Find Gnasty’s weakness
These were very interesting and very unique for skill points, but I was a little concerned about the future levels being harder due to the names. I unpaused the game and moved onto the next level inside the realistic cave, which was Lighthouse Flight(Crystal Flight’s replacement). The level was Spyro flying inside a giant lighthouse collecting wooden gems, lights, rings, and strange planks that rotated on a time limit. It was similar to the other flight levels, including no collectibles from the normal levels, excluding gems.
After completing Lighthouse Flight, I went to where High Caves or Mountain Maze would usually be, but instead a new cutscene played. The cutscene showed a few of the depressed enemies from earlier guarding the level gate for Mountain Maze. Spyro walked up to them to ask what was wrong, but there was no response. The depressed enemies just sighed and walked away, not in the mood for fighting. Spyro was about to go after them, but decided to just go into the portal to Mountain Maze instead, ending the cutscene, feeling remorseful.
Mountain Maze was not just a maze, but a whole three-dimensional labyrinth. Your goal as Spyro, basically, was to use Spyro’s flame breath to guide you to the exit on the other side. Occasionally, though, you would be jumpscared by the giant spiders from the original High Caves, making Spyro run in the opposite direction involuntarily. These were the only enemies throughout the whole level, making it feel empty. The dragons, floating film reels, and eggs were hard to find, as this was a three dimensional space, but I found them fine. I also found fire pits inside the labyrinth, and lit them up, letting me get the skill point. When I found the end portal outside of the maze on the peak of a mountain, the exit looked cracked as if a giant weapon of one of the enemies hit it repeatedly.
I thought it could be one of Gnasty’s minions or Gnasty himself, but couldn’t confirm it, as the culprit was long gone. Thankfully, the portal still worked. As Spyro took the portal back to Magic Crafters, my mind started to wonder if there would be more moments like this in the game or if it was a one-time thing. My thoughts were interrupted as the small purple dragon had returned to Magic Crafters. I took Spyro over to where Wizard Peak or its replacement(Magical Summit) was, and saw that the portal to the level was okay. As the small purple dragon went into the portal, I heard Gnasty Gnorc’s evil laugh. This alarmed me immediately and I remained on my guard.
The next level, Magical Summit, was basically a more scrambled version of Wizard Peak, but with more enemies and more unfair jumps. The enemies were the normal wizard enemies from Wizard Peak, but twice the amount. Sometimes the unfair jumps were literally impossible to do, except if or when moving platforms appeared. The collectibles were sometimes in hidden places that required unfair jumps, making it a challenge. Besides that, the level was scrambled, but playable. When Spyro reached the end portal this time, it was still working, and not in ruins. The small purple dragon went inside the portal, which glitched.
Upon going back to Magic Crafters, the sky suddenly darkened as Spyro arrived. This made me suspicious as this was something else new. The camera cut over to where the portal to Blowhard, the next boss, was at. Above it, a dark cloud swirled. I took Spyro to Blowhard’s portal, and before going in, one of the dragons I freed earlier flew over. This dragon told Spyro to watch out for Blowhard’s tricks as this master of wind knows how to create shields and platforms out of thin air. Then, he flew away into the sky. I was confused, but ready to fight Blowhard. I let Spyro go into the portal and fight the third boss of the game.
As Spyro landed into the fight with Blowhard, I noticed his arena was on top of one of the mountains from Magical Summit with a few fences surrounding both the small purple dragon and the wind wizard. When I hit Blowhard once with Spryo’s flame breath, the wind wizard created two platforms that bounced up and down quickly. The timing to get on these platforms was very tight and precise. If you ride on either of these platforms for a few seconds, the skill point would be achieved. After damaging Blowhard two more times, the platforms would disappear causing Spyro to fall down to the ground. The wind wizard then made two medium-size shields constantly rotating around slowly on his waist. At this point, Spyro would have to wait for Blowhard to go upwards, exposing his tail, thus finding a new weakness. This process would repeat for three more hits and then the wind wizard would explode into dark gusts of wind, ending the fight.
When Spyro returned to Magic Crafters, I thought that the game wasn’t going to be dark, but just a weird hack. However as I took Spyro to Beast Makers on the balloon, another cutscene played with Gnasty Gnorc attacking almost all of the portals in Beast Makers, except the replacements for Terrace Village and Metalhead. The orc-like leader attacked the portals with his giant weapon, shattering them in the process. Gnasty Gnorc laughed evilly, turning into a black cloud of smoke, and then flying off, ending the cutscene. Spyro arrived, and as I ran around Beast Makers, there were Gnasty Gnorc’s minions, with electrical rods, cheering around and celebrating the destruction. 
As I brought Spyro closer to the minions, they stopped and ran angrily at him. These minions were damaged with the dash move and defeated easily. After defeating all of them, I went to free the dragons and collect the gems for the Beast Makers homeworld. Freeing the dragons was very easy to do, but one dragon said that Gnasty destroyed almost all of the portals in Beast Makers, except for two. The other dragon told Spyro to get revenge on Gnasty Gnorc and his minions while the freed dragons try to rebuild the portals, so that the small purple dragon can regain all of his memories. When the gems were all collected in the Beast Makers homeworld, I took Spyro to Terrace Village’s replacement to see what had changed.
Terrace Village’s replacement, or Electric Trap, was a factory composed of electrical floors that constantly went on and off, with the Gnorcs using electrical rods to do so. The level annoyed me to no end because of those floors and the timing of the jumps had to be almost perfect, or Spyro would fall to the ground, getting electrocuted immediately. That animation of the small purple dragon being electrocuted was always disturbing to me. I don’t know why, because it just did. Eventually, I came across a pack of snakes that shot electricity out of its tails towards Spyro. They were hard to dodge because of the electrified floors below, so I waited until the right moment to flame breath them. 
At the end of the level, I was greeted with an upsetting memory of Spyro’s, after getting the last floating film reel. It started with a baby purple dragon in a crib in the Dream Weavers homeworld, who I presume to be Spyro, being cared for by two larger purple dragons, who must have been Spyro’s parents. All of a sudden, a few explosion sounds can be heard from off-screen, which made me jump a little bit because of the noise. They immediately grabbed Spyro out of the crib and ran off-screen as Gnorcs ran after them. Spyro’s parents rushed into the castle and found a balloonist inside. 
These larger purple dragons told the balloonist to take their son away to the Artisans homeworld. He obliged and took the young Spyro away from his parents’ claws into his balloon. The camera then cut to a balloon drifting slowly away from Dream Weavers while I heard male and female screams, presumably from the parents as Gnasty Gnorc’s evil laugh also played. That is where the memory ended and being shocked was an understatement.
I felt dumbfounded and upset for the little purple dragon, even though he was fictional. I didn’t cry tears, but had sympathy for him. Spyro looked teary-eyed from witnessing the death of his parents and didn’t move for a few minutes, regardless of what I did.  After Spyro calmed down a little, he exited the level through the portal by himself, returning to Beast Makers. Beast Makers looked the same and now back in control, I headed to Metalhead’s boss portal. Like before, another one of the dragons I freed earlier gave Spyro advice on Metalhead, which was to keep an eye on his weakness from either below or above. 
When that dragon left, I forced Spyro to enter the portal to Metalhead. This let me think about how the game changed while the boss fight loaded. I thought about the virus theory being the most possible, because of the changes to the game, but that couldn’t be right. Something had to be within the virus to change this from the normal remake to this, and then the realization hit like a truck. The virus didn’t change the levels. There was a ROM hack of some kind that got uploaded through the virus, which explained why everything was so different, from the floating film reels to Spyro losing his parents.
I thought to myself a few questions, “Who made this and why?” “Why specifically my Nintendo Switch?” “Is there a hidden meaning to this hack or is someone screwing with me?” Before those questions can be answered, the boss fight with Metalhead finally loaded as Spyro landed into the arena from the original remake. However, it was where Metalhead should have retreated to before his final hit. The fight with this robot was hard, now that the power pylons were missing. Instead, in their place, waves of big monkey enemies(from the original Metalhead level) constantly tried to gang up on Spyro. These were very hard to deal with, as they kept invading Spyro’s personal space. 
After those waves were dealt with, Metalhead’s weakness suddenly appeared as a floating green/red orb that mimicked a power pylon while having a weird pattern that went in a spiral. I immediately waited for it to turn green and dashed into it on the ground. When Metalhead was damaged once, he decided to create an electrical rod of his own from the metal behind him. This only took a few seconds as the giant robot charged at Spyro with it quickly. I avoided Metalhead’s rod by dashing in the opposite direction. 
The fight now felt too easy as Spyro and Metalhead were in a virtual bullfight. I soon came up with a solution which was to use the small purple dragon’s flame breath on the electrical rod. The weapon took a few hits to destroy, as Metalhead was dashed into by Spyro. This caused the green/red orb to appear from above and now take a more simpler pattern, which was to move back and forth. I went inside the tiny fortress and took a whirlwind to the upper half of it, which eventually led me back outside. At this height, I waited for the orb to turn green and come near Spyro, which I made him dash into, shattering it. 
After landing back on the ground, Metalhead suddenly became enraged and dashed into Spyro, taking me off guard a little bit. I responded by dashing into him a few times towards the wastewater. This eventually caused the giant robot to fall into the toxic liquid below, ending the fight and dissolving it. When Spyro returned to Beast Makers, the homeworld looked barren, with all the huts destroyed and the enemies gone. This was a little unsettling because I felt alone, even with Sparx at my side. I got Spyro on the balloon to Dream Weavers as fast as possible before any potential enemies could appear to jumpscare me.
At this point in the game, Dream Weavers would usually be the most trippy out of all of the worlds of the first Spyro the Dragon game, including the original remake. However, this wasn’t the case as Spyro got off the balloon when it landed in this world. Dream Weavers, instead looked like something out of a horror film. The usually bright sky was instead dark and cloudy with lightning occasionally striking the ground. The castles looked gothic in design and reminded me of Dracula’s own castle. Dream Weavers’ enemies were the same from the original, but more unsettling and monstrous. They were even willing to jumpscare Spyro when getting the chance.
Similar to Beast Makers, most of the portals were destroyed, but three of them were still functioning. These were Haunted Towers and Lofty Castle’s replacements, including Jacques’ portal. This was becoming a repeating pattern, and I knew that it was probably going to be in the final world. However, I wondered why Gnasty Gnorc didn’t destroy the boss portals, along with the replacement levels’ portals. My conclusion was that Gnasty had some level of mercy for the small purple dragon, and wanted a fair fight. 
After getting all the collectibles in the Dream Weavers’ homeworld, a cutscene played. Gnasty Gnorc was watching Spyro from above one of the gothic castles, and ordered a few mysterious shadows to haunt the small purple dragon on his quest. He watched with glee as they dived down into Lofty Castle’s replacement’s(Nightmare Castle) portal. When these mysterious shadows entered, the orc-like villain laughed evilly. Spyro, seeing what just happened, was hesitant at first, but went into the portal, going after the mysterious shadows, ending the cutscene.
Nightmare Castle, Lofty Castle’s replacement, took place inside a castle, rather than the outside of it. I noticed that the music had changed for the first time in a level, because it sounded sinister and dark. This was strange, but more fitting for Nightmare Castle, as it is a creepy castle, after all. The level had torches on the wall lighting the halls, guiding Spyro along the way. Sometimes though, the flames would go out, resulting in you having to hide in alcoves alongside the walls. The mysterious shadows from earlier would then appear and haunt the halls for a few minutes before the torches instantly came back on, scaring them away. These were the only type of enemies in the level that can’t be hurt by Spyro. 
If you attacked them with any of Spyro’s attacks, they would gang up on the small purple dragon and hit him until he lost a life. This would send Spyro back to the beginning of the level, regardless of hitting checkpoints. However, the shadows weren’t the only enemies in the level. There were also those flying demons with a smile on their faces as they shot arrows at Spyro. I wasn’t surprised that they made an appearance because the monsters were from the original remake. This level also had very hard to find collectibles, because of being in unexpected places, like being above Spyro’s head or in hidden paths that no one would think to look. 
Besides all of that, the level was not impossible to beat, but at the same time, it was impossible because of the quick dashing as Spyro to avoid the shadows. After getting the skill point for Nightmare Castle, the end of the level was in sight. There was a gothic tower in the distance, but before I could get to the portal, the mysterious shadows from earlier passed Spyro quickly. They laughed maniacally as they went into it, shattering the only exit behind them. “Damn it!”,I growled in annoyance. 
Before exiting the level through the pause screen, I released the last dragon in Nightmare Castle. He told Spyro to find another way to get back to the Dream Weavers homeworld and the small purple dragon said “How?” in annoyance. The dragon just flew away without explaining, but I knew what to do already. I was about to get out of the level, but noticed that I forgot one floating film reel.
Thankfully, the floating film reel was in front of the last dragon statue and when I collected it, this started another cutscene. It started with the Artisan dragons playing chess in the Artisans’ homeworld. Immediately, the balloonist from the last cutscene walked up to the Artisan dragons and told them about Spyro’s parents’ demise, along with holding up a baby Spyro. One of them took the baby dragon from the balloonist while the other rolled in a crib. The dragon that took Spyro then put him in a crib, with the other dragons mourning their fellow dragons. The cutscene then ended with the dragons swearing to raise the baby dragon as if they were their own.
This was dark for a Spyro ROM hack, but I pressed onwards. After getting back to Dream Weavers, I noticed that the gothic castle housing Nightmare Castle looked a little damaged, but still structurally sound. The journey to the other side of the homeworld was very easy, but a little hard since the enemies did their jumpscares, which were annoying. The gothic castle housing the replacement level for Haunted Towers looked like it got severely damaged by enemy fire and the Gnorcs. I was surprised that no cutscene activated for Frightening Tower, but assumed that it wasn’t put in, or there was never a cutscene for this level. 
When I had Spyro go inside the portal, the loading time for the level didn’t happen. Frightening Tower started up immediately, which impressed and confused me. Any video game console, including the Nintendo Switch, does not have the technology to instantly start a level. It has to load the level first, and then it will appear after loading. This was unexplainable, so I put a reminder in my head to put the Switch down for a few minutes.
Frightening Tower, the replacement for Haunted Towers, was the gothic tower from earlier outside Nightmare Castle, and one of the most disturbing levels I have personally seen. The level would have Spyro go inside the tower, climbing stairs, to get to the top of it. This was easy, but had a few obstacles along the way. These included spikes that would come out in a stabbing motion from one side of the wall to damage Spyro, or Gnorcs that rammed into him to push back into the sharp objects. I had to wait for the spikes to recede back into the wall or ram into Gnorcs to prevent being damaged by spikes.
The collectibles were scattered throughout Frightening Tower. For example, there was one dragon in an alcove behind a breakable wall that contained some pots with gems. The other two dragons, though, were at the top of the tower, waiting for freedom. Along the way, I did see some alarms, which I let Spyro activate. The alarms had an ear-piercing sound, which sounded like real-life alarms, but a little more goofy.
After activating the alarms, I got the skill point and proceeded to go to the end of the level. I finally made it to the top of the tower where I saw dark clouds shoot out lightning bolts towards the ground. The sight made me a little nervous because of my fear of loud noises. The dragons in front of the exit portal were freed and flew away without saying anything. I collected both of the floating film reels, which triggered the next cutscene.
This cutscene showed Spyro and the Artisan dragons arguing about something, since I couldn’t hear the audio, even on the highest setting on the Switch. The Artisan dragons then got turned into emerald dragon statues, as Spyro got confused, and started on his journey. I was confused as I was basically watching the intro cutscene again, but much darker. Spyro then goes after some of the Gnorcs, defeating them, and releasing the first dragon from the start of the game. The camera then shakes a little bit, ending the cutscene.
It went back to the small purple dragon just standing there at the top of Frightening Tower idle for a few seconds before he showed a sign of regret on his face. I got Spyro in the exit portal, which immediately took him back to Dream Weavers. My action at this point was to put the Nintendo Switch down, so it can rest a little bit in the Switch dock. After a few minutes to a half-hour, I went back to the game. The Nintendo Switch was still a little warm, but not overheating.
There was only one more thing to do in Dream Weavers, which was to fight Jacques. Before Spyro was able to move, Jacques’ portal mysteriously cackled evilly. I thought this was strange, but it was probably part of the ROM hack. I had to take Spyro back across the homeworld in order to fight the jack in the box. The small purple dragon entered Jacques’ portal without interruption, and actually had to load this time.
After loading, the fight with Jacques was inside the same volcanic part of the level from the original remake. The arena for the magical jack in the box had eight boxes laid out in a rectangular shape. Jacques landed on one of the boxes from above and started to chase Spyro around. The small purple dragon would have to glide from one box to another to avoid being damaged. I tried to use Spyro’s flame breath after getting near Jacques’ back, but it didn’t seem to work.
No matter how much I tried, the flame breath didn’t seem to work. This made me a little frustrated, so I rammed into Jacques instead to blow off some steam. However, once I did that, the jack in the box fell into the lava, holding its’ butt in pain. Jacques came back up to one of the eight boxes angrily and started to chase Spyro. The pattern repeated two more times until Jacques screamed in anger.
Something interesting started to happen meanwhile in Jacques’ rage. The arena started to change into a triangle shape, with two boxes going into the lava below and six boxes rearranging to make said shape. After Jacques calmed down, he started to chase Spyro around yet again. This time, the jack in the box would jump very far to get to the next block as well as the small purple dragon. The process to damage him was challenging, but it was satisfying to see Jacques get what he deserved.
After a few more hits, the jack in the box screamed in anger for the final time, changing the arena to a more square shape. It had four boxes left, including a circled platform in the middle. I assumed that platform was to make the fight more bearable. Jacques was as relentless as ever, moving to each box standing in the lava at frighteningly fast speed. However, after ramming into that goblin-faced jack in the box one last time, he was defeated. I sighed a breath of relief as Spyro was taken back to Dream Weavers.
Immediately after the game loaded back to the Dream Weavers homeworld, I took Spyro to the balloonist to go to the final world, Gnasty’s World. As Spyro went on the balloon, the sky became a crystal-clear night with stars sprinkled throughout it. This made the mood very peaceful and calming, until I got the shock of my life when the small purple dragon landed. Gnasty’s World looked like a steampunk villain’s lair with gears rotating in the background and steam fogging the screen up occasionally. I looked around for a dragon statue, but wasn’t there, because the dragons were working on restoring the portals in Dream Weavers and Beast Makers.
Surprisingly, there were no collectibles besides gems in the few levels it had. These levels were very different then their original counterparts. They had very difficult platforming sections, where Spyro had to glide or use his dash move to avoid going into the water below.The enemies were all Gnorcs with varying weapons, including their realistic guns that came back from the PS1 original. The steam gimmick that I mentioned before was also there, taking me by surprise.
I was impressed that the levels in the final world were more original, but at the same time dreading what the final boss fight would be like. Strangely, after completing the levels, I got my skill point for perfecting Gnasty’s World, even though I didn’t beat Gnasty Gnorc yet. Preparing for the worst, my thoughts were “Is Gnasty Gnorc’s fight going to be difficult like Jacques or easy like the original?” and “Will I be able to win in one try?”. As Spyro went into Gnasty Gnorc’s portal, the game started to load the boss fight, but had a hell of a time doing so. After it loaded, another cutscene began inside Gnasty’s arena.
The cutscene had Gnasty declare his victory against the dragons, but be interrupted by Spyro entering into the lair, angering the orc-like villain. Spyro in a heroic tone of voice told Gnasty to give up and surrender. The orc-like villain responded in anger with “The dragons thought I was ugly, and they got turned into emerald statues! I will be the one winning this fight, purple dragon!” As soon as Gnasty said that, he leaped into the air and then landed on the ground with his staff in hand, ending the cutscene. I prepared Spyro and myself for a long fight as the orc-like villain roared, starting the final battle of the ROM hack.
Gnasty Gnorc first attacked with his mace, shooting energy blasts at Spyro, which were easily avoidable by using his dash move. I flame breathed Gnasty from behind, and this strategy of dashing and flame breathing worked for the first few hits. It only stopped working when the orc-like villain went back on top of the arena and started firing lightning bolts out of his staff. All of a sudden without warning, steam appeared on my screen, blocking my vision. This annoyed me as I kept a lookout for lightning bolts headed towards my way.
Eventually, Gnasty would stop firing lightning bolts from his staff and drop colorful orbs onto the ground. These objects were meant to explode, but acted as projectiles when Spyro put one in his mouth and fired at the orc-like villain, causing damage to his armor. This would repeat a few more times until Gnasty’s armor was completely cracked. The music from Gnasty Gnorc’s battle in the original game suddenly stopped, and was replaced with a more rock metal battle theme, including occasional chanting. I couldn’t tell what the chanting was, but it sounded like gibberish.
During the change of music, Gnasty Gnorc suddenly changed into a cloud of darkness that shot crystals onto the ground. If Spyro got within a few feet of the crystals, he would turn into a crystal statue temporarily, but be able to get out of his prison by repeatedly tapping the A button. However, when Spyro didn’t get free, Gnasty Gnorc would dive at him, making the small purple dragon lose health. This was a frustrating move that Gnasty did, but I turned it into an advantage by finding crystals and ramming into them. The now airborne crystals then hit Gnasty a few times, causing him to lower and take a flame breath to the front.
After this final hit, Gnasty transformed back into his normal orc-like form, and fell to the floor unconscious, alongside his staff. The camera switched to Spyro, with him saying his usual insult to the orc-like villain, and shaking his head. Before the final cutscene can start, an ear-splitting scream echoed through my Nintendo Switch, and caused me to drop the Switch on the carpeted floor. I immediately made the Nintendo Switch mute by lowering the volume and waited a few minutes. I was scared from the noise, because I was and still am very sensitive to certain noises.
When I unmuted the audio after a few minutes, there was an error message telling me to reboot the system immediately. I did so, and the Spyro hack I played was gone, not without explanation. It was completely possible that the game, along with the original Reignited Trilogy, were taken offline temporarily until Nintendo and the developers figured out what the hell was going on. I never figured out what really happened or anything of the sort until..a few days ago. It turned out that a former Activision employee with expertise in technology hacked into random consoles and “replaced” kid-friendly games with his own versions. 
The purpose was to extract the players’ financial information from the consoles while the player played the ROM hacks.The guy would then buy expensive things using the information, so he won’t pay for anything. This would explain why my parents had to change debit and credit cards multiple times after the incident. My parents do not have the most money or anything, but this revelation made my blood boil. All those times when my parents were living paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet was because of him.
I was soon relieved to find out that the guy will be in prison for a very long time for identity theft. For all I know, this could have been his only income, but at the same time, he should have tried to get a job or open up his business instead of going against the law. Well, life is tough for some, and for others. After all, we only take paths that are the least resistance, only to find out it was the wrong thing to do. Maybe tomorrow, I will tell my parents about what happened that one day they were gone.
Category:Video Games
Category:Spyro