Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Sep 11, 2000 prototype)

A prototype of Spyro: Year of the Dragon for the PlayStation.
==Notes==
*An NTSC-U review build dated about 3 days before the final.
*Like the earliest revision of the final game, the file dates do not reflect when the game was actually built. The date has been inferred from what is written on the disc - September 11th, 2000.
**Historically, the build was released as the "Sep 4, 2000 prototype", but this is now deemed to be inaccurate. Like many other builds of this game, it includes a date in its save file identifier string. This seems to be the date the string was last updated, rather than the game's build date.
**The string - SPYRO_3(pal)-v.9.4 - also claims the build to be a PAL version, when it's actually NTSC-U. This build string may thus be left over from a slightly earlier version, which was PAL.
**A similar string is also seen in the game's demos. 5 of the 6 different demo versions use the same string, further indicating that it isn't a trustworthy build date string.
*A number of cutscenes have minor audiovisual differences when compared to their final counterparts.
*Bianca is absent from the final Sorceress battle, and defeating the Sorceress does not play the credits.
*The final egg is named "Zan Jayna" as opposed to "Yin Yang".
*The Atlas lists Super Bonus Round as having 6 eggs instead of 1.
*Two levels have slightly stricter egg requirements.
*A number of sound effects are still missing throughout the game.
*There are a number of glitches present that were fixed before the final release.
*Dongle protection is present in this build, which can stop the game from running on real hardware and certain emulators. The game will reach the Universal logo screen before halting.
**The dongle protection can be bypassed using the included patch, or by setting the int at address 0x80078CD0 to zero. However, patching the dongle will result in the game's anti-crack protection being triggered.
**In lieu of patching, a memory card card file containing the dongle save can be downloaded in mcd format here or in raw format here.
***The memory card containing the dongle has to be inserted into Slot 2.
*Miscellaneous Notes:
**Game is emulatable: Yes (as of April 17, 2021).
**Game contains dongle protection: Patched.
**Game contains debugging symbols: No
**Dump was originally scrambled: No
===Cheat Codes===
Like the final release, a number of cheats are present in this version, but they differ dramatically from the final game and generally exhibit more debug / QA-like features. All of these can be enabled by inputting the following codes in pause menu.
99 lives 	R2, L2, R2, L2, Up, Up, Up, Up, O 	
Big head Spyro 	Up, Up, Up, Up, R1, R1, R1, R1, O 	
Dialogue test 	Square, Square, O, O, Square, Square, O, O 	
Colour change 	Up, Right, Down, Left, Up, Square, R1, R2, L1, L2, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up, ?	The last button determines the colour
Red = O | Blue = X | Pink = Square | Green = Triangle | Black = Down | Yellow = Up
Extra hit point 	Square, Up, Square, Down, Square, Left, Square, Right, O 	
Flat Spyro 	Left, Right, Left, Right, L2, R2, L2, R2, Square 	
Global difficulty 	O, Square, Right, Left, Right, Square, O, ? 	The last button determines the difficulty mode. A lower number means an higher difficulty.
30 (easy) = O | 0 (normal) = X | -40 (hard) = Square
Local / minigame difficulty	Left, Right, Square, O, Square, Right, Left, ? 	The last button determines the difficulty mode. A lower number means an easier difficulty.
-1 = Triangle | 0 = O | 1 = X | 2 = Square
Max collectable totals 	Square, Square, Square, Square, O 	Sets all level gem and egg counts to their maxima,
the total collected gems to 20,000 and the total eggs collected to 154 (which displays as 150)
Level/Cutscene warp 	Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, ?, ? 	The last two buttons determine the level/cutscene ID
O = 0 | 1 = X | 2 = Square | 3 = Triangle | 4 = Right | 5 = Down | 6 = Left | 7 = Up | 8 = R1 | 9 = R2
Permanent invincibility 	O, O, O, O, X 	
Permanent superflame 	R1, R2, L1, L2, R1, R2, L1, L2, O 	Causes crashing in levels where the superflame is not present
Squidboard 	Up, Up, Left, Left, Right, Right, Down, Down, Square, O, Square 	
View credits 	Square, O, Square, O, Square, O, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right 	
The treasure finder cheat isn't present in this build.
==Screenshots==
File:Spyro3-Sep11-0.png|Title screen
File:Spyro3-Sep11-1.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Sep11-2.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Sep11-3.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Sep11-4.png|Gameplay
==Origin==
File:PSX - Spyro Year of the Dragon -11.jpg|Disc front.
==Videos==
<youtube heights="320" widths="224">i0NAr5zrvcc</youtube>
<youtube heights="320" widths="224">S8yjhMTUak4</youtube>
==Files==
==Acknowledgments==
A huge thanks to Hwd45 for doing the initial research on this prototype!
==See also==
*Project Deluge: PlayStation 1, Saturn, and CD-i (April 17, 2021)
*Cutting Room Floor (TCRF)
*Internet Archive (IA)