Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Apr 25, 2000 prototype)

A prototype of Spyro: Year of the Dragon for the PlayStation.
==Notes==
An early prototype of Spyro: Year of the Dragon for the Sony PlayStation. This build seems to match the one used at E3 2000, as well as the one used in a number of previews and gameplay B-roll footage. The build is an NTSC-U preview build.
The disc's file dates and primary volume creation date lists the prototype as being built on 5th April 2000 as opposed to the final's 14th September 2000, but no primary volume modification date is included. Its original disc was labelled with "4.25 E", which likely represents a burn date of April 25th.
Oftentimes, the modification dates on the files of Spyro builds (and PSX titles generally) do not match their true modification dates. This, in combination with the fact that no primary volume modification date is listed, and the fact that "4.25 E" so closely resembles some of the build date and version strings used in other Spyro 3 builds (5.25.a, 7.27.a and 9.4) suggests a possible date of April 25th instead, which may be more likely to be accurate due to its use as a versioning number. Either way, the build appears to have been built at some point in April 2000.
*There are a number of Spyro 2 leftovers, notably including the game's title screen.
*Starting the game from the title screen immediately puts the player into Bamboo Terrace (which is called "Rice Paddies" in this version). There are no save files.
*The pause menu is replaced with a level and minigame warp menu, allowing the user to move from place to place more easily.
*Only 13 of the game's 37 levels are playable by normal means, with only one sublevel playable in each of Sunny Villa and Molten Crater.
**Data corresponding to an additional four levels - Sunrise Spring, Seashell Shore, Crawdad Farm and Spike's Arena - is present, as is the rest of Sunny Villa and Molten Crater.
**Crawdad Farm, Spike's Arena and the remaining areas of Sunny Villa and Molten Crater are accessible with the use of cheat codes.
**Sunrise Spring appears to only be accessible with memory editing, as using cheat codes to enter the level results in a crash. The level can be accessed by activating the Gameshark code 800661EC 0000000A whilst at the title screen, and starting the game.
**Seashell Shore is also only accessible with memory editing, due to a bug in this version causing the level to crash upon entry. This arises due to the level in question using too much memory and overwriting data allocated for Spyro's model. As such, the resolution is to increase the heap and stack by a megabyte with the use of memory editing, along with increasing the RAM used by the console or emulator to 8MB (meaning that only modified or debugging consoles may access the level). Additionally, due to issues navigating the level, it is recommended that a code to increase Spyro's height (such as 80069C00 00008000) is used when entering the level.
***The following Gameshark code implements the memory edits required for the Seashell Shore entry fix:
 8002BAC8 0000802F
 80029E10 0000802F
 8006604E 00000040
*One sublevel of each of Seashell Shore and Lost Fleet are still not present at this point.
*The pause menu displays names for each of the levels, many of which differ wildly from their final names.
**The level names used on portals and loading screens are entirely generic at this point, with all levels given the name "Level x" where x is replaced with the level ID.
*The Atlas is not yet accessible, though some very limited functionality corresponding to the Atlas is present, though at this point it functions as not much more than a page-turning simulator.
**The Atlas is also still referred to as the "Guidebook" (a term used in Spyro 2) by the pause menu at this point, despite its graphics saying "Atlas". The pause menu option for this menu does nothing when selected.
*The player also has the option to restart the level from the pause menu.
*A number of HUD elements across several levels are missing or differ from the final.
**This includes the egg icon and counter in the HUD.
*Only 7 of the game's music tracks are present, with the majority of them being vastly different to how they sound in the final game. In particular, Lost Fleet has an entirely unique theme, rather than re-using another level's theme as it would in the final game.
**In the NTSC-U Rev 1 release of Spyro: Year of the Dragon, a number of levels were given their own themes rather than reusing tracks. Lost Fleet still did not get an entirely unique theme once again, instead using a remix of the Sheila's Alp theme, for some reason.
**All levels which don't yet have their own theme in this version use Spooky Swamp's theme instead.
**There are several unused tracks which are entirely unrelated to Spyro - all of these tracks are by either U-Ziq or Propellerheads.
*There is no audio dialogue present whatsoever, and a large amount of the text dialogue is in a very incomplete state.
**Many lines of dialogue are also clearly placeholder strings presenting developer humour.
*The dialogue font and text colour matches the one used in Spyro 2.
*Eggs have a completely different appearance to their final look, and come in multiple different varieties, mostly corresponding to the type of dragon they hatch.
*Gem placement is almost universally different, as are the gem totals for each level.
*Many of the levels have significant structural changes.
*There are a number of cut enemies - most notably, tigers in Bamboo Terrace, Rhynoc Thieves in Molten Crater and a caterpillar boss in Crawdad Farm.
*Several of the alternate characters control and behave slightly differently from their final design.
**Sgt. Byrd is also quite noticeably different in appearance. Bentley also differs from his final design, but only in subtle texture tweaks.
**Oddly enough, the characters capable of shooting can do so even when an NPC is speaking to them or a cutscene is in the middle of taking place.
*Due to incomplete programming, the player cannot leave the level via the portal at the beginning of each of the critter levels. Instead, the player will return to the level regardless of whether they select "Yes" or "No" when asked if they want to leave the level. In three of the four critter levels, the player is amusingly greeted with a text string proclaiming "At some point, I'll need to program that." if they attempt to leave.
*There are no skill points present at this stage of development.
*The gem values Moneybags requests differs in a couple of locations and he's entirely missing from some areas he'd normally be, too. In a couple of places he appears, there are a number of gems deliberately placed next to him specifically to give the player exactly as many gems as they need to proceed.
**Even though using the pause menu to warp between levels resets most of the player's data, which instances of Moneybags have been paid is carried over, so he does not need to be paid more than once at the same location.
*Warping between levels using the pause menu resets all of the data corresponding to the items the player has collected. However, the player can circumvent this by using the cheat codes to warp between levels. Most (but not all) levels do not yet exhibit alternate behaviours (such as NPCs being missing) when re-entering a level after completion.
*This version of the game unsurprisingly has a number of glitches not present in the final, including what appears to be a glitch that will occasionally cause a few specific gems to vanish from the map.
*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 with the included patch, or by setting the int32 at address 0x80071610 to zero.
**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.
Big head Spyro 	Up, Up, Up, Up, R1, R1, R1, R1, 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 	
Level warp 	Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, ?, ? 	The last two buttons determine the level ID
O = 0 | 1 = X | 2 = Square | 3 = Triangle | 4 = Right | 5 = Down | 6 = Left | 7 = Up | 8 = R1
Max collectable totals 	Square, Square, Square, Square, O 	Sets all level gem counts to 400, the total collected gems to 10,000 and the total eggs collected to 64
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
View Credits 	Square, O, Square, O, Square, O, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right 	Does not work in this version due to the credits being missing
===Playable Levels===
A full list of the playable levels are listed below. Those in bold are present in the game, and those in italics are either missing or unplayable without the use of external tools.
Level 	Sublevel 	Status 	Notes
Sunrise Spring Home 	Main Level 	Accessible through memory editing only	Inaccessible under normal means - the level can be accessed by activating the Gameshark code 800661EC 0000000A whilst at the title screen, and starting the game.
Sunny Villa 	Main Level 	Accessible through cheat codes only 	Only accessible through the use of cheat codes. Enter any level via the level select and then enter the following code on the pause menu:Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, X, X
Sunny Villa 	Sheila 	Accessible through cheat codes only 	Only accessible through the use of cheat codes. Enter any minigame with area ID 1 (e.g. "Submarines") via the minigame select and then enter the following code on the pause menu:Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, X, X
Sunny Villa 	Skateboarding	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Skateboarding" option.
Cloud Spires 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Cloud City" option.
Cloud Spires 	Sun Seeds 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Cloud City" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Cloud Spires 	Bell Towers 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Cloud City" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Molten Crater 	Main Level 	Accessible through cheat codes only 	Only accessible through the use of cheat codes. Enter any level via the level select and then enter the following code on the pause menu:Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, X, Triangle
Molten Crater 	Tiki Heads 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Tiki Heads" option.
Molten Crater 	Thief Chase 	Accessible through cheat codes only 	Only accessible through the use of cheat codes. Enter any minigame with area ID 2 (e.g. "Skateboarding") via the minigame select and then enter the following code on the pause menu:Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, X, Triangle
Seashell Shore 	Main Level 	Accessible through memory editing only	Inaccessible under normal means - warping to the level consistently crashes the game due to the level's data overwriting parts of the memory associated with the game's polygon buffer and shared models. To remedy this, the game's stack and heap can be moved upwards by a megabyte, for example with the following Gameshark code:
8002BAC8 0000802F
80029E10 0000802F
8006604E 00000040
Additionally, the console or emulator being used must have 8MB of RAM installed.
Seashell Shore 	Sheila 	Accessible through memory editing only	Accessible normally via the main level if the player is able to access it.
Seashell Shore 	Bluto 	Accessible through memory editing only	Accessible normally via the main level if the player is able to access it.
Seashell Shore 	Tunnel 	Not present 	Sublevel does not exist at this point.
Mushroom Speedway 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Sheila's Alp 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Sheila's Home" option.
Buzz's Dungeon 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Crawdad Farm 	Main Level 	Accessible through cheat codes only 	Only accessible through the use of cheat codes. Enter any level via the level select and then enter the following code on the pause menu:Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, X, R1
Midday Garden Home 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Icy Peak 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Iceberg" option.
Icy Peak 	Thief Chase 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Thief Chase" option.Alternatively accessible via the level select under the "Iceberg" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Icy Peak 	Ice Dancing 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Figure Skating" option.Alternatively accessible via the level select under the "Iceberg" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Enchanted Towers 	All Areas 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Spooky Swamp 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Swamp Party" option.
Spooky Swamp 	Sleepyhead 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Mini Boss" option.Alternatively accessible via the level select under the "Swamp Party" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Spooky Swamp 	Sheila 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Roo Stomp" option.Alternatively accessible via the level select under the "Swamp Party" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Bamboo Terrace 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible directly from the title screen.Alternatively accessible via the level select under the "Rice Paddies" option.
Bamboo Terrace 	Rhynoc Blast 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Rhynoc Blast" option.Alternatively accessible via the level select under the "Rice Paddies" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Bamboo Terrace 	Bentley 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Rice Paddies" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Country Speedway 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Country Speedway" option.
Sgt. Byrd's Base 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Sgt. Byrd's Home" option.
Spike's Arena 	Main Level 	Accessible through cheat codes only 	Only accessible through the use of cheat codes. Enter any level via the level select and then enter the following code on the pause menu:Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square, Square, Up
Spider Town 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Evening Lake Home 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Frozen Altars 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Aztarctica" option.
Frozen Altars 	Bentley 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Boxing" option.Alternatively accessible via the level select under the "Aztarctica" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Frozen Altars 	Cat Hockey 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Aztarctica" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Lost Fleet 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Lost Fleet" option.
Lost Fleet 	Sub Chase 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the minigame select under the "Submarines" option.Alternatively accessible via the level select under the "Lost Fleet" option; the player must locate the sublevel in order to enter it.
Lost Fleet 	Skateboarding	Not present 	Sublevel does not exist at this point.
Fireworks Factory 	All Areas 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Charmed Ridge 	All Areas 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Honey Speedway 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Bentley's Outpost 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Bentley's Home" option.
Scorch's Pit 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Starfish Reef 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Midnight Mountain Home	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Crystal Islands 	All Areas 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Desert Ruins 	All Areas 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Haunted Tomb 	All Areas 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Dino Mines 	All Areas 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Harbor Speedway 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Agent 9's Lab 	Main Level 	Accessible through normal means 	Accessible via the level select under the "Agent 9's Home" option.
Sorceress' Lair 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Bugbot Factory 	Main Level 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
Super Bonus Round 	All Areas 	Not present 	Level does not exist at this point.
==Screenshots==
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-1.png|Title screen
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-2.png|Loading screen
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-3.png|Pause menu
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-4.png|Level select
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-5.png|Minigame select
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-6.png|Gameplay - unused level
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-7.png|Gameplay - unused level
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-8.png|Gameplay - unused level
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-9.png|Gameplay - unused loading sequence
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-10.png|Gameplay - unused sublevel
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-11.png|Gameplay - removed sublevel
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-12.png|Gameplay - unused level
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-13.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-14.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-15.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-16.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-17.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-18.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-19.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-20.png|Gameplay - unused level
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-21.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-22.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-23.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-24.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-25.png|Gameplay
File:Spyro3-Apr25Preview-26.png|Atlas
==Origin==
File:PSX - Spyro Year of the Dragon Previewable.jpeg|Disc front.
==Videos==
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<youtube height="244" width="434">gmqqEztKNQg</youtube>
<youtube height="244" width="434">rE2ftNzXTOw</youtube>
==Files==
==Acknowledgments==
A huge thanks to Hwd45 for doing the initial research on this prototype! Extra thanks to Altro50 for discovering the entrance method for Seashell Shore!
==See also==
*Project Deluge: PlayStation 1, Saturn, and CD-i (April 17, 2021)
*Cutting Room Floor (TCRF)
*Internet Archive (IA)