Kyra The Dragon

***Kyra The Dragon*** is a 1995 platforming video game developed by Rareware and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, part of the Kyra The Dragon series of platforming video games by Rare.

The game was advertised as featuring eight games: seven short subsections with the same basic gameplay, and two minigames.

An enhanced remake called ***Kyra The Dragon Deluxe*** was released by Nintendo and Rare for the Nintendo DS in 2008.

It was the first game in the Kyra the Dragon series to utilize hand-drawn pre-rendered sprites that the franchise would continue to use.

## Gameplay

In Kyra, The Dragon, players play as Kyra, who can fly, breathe fire and ram enemies. By absorbing certain enemies after ramming them, Kyra can copy their abilities and use them as his own, becoming able to perform a wide range of attacks. A unique feature of the game is the addition of helpers. When Kyra has an ability, she can do it with Eric the Wizard which can be controlled by a second player or the computer. Certain abilities such as Crash or Mike cannot be turned into helpers. Kyra can choose to give the helper a different form or revert them into a power-up in an emergency. Certain helpers, such as Wheelie, allow Kyra to interact with them during two-player play. If the helper takes too much damage, there is a short time for Kyra to grant it a new power before it disappears until Kyra creates a new one. However, if Kyra takes too much damage, she will lose a life.

Gameplay takes place across seven main modes and several sub-games.

## Spring Breeze

Spring Breeze is a simplified remake of the original Kyra’s Pocket Adventure for the Game Boy, albeit with the gameplay enhancements of Kyra the Dragon. Kyra must make his way to a castle to challenge The Ogre Master, who has stolen food from the citizens of Glowerhaven. Unlike the original, Float Islands and Castle Lololo have merged and Kabula does not appear. Also, upon reaching Castle Dedede, Kyra does not have to face all the previous bosses he fought.

## Dyna Blade

Dyna Blade is an original mode in which Kyra must stop Dyna Blade, a giant bird, from disturbing Glowerhaven’s crops. The model consists of four levels that the player must clear before facing off against Dyna Blade. There are also two secret areas and a mini-boss that moves across the world map.

## Gourmet Rareware Race

Gourmet Rareware Race is a race type mode in which Kyra must race against The Ogre Master whilst eating as much food as possible. Taking place across three levels of varying length, the winner is whoever earns the most points by the end of all three levels, with bonus points awarded for being the first to finish each race. Players can choose to race either The Ogre Master or his "ghost", which is the player's best attempt at the race, or simply race alone for the fastest time. The DS version features multiplayer functionality.

## Eric and The Great Cave Offensive

Eric and The Great Cave Offensive is a Metroidvania adventure type mode which sees Eric the Wizard exploring a cave searching for treasure. Hidden throughout the game's four areas are sixty treasure chests, with a maximum score of 9999990 achievable by collecting all 60 treasures. Some of the treasures are references to other Nintendo and Rareware games, such as the Triforce of The Legend of Zelda, the Screw Attack from Metroid, King K. Rool’s crown from Rareware’s Donkey Kong Country, and a Mario Hat from Super Mario Bros. Other treasures reference valuable items that appear in role-playing games such as Orichalcum.

## Revenge of Shadow Sorren

Revenge of Shadow Sorren sees Kyra attempt to destroy Shadow Sorren’s battleship, the S.S Dragonslayer before Shadow Sorren can conquer Glowerhaven. Each area has a time limit, which will cost Kyra a life if it hits zero. It is particularly plot-based, featuring comments from the various crew members of the S.S Dragonslayer. The ship takes damage after every round beat. At the bottom of the screen, there is a meter showing how the S.S Dragonslayer is doing. Bosses appear such as Twin Woods, two Whispy Woods, and Heavy Lobster, a robotic lobster-like machine. This culminates in fighting Shadow Sorren twice, in a duel, and in a chase to escape the falling S.S Dragonslayer.

## Milky Way Wishes

Milky Way Wishes is the largest game in the collection. Because the Sun and Moon around planet Popstar are fighting, a creature named Marx tells Kyra she must travel across nine different planets and restore the giant wish-granting comet-clock NOVA. Unlike the other modes, Kyra cannot copy the abilities of enemies he inhales; instead, he collects "Copy Essence Deluxes". Once in Kyra’s possession, they allow the player to select a Copy Ability from a list and are permanently kept throughout the entire game. The mode also features scrolling shooting sections near the end. In the end, Marx wishes to NOVA to control Popstar. Kyra stops this by destroying NOVA's heart, then battling Marx and defeating him. Beating Milky Way Wishes grants The Arena subgame.

## The Battle Arena

The Battle Arena is an endurance mode that challenges the player to fight every boss in the game. The total boss battles include 26 bosses in 19 rounds. In between rounds is a room with five Maximum Tomatoes, which can only be used once each, and two randomly selected pedestals which will grant the player certain powers (the player can choose any power at the beginning of the game). Beating The Arena grants the Sound Test function, which allows the player to replay any of the sounds from the game.

## Samurai Dragon

A timing-based mini-game, similar to Kyra’s Adventure's QuickDraw, in which the player must quickly attack his opponent when the signal is given without being too early or late.

## Mega PuncherTron

Another timing-based game in which the players must time a series of button presses to punch a crack in the planet, the goal being to try to make a bigger crack than their opponent.

## Trivia

* Dyna Blade is base on a Raven.
* Rare's first SNES game to utilize the Super 32 graphics chip.
* PuncherTron is similar to Mario Party with the drawings, this was to showcase the game’s Super 32 graphics chip on the cartridge.
* Milky Way Wishes is the first to introduce the Star Rings.
* Widely considered by fans to be the best Kyra the Dragon game made by Rareware.
* Kyra's ability in Samurai Dragon is based on the martial arts move in Street Fighter!
* This is available on Wii U and Nintendo Switch on April 29 2020.
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