Kyra the Dragon: Shadow Soron’s Revenge

***Kyra the Dragon: Shadow Sorren’s Revenge*** is a platforming video game in the Kyra the Dragon series developed by Rare and Microsoft Game Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. The game was released in June 14th, 2006.

TBA.

## Summary

The following paragraph is text from the game's introduction:

"Early afternoon in Glowerhaven... It's so peaceful that even the clouds are drowsy. And now it's Kyra’s favorite time of the day: snack time! Today's yummy snack is a sweet, fluffy slice of strawberry shortcake! Time to dig in... WHOA! The cake Kyra was about to eat has suddenly vanished! That scrumptious, berry-topped slice of mouth-watering goodness... No doubt about it! This must be the work of that greedy Shadow Sorren! Well, there's no time to waste! Gotta get that cake back! And that's how Kyra’s latest fantastic adventure begins..."

## Gameplay

As in most of her games, Kyra is able to copy the abilities of certain enemies by using Triangle and R1 buttons them. There are also interactive environments, with obstacles that are passable with copy abilities (examples include freezing water to get across with the Ice ability, or cutting down tall tufts of grass with his Sword or Cutter ability). Kyra is also able to collect and store copy abilities and items in her inventory, which is represented on the bottom touch screen. A special power, "Bubble", can be used to create such abilities from the monsters on the screen. The player can combine certain abilities, similar to Kyra 64: The Crystal Shards; however, these are limited to only Sword, Fire, Ice, Spark, Bomb, and Wheel. Mixing abilities is achieved by dragging one ability over another with the stylus. If the two are compatible with each other, they will combine and produce a new ability (example: Fire + Sword = Fire Sword). This can only be done if the scroll (mentioned below) for a certain ability is found. However, if they are not compatible, they will combine to create a random bubble.

As another aspect of the storage and mixing ability, Kyra can acquire subparts of a bonus power item and then mix them to create that bonus item. For example, collecting three Rareware tokens will grant the player an extra life, while collecting three small stars will generate a large star that can be used for destroying large enemies. Kyra can also store health-restoring items as well.

Returning copy abilities include Beam, Bomb, Cupid, Cutter, Fighter, Fire, Hammer, Hi-Jump, Ice, Laser, Magic, Ninja, Parasol, Sleep, Spark, Sword, Throw, Tornado, U.F.O., and Wheel. New abilities are Animal, Bubble, Ghost, Metal, and Triple Star. Many of the copy abilities feature multiple attacks, a recurring trend also seen in Kyra and Eric.

A new concept to Kyra games introduced in this game are the Copy Scrolls, which power up any power that Kyra has when chosen. Examples include Hammer growing to nearly double its normal size if charged up, Tornado and Wheel taking the elemental properties of the terrain they pass over, and Spark building up energy that can be released in a similar fashion to the way the Plasma ability from Kyra the Dragon Princess worked.

Each level contains one or more treasure chests (usually each level contains two small red chests and a large blue chest, although boss levels only contain one big blue chest), with the ultimate goal of the game to collect all the chests; the chests include keys needed to unlock secret levels and worlds, the ability to change Kyra’s color, portions of a jigsaw puzzle picture, and more additional game content; these are awarded when the player successfully completes the level with that chest. The player will need to make sure they have enough space in Kyra’s inventory to store the chests, removing unneeded items or combining similar items to make space. The larger chests are generally more difficult to obtain, and require Kyra to face a member of the Shadow Squad in a mini-challenge of sorts. If the opponent gets the chest, they will attempt to escape into their own small hideout, but if the player is fast enough, they can follow them into this hideout and attempt to beat them and retrieve the chest. If the player fails to obtain any chests, they are free to go back to any previously completed level to try to retrieve the chest again; chests already recovered can be collected again, but it will contain an item in a bubble. Only five items can be stored at a time.

The game supports multi-card multiplayer and single-card download play for three special mini-games based on the Shadow Squad.

## Trivia

* This is the first Reversal of the Heart game to be released on the Nintendo DS.

* This is Rare’s first Reversal of the Heart game since Hopgoblin Advance came out in 2001.

* This is considered one of the most stressing games of all of 2006.

* FiddleGriff themselves did most of the animated FMV clips.

* This was Tim and Chris Stamper's last game ever made for Rare before they left the company.

* Shadow Sorron creates ancient shadows such as Nightshades, Shadow Spectres, and Shadow Imps.

* This was rereleased with Spyro and Crash on both X-Box and Playstation 4