Spyro

"All Fired Up!"

This is a *Super Smash Skylanders* moveset for **Spyro**, a purple dragon that hails proudly from Skylands, serving as the leading character of *Skylanders: Spyro Adventure*, as well as being playable and having major roles in numerous *Skylanders* games in the series. Spyro is classified as Skylander #01.

Justin Long, who voiced Spyro in the *Skylanders* television spin-off series, *Skylanders Academy*, replaces the original *Skylanders* games' voice actors, Josh Keaton and Matthew Mercer, reprising the dragon's role for the project,

## Attributes

Spyro is an average-sized middleweight fighter with exceptionally balanced attributes, possessing impressive ground speed and traction, while having slightly below-average aerial speed (despite having decent gravity and fast-falling speeds). His attributes are far from the best compared to other fighters who are true specialists in their own rights depending on said attributes, but nevertheless, Spyro's skillset makes him purely balanced, capable of prospering in any situation. Because of his draconic roots, as well as a trusty pair of wings, he's also blessed with an extra mid-air jump, which can boost both his overall aerial game and recovery in terms of optimum and compatibility, especially in situations where he finds himself in a disadvantage state. Combining Spyro's undeniable array of attributes with swift frame data on his attacks, granting him an excellent neutral game, makes him a sure-fire threat to the rest of the Skylanders on the roster. Despite his attributes showcasing that he is more of a generalist type of combatant, his arsenal mostly fits around more offensive playstyles, ranging between pressurer and hit-and-run.

As aforementioned, Spyro's offense is what benefits him more than his defense. His excellent frame data is what makes him shine, making him a difficult opponent to box with up close. With the exception of his up smash, side smash, back aerial, and specials, each attack in his arsenal comes out at extremely fast frames, even for a midweight, granting him with not only close-combat proficiency, but an impeccable pressure game, especially against opponents who are rather slow on the trigger, as well as characters with slower attacks and a lack of optimal out-of-shield options. Spyro's speed also compliments this, as he can weave in and out of his opponent's range with ease to guarantee safer approaches, and punish their mistakes in a heartbeat. Spyro is also adept at starting combos, specifically with his up tilt and his neutral aerial, the former granting him more vertical reach to complement his average horizontal reach. Speaking of, it can link into itself at very low percentages and can keep an even longer combo going at low/mid percentages to rack up damage with ease.

When it comes to his aerial game overall, Spyro is truly gifted with attacks that have their optimal uses. When it comes to his neutral aerial, mostly using it during a fast fall, it can lead to true aerial attack follow-ups to gain the upper hand when airborne, whether it be over the stage or completely void of it. However, it should not be used regularly offstage, as it suffers high amounts of endlag when in the air. His forward aerial is extremely fast, and contends to be one of the faster forward aerials in the game. Because of its speed, Spyro prospers more when demanding respect with it, as well as delivering decent knockback power when the hit is successful, deeming it as a nightmare for panicky opponents who either stay in shield or become jumpy when cornered. His back and down aerials are extremely powerful, given the extended range he's granted when performing the move, and are the options to choose when searching for big finishes when in the air. Even though his back aerial is on the more sluggish side of things, it's still decent when it comes to using it in frametraps and callout situations.

Spyro also consists of an above-average grab game despite lacking overall grab range. His own grab is tied for the fastest in the entire Skylanders cast, and his pummel is fairly fast, being able to rack up damage and prioritize doing so when he has his opponent in his clutches. To add on to the number of combo starters he has, his up throw and down throw are integral parts of his gameplan. At lower percentages, his up throw can link into aerial attack conversions because of its low endlag, and his down throw works proficiently at both low and mid percentages; even at slightly higher percentages can heavyweights (and large-bodied opponents) fall susceptible to his down throw conversions. His forward and back throws are decent options when it comes to getting his opponents offstage to capitalize on their mistakes and putting them in sticky situations, keeping them in a sheer state of disadvantage.

One of Spyro's key strengths is his array of special moves, for each one specializes heavily in certain circumstances. His neutral special, Dragon's Fire, is one of his trustiest special moves, if not, one of his trustiest moves overall, in his arsenal. Because of each fireball's travel speed and very decent damage output, it is very proficient in demanding space from his opponents, especially when in mid-range. It can also serve as one of his go-to edgeguarding tools for fighters with exploitable recoveries, making this move even more dangerous when offstage or when his victims fall short of resources to get back onstage. His side special, Comet Dash, is both powerful and quick; using both of those qualities makes it a niche option for Spyro in terms of mix-ups, tech chases, and horizontal recoveries; when fully charged, changing straight into Ibex's Wrath when maximized, he's granted with damage-based armor that rewards him with a bit of safety, especially when recovering. And his down special, Earth Pound, is as versatile as they come, becoming proficient when used as a shield-pressuring option and a threatening ledgeguarding option. For the former situation, Earth Pound deals massive shield damage, to the point that if the grounded version lands both hits of the move, Spyro can even break a healthy shield completely; for the latter situation, he can snap to the ledge of a stage during the plummet and cause a trump, and, in some cases, meteor smash an opponent who performs a ledge regrab. All in all, when it comes to his special use, there's nothing that he can't succeed with, as long as all of them are used in the right circumstances.

Although Spyro is an all-rounded character with no detrimental weaknesses, his weaknesses still glare enough to the point that they shall not be ignored. His archetype is described as a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none combatant; aforementioned beforehand, Spyro is far from a specialist at a certain attribute. Characters like Trigger Happy and Lightning Rod prosper more with zoning playstyles to keep their opponents at bay; characters like Slam Bam and Terrafin are durable powerhouses that deliver heavy damage while being able to take anything that is dished out; characters like Stealth Elf and Flameslinger are speed demons, using their mobility to smother their opponents; characters like Boomer and Sprocket are trappers who can control the stage, using the placements of their contraptions to their advantage. To further clarify, Spyro might be a fighter that can possibly do it all, but is far from the best at everything, and can be taken advantage of in some cases by attribute specialists who trump the dragon at specific skills and abilities. Despite having powerful smash attacks and special moves, Spyro can have a difficult time killing his opponent. Each of his smash attacks contains specific sweetspots that are hard to hit with if not calculated correctly; each sourspot of said smash attacks carries mediocre power and damage output behind them, and their sweetspots can be hard to hit against smaller characters.

Despite his ground speed, his aerial speed is moderate at best; even with an additional double jump, the lack of excellent aerial movement makes his overall recovery exploitable, both horizontally and vertically. His up special, Dragon's Flight, despite seeming like a decent recovery option at first glance, truthfully lacks a bit in vertical distance, which puts a damper on his recovery a bit more than anticipated. Dragon's Fire, despite its offensive strength, is quite punishable if an opponent is fast enough to react and avoid each fireball, and close enough to close in on Spyro due to his high endlag after each fireball is launched. Some of his close-ranged moves, despite having excellent startup speed, are unsafe if shielded, resulting in a light neutral/up aerial punish, a moderate shield grab punish, or a heavier special move punish (depending on the opponent's own special move's speed when performed out of shield), hurting his neutral game even more if they take full advantage of it.

Overall, Spyro is a pure practitioner with great strengths that snuff out his very few, yet exploitable weaknesses. Due to his decent ground mobility, adept offense, and a useful arsenal of special moves, he can go toe to toe with any other fighter, and even come out on top against a decent number of them. He's a fighter that can prosper heavily when gaining a state of advantage and suffocating them with oppressive offense; in turn, his tools to get out of a state of disadvantage are also good enough to keep him out of it. For the most part, even with the conditioning that his neutral special offers, Spyro must mostly rely on close-ranged combat to succeed due to his overall lack of range, and he must be careful when offstage, for one false move could be his last.

 **Walk Speed** | 1.15
 **Dash Speed** | 2.25
 **Initial Dash** | 2.4
 **Traction** | 0.15
 **Short Hop Height** | 14.5
 **Full Hop Height** | 35
 **Double Jump Height** | 24.65123
 **Aerial Speed** | 1.23
 **Aerial Acceleration** | 0.08

*\*24.65123, 17.54629 for each midair jump.*

## Animations & Aesthetics

### On-Screen Appearance

* Flies into place while landing in a noble stance. He then says, "Alright, let's do this.", before getting ready for battle.

### Taunts

* **Up Taunt:** Jumps in the air, flies for a little bit, and breathes fire in a celebratory fashion, saying, "All fired up!"
* **Side Taunt:** Hops and lands on the ground in a prepared stance while saying "I'm just getting started!"
* **Down Taunt:** Performs a quick backflip, before landing on his two front legs in a handstand. He laughs and looks at the screen with googly eyes.

### Idle Poses

* Kicks his rear legs back one after the other, and shakes his head and body as if he was drying off.
* Stands on his rear legs and sprouts his wings, giving the opponent a little smirk before resetting.

### Victory Poses

* **Left:** Stands on his two back legs and scratches in front of him with his two front legs, saying, "I was born to battle!" He then lands back on his front legs while giving a side-viewed nod towards the screen. This is a reference to his victory animation in Battle Mode from *Spyro's Adventure*.
* **Up:** Charges forward while a golden aura surrounds his horns. He then jumps, spins in the air, and scoffs, before landing in a pose similar to that of his series 3 render from *Swap Force*.
* **Right:** Flies from behind the camera, turns around, and breathes a fireball into it, similar to Dark Spyro's Soul Gem, once again, from *Spyro's Adventure*. As it dissipates, Spyro lunges into the air and pumps his fist in excitement while saying, "That's what I'm talkin' about!" For the rest of the animation, Spyro stays in the air by flapping his wings while grinning at the screen.

## Alternate Costumes

All of Spyro's costumes will contain his Series 1 design from *Spyro's Adventure*, with some facial features being carried over from his spin-off character from *Skylanders Academy* to give him a more modern feel.

 **Gold** | His Awakened counterpart from *Ring of Heroes*.

## Trivia

* Spyro is classified as Skylander #01 due to the fact that he's the titular character of *Spyro's Adventure*, the first game of the *Skylanders* series. Furthermore:
	+ He was the first Skylander to be seen featured in the game's official trailer, *"The Beginning"* (alongside Gill Grunt who happens to be classified as Skylander #02 partially because of this).
		- Even if that, plus being the titular character of *Spyro's Adventure*, wasn't enough to qualify Spyro for the Skylander #01 spot, he would've been so anyway due to the fact that he was also the first to speak in the trailer.
	+ He was one of three Skylanders to be a part of the introductory starter pack for the game (alongside Gill and Trigger Happy, the latter of which is classified as Skylander #03 partially because of this).
	+ His presence and position in the series as a whole could also be deciding factors. In the series, he has the most counterparts and variants of any Skylander, has been significantly involved in almost every game's storyline, both playable and non-playable, and is arguably *the* most popular Skylander in the entire series. So much so that he is considered, in certain novels and comics, to be the most legendary of all of the Skylanders.