Spyro was always my favorite game when I was a kid. I'm talking about the original 1998 Spyro the Dragon for the PlayStation. The one with Gnasty Gnorc in it. I loved that game so much. I played it constantly. i must've beat the game like 50 times. But all that ended one day..........
It was 2009. It had been a while since I had played any of my old PlayStation games, even though I could play them on my PlayStation2. They were in a box somewhere, I was sure. Sure enough, I was going through my closet one day, and that's when something seemed off. It was gone. In the box marked "PlayStation", all of my games were there...except for Spyro. Spyro: Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon were there, but not the original Spyro. I was kind of let down, as I had hoped I'd be able to play it again. But a thought ran through my head: "It's sure to be on Amazon. They have everything on Amazon." I got on my computer and searched "Spyro the Dragon" on Amazon. Sure enough, it was there. But something was wrong. There was only one copy for sale, and it was pre-owned. Now, I don't normally buy pre-owned games, because the discs could have scratches and fingerprints and crud like that, but my craving for nostalgia was so bad that I bought it. I would regret it later on.
It came about a week and a half later. Strangely, I only paid 5 bucks for it, which is really cheap for Amazon. I was shocked when I opened the cardboard box. It was the normal boxart, with Spyro front and center and Gnasty Gnorc and the bull in the background. But it was all red, like someone had put red, translucent plastic wrap over it. But there was none. I figured someone had colored the inside manual with red marker, but I opened the case. There was no manual. The picture was on the case's outside. I tried to let it go. I plugged in my PS2, and took the disc out. The disc was in perfect condition. This was getting kind of weird. There were no scratches on it whatsoever. I looked back in the box, and there was a black memory card. Weird. The Amazon description didn't say anything about a memory card. But then I realized that the game's owner's saved file would probably be on this memory card.
I put the disc in, and the titles came up. It skipped the opening credits, and cut to the scene where Spyro flies around the mountain and hits that Gnorc in the butt. Everything was going good until Spyro flew into that Gnorc. Upon impact, the Gnorc let out a bloodcurdling scream and blood squirted all over. When Spyro landed and the title came up, Spyro had a scared and nervous look on his face, like he was visibly afraid. I pressed start and selected load game, just to see how good of a Spyro player the previous owner was. There was one file: "125%". Now, anyone who has beaten the game completely knows that you can get 120%. But this guy got 125%! I backed out, and selected new game. The game skipped the opening cutscene and deposited me directly in the Artisan's world. But I was outside the Dark Hollow stage.
Not much else happened for a while, aside from the fact that Spyro was always visibly terrified, and the fact that everytime Spyro hit an enemy, the enemy would let out a horrible shriek. Now, jump forward one world. I was in the Ice Caves/Caverns levels and one of the those snowball-throwing Gnorcs came over and attacked me. The snowball was red. Like it was bloody. I dodged the snowball and killed him. Cue terrible shriek. But I ran into those big giant Yeti things, and he smashed me. I was on my last hit point, so I expected to die. However, I did NOT expect to be smashed into a bloody pulp. I was like a big red pancake. Now jump ahead 2 worlds.
I was almost finished with the Misty Bog stage (the Beast Makers level with THOSE HORRIBLE ATTACK FROGS) and I was turning the corner to confront the last enemies. Then I saw there were no enemies. No punk Gnorcs or warthogs. I did see a single figure. I walked up to it and was creeped out by what I saw. Hunter. The lovable cheetah, whose clumsy antics and witty jokes created a space for him in all our hearts. But he was just standing there, which was weird because Hunter didn't debut until Ripto's Rage. It was the same model from R'R and YOTD, which some small changes. For starters, he had no eyes. Just empty black sockets, staring at me. I also noticed he seemed thinner. Like he was malnourished. You could see his polygonal ribcage through his skin, like someone had completely redesigned his model. Suddenly he attacked me. I found I couldn't move, as if this was a cutscene. I was utterly terrified at this point. I wasabout to shut off the PS2 and throw the game in the garbage when the screen cut to black. I could only hear Spyro's screams.
Suddenly, words appeared on the screen: "Many years later..........". It then cut to a cutscene of several dragons talking. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but they sounded serious. It was raining, and the dragons were all black and red. One of them moved out of the way, and revealed Hunter's bloody corpse, his eye popped out of its socket. I couldn't watch any more. I ripped the disc out and threw it in the garbage. I haven't played Spyro the Dragon since.
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