Spyro

Spyro the Dragon arrived in 1998 from developer Insomniac Games as a PlayStation exclusive and quickly became one of the console's signature mascots alongside Crash Bandicoot. Players guide a small purple dragon through open, colourful floating worlds, collecting gems and freeing dragons trapped in crystal by the villainous Gnasty Gnorc. The series is defined by its breezy sense of movement - flying, gliding and a headbutt charge attack - paired with a light, fairy-tale tone and humour that set it apart from the darker action platformers of the late nineties.

Insomniac carried the character through three games - Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon - still regarded as the series' peak for their tight pacing, clever puzzles and steadily expanding worlds. After Insomniac moved on, the franchise passed to other studios and took a darker, more combat-focused turn with The Legend of Spyro trilogy, before being folded into the toys-to-life phenomenon Skylanders, where the dragon became just one character among many. A return to form came with the 2018 remaster Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which reintroduced the original three games to a new generation and reminded players why Spyro was once one of PlayStation's defining faces.