the cutting room mirror

July 13th, 1999 build

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Summer Forest WorldsThe Summer Forest worlds. Autumn Plains WorldsThe Autumn Plains worlds. Winter Tundra WorldsThe Winter Tundra worlds, which are very incomplete at this point. Soundtrack DifferencesLots of leftover tacks from Spyro 1.

General Differences#

  • The game starts with a logo screen which features and early version of the game's logo, and then boots straight into gameplay.
    • No title screen options have been implemented.
    • As such, no more than one save file, as opposed to three per memory card, can be used in this version of the game.
  • No cutscenes have been implemented.
  • All text throughout the game is displayed in capital letters.
  • The pause menu uses a much earlier design.
    • The name of most levels don't fit the allocated space very well.
    • The slot for the talisman is at a slightly lower resolution.
    • The image for the orb in this menu is simpler-looking and white instead of green. Orbs still use their typical green appearance during gameplay, however.
    • The menu features slots for the orbs that have yet to be obtained, while in the final it just has transparent copies of the orb image that become opaque when obtained.
    • The total number of spirit particles is set to 99 by default for most levels, but was cut down to the actual number of enemies in each level in the final.
    • The pause menu is still themed after the Guidebook's design, but is a totally different colour.
  • The Guidebook menu has a very basic appearance, with all of its data written to the screen as text instead of using any graphical components. The background is a flat greenish brown colour.
  • The gem icon in the HUD is slightly different. It appears to rotate more slowly, and it contains two extra frames of animation when compared to the final animation. This might be what causes the apparent difference in animation rate.
  • The gem placement is different throughout the game.
  • The orb collection uses a different, much quieter sound from the final, and it does not make any sound when bouncing on the floor.
  • Most of the sounds that play when collecting a talisman are not present. One sound does play, matching the sound made when collecting orbs.
  • There is no "Level Complete!" notification and fanfare given to the player once all of the gems, orbs and the talisman have been collected in a level.
    • Similarly, the gem counter does not notify when all gems in the level have been collected.
  • The gem counter in the HUD only reports how many gems Spyro has collected in the current level (similar to Spyro 1), rather than the total amount he's collected.
  • Sparx uses a model very similar if not identical to his Spyro 1 model.
  • Spyro can still roll as he does in Spyro 1 with the shoulder buttons.
  • There is a rather frustrating oversight present in this version where charging shortly after flaming will entirely cancel the flame and make it disappear, greatly decreasing its range.
  • When diving underwater, Spyro does not immediately begin charging once in the water. This has the effect of slowing the player down quite significantly.
  • It's not possible to dive underwater with a headbash. Instead, Spyro will land on top of the water as if he jumped in normally.
  • The diving sound effect replays whenever Spyro takes damage underwater, as if he was temporarily taken out of the "swimming" state.
  • "Question Mark Jars" display a picture of an arrow instead of a question mark.
  • The game freezes for a brief moment when entering a portal.
    • The demo build prior to this one has no portal loading screen transitions at all, so it's likely that they had only recently been implemented in this version.
  • The standard level transition animation - where Spyro is seen flying against a skybox - is missing a fadeout to black in the middle of the animation. Instead, the first panning shot immediately cuts to the second one.
  • The images shown when moving between homeworlds and before and after boss battles are not present.
    • Instead, basic text strings like "ENTERING AUTUMN PLAINS..." are shown on-screen instead.
  • There is no warping animation when using the homeworld warp vortices - instead, it immediately fades out and cuts to the loading screen.
    • Additionally, the warp vortices look extremely different in appearance, and are placed in different (and rather clumsy) locations in each world.
  • No skill points are implemented at this stage.
    • There is, however, a sort of precursor to the skill point in Skelos Badlands - flaming all of the cacti in the level will result in the final cactus releasing 10 extra life butterflies.
  • Powerup HUDs frequently use the wrong powerup icon, e.g. using the invincibility icon instead of the superfly icon in Glimmer.
  • Portals in homeworlds do not show the talisman and collected orbs as the player approaches them. Instead, only the level name appears, like in Spyro 1 and 3.
  • While in boss levels, you cannot quit the game or exit the level.
  • Instead of the "Game Over" text being part of the game over graphic, it's written to the screen as basic text.
  • A number of the level intro and outro cutscenes are absent. A few of the ones that are present are unfinished, and some levels' cutscenes use a dev recording of the Elora intro to Hurricos heard in the August build (despite such audio being absent from any other level in this version). This dev recording is also used in Mystic Marsh in the aforementioned build.
    • A random sound effect seems to play at the end of these cutscenes.

Loading Skyboxes#

Many skyboxes in the loading screen differ from the final game.

Guidebook Differences#

Cheat Codes#

The cheats present in this version - like other Spyro prototypes - seem to largely be there for the sake of testing and QA. All can be activated using button inputs in the pause menu.

Invincibility#

This cheat gives the player permanent invincibility, until the cheat is disabled. The code is not present in the final game.

Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, X

Unlock All Abilities#

This cheat unlocks the swimming, climbing and headbash abilities. It uses a different code in later builds, including the final game.

Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Circle

Toggle active/passive camera#

This cheat switches the mode of the game camera. The code is not present in the final game.

Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Square

Missing Cheats#

The max collectable totals, credits, big head mode, flat mode, alternate Spyro colours and extra hit point cheats are not present at this stage of development.

Save Information#

Dongle Protection#