Spyro: Season of Ice

Spyro's first handheld adventure. A two-headed Rhynoc named Grendor has kidnapped all of the fairies of the land! Of course, Spyro is the only one that actually does anything about it...

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Prerelease Info

Unused Graphics#

International	Japan

Interestingly, the game has portrait graphics for both of Grendor's heads, Sparx, and Spyro that go completely unused. Spyro and Grendor only speak in cutscenes, but these portraits are never used there. Sparx does not have dialog in any of the cutscenes. These graphics were also updated for the Japanese release, but go unused there as well. The Sparx portrait would be re-used in the game's sequel with some extra animated frames.

The Japanese portrait also depicts Sparx as green to be consistent with his Japanese appearance, despite Spyro Advance keeping his international color scheme.

A star graphic exists alongside the other dialog portraits that isn't used.

Unused Menu#

Graphics for a menu titled SPARX PRE ALPHA HAPPY PACK can be found in the game files. The menu contains earlier level titles for the Sparx levels.

The final levels are known as Ant Farm, Wasp City, Caterpillar Gardens, and Beetle Burrows. The way the levels are organized here suggest that Beetle Burrows was once the third level, and Caterpillar Gardens the final.

Unused Text#

Mission Dialog#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: These lines might have been translated into German, French, and Italian for the European release. Find and document those as well.

There are multiple NPCs in the game that offer quests in which the player has to collect a certain amount of objects scattered about the level to earn a fairy. These NPCs also have dialog for returning to them without all the objects collected, yet this text is never used in any of the international releases, and the game instead re-uses their initial greeting dialog. The Japanese version actually fixes this oversight and restores the dialog.

The Professor (Time Machine Lab)

"PROFESSOR: I need more Sporks than that to get this engine going, Spyro."

Louie (Star Park)

"LOUIE: There are still a few pieces of the launch pad out there, Spyro."

Moneybags and Gabrielle#

In Summer Fairy Home, a cutscene occurs where Moneybags actually refunds the player all of their Gems near the portal to Dragonfly X. However, there are lines meant for the Fairy Gabrielle in this cutscene that went unused, resulting in the conversation with Moneybags being incomplete. Japanese version of the game Spyro Advance translated these lines, and did properly set up the cutscene. Below is a recreation of how the cutscene was meant to play out, alongside the version that's actually used in the US/European version of the game.

The list of languages is still present in the US version, and the strings are still present in the Japanese version but replaced with "[?]". Neither version allows the player to select a language. These strings are only used in the European version.

Regional Differences#

License Screen#

The license screen was updated in the Japanese release. The copyright year has been updated to 2002, and the Konami Corporation is credited for publishing and distributing the game in that region. The license screen also now uses a different font from the international release. Amusingly, a typo not present in the original license screen was introduced ("licensed" is now misspelled as "licenced").

International	Japan

Title Screen#

With most, if not all, games, it's a matter of course that the Japanese release will always have a very different-looking title screen. Spyro: Season of Ice is no exception.

International	Japan

Cutscenes#

The main characters have completely different models used for the game's cutscenes. Strangely, the red balloon from the intro cutscene has eyes. For no reason.

International	Japan

Character Icons#

Some of the characters now have different designs for their icons as well. Hunter's icon is easily the most changed of the lot. Bianca, as with the cutscenes, just has bigger eyes and more rounded cheeks. Moneybags looks a little more sinister compared to his international design. And the blue fairy has been changed to look more like it does in the overworld, with icy-blue skin. The design for the fireflies from Twilight Bulb Factory and the Professor have also been overhauled. The rest have few changes, usually to make them look directly at the screen.

International	Japan

Market Mesa Llamas#

The sprites for the Llamas in Market Mesa have been completely redone. They now look much better, with smoother animation. Additionally, the llama's rotation is messed up in the US version. As a result, their rotation always stops at their sides, never showing their fronts. This is fixed in the Japanese/ European version.

US	Japan/ Europe

Text Changes#

Spelling changed from "manoeuvers" to "manoeuvres" in accordance with British spelling.
Worth noting the spelling "manoeuvers" over "maneuvers" for the US version, as well as the spelling "color" remaining unchanged in the EU version.

Miscellaneous#

• Pressing Select in the international versions opens the Atlas. In the Japanese version, it brings up a map of the entire stage, which is infinitely more useful.
• The international versions have 'Save Game' under 'Options', but the Japanese version has moved it out from this menu to replace 'Quit Game'.
• Some of the gems at the start of the game have been moved around in the Japanese/European versions.
• The portals have been moved back by 4 pixels in the Japanese version.
• Grendor's angry growl when he gets hit has been replaced with the same roar as the Yeti from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!.
• If Spyro dies in the international versions, he starts off from the very beginning of the level. However, freed fairies in the Japanese version work as checkpoints.
• Exiting a level in the international versions puts Spyro at the start of the world, but in the Japanese version Spyro is put outside that level's portal.