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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 1d

In case you were unaware, Drew Struzan was also the creator of the cover art for Spyro: A Hero's Tail.

This cover has been etched into my mind since I was a kid, and it remains an incredibly striking visual to capture the spirit of the game.

May he rest in peace.

The original artwork for Spyro: A Hero's Tail's cover art, created by Drew Struzan.

The front cover of the PS2 box for Spyro: A Hero's Tail, featuring the cover art by Drew Struzan.

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Reposted by Ebbe

Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 8d

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 8d

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 10d

Spyro hanging out in a lit fireplace inside a conch in the level Coastal Remains.

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 11d

I got 100% on Spyro A Hero's Tail's RetroAchievements in a single day. I have perhaps played this game too much.

A screenshot of my RetroAchievements status on Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Every achievement is unlocked. They all have a gold border, since I used "hardcore mode" (which disallows savestates).

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 13d

Now that you say it, I should probably link it somewhere on the Cutting Room Floor. It's not the easiest thing to find.
For now here's a download link: mega.nz/file/j3hxBaS...

7.8 MB file on MEGA

mega.nz

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Reposted by Ebbe

Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 14d

The design document for Gloomy Glacier in Spyro: A Hero's Tail pitches the level as "the sacred Dragons Graveyard, the final resting place of the huge ancient Dragons."
This is not explained in the final game, but is hinted at with the skeletons lying around.
#SpyroAHerosTail #SpyroTheDragon

A screenshot of Spyro: A Hero's Tail. The subject is a dragon skeleton lying on a warmly lit cave floor.

The introductory paragraphs of the Gloomy Glacier design document made for Spyro: A Hero's Tail. The heading reads "REALM 3 B - Gloomy Glacier"
The text reads:

This level is a near impenetrable pass through the mountains and a long steep climb up to the Ice Citadel. Set in a deep ravine between mountains lies the sacred Dragons Graveyard, the final resting place of the huge ancient Dragons. Inspired by the Elephants graveyard in ‘Lion King’ and the Dinosaurs graveyard in ‘Jak and Daxter’, this area has potential for striking visuals and lighting with detailed, interesting bone and rock formations.

The level is played entirely as Hunter, so all the elements and enemies should be tailored for his specific movement and attack abilities.

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 14d

I got a screenshot idea and immediately had to make it

Screenshot of Spyro: A Hero's Tail. A dragon skeleton is lying on a warmly lit cave floor. Its spine curls around in a circle, and in the middle, a little sleeping Spyro, curled up as well.

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 14d

(also of course it has a Jak and Daxter inspiration lol)

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 14d

The design document for Gloomy Glacier in Spyro: A Hero's Tail pitches the level as "the sacred Dragons Graveyard, the final resting place of the huge ancient Dragons."
This is not explained in the final game, but is hinted at with the skeletons lying around.
#SpyroAHerosTail #SpyroTheDragon

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 18d

Also fun fact, in the game's official Hashcodes, the planets shown in the orrery are labelled after planets in our real-life solar system, with the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Earth and Mars.
Dunno if it's because the planets are actually named this in the Spyro universe, or if it was just for convenience.

Five entries from the official hashcode defines file (hashcodes.h) for Spyro: A Hero's Tail. The hashcodes shown describe "entities", which are 3D models.

#define HT_Entity_Sun 0x02000163
#define HT_Entity_Venus 0x02000164
#define HT_Entity_Mercury 0x02000165
#define HT_Entity_Earth 0x02000166
#define HT_Entity_Mars 0x02000167

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 18d

The orrery in the center of this render is weird, because Eurochef is once again showing an unused model referenced by an object, despite something different being hard-coded to show up in-game. This is an early model for the solar system model that sits in the level's center.

A 3D model of a miniature solar system. Four planets of various colors and sizes are orbiting a sun.

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 18d

Red's Laboratory

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 19d

Dark Mine

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 20d

Magma Falls Bottom

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 21d

Magma Falls Ball Gadget Course

Overhead isometric render of the Ball Gadget course from the level Magma Falls from Spyro: A Hero's Tail.
Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 22d

Ignore that the Ball Gadget station isn't there, it's another hardcoded model so Eurochef doesn't display it :P

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 22d

Magma Falls Top

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 23d

Molten Mount

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 24d

Stormy Beach

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 25d

Bonus fact, there's a random out of bounds dark shard here. I edited it out of the map render for aesthetic reasons :)

The Spyro: A Hero's Tail level Ice Citadel viewed in the map viewer in the tool Eurochef. It's focused on a dark shard hovering in the void far away from any in-bounds areas.

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 25d

Ice Citadel

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 25d

The tool I used, Eurochef, was maintained by one guy who's on hiatus at the moment, and the blender plugin to export models/maps gives mixed results.
I think better/improved tools will need to come along before clean maps like that could be made for this game. But I suppose it's a motivator :)

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 26d

Heh, not sure these screenshots of a map viewer is really up to that creator's standards. Also the map viewer in Eurochef still has a few kinks that add odd/inaccurate details to maps.

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Ebbe @ebbeaht.bsky.social · 26d

My apologies, this map is technically incomplete. I did not include these random 3 unused wall switches sitting extremely far out of bounds from the level.

A screenshot of the Spyro: A Hero's Tail level Gloomy Glacier viewed in the map viewer in the tool Eurochef. Three detached wall switches are sitting in a void, and the rest of the level can be seen far in the distance.

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