Spyro didn't deserve this...
Before being sacrificed on the altar of the Skylanders franchise, Universal's Spyro the Dragon series of 3D platforming games were an iconic part of the original PlayStation mascot lineup. The charming fantasy adventures, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, captivated audiences immediately.
These early titles were followed by games in their own continuities with vastly different game mechanics and design directions, namely A Hero's Tail/Shadow Legacy and the The Legend of Spyro trilogy. But unbeknownst to many, a true Spyro 4 was actually made... It just turned out to be one of the worst games of all time.
Soaring To New Heights
The original trilogy – Spyro the Dragon (1998), Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (1999) and Spyro: Year of the Dragon (2000) – were licensed by IP holder Universal Interactive to be published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation, due to the company feeling like their system was losing ground with younger audiences to the Nintendo 64.
The counter-measure proved to be effective, with the adventures of the purple protagonist and his animal friends in the Dragon Realm becoming a commercial and critical success, so revered that the trilogy was remade decades later. However, the relationship between Universal and Sony was souring and with developer Insomniac Games going on to create their own IP, it was clear that the next-generation sequel would have to be made differently.
What followed was a frantic struggle by developers Equinoxe and Check Six, who had no prior experience with the hardware and were simultaneously micro-managed in design direction and left completely in the dark concerning pre-existing assets and plans by publisher Universal, who further gave them an unreasonably tight development deadline and erratic feedback, resulting in the unfinished mess that was Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.
Disenchanting A Miracle
Released in November 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly follows up its PlayStation predecessor in narrative and gameplay. Once again, players must explore open-ended three-dimensional levels as the titular tiny, fire-breathing, head-bashing and far-gliding dragon, his gem-collecting dragonfly partner Sparx in tow.
After the dragon eggs, stolen by an evil sorceress, have been retrieved in Year of the Dragon, the young hatchlings are now set to receive their own dragonfly partners, when suddenly Ripto, the antagonist of Spyro 2, appears through a portal and – while trying to steal them to weaken the dragons – accidentally scatters them through the dragon realm, forcing Spyro to find them.
The game initially was far more ambitious in scope, but needed to be scaled back during development drastically (for example reducing the amount of levels from 25 to 9), meaning that gameplay remains largely similar to Year of the Dragon, albeit with less diversity in some aspects (lacking the playable animal friends), while providing some underdeveloped additions like Spyro gaining different elemental breaths.
Falling From Grace
With this in mind, it's really no surprise that the game's critical reception was catastrophic. On the technical side, the constant bugs and glitches, framerate issues, bad controls and spotty hit detection made the game nearly unplayable, while its story and new ideas felt half-baked (because they were), the presentation was outdated (using PS1-level animations on higher-fidelity models) and the overall amount of content was lacking.
Some of its elements, like the elemental breaths as well as cut characters and concepts would end up returning in Spyro: A Hero's Tail (2004), developed by a new studio and published by Vivendi Games, into which Universal Interactive had been consolidated (now part of Microsoft through several mergers and acquisitions). However, this sequel took gameplay into a new direction, aimed to be more child-friendly and established a new continuity by disregarding everything that happened after the first Spyro the Dragon.
Given how much work the original Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly would need to be turned into a playable game and how many of the development proposals and design documents have been scattered around the world with the dissolution of the participating studios, it's understandable why the PS2-era game wasn't remade as part of the Sypro Reignited Trilogy. Unfortunately, this likely means that our only opportunity to see it returning in any official capacity has passed.
Reigniting The Flame
But instead of lamenting what could've been, fans have decided to take a game that was effectively disowned by the rights holders for being nearly unplayable and decided to fulfill the potential that was apparent in its vision but missed due to production issues, a similar situation to other neglected & forgotten sequels like Zelda's Adventure.
For players who want to subject themselves to the PlayStation 2 release, the best opportunity to do so presents itself in the form of Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly – Definitive Edition, a mod released by user Mr. F01 in November 2024 after two years of development. Fixing hundreds of bugs, restoring unused and cut content and gameplay mechanics as well as introducing new quality-of-life and performance improvements, it's the best option currently available.
But if you want to experience this fourth and final chapter of the original Spyro continuity in a way that makes it stand up to the rest of the series, your best bet may be a project titled Spyro: Return of the Dragonfly. In November of 2020, users Ghostie and InfinateXtremer confirmed that they were working on what Activision didn't dare to by recreating Enter the Dragonfly in the engine of the Reignited Trilogy via a mod for the PC version. The mod is in development to this day, but when it's done, it will likely rewrite the history of the Spyro franchise as a whole.