 Kotor has just handed me a little essay that he's written about Spyro and nostalgia. Apparently, he started working on it for a website he writes for, but he ultimately felt it was a better fit for here. You remember the 3D platforming mascot war of the 90s? Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Gex, Croc, Donkey Kong, Conker, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, Banjo Kazooie. Every video game company with a few polygons to bash together made an adorable cartoon hero. And while absolutely none of these games have aged well, at the time, they were absolutely incredible. A lot of people fondly remember Crash, but while I had his first two games as a kid, I can't say they were ever my favourite. I always liked the simple charm of croc, even if nobody else did. As far as more mainstream platforming mascots go though, it has to be Spyro the Dragon. The character has fallen on hard times lately, as he got swallowed up in the Skylanders toy craze. But back when his first PlayStation game was released, he was the epitome of cutting edge. The game featured what were, back then, huge expansive open worlds with incredible draw distances. At the time, I figured that games companies might as well give up there and then. The pinnacle of this art form had already been reached. When rumours of an updated, remastered version of the first three Spyro games started circulating, I was understandably excited, but not a little apprehensive. The Crash Bandicoot Ensane Trilogy remaster from last year looked nice, but I haven't yet got around to playing it. From what I've seen, I can't say I feel that it adds an awful lot to the classic games, which I still have tucked away in an old shoebox, awaiting the day I bother to get a cable that will let me play my original PlayStation on a modern TV. I kind of like how blocky everything looks in the early Crash games. The new remake never quite grabbed my attention. This being the case, I've been wondering whether there really will be a benefit to a graphically updated Spyro title, considering that I'm already a big sucker for jagged low-poly nostalgia. Based on the internet's first look at the aptly named Spyro Reignited, I shouldn't have worried. This game looks gorgeous. Perhaps it's the fact that Spyro retains some of his blocky appearance from the original games. Maybe, alternatively, it's the tiny little details that have gone into every aspect of the design, filling the screen with life and variety. Whatever the reason, this game looks better than my nostalgia, and that's an incredible feat. My mental image of the original Spyro in particular has been so polished and embellished over the years that the version of the game that exists in my head is now completely different to how the title actually looks in real life. Sometimes, a simple art style is better than a more complex one, as the viewer can fill in the blanks for themselves. It's a big part of the reason why I draw with the cartoonish art style I use. I like to stay vague, so that my pictures can feel more relevant to a wider audience. How well that actually works in practice is not for me to say. Most of the early PlayStation era, by and large, haven't aged well. Within my head though, these early titles are so wrapped up in nostalgia that it's hard for anything to beat them. Perhaps the reason why I'm so enamoured of these Spyro screenshots is the fact that, in all their modern HD glory, they look like I'd always imagined the game to look in my head. The character designed for Spyro seems to sparkle with all the wit and personality I'd ascribe to him when I played the game as a preteen, and the world itself matches what I expect. As much as I am, in many aspects of my life, a bitter, jaded old grump, I have a lot of love for my 90s nostalgia. It's rare for a game to come along, selling itself on the premise of recreating my childhood that actually manages to deliver on its boasts. It remains to be seen whether Spyro Reignited manages to stick the landing. Certainly, if this game is to be playable, it'll need a drastically improved camera control system, as the weird viewpoints from the original PlayStation Spyro games are perhaps their biggest downsides. Then there's the question of whether the game will be any more enjoyable than its predecessor. I've heard a lot of negativity surrounding the hitboxes in the N-Sane trilogy that suggests that this kind of remake doesn't always feel the same as the game that's being remade. All this being said, I'm optimistic. Spyro Reignited certainly looks the part, and I'm willing to hold out hope that the game will be just as entertaining as I remember. It's not often that a game remake looks better than my nostalgia, but if any title is going to pull that off, it'll be this one.