Spyro the Dragon (Reignited Trilogy Version) - A surprisingly "perfect" (and rather quite 90s) game
I had the Spyro: Reignited Trilogy sitting on my Nintendo Switch account for about a year now after buying it from one of those NSO sale campaigns. Finally got around to playing it, and very glad to have done so.
I just beat Spyro 1 at 120%. I played the original one from the PS1 nearly thirty years ago as a kid, never actually beat it but I have some vague memories of getting to at least Magic Crafters.
It didn't take me very long to complete it this time around. Less than 10 hours total, from on-and-off gaming during weekends and weekday evenings when work and family life wasn't particularly busy.
The game itself is very simple; Spyro has a straightforward moveset which get a couple of level-specific enhancements later in the game. That said, you beat the final boss with none of these "gimmicks",besides the final level being a (not-very-long) three-part endurance marathon; i.e. you use the exact same character in the final level that you start the game with. I like that bit of game design, which results in completion being a pure test of skills you've picked up as a player, as opposed to being the result of some minmaxing grindfest, a puzzle of finding out which combination of endgame weapons/items/abilities to use, or whatever else final battles tend to be in too many games.
The mechanics are not very deep in that sense, but it's perfect in the sense of "there's nothing to add nor anything to take away". I found the complete lack of gimmicks very refreshing, though I realize that it is a first installment in the series and the devs were trying (successfully!) to nail down the basics.
Another thing that's refreshing is the level design. Levels are laid out in a somewhat circular pattern, such that you can usually jump/glide past the end of the level towards its entrance. This makes the levels seem bigger and more expansive than they really are (keeping in mind PS1-era technical limitations), but also makes the collectathon aspect of the game much less tedious as backtracking is so easy. I also found the secrets to be not too obtuse, save for two areas in the Beast Makers levels (the penultimate region) where I knew where the secret was but had to look up how to get there (if you've completed the game, I'm sure you know which ones).
Then, last, but not the least, the main character and the plot. Again, not particularly deep, it's a very 90s kids cartoon type of plot. You have Spyro, a sassy juvenile who needs to save the world because all the adults are completely useless and unhelpful besides giving the occasional pep talk. Though to be fair, when you reach the final area you'll find out that some of the bigger dragons did try to get to the villain before you, so maybe I'm too harsh on the elders in the story. Anyway, I'm not writing to complain about it, I just found the plot to be extremely 90s, that's all!
I had a lot of fun with this game. Now I'm wondering why I never completed it as a kid. They don't make stuff like this anymore, sadly. And that's probably why I played the remake version.