angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 9 of 41

In this entry, we get another playable character and find out that angryponcho's copy of the game might be hacked.

Midday Gardens

For 700 gems, you can free the penguin. This is Sgt. Byrd, and he'll clobber Moneybags with a rocket launcher. (Don't ask, it's really hilarious to watch, since it just sends Moneybags flying. There's no explosion, either, which makes it unintentionally funnier than it should be.)

His cage will be replaced with Sgt. Byrd's Base.

Sgt. Byrd's Base

Well, you'll have to free the base from Rhynoc control this time around.

The fodder here are ladybugs, like the ones in Glimmer from the second game.

Holding X lets you fly. This is nice, since you can fly just about anywhere the game lets you go. If you let go, Sgt. Byrd won't drop down; instead, he'll float downwards gently. This is nice, since you can slowly drop to wherever you want to go, which means less effort on platforming sometimes.

Your only way to defend yourself is with the rocket launcher. Despite what he said about having limited ammo, you actually have unlimited ammo. Feel free to blow anything and everything up. No, you don't have a headbash style attack with Sgt. Byrd. They also have a bit of a homing ability, but it only works if your aim is very slightly off.

Shoot the cages to free the purple hummingbirds. Free all five to get a Dragon Egg.

When you're flying, press Triangle to switch to a top-down position. This will make it easier to position Sgt. Byrd above the weights and grab them with his feet. From there, you'll be using the same aiming camera for Spyro's rock spit and Superflame to place the weights on the pressure-sensitive pads, which you can drop with the Square button. You don't really need to use it, but it helps in case you're trying to figure out where the pads are.

Grab a bomb to collect some bombs. You'll need these for some of the gophers as well as some top-down attacks. You'll need these to break the metal chests, since you can't break them with the rocket launcher.

Past the portal is a lava cava complete with lava jets in the walls. This will be the first test of your flying skills with Sgt. Byrd, and you'll get one of the hummingbirds at the end.

Turns out the floor below the metal chest shortly after the beginning of the level is destructible. If you bomb it, you'll be able to find your way into the building where one of the hummingbirds is.

Skill Points

Sgt. Byrd's Base

You may have noticed the gophers in the level. You'll have to bomb and/or shoot all the gophers that pop out of the holes in the ground. If you get too close, they'll immediately retreat back into the ground until you're far enough away from them again. They're slightly fast, but you [b]can[/b] get them.