angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 25 of 41

Apparently, this level's even worse, since angryponcho didn't want to do that Challenge Portal immediately.

Charmed Ridge

For this level, you'll have to stop the people of Felinia from taking over Charmed Ridge and rescue the princess before she's forced to marry Prince Azrael!

Despite the fact that we have cat wizards that zap us if we get too close for enemies here, they still have the Rhynocs as allies! Some of these Rhynocs will be enlarged by the wizards, and some of them are already big and wear knight armor. The latter can attack you with lances if you get close enough. The smaller ones carry crossbows that they can use to fire arrows at you.

One of the cat wizards will move a column around with his magic and try to use it to block your path. Trick it into crushing you, then sneak to the side to get through. 

Moneybags is back, and he forces you to pay 600 gems to raise the steps and continue on. Beautiful. Even worse, the cat wizards change it from a slope to a stairway every few seconds after you pay, and they're fast enough that you barely have enough time to get up the stairs. You'll be able to get revenge on them and a few other cat wizards with the Superflame power-up you'll find in a cave that you'll find by turning around in the series of platforms midway through the level, situated where all that water is. That reminds me, one of the cats is on a platform to the left of the other end of that cave. Torch the cat wizard and you'll find a Dragon Egg just by simply jumping towards said platform. You'll actually reach the platform, believe it or not.

Oh, and that water? Instant death if you touch it. Dead serious. I don't even. I'm thinking it's actually ooze, since it's bubbling up in spots.

If you use the Superflame power-up to break that metal chest shortly after the beginning, the rocket immediately disappears. Nice touch with the programming there, Insomniac.

When you make it to the end, Princess Ami is actually safe...with Prince Azrael. Turns out Prince Azrael looks the same as the cat wizards but is orange, wears black and has a skull earring. Once you get the Dragon Egg from Ami, Azrael will ride off with her.

If you go the other direction after taking the whirlwind, you'll find the ? Vase. You know what to do here. You'll also find more gems as well as a Challenge Portal that leads to a Sgt. Byrd section.