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

Here it is, the end of the Spyro 3 guide - which took me four months at the time of completion because of other guides, moving out to an actual house, getting a laptop, trying to cover at least one game a week, and other things. Enjoy!

Skill Points

Sunny Villa

Flame all the potted plants without dying or entering a Challenge Portal to get a skill point and an extra life. (If you enter a Challenge Portal for some events like this one, you'll have to start all over again when you come back out of the Portal area.)

Once you get both Skateboarding challenges done, you can go for the course record of 3200 points. This one isn't too hard, believe it or not. Here's all the moves you can do, courtesy of JellyBeanLord.

Molten Crater

In that Challenge Portal area involving the two thieves, use the Supercharge on the ramp, then run into that cracked wall. You'll find an extra life butterfly, and if you get it, you'll get the Skill Point that goes along with it.

If you bring the tiki heads to the platform at the beginning of the level with Sgt. Byrd before you place them on the bodies, you'll get a skill point and an extra life. This takes a little bit of time, but it's well worth it!

Icy Peak

Remember the pedestal one of the thieves comes down from in that Challenge Portal area? Well, you can access it via the whirlwind in this area. Glide to the pedestal and land on it successfully to get a Skill Point and extra life that is way too easy to miss out on.

Seashell Shore

Near the exit is an aquatic chicken. (Yeah, a swimming chicken. Wrap your head around [b]this[/b], people.) It will swim around in a path much like the thieves, and if you can charge into it, you'll get a Skill Point.

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.

Spooky Swamp

Destroying all the Piranha signs without leaving the level or entering a Challenge Portal gives you a Skill Point.

Enchanted Towers

You'll have to get 10,000 points on the skateboard course to get the Skill Point here.

Bentley's Outpost

There is a box you have to push off a cliff. Do that, and you'll break the box and get a Skill Point for your efforts.

Frozen Altars

If you can finish off the Yeti in the second fight in two rounds or less, you'll get a Skill Point for your efforts.

Lost Fleet

After you get the two Dragon Eggs for the skateboard park, you still aren't done yet. Since you probably have a good feel for the course now, run the course one more time. This time around, do three laps in less than 1:45.00. You'll get an extra life and a Skill Point if you're quick enough.

Charmed Ridge

Shoot the four windows in the Sgt. Byrd section out to get an extra life and a Skill Point. It should be noted that if you ever need an extra life or a complete health refill, you can always go for a Skill Point you've already achieved. This comes in very handy during the third part of the Cat Witches fight.

In the cave with the Superflame power-up, climb the wall to the left. Then, jump to the small platform on the right. There's a funny-looking platform that you'll have to glide to, and from there, climb onto the edge behind and to the left of you. There is one tower that is not on an island to your left. Glide to it and you'll get an extra life and a Skill Point.

Agent 9's Lab

If you blow up all seven palm trees in the level with the bombs, you'll be able to get a Skill Point and an extra life for your efforts.

Fireworks Factory

In the first room of the Agent 9 area, there is a red box that is pretty high up. Shoot it, and you'll get a machine gun with 500 rounds, a Skill Point and an extra life (which also amounts to full health restoration if you're really needing it at the beginning). This makes the Challenge Portal area a lot easier.

Haunted Tombs

If you swim into the stream just after the beginning of the level and enter the dark alcove, you'll get a skill point and an extra life that's all too easy to miss.

Desert Ruins

Once you beat the Challenge Portal objective, you can freely ride the manta ray. Use the missiles to destroy all the seaweed in the underwater area to receive another skill point and an extra life.

Dino Mines

In the Challenge Portal area, there are seahorses interspersed throughout the flooded mine shaft. If you take them all out, you'll get an extra life and a Skill Point.

In the Agent 9 section, you'll take a left at one point and take on three T-Rexes with revolvers in a narrow corridor that's somewhat hard to see past. In this section, there is an orange dinosaur behind them. Shoot him and you'll get an extra life and a Skill Point. He's hard to get if you're not paying attention, so be ready.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 40 of 41

THE END

Also, yes, the video works.

Super Bonus Round

When you collect all the gems in the stage, you'll have 20000 gems total. This will open the last door.

Inside is the final battle with the Sorceress. Ah, so this is the true end of the game and not just something extra, huh? I'm more than okay with this!

For this battle, you'll be riding on a saucer again just like you did in the first battle. There's really not much to this, but this is a bit harder as the Sorceress takes a lot of damage before she finally goes down, this time for good. Shoot at her as she flies away, and when she stops, fly straight up just before she fires. If you do it right, the fireball she shoots at you will miss. Keep firing at her and getting shots in, and keep on dodging. Eventually you'll get the fireball dodging to a science.

When she's down to half health, she'll start flying around at a higher altitude. When she fires, descend. It seems you descend more quickly than you can ascend, so be careful not to ram the saucer directly into the lava.

If you can keep a certain distance away from her and keep on going in a circle, you can make it so that the Sorceress won't stop. If you can distance yourself just right, you can fire the shots so that she runs into them, which can make this easier.

When you beat the Sorceress, her saucer will explode and she'll fall in the lava. She won't be coming back this time. You'll also get the final Dragon Egg of the game: a dragon named Yin Yang...or rather, two. This is the only egg to have an animation where twins come out.

You'll get the final cutscene after this. There's not much to it, interestingly, as it's just the baby dragons in the Dragon World, Spyro and one of the bigger dragons. It's nice to know that the baby dragons are safe and everything, but I expected more than this.

Tune in next episode, where we see all the Skill Points that angryponcho didn't get as well as a recap of all 20 skill points in the games.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 39 of 41

We're ending this game already? Well, damn.

Dino Mines

There is a red building in this level that you'll have to jump to the rear of, even though you can't seen the ground behind it (though you may see the gem there. You'll have to go to the left of it, and jump to whatever is behind it from the back corner. This leads you to a few gems you'll be needing as well as a Dragon Egg.

Midnight Mountain

Now that you've gotten everything, look for Moneybags. He shouldn't be too hard to find. He says we won't be needing any of your money since he's going to sell a Dragon Egg at Avalar.

Spyro isn't too thrilled about this...so you now get to chase him around the level like one of the thieves. Unlike the thieves, however, you can flame him multiple times. Everytime you flame him, you'll get all of the gems you paid him for random stuff throughout the game back. When he gives up, he'll give you the Dragon Egg before retiring to become a haiku poet in Crystal Swamp...then runs straight into the portal for Crystal Islands. wut

Anyway, enjoy this Dragon Egg...because it's the very last one.

The portal that was once shut to you will now be open. Go ahead and go in there already!

Super Bonus Round

Welcome to the Super Bonus Round! When you step out of the building at the start, Bianca shows up again. This time around, you'll be reclaiming the Sorceress's hidden treasure, which has been stolen by thieves. If you can get the treasure, you can keep it.

You won't be able to access certain parts of the level until you have 16000, 17000, 18500 and 20000 gems for each respective door. You have the Gem Compass, go use it.

For 16000, you'll get a Challenge Portal. Hunter will tell you how Bianca was freaking out when you were about to fight the Sorceress, then he lets you ride an old submarine. Ride it, and take out the other seven submarines to get the gems. Head back to where you entered the water from and you'll be done with this part.

The submarine here works just like the one in Spooky Swamp. Keep close to the subs so the three green circles turn red, allowing your missiles to lock on.

You'll now be able to open the 17000 door. This time, it's a skateboard level. Remember that souped-up skateboard race from earlier in the game? Well, it's that time again, and this time, the course has much less room to manuever in. Land tricks to increase your turbo boost and take out the yetis of the Sasquatch Six to ensure victory and more treasure.

You'll have over 18500 now. Check out the rest of the track without a board to get the rest of the gems here, then head out.

The 18500 door will open up a combination power-up: Superfly plus Superflame. Amazing how you don't see the power-up spires that often compared to the second game. Anyway, you can now take out the seven sheep saucers that are flying around in the level. This time around, the Superflame projectiles have heat-seeking capabilities, so if you see a saucer, go nuts. One of the fireballs will eventually hit the saucer you have in your sights.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 38 of 41

Dinosaurs in the Wild West? Best. Idea. Ever.

Dino Mines

The fodder here are hermit crabs.

All you need to know at the beginning is that all the enemies here are dinosaurs with sticks of dynamite in their mouths that will be thrown at you when you're in range or T-Rexes with revolvers. Amazingly, the revolver dinos can get their guns in their hands without using their hands and can see you from a good distance away, but it takes three seconds for them to do this before they can finally fire.

When you make it to the jail, you'll find out Sheriff Wyatt has been locked in by one of the prisoners, and now the dinosaurs are running amok.

The cacti give you gems. With that being said, they won't give you skill points like in Skelos Badlands from the second game.

The triceratops on the machine guns has to be charged into.

Near the first triceratops is a fireplace, and inside is an extra life in a bottle.

The orange seahorses can be charged into, but watch out for the six-shooters that they're packing!

There are two breakable walls of note - the first one is in the underwater segment and takes you to a Dragon Egg. The second one is across from the huge water supply barrel that leads to the Challenge portal. The second lets you break Sheriff Wyatt free and finish the main task for the level.

Challenge Portals

Dino Mines

Near the end of the level is a huge water barrel. I'm guessing this is the town's water supply. Climb up and dive in to find a Challenge Portal. Here, you'll have to make it to the end of a huge flooded mine shaft - complete with jetstreams pushing you forward - to get a Dragon Egg. Dodge falling support beams, rock slides and TNT crates and you'll get there.

There's another Challenge Portal near the giant water supply barrel. This is an Agent 9 section, and this time around...it's a shootout! It's on rails, so you'll have to be quick to destroy all the dinosaurs, because you won't be able to shoot the bullets or the dynamite and destroy the projectiles before they can damage you. When you get the Dragon Egg for this section, you'll be able to move around freely and get all the gems here. Shoot out the windows of the buildings to find hidden gems, since this is where more than half of the gems in this section will be.

Skill Points

Dino Mines

In the Challenge Portal area, there are seahorses interspersed throughout the flooded mine shaft. If you take them all out, you'll get an extra life and a Skill Point.

In the Agent 9 section, you'll take a left at one point and take on three T-Rexes with revolvers in a narrow corridor that's somewhat hard to see past. In this section, there is an orange dinosaur behind them. Shoot him and you'll get an extra life and a Skill Point. He's hard to get if you're not paying attention, so be ready.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 37 of 41

Sliding? Again?!?

Crystal Islands

If you turn around at the beginning of this level, you'll find a whirlwind! With this, you'll be able to reached the locked chest as well as the Bentley section.

What begins as a magic show by The Amazing Randini ends up a whack-a-mole game. Push boxes out of the way to find three chests to break as well as Randini himself, then it's a whack-a-mole game where you have to hit 20 moles in about 45 seconds. Be careful not to hit the wizards that come out of the holes, especially if you're going for a pre-emptive strike on the moles to hit them before they come out.

The whirlwind will also take you to another thief, and this one is on a plane. Use the Superfly power-up and fly through the blue boost stars to get closer to this guy and take his plane out with the flame attack to get another Dragon Egg.

Be sure to use the Superfly power-up to fly around when you're done with the thief. You'll find some gems that you wouldn't find otherwise, one of the Dragon Eggs for this level, 

Challenge Portals

Crystal Islands

To the left of the room with the exit portal is a gem lamp (just like the ones in Glimmer!), and near it is a cave with a Challenge Portal inside. Go in and you'll be going down a slide with 200+ gems as well as a Dragon Egg at the end. If you miss any gems here, you'll have to start the thing over and attempt to get them again, sadly.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 36 of 41

In this entry, we get a 2-D challenge and meet a bunch of wizards.

Desert Ruins

When you enter the portal for the Sheila section, she'll mention something about the simple, old-fashioned pleasures of yesteryear. This is a side-scroller.

This isn't very difficult, but it is rather interesting. You'll be using the double jump (the mid-air one) and the headbash more often than not. You'll get not one Dragon Egg, but two.

Crystal Islands

The fodder here are turtles. If you're wondering what those brown things stuck in the ground are, now you know.

The wizards here have stolen magic from the Sorceress, but now they've accidentally changed everything into crystals.

The trees throw bombs, the beavers fly and also throw bombs, and the bears try to eat you. They can all be flamed.

The octopi underwater will spin around when you get near them. Ram them to get rid of them.

The second wizard will create giant crystal platforms for you. If you take too long getting across, they'll disappear and you'll have to talk to him to get them to appear again. Ditto with the next two wizards, the first of which creates a whirlwind for you.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 35 of 41

We go from tombs to ruins and get another late '90s reference. How many more of these does the game even have?

Haunted Tombs

Be very careful as you go down the slide for the Dragon Egg at the end, as moving around can feel a bit slippery.

Also, the Skill Points list is better this time around.

Desert Ruins

The fodder here are the same lizards from the Midnight Mountain overworld.

Gus's girlfriend Tara has gone missing after raiding the tomb here, and he wants you to find her.

Some of the circular platforms are situated around a pool of lava, and when you stand on them, they sink. You can let them lower to make leaping to the edge of the other side a tad easier, but don't take too long.

Tackle or flame the scorpions, but watch out for their sting attack as they also shoot a projectile when they perform it! The bigger ones have a fire attack of their own.

The statues on the metal platforms will heat the platforms up, turning them a heated red. If you stand on them while they're red, you'll take damage from the intense heat. 

In the middle of the level, after the three sinking platforms with the scorpions, there is a crack in the wall. Ram it and you'll find the key. You'll also be close to the beginning of the stage again, and the locked chest will be nearby.

When you make it to the end, you'll find out that Tara is doing a good job taking care of herself, and you'll also find out she's a reference to Lara Croft from Tomb Raider.

Challenge Portals

Desert Ruins

Shortly after the part with the statue flaming the metal ladders, there will be a hole. Inside is a Challenge Portal.

You'll meet Hunter, and he'll not only let your ride his pet manta ray, he'll also let you test out the missile launcher docked onto it. Press Circle to fire the missiles and press and hold X if you want to move faster...and boy, will you move faster. If you get hit by the shark-riding Rhynocs' homing missiles, you'll have to start over.

Skill Points

Haunted Tombs

If you swim into the stream just after the beginning of the level and enter the dark alcove, you'll get a skill point and an extra life that's all too easy to miss.

Desert Ruins

Once you beat the Challenge Portal objective, you can freely ride the manta ray. Use the missiles to destroy all the seaweed in the underwater area to receive another skill point and an extra life.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 34 of 41

angryponcho went to the end so quickly that it gave me a headache. Let's make some more sense of stuff around here, especially that slide we saw at the end of the last video.

Haunted Tomb

But first, let's enter the Agent 9 portal near the exit. Some Anubis dog has placed a curse on him that changes his tail into a snake. To enter the first door, you have to answer the following riddle: I follow you wherever you go, but the more of me you take, the more you leave behind. (It's footsteps.)

From there, enter the room and take out the snakes to open up more of this area. Destroy any pots that you see, as those will generate snakes and make it slightly harder to get to the next area. Remember that you have to stand in the middle of the room for the fights to officially commence so you can actually do something.

The sarcophagi can be shot at and destroyed with the laser gun, while you can also throw the bombs the Earthshaper mummies back at them to destroy them.

You'll get the Dragon Egg at the end.

Challenge Portals

There is a Challenge Portal near the end. If one dragon can lay one egg in twelve years, how long does it take 100 dragons to lay 100 eggs? (It's obviously a trick question - the answer is twelve years.) Now you're ready for the demolition hovercraft competition.

The hovercraft are basically cannons on wheels. Steering and cornering is pretty hard as they perform like ice skating tanks, so keep on shooting. Use Circle to fire straight and Square to fire at an angle over cover. L1 and R1 allow you to strafe. You only have four over hovercraft to take down, so if you have the extra hit and are at full health, it shouldn't be too hard. You'll get a Dragon Egg for winning.

After this, you'll be able to enter the championship round. This time, you've got a little bit more space in the arena to move around in, and you'll have to take down ten hovercraft without being killed. Kill the ones that the show up when you enter the arena, and snipe the rest that are at the sides if you have to. The reward is another Dragon Egg.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 33 of 41

In this entry, Spyro plays with boobies. No, not those, you pervert. BIRDS.

Harbor Speedway

For this race, you'll definitely need to hit all the stars in order to get the lead and keep it. The best set of boost stars is the four that show up in quick succession, and if you can hit all four of them consecutively, you'll be able to get a huge boost in speed and a lot of ground covered in mere seconds. Also, you'd better be able to hit the birds with the rockets and get a clear shot before doing so, otherwise your rocket just might hit a wall while turning.

Hunter is in the lighthouse. Once again, you'll be dealing with a sheep saucers, and insteaf of shooting at it, you'll be chasing it. The saucer is damaged, and it will leave smoke rings as it flies, which Hunter will have to fly through to keep track of the saucer and get through this in one shot. The saucer is very fast (and crafty too), and Hunter takes up a good portion of the screen, making it feel like you're either closer to him or closer to the UFO. Either way, keep a good eye on the UFO and tightly follow the pattern that the sheep saucer flies in. This one will definitely take a couple of tries, but it's worth it in the end to see the saucer crash into the battleship. This is possibly the hardest Dragon Egg to get in the game, and quite possibly the hardest thing to do in a Spyro game since sneaking behind Agent Zero in the second game, but it can be done.

Haunted Tombs

Not only do you have to deal with getting through the catacombs, you also have to find the answer to this riddle: I am a vessel without hinges, lock our lid, yet, within my walls, a golden treasure is hid. What am I? (The answer is an egg.)

The sarcophagi shoot an endless supply of mummies with shepherd canes that are easy to defeat, but you can't break them somehow...yet.

The larger mummies look like Earthshapers wrapped in a whole roll of gauze, and they also throw bombs at you. They can get you from a really good distance, so be careful. Since you can't flame...or ram them...you'll have to find a bomb that they've missed with(which looks like a red rock), put it in your mouth before it explodes and spit it at them to get rid of them. You can also use these rocks to break a mummy sarcophagus if you need to.

The blue Anubis dogs will charge after you, like the goats in Colossus from the second game. You'll have to ram them to destroy them.

Hit the floor switches to open the doors and explore the level.

Watch out for the rocks that fall from the ceiling. Watch the shadows whenever you're in a rock fall zone, as the rocks fall every few seconds and cover a small area.

Remember where the gems are with the hall full of falling rocks, as you can stand in those areas and not get hurt.

Answer the guy's riddle at the end (the answer is an egg), and you'll get the Dragon Egg.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 32 of 41

This time around, we've got some FPS-style gameplay!

Fireworks Factory

Time to go back to Evening Lake, return to Fireworkds Factory and tackle the Agent 9 section.

This time around, you'll be helping Handel recover the Sorceress's stolen rocket plans. As soon as you talk to Handel, you'll be in first-person mode for the entire time. Despite being a different camera view, the controls are pretty much the same. Circle shoots, both L1 and R1 strafe and Triangle lets you zoom in since you're already in first-person mode.

The ninjas can deflect your shots with their staves, but they're still pretty easy to kill off. Remember to shoot the fodder and stay near where you killed it whenever you need to refill your health.

You can also look up whenever you need to. This is good, since some of the enemies will be up above, sticking to the ceiling and waiting for you to get under them so they can get the drop on you. Just be careful, as sometimes enemies will come after you when you shoot certain guys down.

At the end of this first-person segment is a Dragon Egg. After you get it, though, a huge Rhynoc will tie Handel to a timebomb! You'll have to make your way back and take down all of the Rhynocs on your way back to rescue him! Thankfully, you're not on an actual timer, so you can take your time and hunt down all the enemies that show up the second time around as well as the gems that only show up when you get the first egg. When you make it back to Handel, you'll get another Dragon Egg.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 31 of 41

We take on the last Sparx level and make finding everything else more of a breeze.

Bugbot Factory

Just before you defeated the Sorceress, she made a factory that creates metal bugs that allowed her to fight off Sparx. Payback time!

The blue bug that runs around with the key can be taken care of just like the thieves, except you can just touch the guy (and the key) with your charge attack to get rid of it. Just be careful not to directly cut the bug off, because it will turn right back around and move in the opposite direction.

If you can find a rapid fire power-up, you can use it to knock the blue bug far away enough from the key that you can easily get the key and get rid of the bug.

The blue robot bugs that bounce from one corridor wall to the other spawns smaller red bugs that you have to get rid of. It's like a moving enemy spawn point.

The green bugs quickly move side to side and shoot fireballs at you every few seconds. The fireballs have a limited range, so keep even further away just enough to hit them without taking any damage.

The boss here is a centipede. You can shoot it anywhere to damage it, but it moves around in circles and has some really fast firepower. When you bring its health meter down to around half, the boss will split into two. Concentrate your firepower on one of them while avoiding the other and staying out of the line of fire of both.

When you beat this boss, you'll get another Dragon Egg and you'll have beaten all the Sparx levels in the game! You now get two new abilities from beating this level. First, Sparx can now break open treasure chests! Second, he can warp you to any level you've already been via the Atlas! Just choose a level and Sparx will whisk you over there! The sooner you beat the Sorceress and beat the Bugbot Factory, the better; otherwise these abilities will be useless.

Harbor Speedway

Here we are at the last speedway level of the game!

For the time attack, do the seagulls, then the arches, then the lobsters and finally the fish.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 30 of 41

The Sorceress may be done, but we've still got work to do. There's still some stuff in the game left to find and worlds we haven't cleared yet!

Agent 9's Lab

The fodder here are sentient flasks that hop around.

This episode marks the return of the Professor from the previous game. You'll have to stop all the Rhynocs before they trash all of his research.

Agent 9's only attack is the ability to shoot a laser gun. The lasers can richochet off of certain walls to allow you to hit things from an angle. You cannot use the laser gun to destroy the metal chest, however.

You can also aim in first-person mode by entering Sniper Mode with the Triangle button, but be careful as the Rhynocs with the laser guns can pick you off from far away. Some of them may hide behind the training dummies that you can also shoot down. Using L1 and R1 here lets you zoom in and out.

The red panic button near the force field must be shot to lock the ever-spawning Rhynocs out.

Circle, of course, lets you shoot the laser gun. Holding the L1 or R1 button lets you strafe when you move to the side.

Look around as you explore the level, so you don't miss any airborne balloons being suspended in mid-air by a balloon. You can shoot the balloon with the laser gun to bring the jar down and break it like you normally would.

When you reach the control room and talk to the Professor, he'll turn on the view monitor and draw out six hiding Rhynocs that you'll have to pick off one at a time. Use Triangle to enter Sniper Mode and look around so you can pick them off one at a time as quickly as possible. When you take down all six, you'll be able to continue.

The machine room is overrun with birds. You'll have to use Sniper Mode to shoot at them, as they'll hide in their nests. Shooting down all six birds will net you a Dragon Egg. The Professor will switch the gravitonometric generator back on, but this cause twelve birds to fly out of it. You'll have to go inside and use Sniper Mode to take them out as they fly around and hide in the nests.

After defeating the birds, you'll be able to continue outside and meet up with armored Rhynocs. Unfortunately, you'll need a power-up before you can take them out, as your regular laser blast won't do anything. The bombs that come out of the vending machine will do it. Grab one, and you'll have ten bombs to throw. Agent 9 can actually throw them a good distance, but you'll need to be close enough to the armored Rhynocs before you can actually hit them with the bombs.

The bombs can also be used to destroy the metal crates in this level.

Taking down all of the armored Rhynocs will net you another Dragon Egg.

There is a red panic button for the force field, but it's protected by said force field. Jump and throw a bomb over the force field and into the panic button to get rid of it. From there, go inside this area and you'll see six yellow Rhynocs on motorboats. Shoot them all with Sniper Mode to get another Dragon Egg.

Skill Points

Agent 9's Lab

If you blow up all seven palm trees in the level with the bombs, you'll be able to get a Skill Point and an extra life for your efforts.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 29 of 41

In this episode we...fight the Sorceress. We're only two-thirds of the way through, but we might as well get this out of the way!

The Sorceress's Lair

The Sorceress will use her scepter to fire balls of magic at you. Sometimes she'll shoot them into the air in a straight line and have then come down at you. Other times she'll fire off a whole salvo and have it rain death all over the arena. Watch the shadows.

To beat the Sorceress, you'll have to use the cannons that fly into the arena. When you jump on one, the Sorceress will stop firing her magic and start running around until she can get a sure shot on you. You have ten seconds to fire a cannonball at her before it disappears.

There's also another variation of the cannons here that is situated on a wooden platform with four wheels. With this, you can get in close and fire at the Sorceress in a really cheap fashion. Just try not to get zapped, please.

After a while, you'll be able to ride some flying saucers. These turn really loosely, but you can go pretty high up. When you do that, the Sorceress won't be able to hit you. You can stay on the saucer until you get knocked off of it by one of the Sorceress's attacks, so you can get just high enough to snipe at her.

Throughout the battle, sheep will also drop into the battle. You can use these to restore your health.

When you beat the Sorceress, you'll get a Dragon Egg after knocking the Sorceress into the lava...but once you leave the arena, she'll crawl right back out...

Bentley will perform a mock interview with Spyro that is similar to the ending of the first game. Spyro says he's got more work to do: most importantly, to look for the rest of the Dragon Eggs, and to look for Hunter...

Spyro meets the Professor and Elora from the second game in Agent 9's homeworld. After some funny business, Spyro promises Elora he'll visit her in Avalar soon.

Spryo asks Sheila is she's seen Hunter, but she promised not to tell where he was going. Spyro does not like the sound of this...

Spyro finally finds Hunter...and he's in love with Bianca. Spyro is a bit disappointed, but Elora tells Spyro to give him a break and enjoy the fireworks (fired by Sgt. Byrd's rocket launcher, of course).

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 28 of 41

...and this video is the boiling point where the main antagonist finally goes nuts.

On your way to Midnight Mountain, the Sorceress finally tells Bianca of her plan to kill all the dragons - including the hatchlings - just for their wings. Bianca is actually surprised that this is what she was doing all along, and when the Sorceress says that even though she doesn't have to kill them, she only does it to keep them from wriggling so much, Bianca's finally had enough, and she storms off. The Sorceress plans on offing her once she gets rid of Spyro, and then she changes one of her guards (who is made an unwilling victim by the other one) into a monster...I'm guessing that's what's happening.

Scorch's Pit

Bentley will help you out by providing rockets. Pick these up and use them against the boss, who will shoot orbs of destruction into the air like bombs and also send crabs after you. The green rockets provide one destructive hit that can be spat at him like any other projectile, while the red rockets act like mini-machine guns. No need to use the Triangle button to aim. Just look at the boss and shoot it.

As you bring the boss's health down, it will also send yetis with TNT boxes as well as some round yellow guys who are all too happy to run into you like some acid-binging suicide bombers. No, seriously. They're way too happy.

The boss also has a shield surrounding him, which will turn on and off as the battle progresses. You'll have to wait for the shield to go down before you can deal any damage to him.

When you beat the boss, get back on the pad underneath the rocket and you'll be able to continue on to Midnight Mountain.

Also, Bianca finally turns on the Sorceress and frees Hunter. It's about time.

Midnight Mountain

Well, now that we've reached the point where everything boils over, it's time to explore the final world of the game.

When you reach Midnight Mountain, Bianca shows up once again. This time, she'll tell Spyro that she'll open the hidden portal to the Sorceress's lair when you collect more Dragon Eggs, and she'll meet you when you have enough of them.

Anyway, the fodder here are green salamanders. They basically look like well-recolored versions of the fodder salamanders from Skelos Badlands in the second game.

Some of the eggs here will be on platforms isolated from the rest of the world, but one of them will be held by a thief. If you can cut corners, you'll be better able to keep up with the guy. Another one is hidden under a breakable floor that you can destroy with the headbash.

There's a gem behind the portal to Haunted Tomb.

Somewhere in the world is a door that can only be opened if you have 149 Dragon Eggs and 15000 gems, which I'm assuming is all the eggs and gems in the game. To reach it, you'll have to glide to it from the very top of the level, as there's no other way to do so. I think we'll be finding out what's behind that door soon enough.

It costs 1300 gems to free Agent 9, but it's totally worth it. Not only is the cutscene for freeing him excellent (anything good can obviously come from a character unlock cutscene titled "The Dancing Bear"), but he's also extremely hyper. WUT

Evening Lake

Returning here, because we're going to do the Sparx level here.

Starfish Reef

According to Princess Ami, there's an egg hidden in Starfish Reef, and Zoe thinks Sparx should check it out.

The starfish are really annoying as they usual come at you in large groups. Be sure to run around in circles until you get them into a narrow enough group for you to blow straight through them.

The big starfish split into three smaller ones when you shoot them.

The blue butterflies give you mines that you can drop. You can have up to nine.

The eels will spit projectiles at you.

The boss here is a manta ray. It'll swim around and turn in tight circles. When you bring its energy down to half, it will split into two. These two minature clones will shoot even smaller manta rays at you. If you have the rapid fire power-up, now would be a good time to use it against these things.

After beating the boss, don't go into the portal just yet. Instead, take the path leading south next to it. You'll be able to get the last of the gems and head back to the start of the level.

When you beat Starfish Reef, you'll get the Dragon Egg as well as the ability to take four hits before Sparx disappears.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 27 of 41

At first, I thought the video title was a typo...but then Handel and Greta made a surprise return, and then I LOL'd!

Fireworks Factory

The fodder here are fireflies.

Handel and Greta, our favorite spies from Scorch in the last game, make a return appearance for Round 3. This time around, the Professor's rocket plans have been stolen by the Rhynocs. Even worse, Handel's gone missing. Again. Looks like a job for Spyro.

The small Rhynocs here are ninjas. Not only do they spin their bos around and attack you with them, they'll also backflip backwards and even up onto higher platforms whenever possible. Use your charge attack to take them down. One of them just after the beginning of the level carries a gun. Really?!?

They also respawn from a box with a picture of a Rhynoc ninja with the word "Ninja!" below it. Headbash it twice to get rid of it and also find some treasure.

Be sure to run around any indoor areas when you're in them, so you can get all the Rhynoc ninjas to appear. If you're missing gems, be sure to do that if Sparx leads you into a building while you're using the gem compass.

The big Rhynocs have dynamite strapped onto their backs. Use a rocket to blow them away with explosive results. If you don't have a rocket, you'll have to run around them and trick them to continuing on their route, then flame them from behind to get them to explode.

When you reach the Dragon Cannon, Greta will tell you to jump in and the cannon will automatically aim and fire. She'll then jump a wide pit in a short cutscene that parodies The Matrix.

When you catch up to Greta again, she'll destroy the Sorceress's rocket and you'll get an egg. You'll also be able to access the cannon near the start of the level.

The hatch where the rocket came out of contains the portal to another character we haven't rescued yet. We'll meet up with him and free him soon enough.

Challenge Portals

There is a ninja with a gun near the end, and near him is a Challenge Portal. You'll find Handel inside, and you'll have to make it all the way to the end to reach the Dragon Egg that's behind you at the start.

There is another Challenge Portal near the end, and you'll have to glide around near the end in order to find it. Here, you'll have to fly around and take out the two fire dragons. Remember the combination powerup from Metropolis in the last game? It returns here, and you'll be using it to do just that. Take the dragons out quickly, otherwise they will regrow their tails and regain their health. When you know their patterns, this becomes a bit easier, and you'll be able to take them down quickly. Also, be sure to work on one dragon at a time. They won't damage you at all, but they're pretty quick, and they're also harder to hit when they're near death because their tails shrink as you destroy them. Also, don't worry about losing your power, as the combination power-up lasts for as long as you're in the Challenge Portal area.

Skill Points

Fireworks Factory

In the first room of the Agent 9 area, there is a red box that is pretty high up. Shoot it, and you'll get a machine gun with 500 rounds, a Skill Point and an extra life (which also amounts to full health restoration if you're really needing it at the beginning). This makes the Challenge Portal area a lot easier.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 26 of 41

Turns out, there's a reason the Dragon Eggs were being taken! Read on!

When you beat Charmed Ridge, you'll get a cutscene where Bianca tells Hunter what's going on: the Sorceress is needing the Dragon Eggs in order to bring them back to the other side of the world and bring magic back to the Forgotten Worlds, as the dragons were the source of all the magic in this part of the world. Hunter asks her to free him so he can convince the Dragons to come back, but Bianca reluctantly refuses.

Challenge Portals

Charmed Ridge

There is a portal near that whole blue ooze area that is hidden in a cave. You'll be able to see it if you can get to that small platform with the cat wizard that's moving the three platforms.

Anyway, talk to Jack and he'll tell you about a golden goose that's supposedly at the top of a beanstalk. He's obviously bought two magic beans from Moneybags, but he can't get them to work. He gives them to you to see if you can figure it out.

The mauve colored seed with the white spots on it that jumps around is the mushroom. The yellow seed is a flower. The flower just acts like a regular platform when you stand on it, while the mushroom bounces you upwards. This is actually easy, believe it or not. You'll get two Dragon Eggs here - one halfway and the other at the end.

Oh, and headbash the wooden floor behind Jack and the golden goose at the end to reach the metal chest, which you can also headbash.

The second Challenge Portal is the Sgt. Byrd section. Here, you'll be facing five Cat Witches. These are easy to take out as long as you don't let them fly right into you. Once you finish them off, you'll face off against ten of them. This isn't much more difficult, especially if you keep on firing and also try to take some out as they make their way into the room. You'll then get one more salvo, and this time you're forced to be airborne as the floor has been turned to blue ooze. If you haven't gotten the Skill Point and he extra life that comes with it (see below), now would be a good time to grab it, as you'll need the health against these last ten witches, as they'll shoot at you and knock you right into the ooze during hit stun if you fly too close to it. After you finish off this third and last salvo, you'll finally get your Dragon Egg.

Skill Points

Charmed Ridge

Shoot the four windows in the Sgt. Byrd section out to get an extra life and a Skill Point. It should be noted that if you ever need an extra life or a complete health refill, you can always go for a Skill Point you've already achieved. This comes in very handy during the third part of the Cat Witches fight.

In the cave with the Superflame power-up, climb the wall to the left. Then, jump to the small platform on the right. There's a funny-looking platform that you'll have to glide to, and from there, climb onto the edge behind and to the left of you. There is one tower that is not on an island to your left. Glide to it and you'll get an extra life and a Skill Point.

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.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 24 of 41

Hunter bumbles up yet again. Exactly. As. Expected.

When you beat Lost Fleet, Hunter will run around, find a button, and trigger it only to fall straight into a trap planted by the Sorceress!

Challenge Portals

Lost Fleet

To reach the other Challenge Portal, you'll have to jump into the shark teeth that signifies the green lava waterfall from a plank on the ship. Once you glide all the way over there, then you can get started.

You'll be piloting a sub, and you'll be to fire missiles with the Circle button. Hold X to speed up. When you see a sub, you'll be able to lock on to it without having to do much of anything. Shoot the torpedo when you're locked on, which is signified by the three rings pointing to the nearest sub turning red. You'll have to keep them in your sights long enough to do this, but this is easy compared to all the skate park shenanigans in the last entry.

You'll have to break the metal box here with a torpedo. Breaking it shouldn't be too hard.

Once you beat the first six, you'll have to take on seven more. This time, they're not only faster, they'll also turn around when you meet them head-on and also drop mines in case you follow them a bit too close. You'll have to be a bit devious to lock on to any of the subs in this second salvo, but it can be done.

When you're done here, you'll have to use the Super Shield power-up to pick up the remainder of the gems here. Finally, we're finished!

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 23 of 41

...and right when we think that we're done with the level, there's even more to find simply because there's areas we still haven't checked out.

Lost Fleet

When you use the Super Shield power-up near the end, be sure to jump into the pool of green lava right next to it to get easy access to the whole lava water path. Be sure to look around, because there are passages you won't be able to reach otherwise. One of these passages contains a Dragon Egg.

Challenge Portals

Lost Fleet

There's another skate park here. Talk to Hunter, and he'll tell you that a Rhynoc skateboard gang has challenged you to a race. Sure, why not?

Anyway, it's a three lap race. For this race, you'll be using Hunter's board instead of the one you've been using in the last two skate parks. Every time you do tricks, you'll build up turbo boosts that you can use with the Square button. As long as you can get an early lead and build up enough energy for the turbo boost, this one's really easy.

Once you've beaten this one and gotten the Dragon Egg, you'll challenge Hunter. Not only do you have to defeat all the crabs, but you also have to beat Hunter at the same time! For this one, you'll have to get a good lead on Hunter before destroying all the crabs. The crabs are pretty easy to find, thankfully. It's just beating Hunter that involves any sort of difficulty.

Skill Points

Lost Fleet

After you get the two Dragon Eggs for the skateboard park, you still aren't done yet. Since you probably have a good feel for the course now, run the course one more time. This time around, do three laps in less than 1:45.00. You'll get an extra life and a Skill Point if you're quick enough.

angryponcho plays Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon - Part 22 of 41

We take on another speedway course, then we do the long, long trek that is Lost Fleet. This level will take a while.

Honey Speedway

Go through the honeycombs first, flame the beehives, defeat the bees and save the boats for last.

You're opponents in the race are the bumblebees. I'm serious. Sparx uses the wrong form of "your/you're" in this sentence. Also, this one is significantly easier, especially when you know where all the boosters are. The rockets don't seem like they do much, but they do slow the other bees down.

It should also be noted that the bumblebees are all different colors here, so you can tell where you're placed on the fly. (Okay, that unintentional pun just kinda slipped in.)

You'll find Hunter on the ground as you go through the beehives. (You don't actually have to flame them. Just go right through them.) He'll be right under the last one. This time around, you'll have to ride a boat on the figure eight made out of honey, and if you hit too many obstacles, the giant sheep UFO will abduct Hunter. When the UFO crashes into the honey, you've done it. This one is harder than the other two Hunter challenges.

Lost Fleet

The fodder are hermit crabs.

For this one, you'll have to take down all the ghosts so you can take Crazy Ed through the level.

The ghosts, believe it or not, are baby Rhynocs hiding under a sheet that will throw rocks at you when you expose them. Hit them again to get rid of them.

The crabs can dash for you, which is pretty interesting considering that their character model is the same as the last game.

Use the cannons to get rid of the vultures flying around.

You'll have to be invincible to swim in the water here, and you'll have to reach the end to get the Super Shield power-up.