As an absolutely die-hard Spyro fan, the series hasn't given me much to look forward to in the last few years. Despite the rumors, we've had nothing in the way of new games or even fresh remasters following the launch of Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which remains one of the best Switch games, back in 2018. Still, a new story surrounding the daring rescue of the original Spyro the Dragon statue from E3 2000 over the last few days has had me gripped, and unlike so many news stories these days, it has a happy ending.
For context, the Spyro we're talking about is a statue of the PlayStation icon that was originally on display at the Spyro: Year of the Dragon booth during E3 2000. If, like me, you spend more time than you should watching old E3 videos and lamenting the fact you'll never get to go, you might recognize him. The rescue operation started after a Reddit post from user Momoka-Rage captured a clip of the Spyro statue, sadly, without his wings, trapped inside a dilapidated building.
Momoka-Rage didn't just spot this Spyro, though. The user got in contact with the owner of the building and the statue and was told they'd be doing the landlord a favor by taking Spyro off their hands. Apparently, the owner bought the building back in 2021, at which point Spyro was already in there - following the dragon's stint at the now-closed Twisted Throttle in Washington - and they didn't know what to do with it. In fairness, if I didn't know who or what Spyro was, I'd probably be the same.
As of the latest update, Momoka-Rage has collected the Spyro statue, and better still, they also managed to track down the wings. If you need a laugh, you should check out their video of Spyro hitting the road on the back of a flatbed truck - which is just as ridiculous as it sounds. It's probably the closest you're ever going to come to seeing Spyro twerking, outside of AI weirdness.
There's still a bit of work to do to restore the fire-breathing legend to his former glory, most notably a crack in one of the dragon's eyes. However, Momoka-Rage has promised to keep Spyro in storage while working on him, potentially even 3D-printing some new, lighter wings, so we can't wait to see the finished result.
The post detailing the rescue of Spyro has taken off on the Spyro subreddit over the past few days, with countless community members and thousands of upvotes praising Momoka-Rage for saving the statue from further decay. As I suggested earlier this year, in my Spyro retrospective, the story proves that there's still a massive audience for anything related to the purple dragon. So, if you're listening, Microsoft, give us another game!
On the back of this discovery, there's a renewed interest in tracking down similar statues from the early era of E3. While some are accounted for, including a Crash Bandicoot from 1996, there are a few that could still be out there somewhere. That includes a set of Crash, Dr. Neo Cortex, and Tawna statues from 1999, made for the reveal of Crash Team Racing, which some are now trying to track down. With all that in mind, it's worth keeping an eye out. You never know where you might run into a piece of legitimate gaming history.