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- “Is it just me, or is she kinda cute when she's angry?”
- —Hunter
Hunter, also known as Hunter the Cheetah[2][3], is a cheetah who is one supporting characters native to Avalar. He first appeared in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!.
Appearance
Original Design (1999-2000)
Hunter is a tall anthropomorphic cheetah, though, in the original PS1 trilogy, his fur color and patterns more closely resemble those of leopards. In Spyro 2 and 3, Hunter is a bright orange color with brown spots all over his coat, as well as a bright yellow underbelly and goatee, and lighter orange on his paws, he also has somewhat prominent brown eyebrows, as well as bright blue eyes. Interestingly, he has some sort of brace or clad piece on his right bicep that he is seldom seen without. He occasionally appears wearing different clothing, including scuba gear, large shorts, and a wingsuit among others.
Enter the Dragonfly Design (2002)
In Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, Hunter mostly retains the same basic design as he did in the previous two games; however his model is more detailed. He is noticeably chubbier, and his hands and feet have fully modeled digits. His eyebrows are tan, his underbelly (also tan) extends up to his neck, and his goatee matches his base fur coat. His spots are now even fainter as well. This design would be the basis for Hunter's appearance in the trilogy of Gameboy Advance titles in the series.
A Hero's Tail Design (2004-2005)
In Spyro: A Hero's Tail, Hunter had his design overhauled sufficiently. His fur was made a brighter yellow, and his spots redefined as a solid black or dark brown. Additionally, his underbelly, paws, and chin have all been made white to reflect the colors of real life cheetahs better. His tail has also been made more cat-like and has yellow, black and white stripes on it. His underbelly has been further extended down past his groin, as well. Claws have been added to his fingertips and toes. His former arm brace is gone, and his staple attire now consists of a green brace on his left forearm, a green sash, a quiver filled with arrows, and his bow. This design would serve as the basis for his appearance in the Crash and Spyro Fusion duology, as well as Shadow Legacy.
Reignited Design (2018)
In the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Hunter now much more closely resembles an actual cheetah as far as fur patterns, and proportions go. He is wearing his bow and quiver gear with straps in the second game, just like in A Hero's Tail and wears additional protective gear in the skateboard parks of the third game, including a helmet and knee pads along with his blue jeans.
Personality
Hunter is a laid-back, physically talented, and somewhat gullible character. While he's a loyal friend to Spyro and is knowledgeable about basic tasks (e.g., jumping), he has trouble grasping the gravity of Spyro's missions. Hunter is, at times, naïve and cowardly, and he can be tricked relatively easily. He is also forgetful as seen when he told Spyro that he lost his running shoes and hasn't found them since.
Hunter is a very skilled adventurer and is very good at hunting, as his name implies. He seems to enjoy heading to far off places, as he appears happy in every game depending on his location. He doesn't do much but slack off, skateboard, scuba dive, etc. He also likes to compete and test his limits. As his name implies, he is an exceptional archer and is strong and agile enough to hold his own in a fight, if need be. He is also a phenomenal skateboarder and expresses jealousy when Spyro breaks his skateboarding records and boasts when he doesn't. He also seems to be a bit of a conspiracy buff, with interest in space and extraterrestrials (especially sheep in Flying Sheep Saucers).
Like most cats, Hunter hates to get wet, something which he despises in Spyro: Year of the Dragon. In Aquaria Towers, Desert Ruins, and Luau Island, he is seen underwater wearing a purple SCUBA suit and goggles. However, doing so protects his fur from getting wet.
Story
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
Hunter's first meeting with Spyro.
It was Hunter's fault that Ripto entered Avalar in the first place, as Hunter's suggestions for Super Portal coordinated 22475, which was his birthday (22/4/75). The coordinates happened to bring Ripto, Crush, and Gulp to the realm. He made amends by helping Elora and the Professor bring Spyro to Avalar. However, Hunter was concerned that it was a bad idea to bring a dragon after reading the Professor's book about Dragons, knowing they sounded more dangerous than Ripto.
Despite these doubts, he continued to help Spyro throughout his quest, and developed a close friendship with the dragon after Ripto's defeat, changing his opinions on all Dragons. In the epilogue of the original Ripto's Rage!, it is revealed that Hunter's scuba diving career got cut a little short after being attacked by a shark.
Spyro: Year of the Dragon
After Ripto's defeat, Hunter had moved to the Dragon Realms where he participated in the Year of the Dragon festival, which left him, Spyro and the Dragons exhausted. While the dragon eggs were being stolen by mysterious creatures led by Bianca, she stepped on Hunter's tail by accident, causing him to release a yowl of pain loud enough to awake the other dragons to the thief's presence. However, they were unable to stop Bianca from stealing the last dragon egg.
Hunter followed Spyro to the Forgotten Worlds in order to return the dragon eggs stolen by the Sorceress. At this time, he fell in love with Bianca, whom he eventually managed to win over, and who helped them defeat her former mistress. After the Sorceress' defeat, Hunter instructed Bentley, Elora, the Professor, Agent 9 and Sheila to not tell Spyro where he went. It was later revealed and found out by Spyro that Hunter and Bianca were dating, watching the fireworks fired by Sgt. Byrd in the Fireworks Factory world.
In the epilogue of the original game, Hunter ended up babysitting several of the baby dragons and discovered that it was harder than it looked.
Spyro: A Hero's Tail
Hunter as seen in A Hero's Tail
At the time of Red's attack on the Dragon Realms, Hunter came into his own by helping Spyro with tasks he could not perform by himself such as flying, jumping, and shooting targets from a distance using his trusty bow and arrow. He was seen with a green leather strap with a quiver on his back and his bow. When Spyro got captured by Red's minions, Hunter came to his rescue and freed the young dragon within the Ice Citadel. Along the way through the Gloomy Glacier, he met up with one of Spyro's old friends, Bentley the Yeti and helped him get rid of some troublesome yetis.
Spyro: Shadow Legacy
At the end of the summer, Hunter left the Dragon Realms and returned home to Avalar to visit his cheetah village in the Savannah. While there, he and the other cheetahs were trapped in the Shadow Realm but were soon rescued by Spyro. Kasi and the other cheetahs blamed Spyro for causing the Calamity, and soon blamed Hunter for siding with him, throwing them both in prison. Spyro escaped and brought a letter to Hunter's father, Akello, who then cleared their names.
Other appearances
Spyro: Season of Ice
When Grendor froze the realms' fairies into ice crystals, Hunter gave Spyro helpful hints on the world's Fodder.
Spyro 2: Season of Flame
Much like last time, Hunter mostly stuck around to help Spyro out with hints on how to glide and jump, use platforms, break rocks, and finds a couple of lost fireflies for Spyro.
Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs
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Hunter as seen in the CTR TV interview
During the accidental opening of a portal to Ripto's home, Hunter can be found hanging out at the Cheetah Spot Spa. Being the "cool cat" that he was, he promised Spyro the Heart of the Spa if he can find some "cool" items.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
In the Spyro & Friends Grand Prix portion of Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled, Hunter appears as one of the unlockable racers at the pit shop with his signature kart being the Dragonfly. During an interview with CTR TV, the broadcast briefly went over to Hunter, who was eager to get the event over with to get back to Bianca, before he was interrupted by Gnasty Gnorc. In the game, Hunter is a balanced-based racer, which means he has middling turn, acceleration and speed.
Gallery
- Main article: Hunter/Gallery
Trivia
- According to Elora in Summer Forest, Ocean Speedway is one of Hunter's favorite speedways.
- In Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, Hunter entered in the code 2-2-4-7-5 on the Super Portal keypad, claiming that it was his birthday as he entered it.
- In Spyro Reignited Trilogy, the subtitles for all versions say "22475" except Norwegian where it says "22.4.75", making this the closest official confirmation that it is the 22nd April 1975.
- Hunter seems to have an odd attraction to Flying Sheep Saucers, or at least, they have an odd attraction to him. In every Speedway level in Year of the Dragon, you can play as Hunter in a series of mini-games, all dealing with thwarting an alien sheep invasion.
- In Year of the Dragon, he is the only character captured by the Sorceress not to be rescued by Spyro. Instead, he is rescued by Bianca.
- Unlike many anthropomorphic animal characters, Hunter does not wear any clothing. He does wear pads and helmets, a wetsuit for manta ray minigames in Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon as well as a pair of shorts for skateboarding minigames in Year of the Dragon. He also wears jeans in the Reignited Trilogy.
- In Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!/Spyro 2: Gateway To Glimmer and in other games such as Spyro: A Hero's Tail, Hunter's eyes are blue, but in Spyro: Year of the Dragon, his eyes are green or dark green, except for in the Dragon Realms-based part of the cutscene "An Evil Plot Unfolds," in which his eyes are mistakenly made grey-brown.
- Hunter's Japanese voice actor is Hiroaki Hirata, the official Japanese dub-over artist of Johnny Depp. He also voiced Balthier in Final Fantasy XII, as well as Sanji in the anime One Piece.
- In the GBA version of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, the silhouette of Hunter's classic model was used instead of one that belongs to his Legend counterpart.
- In the original version of Mushroom Speedway, when the UFOs hit Hunter, he can be heard screaming.
- In Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled, Hunter's model appears to have undergone some alterations since the Reignited Trilogy, now possessing noticeably more realistic fur.
- Hunter was designed by Insomniac's animator and character designer, Oliver Wade.
- Hunter was considered as a possible playable character for Skylanders: Giants. But after the negative fan reception on Spyro in Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, Toys For Bob didn't want to risk more backlash so the idea was dropped.[4]
References
- ↑ Today is the release of the #spyroreignitedtrilogy and I play Hunter the Cheetah.. (Date Posted - Nov 13, 2018). Twitter.
- ↑ Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! game manual, page 10
- ↑ Spyro: Year of the Dragon game manual, page 12
- ↑ Skylanders: Portal Casters 10th Anniversary Celebration Pt. 2 - Paul Reiche. (Date Posted - Oct 16, 2021). YouTube.
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