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- “Spyro, you purple putz!”
- —Sparx the Dragonfly
Sparx the Dragonfly is one of the main characters, Spyro's best friend, and sidekick in the Spyro the Dragon series.
Appearance
First Design (1998-2004)
Sparx resembles a pixelated, yellow insect with big eyes with black irises. He had two pairs of iridescent wings. Due to the software limitations of the PlayStation 1, he lacked antennae and limbs. Later designs after the original Spyro trilogy retains most of his original appearance, but Sparx had gained a graphical upgrade.
In Spyro: A Hero's Tail, Sparx's design is more refined and he has gained antennae, has orange-brown eyes and more refined insectoid wings.
Modern Design (2018-Current)
In the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and futher related game appearances, Sparx lacks antennae and now has limbs with blue-tipped fingers. His latest redesign now resembes a real dragonfly.
Personality
Throughout the series, Spyro has always appeared with Sparx at his side. In the Dragon Realms, according to Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, dragonflies offer protection for young dragons such as Spyro. Without Sparx, Spyro would be susceptible to being killed or defeated in a single hit. He too has the same mischievous personality as Spyro, but he is very protective of him. At first, Sparx communicated by way of buzzing which the dragons could assumedly understand from their reactions. He talks, but still retains his buzzing voice in Spyro: A Hero's Tail.
Abilities
Sparx indicates Spyro's health meter. Whenever Spyro takes a hit, subsequently, Sparx's color changes, from golden yellow, to blue, to green, and then ultimately disappearing, leaving Spyro vulnerable to defeat upon the next hit. To prevent that, Spyro either flames or charges at small creatures called "fodder" to release a Butterfly, which Sparx devours, to recover one hit point in the process. Sparx can also collect nearby gems and treasure for Spyro.
In later games, Sparx's abilities can be upgraded via dragon egg magic or other means. In Spyro: Year of the Dragon, after completing each Sparx level, the magic of the dragon eggs he rescued gave Sparx the power to take an extra hit (causing him to turn red before disappearing), retrieve gems from longer distances, and also collect gems directly from boxes without destroying them. Sparx can also help Spyro by pointing towards the location of gems that Spyro has not collected yet; something that later implemented for the entirety of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy.
Sparx also appears as a playable character in several mini-games throughout the later games in the Spyro the Dragon series, such as several gauntlet-style levels in Year of the Dragon and Season of Ice, and a rail shooter-style minigame in A Hero's Tail. If the player has acquired the additional hit point, Sparx's health reflects the extra hit as well. In levels where the player controls a character other than Spyro (such as Hunter in A Hero's Tail), Sparx follows that character in the same manner as for Spyro.
In Spyro: A Hero's Tail, Sparx can use certain items, such as Lock Picks to unlock treasure chests and open locked doors. Players can also buy upgrades for Sparx from Moneybags such as holding 3 lock-picks at one time and being able to withstand an extra hit (red after green).
Story
Early Childhood
As told in an interview with Sparx by the DNN (Dragon News Network), some details of Spyro's past is known. Sparx used to crawl around Spyro's egg when he was a larvae when there was peace in the Dragon Realms. One day, Spyro rescued Sparx from a bird, and they became the best of friends.[1]
Spyro the Dragon
Gnasty Gnorc attacked the Dragon Realms, freezing all the dragons into crystal statues after being called ugly. Spyro and Sparx were the only ones that Gnasty's magic spell failed to affect since Spyro was too short to be hit. So they set off across the Dragon Realms to free the resident dragons and recover their treasure as well as the dragon eggs. After traveling through many lands, freeing many Dragons and disposing of all of Gnasty Gnorcs's minions, Spyro and Sparx challenged, pursued, and defeated Gnasty Gnorc and recovered all of the Dragon Realms' treasure.
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
During an extended period of rainy weather, Spyro and Sparx decided that they needed a vacation from the Dragon Realms. Noticing a portal to the location of Dragon Shores, they entered the portal to escape the bad weather.
Spyro and Sparx in the midst of rainy weather.
However, to their surprise, they arrived in a realm called Avalar, because the Professor, Elora the Faun, Zoe the Fairy, and Hunter the Cheetah had redirected the portal to bring them there instead. After a confusing moment, they encountered a dictator named Ripto, who accused the residents of bringing a dragon to Avalar. A brief struggle ensued, ending with Ripto's escape to Avalar's Summer Forest after his magical scepter fell into the maw of his steed, Gulp. At Elora's request, Spyro and Sparx visited the realms of Avalar and recovered several talismans, then pursued Ripto and fought against one of Ripto's minions, Crush.
After Crush was crushed under a pile of rocks, Ripto and Gulp escaped to Autumn Plains, and Spyro and Sparx collected the rest of Avalar's talismans and pursued them. Soon, Spyro and Sparx caught up to Ripto and saved Zoe from being fed to Gulp, before they engaged the beast in battle. Elora assisted by providing weapons to use against Gulp, and Spyro defeated Ripto's steed, causing the dictator to fall off the battle area and into the abyss after the battle, presumed dead. Elora then gave Spyro a place to rest while she returned to the Professor to check up on a portal to return Spyro and Sparx home.
Spyro and Sparx decided to search for Elora and found themselves in Winter Tundra. They were met with news that Ripto was still alive, and had locked Elora and the others out of the Tundra's palace. Once more, Spyro and Sparx were asked to travel through the local portals, and this time, to recover enough orbs to challenge Ripto. They both succeeded and challenged Ripto to a duel. Zoe informed Spyro and Sparx that the Professor was working on new types of orbs, and a fierce battle ensued, with both Spyro and Ripto using powers from the orbs for attack. Ripto used one Orb to create a large, mechanized version of Gulp. When Spyro destroyed that, Ripto used another Orb to transform the arena floor into lava, while creating a large mecha-bird to help finish Spyro and Sparx off. Spyro combated them in an aerial duel, however, and defeated him, sending him and his mecha-bird to their demises in the pool of lava. After recovering the gems from Moneybags, and converse with his new friends, Spyro and Sparx eagerly proceeded to Dragon Shores to start their vacation.
Spyro: Year of the Dragon
The Dragon Realms were celebrating an important event: the Year of the Dragon Festival. Every twelve years during this time, the Fairies deliver 150 Dragon eggs to the Dragon Realms which will become the next generation of dragons. The Dragons celebrated until they fell over from exhaustion and slept. While they were asleep, a mysterious rabbit girl named Bianca came with an army of Rhynoc creatures to steal the dragon eggs. The Dragons woke up (when Bianca stepped on Hunter's tail, causing him to yelp loudly) to notice their newest dragon egg brood gone, and found Bianca trying to steal the last egg. Attempts to stop Bianca failed, and she took the egg back through a tunnel to the realm where the Dragons once lived: the Forgotten Realms.
Sparx hosting the Speedway challenges.
Since the older dragons couldn't fit down the tunnels, they determined that only Spyro, Sparx, and Hunter were small enough to go to the Forgotten Realms and recover the 150 eggs. Bianca and her mistress, the Sorceress, created monsters to fend off Spyro, but he defeated them. Along the way, Spyro recruited four new allies, including Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. James Byrd the flying Penguin, Bentley the Yeti, and Agent 9, the Monkey in the Professor's service, all of whom were being held prisoner by Moneybags at the behest of the Sorceress.
As Spyro and Sparx arrived in the Midnight Mountain world, Bianca discovered that the Sorceress was willing to kill the baby dragons to fulfill her goal for eternal life. She betrayed the Sorceress and went to Spyro's side, releasing Hunter from a trap and opening the door to the Sorceress's lair (after Spyro found 100 dragon eggs). In a great battle, Spyro defeated the Sorceress. She was not killed, however. He had to recover 149 missing eggs, as well as 20,000 gems to fight her again in a secret region of the Forgotten Realms. After taking control of a spaceship, Spyro shot down the Sorceress once and for all, recovering the final egg and saving the Dragons from extinction.
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
Sparx reuniting with Spyro after being separated
Spyro, Sparx, and their friends were celebrating a party where the previously rescued baby dragons obtain their Dragonflies. Unfortunately, Ripto and his goons crashed the party and scattered ninety of the one hundred and fifty-one Dragonflies across the Dragon Realms (ninety-one including Sparx) to render the baby dragons defenseless. After reuniting with Sparx inside the nearby castle, he and Spyro were tasked with tracking down all the dragonflies.
Eventually, Spyro and Sparx cleared all nine worlds attached to the Dragon Realms and entered Ripto's portal with the combined magic of all of the Dragonflies. They entered Ripto's portal, and the villain created a shield for himself resistant to fire. Spyro destroyed the shield and beats Ripto. But when Spyro thought he had Ripto on the verge of defeat, Ripto used a magic spell to grow twice his size. He then erected a flame barrier, making Spyro's flame breath useless.
Spyro used his ice breath to bring down the barrier, and freeze Ripto. Finally, in one last act of desperation, Ripto used his magic to grow even bigger and incorporate pieces of Crush and Gulp into his body. Spyro quickly brought down the monster with his electric breath. As Ripto was defeated, he cursed Spyro, ranting about his hatred towards Dragons before fleeing. The party resumed with the dragonflies returned safely to their dragon companions, and the Dragon Realms were safe once more.
Spyro: A Hero's Tail
Sparx talking with Spyro on unlocking lockpicks
Spyro discovered that the Dragon Realms were being plunged into darkness, this time by an evil Dragon Elder from long ago named Red. Spyro and Sparx teamed up with Hunter, Sgt. Byrd, and Blink the Mole to take down Red and his unholy alliance of Gnasty Gnorc and Ineptune. During their trek through the Icy Wilderness, Spyro was captured by a minion of Red and Sparx managed to escape, alerting Hunter of Spyro's capture and setting off with the cheetah to rescue the dragon. Sparx was eventually reunited with Spyro after Hunter freed him in the Ice Citadel.
Within the snow realm, Spyro and Sparx confronted and defeated Red who then escaped, and built an army of robot Gnorcs within his secret laboratory. The evil dragon was tracked down in his lab, where Red had become a robot himself and engaged Spyro once more. Spyro defeated him, and the Professor shrank Red down to a tiny size, so he wouldn't be able to attack the Dragon Realms again.
Spyro: Shadow Legacy
Spyro and Sparx returned to the Dragon Realms to find them in ruins. They soon discovered that the Sorcerer was attempting to seize control of the Dragon Realms using dark, shadowy mirrors of each Dragon Realm called the Shadow Realms. Spyro learned the art of "Dragon-Kata" and the use of magic from the Dragon Elders and set out to rescue those the Sorcerer held captive, and defeat the Sorcerer himself.
After clearing the Dragon Realms and Avalar of the shadowy influences, Spyro found Red in the Forgotten Worlds. After defeating Red, it became apparent that Red was merely a pawn in the Sorcerer's plan to destroy the Dragon Realms. Spyro then battled his way through the rest of the Forgotten Worlds and fought and defeated the Sorcerer, who fled afterward. Spyro and his friends were then preparing themselves for the Sorcerer's next move.
Other appearances
Spyro: Season of Ice
After Spyro saved the Dragon Eggs from the clutches of the Sorceress, Spyro, Hunter, and Bianca returned from the Forgotten Realms, and the three decided to take a vacation. Bianca was researching vacation spots in the Sorceress' library but dropped her magic book. It was found by the lowly Rhynoc librarian, Grendor. Unfortunately for him, he read the spell wrong, prompting him to grow another head with a pounding headache. Grendor then used his newfound magic to freeze all the fairies, and scatter them across the Fairy Realms.
When Zoe found out, she quickly alerted Spyro with a letter. Spyro, Sparx, Hunter, and Bianca ascended to the Fairy Realms, to rescue all one hundred frozen fairies including Zoe. As Spyro entered the first world, he found that Rhynocs had infested the Fairy Realms. Spyro was able to defeat all of the Rhynocs, and ultimately Grendor, and free all of the fairies.
Spyro 2: Season of Flame
Upon Spyro and Sparx's return from the Fairy Realms, Ripto returned and scattered all the Fireflies, which are creatures whose magical properties gave the Dragons their flame breath, all over the Dragon Realms. The Dragons' breaths became icy cold as Spyro and Sparx embarked on a quest to find the fireflies. Eventually, after saving all of the Fireflies, Spyro once again defeated Ripto, where the Dragon Elders banished him.
Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs
Ripto attempted another invasion and was successfully able to take over the Professor's laboratory and drove Spyro and Sparx out. Spyro and Sparx then traveled throughout the Realms to recover twelve 'Hearts,' to open a passage back to the Professor's lab and confront Ripto again. Spyro and Sparx did so, and re-entered the lab and engaged in combat with Ripto once again. After they defeated him, Ripto was once again banished to Chateau Ripto, until he met with Dr. Neo Cortex.
Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy
Ripto teamed up with Dr. Neo Cortex to get rid of their foes. Spyro and Sparx met Crash Bandicoot, and they paired up to go through the infested homeworlds, defeating whatever the evil pair threw at them. Eventually, Spyro, Sparx, and Crash defeated both Cortex and Ripto.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Sparx, along with Spyro, Gnasty Gnorc, and Hunter the Cheetah, appeared in the Spyro & Friends Grand Prix. In the Spyro Circuit portion of Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled, Sparx notably appears as a protective mask for all racers, including Spyro, Hunter the Cheetah, and Gnasty Gnorc. On other race tracks, Sparx remains as a mask for only the Spyro characters. The dragonfly also appears in the Spyro & Friends edition of the game's title screen, as part of Spyro's win/lose podium animations, and as a kart sticker.
Gallery
- Main article: Sparx the Dragonfly/Gallery
Trivia
- In the French version of Spyro the Dragon, he was called "étincelle" ("spark" in English), but for the rest of the series, he is referred to as Sparx.
- In the Japanese versions of the PlayStation 1 games, Sparx will stay color green throughout, although the sparkle effects he emits to indicate his current state are still the same.
- In all releases of Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, Sparx's buzzing seems to be in English. It is unknown, though, if the same applies for all previous episodes of the series.
- In promotional artwork of the classic Spyro series, Sparx has arms and antennae, but in the actual games, he doesn't, likely due to technological limitations. This same design sticks with him throughout all the classic Spyro series.
- In the Reignited Trilogy, he has six limbs and no antennae in both the artwork and in game.
- Although Sparx and Spyro have been claimed to have known each other all of their lives, Spyro appeared to be unaware of the yellow dragonfly in the first game, Spyro the Dragon, until Delbin introduced Sparx to the young purple dragon.
- It is possible, however, that they knew each other but not their names or what they could do for each other.
- At the back of the manual for the PAL version of Spyro 2, Sparx talks about him being a star in his new game, Sparx 2: Gateway to Glimmer, a sequel to Sparx the Dragonfly.
- In Spyro: Year of the Dragon, whenever the player pauses the game, the angle at which Sparx is seen highlighting the menu option changes depending on the angle the camera is facing when paused. For example, if the camera is level with Spyro, Sparx will be seen from the side, or, if the camera is pointed down at the ground, Sparx will be seen from an overhead view.
- While standing idle in the Reignited Trilogy, Sparx will fly up to Spyro and wave at him. He will also do the same to the player, flying up to the screen and waving at them.
- In the PS4 version of the Reignited Trilogy, the controller will light up based on the color of Sparx, turning red when Sparx is not present.
- In the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Delbin now carries a canvas painting of Sparx.
- Sparx can be seen in the promo for Season 3 of Crash Team Rumble, alongside Spyro and Elora.
References
- ↑ A Day in the Life of a Sidekick - archived. (Date Posted - 1998). Playstation.
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