Introduction

With Super Mario 64 released two years ago, companies scrambled to try and reach the bar set by Nintendo. A small company named Insomniac (who has since gone on to make enough Ratchet and Clank games to choke a bull elephant) stepped up to the plate, and made a series of three platformers that are among the best, if not the best, on the PSX. After the first three games, the Spyro series was sold off, and has been going sharply downhill ever since. I've managed to play (and complete entirely) almost every Spyro game that's been released, no matter how bad the games were. Enter the dragonfly, I'm looking at you.

But enough about me, and enough history. I'll be playing this game to 100% completion with zero backtracking. What does this mean to you, the viewer? It means that I won't be leaving a level or finishing a video until I've found absolutely everything in that level. Don't you worry, though. I'm quite competent, and the game isn't terribly hard. Even if the shit really hits the fan, I can still edit out the boring parts of the video and make sure all you see is good, solid platforming action. And maybe a few witty or informative subtitles along the way.

So what about the plot? What are we collecting in THIS game? Let's turn to the game's manual for those answers...

The Story

In the beginning, the five dragon families lived in their five dragon worlds in harmony. Their lives here happy and peaceful... until the day a Gnorc broke the rules!

Gnasty Gnorc was an unpleasant creature from the bottom of his dirty boots to the top of his unwashed head. He wasn't pretty, and his personality combined the short temper of a gnome and the bad attitude of an orc!

Gnasty resented the happy dragon families. More than anything, he detested their beautiful, shiny jewels, which were not only nice to look at, but showed him reflections of his own ugly mug every time he did so. Gnasty became such a problem that he was banished to the Dragon junkyard. This was a world the dragons weren't fond of, though it suited Gnasty just fine. He renamed it Gnasty's World as soon as he got there.

Gnasty began to fool around with magic spells. After a while, he hit on the two he wanted: a giant spell to trap all the dragons in crystal, and a potion to animate those radiant gems and turn them into Gnorc soldiers.

On a nice sunny day, Gnasty crystallized all the dragons then turned all the gems he could find into his willing minions. He even began turning the dragon worlds into gnorc worlds! But the one little detail he didn't count on was Spyro the Dragon. Spyro just happened to be playing hooky – again – and missed getting crystallized by Gnasty's spell.

Now Spyro, the only unfrozen Dragon, must travel the six worlds – including Gnasty's industrial world – releasing all the dragons and collecting their stolen treasure. In the meantime, Gnasty's minions are doing their best to stop him. Not that Spyro is without friends... the dragons he releases give him hints, and all along the way he is accompanied by Sparx the Dragonfly, his best friend.

What seems like a fun time flaming Gnorcs soon turned into the adventure of Spyro's young life. When he meets Gnasty Gnorc for the final conflict, his destiny can truly be fulfilled! Go get 'em, Spyro!

Collectables

JEWELS
You may think that saving the world from Gnasty's magic spells is easy... well, it's not. Not only has Gnasty turned some of the dragon treasure into his own warriors, but he's also stolen the rest of the dragon treasure. Some are locked in chests, others are scattered all over the place. (Gnasty is not only the world's most unpleasant Gnorc, he is also the sloppiest.)

DRAGONS
Clearly the Dragon Kingdom cannot be restored to normal until all the dragons have been freed from their crystal prisons. To release a dragon, just walk up to it and break the spell. Rescue them and they may thank you with a hint or tip.

DRAGON EGGS
Gnasty has turned a fine collection of jewels into a pesky gang of minions. What's worse, he has invited thieves into the dragon kingdom, and they're stealing the dragon eggs. Catch these crazy guys and recover the dragon eggs before they're whisked away forever!

And with that, let's get on with the thread!
Here is the game's introduction video, just barely connected with that chunk of text torn straight from the manual.
(And again on Google Video)