Spyro The Dragon On N64 Is The Crossover Nintendo Never Thought Would Happen

I've written 4 news articles about the N64 today, which either means I've travelled back in time to the 90s, or the console is getting a resurgence thanks to the likes of ModRetro with the M64 and the Analogue 3D. We're seeing new games being found that were long forgotten, and more unreleased and new titles coming to the fold in the near future from ModRetrofamily-friendly, meaning it's never been a better time to be a die-hard N64 fan.

Back when Nintendo were pinning characters like Yoshi and Kirby as family-friendly characters, Sony were attempting to draw customers over to the PS1 with their own answer to a child-friendly title with Spyro the Dragon. I know Spyro appeared on the GBA later in life, but back when the N64 and the PS1 were competing, seeing one character on the other console would have been sacrilege. It would have been sort of like seeing Mario Kart 64 on the Dreamcast... which has actually happened.

Yes, the retro gaming community are breaking down the barriers created by the big gaming companies and giving us a chance to experience games on consoles they never should have debuted on. Other than Mario Kart 64 on Dreamcast, I've seen other games from varying systems being ported to the Dreamcast, like Star Fox 64/LylatWars, Sonic Mania, and GTA 3. These devs are answering all of the 'what if' questions we've had over the years, and seeing Spyro the Dragon in Spyro 64 would have made 8-year-old me insanely excited.

Well, it's made 35-year-old me just as excited, so I don't know why I said that!

A developer by the name of Frogbull has been working on a port of Spyro the Dragon for the N64 and has shown their progress in a YouTube video. Admittedly, it doesn't play as smoothly as the actual PS1 version, but it's exciting to see Spyro on another console. I get the same feeling as when I saw the Super Mario 64 GBA port - it's not perfect, but it's still an impressive feat.

Writing on Reconnect 64 and his YouTube, Frogbull says, 'Spyro 64 is an old project I've had for quite some time, basically my first steps into N64 homebrew. I recently learned that a very promising and advanced decompilation project has been started by ALTRO50, so this homemade attempt at recreating Spyro on the Nintendo 64 doesn't have much purpose anymore as there's a good chance an actual port will end up coming to this good old... SIXTYYYY FOUUUR!'

So, while this version is incomplete, we at least know that a full port capitalising on Frogbull's idea could be coming our way very soon! I love seeing the efforts of gamers like Frogbull challenging what we know and remember about retro gaming past, and I'm excited to see more of these ports coming to the fold in the coming years!