The purpose of this page is to point out interesting features, strange bugs and funny happenings throughout the game. Some of these things are also known as 'Easter Eggs'. Each item is also mentioned on the page(s) for the appropriate level(s). The names of the levels link to their pages.

Hackers Beware - There is a cute little anti-copy prank in this game. At some point in the game you may be visited by Zoe who tells you that you may be playing a hacked version of the game. After this your game may start to not work properly such as losing gems and eggs. This should only happen if you are using an illegal copy but may show up if your disc is damaged. I have not seen this myself but I found the sound bite of Zoe using a program called PSX Multi Converter. You can also activate the Dialog Player code in Sunrise Spring Home.

Type: 200 Msg: 0

Game programmers have been known to include little pranks like this to deter pirates but sometimes they backfire and end up hurting legal owners.

It's OK to say No - Tell Moneybags no and see what he says. Also talk to him when you don't have enough money. There are several times when you don't have to pay Moneybags. Anything you don't pay for will be automatically opened after the you defeat Moneybags. If you pay for everything you will end up paying 8000 gems. You can avoid paying up to 5200 gems but that will make the chase that much shorter.

Don't Pay Moneybags mini walkthrough:

Level	Item	Cost	Optional?
Sunrise Spring	Free Sheila	300	Must Pay
Cloud Spires	Start Bellows	200	Must Pay
Molten Crater	Open Thief Chase	300	Don't Pay
Midday Garden	Free Sgt. Byrd	700	Must Pay
Icy Peak	Open Ice Dancing	500	Don't Pay
Spooky Swamp	Open Door	500	Go Around
Evening Lake	Free Bentley	1000	Must Pay
Frozen Alters	Cat Hockey	800	Don't Pay
Charmed Ridge	Raise Steps	600	Must Pay
Midnight Mountain	Free Agent 9	1300	Don't Pay
Crystal island	Bridge	1000	Don't Pay
Desert Ruins	Open Door	800	Don't Pay

Agent 9: If you don't pay to free Agent 9 he will be standing at the entrance to Agent 9's Lab after you chase Moneybag's. When you talk to him you get only text saying "Thanks for freeing me. Why don't you come visit me in my home world" and then he walks into the portal. No cool movie, No cool Agent 9 voice.

I think paying Moneybags makes the game longer and more fun but it's fun to keep gems out of that grubby bear's hands too.

You got more to say? - Talk to the NPC's (especially Moneybags) after you have finished their tasks. They often have something more to say.

Sheila's Alp - Kick the Billy Goats

Sunny Villa

Break Down the posts: Charge the turning posts repeatedly and they will begin to bend over. Keep charging and they will eventually turn up-side-down.

Icy Peak - Nancy

Enchanted Towers the People here have some interesting names:

• Mowat and his wolf, Farley: Farley Mowat is an author. He wrote Never Cry Wolf.
• Pablo: Possibly named after Pablo Picasso, Spanish Painter and Sculptor

Evening Lake - Activated the dialog player code here and hear the Professor talk about rocket plans and ninjas. Obviously a left over from an unused idea.

Type: 6 Msg: 0 & 1

Bentley's Outpost - Hit Bartholomew with your club. You can also bang the gong.

Lost Fleet - B is for Bryan and Brenda - If you you look at the bow (front) of most of the ships here you will see a letter 'B'. My guess is it's for Bryan and Brenda who appear on the walls in Spyro 2.

Midnight Mountain - The mysterious pillar island - You may have noticed a tall pillar like island in the distance and maybe you even tried to glide to it, but you can't. What is it for? Was it just put there to drive us nuts? It definitely has structure. It is a 3D object made of polygons and not just part of the background. Well the answer is finally here. Thanks to aquablackmage (who figured it out) and GSCentral (who has the GameShark code) we now know there are 3 Life Butterfly Jars up there.

The Code only works with the original version of the game and it lets you jump higher and stay at the same level while gliding by holding . I have a version 3.4 CD GameShark

D007143A BFFF
30070330 00FF

Agent 9's Lab

• Big Sparx - Press Triangle to switch to sniper mode. Press and hold R1 until zoomed in all the way. Press Start and select Atlas from the menu. You will be on the contents page and at first you won't see Sparx. Press down on the D-Pad 3 times and You will see a huge Sparx.
• Big Spyro - Press Triangle to switch to sniper mode. Press and hold R1 until zoomed in all the way. Press Start and select Exit Level from the menu. Spyro and the Green Gem will be huge during the flying sequence. This does not work on the Greatest Hits version.

Dino Mines

WANTED! The return of Dan. - Who's that on all the wanted posters? If you ask me it looks like Dan from the coins in Mystic Marsh from Spyro 2.

Secret Sub-Level - Using the swimming glitch in Dino Mines you can find a secret sub-level. It is probably leftover from an idea that never got completed. See the Dino Mines page for more info.

Things to burn

• Sunny Villa - Flower
• Molten Crater - Flowers
• Bamboo Terrace - Bamboo sprouts

All that Jazz - Several of the baby Dragons are named after musicians. Some are obviously intentional.

• Coltrane - John Coltrane
• Bruce - Bruce Springstein or is it Springsteen
• Vanessa -Vanessa Williams
• Miles - Miles Davis
• Dizzy - Dizzy Gillespie
• Duke - Duke Elington
• John - John Lenon
• Dave
• Mingus - Charles Mingus
• Chet - Chet Atkins
• Thelonious - Thelonious Monk
• Herbi - Herbi Hancock
• Frank - Frank Sinatra
• Brubeck - Dave Brubeck
• Stuart - Stuart Copeland (Drummer of the Police, Wrote Music for Spyro Games)
• Craig
• Chuck - Chuck Berry
• Brian
• Charlie - Charlie Parker
• Eric
• Buddy - Buddy Guy, Buddy Holly, Buddy Davis
• Billy - Billy Holiday
• Al - Weird Al Yankovic
• Hank - Hank Williams
• Lester - Lester Young, Mr. Lester, My music teacher in Jr. High.
• Pete
• Dan
• Nelly
• Andy
• Tony - Tony Bennett
• Jason
• Ted
• Dwight

All the Others - Several of the baby Dragons are named after other people.

• Sanders - Colonel Sanders
• Cerny - Mark Cerny, Game Producer and Designer
• Dan
• Bryan
• Shemp
• Sigfried & Roy
• Jonah - From The Bible, swallowed by a big fish(whale).
• Shelly
• Modesty
• Yin and Yang

Spyro's voice (in this game) is done by Tom Kenny the same guy who voiced Sponge Bob Square Pants.

Playing on PS2 - Spyro Year of the Dragon should work just fine on a PlayStation 2 but you must use a PS1 Memory card with it. Smooth texture is not very noticeable unless you are really close to a wall. Fast Disc speed seems to sometimes cause lockups.

Demo Mode - After the ninja flips by once the Demo Mode begins:

1. Lost Fleet - Subs (Greatest Hits Version Only)
2. Super Bonus World - Yeti Race (Greatest Hits Version Only)
3. Molten Crater - Sgt. Byrd
4. Fireworks Factory
5. Enchanted Towers - Skate Park
6. Frozen Alters - Boxing
7. Fireworks Factory - Bad Dragon
8. Dino Mines - Shafted
9. Honey Speedway

Spyro Demo - Crash Bash has a Demo of Spyro: Year of the Dragon on it.
Hold R1 + L1 + Square and press Start at the opening screen (Universal Studios or the Eurocom)

Bugs, Glitches, and Goofs

Speedway Egg Bug

Bug alert - Once you enter a speedway do not leave until you have obtained both the Time Attack and Race eggs. You may not be able to get the eggs next time. This bug should only exist in the original release of the game.

If you do not get an egg after completing the Race or Time Attack there are a few things you can do.

1. Get (buy, rent, borrow) a copy of the Greatest Hits or Collector's Edition (Platinum Edition in Europe) version. Load your save game it it will give you the egg.

2. Contact Sony tech support. they may have you send in your memory card.

3. CHEAT! Use the level warp code to get into the Super Bonus World. You can only do this after you finish Bugbot Factory. I wouldn't call it cheating if you get everything else before you use the code.

4. Start over from the beginning, whenever you enter a speedway do not leave until you have both the time attack and race eggs.

This bug had never happened to me because as soon as I heard about it I never left the Speedways until I had finished them, but recently I purposefully tried to make it happen and I got it to happen on the Race in Mushroom Speedway. The egg animation doesn't even happen! It seems that the bug may not happen unless you quit the game between the time of your first attempt and the time you beat it.

I tried the Time Attack, failed on purpose, left the level, came back, beat the Time Attack, GOT the egg.

I tried the Race, failed on purpose, left the level, turned off the PlayStation. Turn back on, loaded my game, went back to the level, beat the race, DID NOT get the egg.

I kept the save file so I can try the Greatest Hits fix above. When I got the Greatest Hit's Version I loaded up my game and it did give me the egg. The save file from the new version will work with the old version.

The Swimming Glitch - The swimming glitch is back. the swimming glitch lets you swim through an entire level. Here are the levels it works in:

• Bamboo Terrace
• Crystal Islands
• Dino Mines

Fireworks Factory Gem Bug

Agent 9's Lab Snipe the boats Bug - Sometimes when you complete this task the FIRST time it will say 'YOU ALREADY HAVE THIS EGG'. Don't worry it still gives you the egg.

Version 1.1 - The Greatest Hits, and Collector's should both be version 1.1. Here is a list of Changes:

1. Intro - You can not shorten the intro by hitting START, The intro cuts to "DEMO MODE" sooner.
2. Demo Mode - The Demo Mode has two additional Demos
3. The Speedway Egg Bug
   • The Speedway Egg Bug should not occur
   • Fixes save games from older versions where the Speedway Egg Bug did Occur (gives you the egg)
4. Charmed Ridge Trick Whirlwind - There is a whirlwind on one of the draw bridges of the castle that looks like it will take you to the platform above but it drops you just short. You can make it if you hover though. This whirlwind was fixed in the Greatest Hits Version
5. The movie "Spike is Born" will play before you face Spike
6. Big Spyro fixed
7. New Music
   • Mushroom Speedway - Use to be the same a Harbor Speedway
   • Country Speedway - Use to be the same a Harbor Speedway
   • Honey Speedway - Use to be the same a Harbor Speedway
   • Evening Lake - Use to be the same as Sunrise Spring
   • Lost Fleet - Use to be the "Acid Song" also heard in the Super Bonus World, now has new version of the music in Sheila's Alp.
   • Enchanted Towers sub areas - Used to be the same as Desert Ruins
   • Haunted Tomb - Used to be the same as Cloud Spires
   • Crystal Islands - Used to be the same as Seashell Shore
   • Dino Mines - Used to be the same as Molten Crater
8. GameShark Codes are different.

The save file from the new version will work with the old version and vice versa.

PAL versions: According to Insomniac the Speedway egg bug was partially fixed in the original PAL release. The Spike is Born video is fixed in the original release. It seems none of the new music is found in any PAL version.

Why 117%? - Spyro 1 was 120% and Spyro 2 was 100% so why is Spyro 3 117%? well it's actually more mathematically correct than Spyro 1.

First of all Skill points don't count in the percentage.

here is the math:

148 eggs and 15000 gems equals 100% in the game.

There are 2 bonus eggs
2 is 1.351% of 148

There are 5000 bonus Gems
5000 is 33.333% of 15000

the average of 1.351 and 33.333 is 17.342%

100% + 17.342% = 117.342%

That is why you get 117% (rounded to the nearest %)