Revisiting a Classic: Spyro Enter the Dragonfly, Dead on Arrival & Left Behind
Enter the Dragonfly wasn’t that bad…to the salon!
By Yoyo
Same sick burns, same smoldering attitude, now all scaled up in stunning HD, Spyro is back in the Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy! Rekindle the fire with remastered versions of the original three games, Spyro™ the Dragon, Spyro™ 2: Ripto's Rage! and Spyro™: Year of the Dragon.
We all know and love Spyro the Dragon, he’s one of the more iconic furry figures we have in gaming. With a new Spyro game on the horizon, I thought it would only be fitting to talk about the forgotten fourth installment of the Spyro series, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.
When I heard we were getting original remakes of the first three iconic PlayStation titles, I was so hyped! The Reignited Trilogy is still the best way to enjoy the first three Spyro games. It got me thinking, “hmm maybe we’ll see a fourth game soon.”
Come Xbox’s gaming showcase (Summer 2026) and we got none other than Spyro: A Realm Beyond…wait a minute, that’s not Enter the Dragonfly? WHAT HAPPENED TO ENTER THE DRAGONFLY?
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly released on PlayStation 2 and Gamecube in 2002. This title was the first in the series not made by Insomniac, contracts ended and apparently so did the love for our little dragon friend. Fair enough considering they didn’t have anymore ideas for him.
It was up to our friends, Equinoxe Digital Entertainment and Check Six Studios, to bring the newest adventure to life…which they definitely tried — and this isn’t to bash any devs, Enter the Dragonfly was put through hell and back. I’m surprised the game released considering…the incident.
Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is the fourth game in the Spyro the Dragon series and the first Spyro game to be on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube. Gameplay is similar to the previous three console games. The only playable character is Spyro, however he can man several vehicles: Hunter's Manta Ray and the UFO's make a return appearance from Year of the Dragon, alongside two new vehicles, the tank and the Spitfire attack plane. The game faced development issues that affected the final product, which resulted in being poorly made. Upon release, it was widely criticized for its numerous glitches, long loading times, and choppy framerate, with fans and critics calling it the worst entry in the franchise.
I’m not saying the game is awful, I’m just saying that collected over 80 dragonflies can become a bit repetitive. Don’t get me wrong, I actually really love this game. I’ve been replaying it on Dolphin and it’s more enjoyable now that I can hold the controller properly.
The music in Enter the Dragonfly is one of the better aspects of the game, the tropical level has such a good soundtrack that I cannot help humming along.
But going back to it, I can see why it’s such a low rated game (even for the 2000s). It’s a very simply platformer. You go into a level, you collect gems, you collect the dragonfly, you free the Dragon Masters, rinse repeat. There are mini-games in each level, but some of them are so incredibly rage inducing that I just skip them entirely.
Universal changed their minds about the games direction so many times that it became impossible for anything concrete to stick. Which left the dev team to release a buggy, undeveloped, unfinished game. Spyro was clipping through walls or the ground, the abilities didn’t work half the time and don’t even get me started on that camera.
Even though the game (and the development) has its issues , I don’t think it’s fair to leave it behind and pretend that it isn’t the fourth installment or that it even exists.
Enter the Dragonfly deserves to have a chance at being a real game with people who have love for Spyro and the franchise. The game still has people who love it and are even creating mods in The Reignited Trilogy of Enter the Dragonfly.
It deserves another chance.
Toys For Bob if you see this, please please PLEASE add something that gives a nod back to Enter the Dragonfly into Spyro: A Realm Beyond.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to follow for more! <3