Spyro: Season of Ice

The fourth Spyro the Dragon game, released on the Game Boy Advance in 2001. The first not to be developed by Insomniac.

A sorcerer named Grendor has frozen all the fairies of the dragon realms into ice, and plans to take all their wings for a spell to cure his headache (ironically induced by tinkering with Bianca's spellbook without her permission). Spyro and Sparx set out to rescue the fairies.

Tropes used in Spyro: Season of Ice include:

• Bottomless Pit: All levels that are not surrounded by water or lava are surrounded by an abyss.
• Floating Continent: All levels that are not instead surrounded by water or lava.
• 100% Completion: Required to face the final boss.
• Isometric Projection
• Super Drowning Skills. If Spyro so much as dips his toe into the water, he sinks like a rock and, unlike in Spyro the Dragon, he cannot jump out.
• Unexpected Shmup Level:
  • Sparx's levels are played like top-down shooters, just like in Spyro: Year of the Dragon.
  • Somewhat similar to the original trilogy, there are "speedway" levels in which Spyro flies indefinitely, collecting gems and time bonuses to complete the level before time runs out. However, in this installment, Spyro shoots ahead of him rather than breathe fire and the levels play more like rail shooters, culminating in a boss fight at the end.
• We Could Have Avoided All This