Time to reveal a new mechanic I`d add to the series: The Buddy System.

The Buddy System basically means that in this adventure, Spyro is constantly accompanied by another hero, who also has their own dragonfly protecting them (Sparx`s spectacled cousin, Spex). This ally can follow Spyro, cooperate with him to solve puzzles, and team up with him to battle enemies, which would appear in far greater number and with far greater variety and strength than in past Spyro games (many enemies would take more than one or two hits to kill, taking a page from Ratchet & Clank`s book). While Hunter would be the only Buddy available at first, as Spyro ventured he would find more allies to join him in his quest to stop Kaos.

The Triangle button would recieve a new function: Buddy Commands. These consist of five basic commands: Attack (your buddy seeks out enemies and attacks them), Wait (your buddy stands still, quite simply; they attack enemies that get too close or attack them), Action (they perform various actions such as rotating a handle or pulling a chain to open a door), Follow (quite simply, they follow Spyro and attack enemies with less aggression than in Attack mode), and Switch, which allows you to switch control between Spyro and his chosen Buddy (whereupon you can then issue Buddy Commands to Spyro instead).

Another special feature is the Team-Up, where Spyro and his buddy become a single unit in some fashion (usually by Spyro riding on his buddy`s back, but there are exceptions where noted). In this state, their abilities are combined to allow them to perform new skills such as firing flaming arrows or hovering short distances. While this state can be quite effective at fighting enemies, the player has to be careful; one hit will separate both heroes, as well as take some life away from both dragonflies. Fortunately, unision can be resumed at a moment`s notice, so the separation becomes little more than an annoyance as opposed to a significant threat (unless you`re over a deep chasm or something).

Sometimes, teaming up is necessary to progress further, such as using Hunter`s Flame Arrow to light farway torches perched on a cliffside that Spyro could never hope to reach. Other times, dragon and friend must be separate to tackle a puzzle from two sides (such as venturing down two separate tunnels to press switches to open a door that will only open if both switches are pressed down at the same time), resulting in some interesting cooperation challenges.

Also, I`m sure some of you are curious as to how you can switch your Buddies out; well, the Professor has answered that question. Since it would be most inconvenient to constantly run back and forth across vast lands just to switch your partners, the Professor has built a Teleporter that serves two functions: Allowng you to teleport to other activated Teleporters in the same level, and allowing you to switch out your current Buddy for one waiting in reserve (Teleporters are only available once you reach Autumn Plains, Avalar, and gain your second Buddy, Sheila).

On a side note, I`ve considered a second subtitle besides Spyro: Elements of Kaos; how would Spyro: Rise of the Forbidden Ones sound instead? Maybe I should make a poll out of it? Well, on my next post, I`ll introduce most of the main characters and cover a few of the more common Forbidden One variants. After that, I might move on to covering some of the many worlds Spyro and his friends will visit in their quest to stop Kaos, Gnasty, Ripto and the Forbidden Ones.

How would the gamplay work? Would it be more like ANB? How about the breaths, what types, upgrads etc.?

Now for the main characters (I`ll list playable character controls in another post):

Spyro & Sparx

The purple dragon`s back in another adventure! Just after defeating the Sorceress in the Forgotten Realms and resuming the Year of the Dragon festival that was interrupted when she arranged for the theft of 101 dragon eggs, Spyro`s about ready to take a break from adventuring when two newly-borns alert him and his buddy Hunter to trouble going down at the Artisans dragon village. Before he knows it, Spyro finds himself fighting against two old enemies, Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto, only this time they`re accompanied by a withered old black dragon, truly shocking considering both villains` antagonistic history with dragons. Looks liks Spyro`s up against foes new and old this time.

Spex 

Sparx`s spectacled cousin, Spex is the Professor`s smallest pupil, and serves two major purposes: He serves as your Buddies` health indicator (much like Sparx does for Spyro), and he also gives you advice at certain points in the game. Both Sparx and Spex have this setup for health denominations:

100% - Gold; Everything`s all clear!
75% - Blue; Still peachy!
50% - Green; Gettin` a little weak here...
25% - Red; Danger! Danger!
1% - Gone; Better watch yourself!

Any damage incurred would always leave you with a minimum 1% health left over; however, if you were damaged again with only that 1% left, then you`d lose a life, regardless if it`s Spyro or his Buddy. Thankfully, you could find specific health upgrades for both dragonflies, which would obviously increase the amount of damage they could take.

Hunter

Having been an ally of Spyro since their battle against Ripto in Avalar, Hunter`s the second-best friend around to the purple dragon. When the Forbidden Ones come a knockin` on the Realms` proverbial front door, Hunter readily accompanies Spyro on his latest adventure, bringing his bow and arrows plus his awesome skills with which he`ll battle this new threat. Who knows, he might even run across a certain lagomorphic sorceress-in-training again...Hunter`s main strength is his running speed, allowing him to easily keep pace with Spyro. He also has a variety of combat and evasion manuevers, which will be covered later on.

The Professor

Spyro and Hunter reunite with this brainy mole not long before entering Avalar. He aids them by building Teleporters that will teleport Spyro to other parts of a level, as well as swap out his buddies when the situation calls for it. He also gives Spyro a pair of Communicators, used to communicate between Spyro and his current Buddy for Buddy Commands. Finally, he also aids Spyro by creating powerful potions that can temporarily grant the dragon special powers like invincibility, helping Spyro out in times of need.

Kaos, the fallen Elder

An old, withery black dragon, Kaos has awoken after a long sleep and is ready to resume his conquest of the world. But first, he must retrieve his long lost power in the form of four magical artifacts, remnants of the Dragon Elder that defeated him a thousand years ago. To this end, he has convinced Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto to help him, despite being a dragon himself, by promising them the destruction of all dragonkind and places of power in his re-shaped world. Will even Spyro be able to defeat Kaos if he manages to restore his lost magic? Of course, knowing Spyro, that`s not happening anytime soon...or so we can hope.

Don`t worry folks, I`ll fit Elora and Bianca in there somewhere...and I`ll give bios for the other playable characters when I list them and their unique controls. After that, time for some of the Forbidden Ones, and then some of the worlds.

im getting into this keep it coming

This is getting more and more intersting by the post

I realized I never gave bios for the other playable characters, so here they are:

Sheila

When Spyro and Hunter first return to Autumn Plains, Avalar, they find Sheila the Kangaroo outside the Citadel walls, a little downcast. Approaching her, they learn that the billy goats wanted to see Avalar, so she accompanied them there. Once they reached the kingdom, nasty beasts showed up (the Forbidden Ones) and sent the terrified goats scattering, each running into a separate portal. Sheila joins up with Spyro`s group to enter the three portals and find the Billy Goats, as well as kick some Forbidden butt.

Sgt. Byrd

When the Forbidden Ones attacked Midday Gardens in the Forgotten Worlds, Sgt. Byrd quickly lept to the frontlines in defense of the Forgotten World. He has tried hard to repel the invading monsters, but when Spyro`s group arrives to lend assistance (with Bianca in tow), Sgt. Byrd welcomes their intervention, bravely joining them in the siege of the Forbidden Ones` fortress.

Bentley

Bentley was enjoying a climb in the Border Mountains with his brother Bartholomew when the range came under invasion by "malodorous, cantankerous oppressors", who imprisoned the mountains` inhabitants and Bartholomew with them, hiding the keys in nearby realms. Bentley readily accompanies Spyro on his virtuous exploit to vacate the mountains of their undesirable presence, as well as rescue Barty.

Agent 9

Ever the overzealous combatant, Agent 9 followed the Forbidden Ones through a portal without considering where it might lead, ultimately transporting him to Ripto`s own world, Reptisauria. Once there, he continued hunting down and exterminating the Forbidden Ones despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered. When Spyro`s party crosses paths with him by pure coincidence, he happily tags along, allowing them to join in the "fun".

I might cover a few more realms, or possibly the general structure of the Home Worlds in my next post. One of these days, I might also begin writing a fun little idea of mine that I call a script theatre, detailing the scenes of the game and the dialogue that takes place in them. Question: Would it be advisable to start introducing enemies back into the Home Worlds (like in Spyro 1), at least in parts of them?

Nice job crossfire!

Here`s the basic structure for most of the Home Worlds:

You`ll start out with roughly three Realm Portals to reach and enter, with there being a collective goal to reach by clearing all three realms` main objective, after which you`ll have access to the Home World`s latter half, which is usually equally dangerous and oftentimes as puzzle-ridden, and with roughly three of it`s own realms to explore (although numbers can vary, such as with Artisans, which only has four normal realms - Dragon Shores, where you begin the game a la Glimmer, and Peace Keepers, Beast Makers, and Dream Weavers, all of which have one of the Temple Keys). After clearing every realm, a boss level of some sort opens up.

Also, Speedways and possibly even Sparx levels would return.

A unique feature of this game`s Home Worlds would be that there would be a one-time boss fought somewhere in the Home World itself, usually involving Gnasty, Ripto, or both, when you`ve reached the halfway point of that HW.