I thought Johan got eaten by a giant fish?!

"a great fish" is often enterpreted as a whale by theological historians.

BOT...

-The uniforms that the rhynocs in Agent 9's Lab wear are red jumpsuits; the type worn by officers that would be the first to die in old episodes of Star Trek

-The Ripto banner is visible on the bottom side of the skate/snowboards that Spyro rides.

-In Enchanted Towers, after the artist Mowat explains to you his dilemma with his lost pet wolf, Farley, he says "Don't cry wolf. Never cry wolf." This is a reference to the movie Never Cry Wolf, which is about (suprise, suprise!) wolves.

-Byrd, James Byrd... need I say more?

-The rabbit law-enforcers of Dino Mines share names with the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday.

-Before Sheila's minigame in Desert Ruins, she mentions the feeling of "yesteryear", alluding to the numerous side-scrollers of NES, Supernintendo, Sega Genesis, etc.

-The artists of Enchanted Towers share names with famous artists in history (Pablo = Pablo Picasso, etc.).

-The names of the Canadian-accented bears in Icy Peak (Doug and Bob) are an allusion to "The Great White North". A short TV show with the scamming Canadian brothers, Doug and Bob.

-The whole sheep-in-flying-saucers thing (which actually started in Ripto's Rage) is an allusion to some 1950s radio program about aliens. Not exactly sure about this one.

-Agent 9's minigame in the Fireworks Factory is a parody of the popular 1st-person-shooter game Doom.

-Agent 9's minigame in Dino Mines is a parody of many arcade games that feature enemies poping up from behind walls that you must shoot to progress (i.e. Area 51).

- :-P  (:)  :*bleep*in:

-The minigame with Jack, the magic beans, and the Golden Goose...
...once again, need I say more?

-The Sheila minigame in Sunny Villa is an allusion to the story of Rapunzel (duh).

-The name of the rhynoc who challenges the seals to a naval battle (Bluto) is a possible allusion to Bluto from "Popeye the Sailor".

Well, these are the most prominent ones. There are plenty more, but these are all I can remember right now.

You copied that from Wikipedia! You bad boy! :-P

Ah! Catch ya! You were going to do the same!   

Tut tut tut. Copying from our old friend Wikipedia?

Hmm...random trivia? The egg Jonah which is found in the Whale's Body in Year of the Dragon is derived from the old bible story of Jonah being eaten by a whale.

I thought Johan got eaten by a giant fish?!

Hmm...random trivia? The egg Jonah which is found in the Whale's Body in Year of the Dragon is derived from the old bible story of Jonah being eaten by a whale.

At the end of Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, Hunter did not come with Spyro back to the dragon realms, but at the beginning of the game, he appears with the dragons of the dragon realm as if he did.

Cutscenes in one level, "Fireworks Factory", parody The Matrix.

The game's release date coincides with the Dragon of the Chinese zodiac.

A level in the game, Desert Ruins of Midnight Mountain, parodies the Tomb Raider franchise. In it, Spyro is sent to rescue a girl who is "raiding the Tomb of Stone Golum". When you find her, she is a tall mouse named Tara who is dressed like Lara Croft.

The first production run of Spyro: Year of the Dragon featured holographic artwork on the case cover.

Several of the skateboarding tricks in the Tony Hawk–styled minigames are named after various Spyro antagonists (such as Gnasty Gnorc).
Cutscenes in one level, "Fireworks Factory", parody The Matrix.

The game's release date is astrologically correct; 2000 was the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac.