Mario references? In MY Spyro? Pah!

pur · Jul 14, 2009 6:22 PM

Obvious title is obvious.

What references to other games are there in the Spyro games? The title I've given to this line of thought doesn't, in fact, refer to the Professor's dialogue to Spyro about the Ball Gadget. I'm talking about Gnasty Gnorc. To me, he seems to a subtle-yet-obvious reference to Mario. Specifically, a reference to some early villains.

Gnasty's facial shape, his underbite, his ears (which the Gnorc army have had since Spyro 1, with Gnasty also gaining these ears in AHT) and eyes resemble that of Tatanga, 'the Mysterious Spaceman', who was the main villain in 'Super Mario Land' and who was revealed to be working for Wario in 'Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins'.

On the other hand, his status as the first true villain, the army of the same species as him, his somewhat limited levels of magic, his overall build, the somewhat-spiky armour accents, his attitude and possibly even the fact Gnasty went from a threat to a laugh mirrors the traits of some turtle dude that may be less well known than Tatanga (some weird name like Bowser Koopa. Someone confirm that for me).

Basically, if you stripped Gnasty of his specific Spyro traits, many other characters from other series can be seen in him. Any other references that seem like that? Any more obvious references (i.e. the Ball Gadget dialogue)?

ratchet · Jul 15, 2009 2:18 PM

I Think Gnasty Gnorc Originally, And In A hero's Tail was a very generic character. One of those, Big, Strong Dumb bosses Which are easily fooled. And yes, Gnasty's design while i dont think Ripped off anything particular, was a generic "Big boss" Design. You could say he's just a redesign of Bowser really. I personally think that Ripto wasthe best designed character in the franchise, and the reason they used him so bloody much.

Cokuruscana · Jul 31, 2009 3:55 PM

I don't see much similarities. Many videogame studios go for the big, dumb bosses with a hulky build. I've seen countless bosses similar in personality and body-shapes. It's very likely it's just a set design.

~cornys~ · Aug 12, 2009 3:28 AM

have we learnd that everything is riping something else off yet?

#1 Jul 14, 2009 6:22 PM

Mario references? In MY Spyro? Pah!

#2 Jul 15, 2009 2:18 PM

Re: Mario references? In MY Spyro? Pah!

#3 Jul 31, 2009 3:55 PM

Re: Mario references? In MY Spyro? Pah!

#4 Aug 12, 2009 3:28 AM

Re: Mario references? In MY Spyro? Pah!

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