The Spyro franchise is a beloved part of many people's childhoods, and the release of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy gave many of us a chance to dive back into that nostalgia. There's a lot to love about the series: beautiful worlds with unique themes, satisfying platforming mechanics, and—most importantly—dragons!

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While Spyro isn't best known for his involved or complex boss fights, many of them have nonetheless come to feel like old friends to veterans of the series. We're going to take a look at all the bosses of the original trilogy and rank them worst to best.

13 Jacques

Most of the bosses from the original Spyro the Dragon follow the same basic formula. You chase them down and deal some damage, they flee from your might, and repeat. Jacques, a demented jack-in-the-box that throws presents at you, is a perfect example of that fairly uninteresting strategy. He won't even have time to chuck anything at you if you keep running straight for him.

12 Blowhard

Blowhard is...some kind of sentient tornado man with a beard? His boss fight is similar in form to Jacques', but he does have a few more attacks to mix things up. He'll hover out of reach, attacking with a quick lightning strike or roaming storm clouds depending on your distance. All you need to do is dodge and bide your time; he'll get too close eventually.

11 Spike

The later Spyro games switched from the chase style boss fights to a more recognizable arena where you face off against a dangerous opponent. Spike is the second boss battle in the third game, Spyro: Year of the Dragon. 

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You beat this transmogrified Rhynoc by launching balls of magma into his face. The downside is you have to wait around for your pal Sgt. Byrd to drop your ammo, so you just run in circles until you can line up a shot.

10 Buzz

Buzz isn't really that much different than Spike. It's the first boss from the same game and your goal is to charge at him and bounce him into the lava surrounding his arena. The fight goes on maybe a little too long, but at least your ally (Sheila, in this case) only joins in to deal a ground pound after you knock Buzz off his island. Plus, there's something satisfying about dodging him as he rolls around the arena.

9 Crush

Crush is the first of only three proper bosses in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! and the first in the series to have an actual health bar. While it does make a nice change from the very simple bosses in the original game, Crush still isn't a huge challenge. Mostly you just need to dodge his club and the energy attacks he fires at you, rush in, and flame him. This makes him mad and he pounds his club on the ground, causing the ceiling to fall in and, well, crush him.

8 Doctor Shemp

Another chase sequence of a boss battle, your only goal here is to flame Dr. Shemp's naked rear end. The metal armor he wears on his front is fireproof. It isn't a challenging fight, but Dr. Shemp gets a few extra points for sheer style. We mean, he's wearing sunglasses, so that obviously makes him cool. He's one of the more memorable bosses from the original for that reason alone.

7 Metalhead

Metalhead is an interesting boss from the first game because it's clearly not afraid of you. Why should it be? A massive metal robot apparently counters all the tools little Spyro has at his disposal. So instead of attacking Metalhead directly, you destroy the pylons powering it.

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You do force it to retreat once, because it needs more power to keep attack you, but it doesn't make you chase it all over the realm. An interesting change of pace from the rest.

6 Gnasty Gnorc

Gnasty Gnorc is the main villain of the original game and the one who cast the spell encasing all the adult dragons in crystal. Because he's the very first big boss, he's become an iconic Spyro villain. His boss arena is much larger than all the others and involves almost a puzzle element; you have to run down some laughing thieves carrying keys to unlock the way to Gnasty himself. After that, it devolves into another chase sequence, but Gnasty still ranks pretty high for his staying power.

5 Scorch

Scorch is the penultimate boss of Spyro: Year of the Dragon and probably the most intimidating. It looks the most monstrous by far and its ability to hover just out of reach means you've got to use a little strategy to beat him. Your friend Bentley provides you with a steady stream of combustible projectiles that basically turns Spyro's whole face into a gun to shoot that bat out of the sky. The addition of other monsters on the field also makes for a hectic time navigating that might almost feel like danger.

4 Toasty

Oh, Toasty. Toasty is the very first boss you face in the first game and, as such, he isn't very difficult to defeat. Chase him through some meadows, kill his dogs, and set his butt on fire. But his design is so fun that he featured prominently in almost all the press announcing the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. The reveal when you defeat him that he's just an angry sheep on stilts is classic. Who doesn't love Toasty?

3 The Sorceress

The Sorceress is the final boss of the third game and the source of all those baby dragons' suffering. It's a longer fight, especially by Spyro standards, but it feels good to give her a taste of some artillery. Your crazed monkey buddy Agent 9 drops in a variety of heavy weaponry to help you out.

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However, even after her first defeat, she returns in the Super Bonus Round and her second encounter is even more interesting, as you're both equipped with flying saucers.

2 Gulp

Gulp is another of Ripto's cronies from the second game and is one of the better examples of a boss battle from the franchise. This is another of those boss battles where you have to wait for an ally to drop ammunition, but the pterodactyls that are helping you have a few different items that have to be used in different ways. Gulp's moves, though simple, are fun to dodge. What really sets him apart, however, is his ability to swallow the ammo intended for you and use them to modify his own moves, making for a more unpredictable fight.

1 Ripto

Ripto is a favorite villain of many fans and for good reason. He has the most personality by far and is one of those villains you love to hate. His boss battle builds on mechanics introduced in the other fights and sees Spyro using the orbs you've collected over the course of the game as power-ups. The fight really emphasizes the player's power as they rip Ripto a new one and it makes for a very satisfying conclusion.

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