Prerelease:Spyro: A Hero's Tail (GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Spyro: A Hero's Tail (GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2).

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Add sub-page for the leaked design documents. Add sub-page(s) for early gameplay videos and trailers. Add sub-page(s) for early screenshots. Add information about press kits and what they contain. Add information about the game's instruction manual and the Prima strategy guide.

Sub-Pages

Concept Art Sketches, storyboards, maps etc.

Development Timeline

• October 2002
  • Initial design proposals are sent to Vivendi Universal.

• November 2002
  • Project is set up by a skeleton team under the working title "Spyro: The Dark Realms".

• November 11th 2002
  • First conference call with Vivendi Universal is held.

• Early 2003
  • First deliverables to Vivendi Universal were made in the form of design and technical design documents.

• Early 2004
  • The game's title is changed from "Spyro: The Dark Realms" to "Spyro: A Hero's Tail".

• April 6th 2004
  • Build date of the North American release of the E3 demo.

• April 13th 2004
  • Build date of the European release of the E3 demo.

• April 27th 2004
  • Spyro: A Hero's Tail is first announced by Vivendi Universal. It's set for release in the last quarter of 2004.

• May 11th-14th 2004
  • Spyro: A Hero's Tail is revealed during E3 2004, and the first playable demo is released in a bundle together with a demo of Crash Twinsanity, both for PlayStation 2.

• May 18th 2004
  • First trailer is unvelied.

• May 19th 2004
  • Build date of the much later released PlayStation Magazine demo.
  • The decision is made to replace Guy Cockcroft's existing music in the game, due to the back-and-forth of changes and feedback from the publisher taking too long.

• June 4th 2004
  • The new team at Game Audio LTD is chosen to handle the replacement of the soundtrack. Credited composers are Keith Leary, Paul Lawler, David Marsden and Craig Sharmat.

• End of June 2004
  • The first samples from the new soundtrack are received by the core developer team.

• August 3rd 2004
  • Build date of the August 3rd 2004 preview build.

• Middle of August 2004
  • Last delivery of the new soundtrack is made, with a few updates to the pieces coming at later dates. The time frame for the soundtrack's production is estimated to be around 10 weeks.

• Early September
  • All console versions are presented at the September 2004 Game Stars Live event in London.

• September 7th 2004
  • Build date of the September 7th 2004 review build.

• September 10th 2004
  • Build date of the retail North American Xbox version.
  • Build date of the retail North American PlayStation 2 version.

• September 17th 2004
  • Build date of the retail North American GameCube version.

• September 24th 2004
  • Build date of the retail European Xbox version.

• September 27th 2004
  • Build date of the retail European GameCube version.

• October 4th 2004
  • Vivendi Universal announces that development on Spyro: A Hero's Tail has completed.

• October 6th 2004
  • Build date of the retail European PlayStation 2 version.

• Late October
  • First preview coverage of the game in Cube and IGN.

• November 2004
  • The Australian edition of PlayStation 2 Official Magazine features a playable demo in its November issue.

• November 2nd 2004
  • Spyro: A Hero's Tail is first released in the US.

• November 16th 2004
  • Spyro: A Hero's Tail is released for PlayStation 2 in the EU.

• November 19th 2004
  • Spyro: A Hero's Tail is released for Xbox in the EU.

• November 26th 2004
  • Spyro: A Hero's Tail is released for GameCube in the EU.

Early Name & Logo

To do: This is probably temporary, it's information that should be put together with the other design documents differences.

According to the design documents, the original title for Spyro: A Hero's Tail was Spyro: The Dark Realms or Spyro 5: The Dark Realms. Inside some of the documents, an early logo with this name can also be found.

The game's final logo went through a design change. The early design was featured in the demos.
A high resolution image of the early design, and a photoshop project file for the final design, is found on a few press kit discs.

Early	Final