The fourth world of the game. From this point onwards, all dragons have no dialogue whatsoever and disappear as soon as they're collected.
For some reason, all of the themes used in this world loop every 2 minutes and 4 seconds - the length of Stone Hill's theme. As a result, the themes played in Terrace Village, Misty Bog and Tree Tops are cut off early, while the theme played in Wild Flight has an unusually long silence at the end before looping.
Like the other worlds, a balloonist can be found behind where you enter the level.
The wells are significantly deeper, meaning that falling into one would guarantee Spyro's death. As such, the player would have to actively look down to spot which of the wells contain water, rather than being able to see whilst standing on the rim.
The level seems to be lit a lot less well than in the final. The lighting around the Misty Bog portal in particular is a noticeably different colour.
On the building opposite the Metalhead portal, atop the steep staircase, there is what appears to be a duplicate of one of the objects used in Metalhead's portal.
Specifically, when you get close enough the word "BOSS" appears atop the staircase, and the portal humming sound plays as you approach it. This could potentially suggest that the boss portal was at some point considered to be placed above the staircase.
There is some visual glitching on the Tree Tops portal:
Part of the side of the portal frame seems to be lit incorrectly.
There's a hole in one side of the frame.
The plants scattered across the level can be ignited multiple times. Their animation plays every time and they don't become charred.
There's no whirlwind in the final section of the level.
Spyro exits the Metalhead portal facing the opposite direction to the one used in the final version. This puts him down onto the lower section of this area.
In the final version, entering the homeworld via the Misty Bog portal will make the nearby boar die automatically. In this version, the boar stays alive.
Terrace Village
Jun 15
Aug 12 Final
One of the last platforms is higher than usual, so reaching it requires the player to take a different, slightly tricker route than usual.
A structure atop one of the buildings is slightly different.
The firework rockets are placed in different positions and all point directly perpendicular to the ground.
The metal gnorc cannons have their textures and shading applied differently, in this version.
Jun 15
Aug 12 Final
Misty Bog
Jun 15
Aug 12 Final
There is no fairy holding a down arrow sign above the tree stump that Spyro jumps through.
The section before this stump is more difficult due to the increased number of enemies.
Several of the tree stump platforms are smaller than the final's.
The steps on the side of the building at the end of the level are thinner than usual.
Tree Tops
Jun 15
Aug 12 Final
The level seems to be less well-lit overall.
Several grass or log-themed platforms would eventually become stone structures in the final.
The bottoms of some of the structures appear to have changed from a grey to black between this build and the release version.
After death, the game state seems to lock into the cutscene mode used when the thieves are shown. The effect this has on the game is that, until the level is quit or the game state changes, there is a thick black border at the top and bottom of the screen and the player cannot pause the game.
Metalhead
Metalhead uses different textures.
Jun 15
Aug 12 Final
The electric poles in the boss fight are shaped and coloured differently. Furthermore, there's one more state the poles can be in when compared to the final game:
Yellow - functions the same as green in the final game, in that Spyro can charge poles in this state.
Blue - functions the same as red in the final game; Spyro cannot directly attack them and after some time the pole will change back to yellow.
Red - like the blue state, but remains in this state and does not transition to yellow. As such, Spyro has to wait for Metalhead to attack these poles himself in order to destroy them. This pole variant only appears in the second boss section and does not appear in any form in the final game.
The time that the pole spends in the Yellow (Green) state appears to be shorter, as does the time for it to switch to the Blue state.
The dragon has moved slightly, now inside the building instead of outside.
There's two torches next to the dragon instead of one. Furthermore, one of the torches is awkwardly placed in the middle of the path.
The door into Metalhead's section does not lower once he is defeated.
The enemies above Metalhead are visible, instead of only appearing when Metalhead uses them.
There's an extra enemy just before the exit vortex. This may have been removed as, after the boss fight, it's easy to be caught off guard by the gnorc and potentially have to start the boss fight again as a result.
Despite apparently having 500 gems according to the inventory, only 495 gems can be collected.
It's also a lot easier to miss gems in this version as, when an enemy dies at high speed, the gem shoots at Spyro at incredible speeds. This is usually collected by the player, but it's possible for the gem to miss.
Wild Flight
Jun 15
Aug 12 Final
The player is given 20 seconds instead of 25.
The level model and textures are in an incredibly basic state.
All walls in the level are strictly verticle instead of having a more "natural" shape to them.
All walls use a placeholder texture, as does the water.
There are many large holes in the floor of the level, too.
The floor inside one of the tunnels does not act as a water layer, and as such it can be walked upon.
The level seems to be missing many basic sound effects.
Unlike all earlier flight levels in this build, the "10 seconds remaining" sound does not play every second - nor does it play at all, even when the timer gets low.
The sound that plays when all eight of an object type has been destroyed does not play.
