"spyro the dragon" is a 3d platform game; the player controls the titular character as he ventures across the realms of the dragon world to defeat the antagonistic gnasty gnorc, as well as rescue his fellow dragons and recover all of their stolen treasure. worlds consist of six dragon "home worlds", each of which acts as a dedicated hub, containing portals that serve as gateways to different levels. the player must progress from one homeworld to the next by talking to a balloonist, who transports spyro to the next world on a hot air balloon after the player has found the required collectibles in the current given world. in addition to regular platforming stages, each homeworld contains a boss fight and a hidden flight stage that involves flying throughout an environment and destroying a number of objects.