Can you play Spyro the Dragon on iPhone?

Yes. Add a disc image of your own copy of Spyro the Dragon to Nagori, a PS1 emulator from the App Store, and it plays on iPhone and iPad with touch controls or a controller.

Is Spyro the Dragon free on iPhone?

Nagori doesn't include or sell games, so you need your own copy. The app itself lets you add your first game for free.

Can I use an analog stick in Spyro the Dragon on iPhone?

Yes. Choose the D-Pad + Stick or DualShock touch layout for an on-screen stick, or steer with the left stick of a controller.

Can I save anywhere in Spyro the Dragon?

Yes. In Nagori you can make a save state at any moment, for example before a flight level, and the game also resumes exactly where you left it.

Can I play Spyro the Dragon with a controller on iPhone?

Yes. Bluetooth controllers that iOS supports, including DualSense, DualShock 4 and Xbox controllers, work with Nagori, and the touch controls hide as soon as one connects.

Do I need a BIOS to play Spyro the Dragon on iPhone?

No. Nagori starts PS1 games without a BIOS file.

How to Play Spyro the Dragon on iPhone

Insomniac Games’ 1998 platformer stars a young purple dragon. When Gnasty Gnorc turns the other dragons to crystal, Spyro sets off across open 3D worlds to free them, collecting gems and chasing down the thieves who stole the dragon eggs, with Sparx the dragonfly at his side. If you own the game, Nagori lets you play it on iPhone and iPad.

What you need

An iPhone or iPad with iOS 17.6 or later.
Nagori from the App Store. Your first game is free.
A disc image of your copy of Spyro the Dragon: .chd, .cue + .bin, .pbp, .iso or .img, or a .zip or .rar containing it. The game fits on a single disc.

No BIOS file is needed.

How to play Spyro the Dragon on iPhone

Install Nagori from the App Store.
Copy your Spyro the Dragon disc image to the Files app, in iCloud Drive or On My iPhone.
Open Nagori, tap + and select the file. For a .cue image, select the .cue together with all of its .bin files, or add the archive they came in.
Find Spyro on the PS1 shelf with its box art and press Play.

Controls

Spyro the Dragon works with both the D-pad and the analog stick, and in its open worlds a stick feels more natural. Pause, open Settings and switch Touch Layout to D-Pad + Stick or DualShock for an on-screen stick, or stay on Standard to steer with the D-pad.

Spyro’s charge, flame, jump and glide all sit on the face buttons. Reaching a far ledge takes a well-timed jump into a glide, so if your thumb keeps missing it, open Edit Layout in the pause menu and make the jump button bigger, or drag it to where your thumb rests.

With a controller, every button sits where it did on the PlayStation pad, and you steer with the left stick. Press the left stick to open the pause menu.

Saves

Spyro the Dragon keeps your progress on a memory card. In Nagori, each game has its own memory card, written every few seconds, so those saves work as they did on the console. On top of that:

Quit any time. Leave in the middle of a level and Continue puts you back exactly where you were.
Save states. Pause and choose Save before a flight level, where you race the clock to hit every target, or before you chase an egg thief. If the run goes wrong, Load and try again. Nagori keeps your last four saves per game.

Save states also help when you hunt for the last gems of a level: save before a risky jump to a ledge, and a missed glide costs you a few seconds instead of a life.

Best settings

Quality: High, the default, renders the game’s 3D at twice the original resolution.
Precise Geometry, in Advanced Settings, steadies the slight wobble of PS1 polygons. Try it in the wide open worlds, where the ground and walls stretch far ahead of you.
Screen Effects → CRT Screen adds scanlines if you want the game to look like it did on a 1990s TV.