I'll be honest, I've only played/completed four games
Spyro 1, Ripto's rage, Eternal Night, Dawn of the Dragon
Comparing the first two... Ripto's rage is a whole lot better. Sure Spyro the Dragon may of been my very first Playstation game, but Ripto's rage was a whole lot better.
The other world's had their own story, their own problems, The back tracking was okay... but I find it funny, it seemed like the other worlds just got into trouble as soon as you save them. Also having permanent super fire breath is awesome, only thing that could make it better was that having super flight and charge.
and glitches galore... my favorite being the swim in air glitch