Crash Bandicoot!

[Yardley]

Anyone got a little bit of love for the bandicoot bunch? ^^

I had all the games when I was a kid on the PS1 and as I had little else to do I played the royal heck out of them. The relaunch of the trilogy on PS4 a few years ago was masterful and really well crafted, the CTR remake was beautiful with great multiplayer (still online but sadly very underpopulated now) and Crash 4: It's About Time brought all the nostalgia back and then some. (Then they ruined it all with Crash Team Rumble and god knows where we stand now)

I'm delighted that Crash was around for a few more years in the modern console era, whether he'll get another game is anyone's guess but it feels unlikely. Who else was a Crash fan then, or now? What were your favourite levels? Who were your favourite characters? Let's chat all things Crash!

[DustStar]

Funny enough I just finished playing the first 2 GBA games and was starting to replay Crash 2 (PSX) a few days ago. The games are such a solid series of platformers. It's a huge shame that its very likely about to go dormant again.

[Yardley]

They didn't have a lot to play with with those GBA games but they pulled off a good little series! There's a couple of interesting little challenges in there but oh some proper duds too xD

[Ja'aran]

I like the original Crash Trilogy a whole bunch, but... Twinsanity has an amazing soundtrack. Oh, and some of the racing games are literally so good, they're better than Mario Kart.

My favourite is Crunch Bandicoot.

[Yardley]

Ah good old Crunch, seems to have been foregone entirely in the most recent games!

Twinsanity's soundtrack is pretty boss to be fair, the game is buggy as hell and a step away from the platforming element a little bit but Spiralmouth did a great job on that OST.

[Enbyeon]

When Crash 4 was about to release, I streamed my 100% run of Crash 1-3 in preparation for it.

Let me tell you, 100% Crash 4 was one of the most ridiculous platformer experiences I've ever had and I have never had a game be such a tremendous asshole over getting 100%. I tried to get the extra % from the time trials, but I called it quits there. The 5 second extra cinematic wasn't worth it lol

[Lolo De Puzlo]

When Crash 4 was about to release, I streamed my 100% run of Crash 1-3 in preparation for it.

Let me tell you, 100% Crash 4 was one of the most ridiculous platformer experiences I've ever had and I have never had a game be such a tremendous asshole over getting 100%. I tried to get the extra % from the time trials, but I called it quits there. The 5 second extra cinematic wasn't worth it lol

Shout outs to KindredCVS

[Yardley]

When Crash 4 was about to release, I streamed my 100% run of Crash 1-3 in preparation for it.

Let me tell you, 100% Crash 4 was one of the most ridiculous platformer experiences I've ever had and I have never had a game be such a tremendous asshole over getting 100%. I tried to get the extra % from the time trials, but I called it quits there. The 5 second extra cinematic wasn't worth it lol

I'm in a similar boat - I got all the gems and a lot of the relics and all but one of the video tape flashback levels... but 100% is too far out of reach for me! I need some of that childhood patience back. Or just fast running shoes again as opposed to that silly triple spin.

[DustStar]

When Crash 4 was about to release, I streamed my 100% run of Crash 1-3 in preparation for it.

Let me tell you, 100% Crash 4 was one of the most ridiculous platformer experiences I've ever had and I have never had a game be such a tremendous asshole over getting 100%. I tried to get the extra % from the time trials, but I called it quits there. The 5 second extra cinematic wasn't worth it lol

105%ing Crash 3 was enough of that for me. Roughly halfway through my playthrough of 4 I realized that, no I am not going to be able to do this with my sanity intact. Its still a really fun game but man it was not designed to be nice to completionist playthroughs.

[Enbyeon]

When Crash 4 was about to release, I streamed my 100% run of Crash 1-3 in preparation for it.

Let me tell you, 100% Crash 4 was one of the most ridiculous platformer experiences I've ever had and I have never had a game be such a tremendous asshole over getting 100%. I tried to get the extra % from the time trials, but I called it quits there. The 5 second extra cinematic wasn't worth it lol

105%ing Crash 3 was enough of that for me. Roughly halfway through my playthrough of 4 I realized that, no I am not going to be able to do this with my sanity intact. Its still a really fun game but man it was not designed to be nice to completionist playthroughs.

There were literally boxes that were only a pixel visible on the edges of the level and when I looked up guides (thanks KindredCVS) I was actually screaming at the monitor.

[DustStar]

There are few things that bring more pain and aggravation than seeing "... But you missed 1 box" at the end of the level.

[Raven]

Oh hey I love this series! I grew up with the original trilogy on PS1, along with CTR. I wasn't very good at them, but I eventually managed to beat them all. As a younger teenager I went back to the series to 100% 1 and 2 and 104% 3. I didn't know about 105% lol. I also never did CTR's 100% either. It was too hard for me.

I played Crash of the Titans with one of my brothers as a kid. It was fun playing with him but it wasn't a great game in the series. We tried Mind Over Mutant but didn't get into it much. The cutscenes were funny though.

I recently 100% Crash 2 (remake) and am working on 3. I'll do 1 at the end, it's super difficult. I haven't gotten around to getting Crash 4 or the CTR remake yet but I've heard so many good things about them.

[Yardley]

Titans and Mutant were barely Crash games in my opinion, they had their funny moments but the mask redesigns, Crash's look change and general overall gameplay mechanic change means I never really took to them. CTR is probably where I excel out of all of them but that's partly because I had a lot of highly competitive races with my brother xD

I highly highly recommend the CTR remake and Crash 4, but the CTR remake will be quite a difficulty curve to you I think, because they introduced a lot of new tracks, as well as redesigning many of the Crash Nitro Kart levels, so they take a lot of getting used to! But yes, definitely recommend them, and Crash 4 has a lot of good little gags in the cutscenes too (as well as, I warn you know, a stark difficulty ramp xD)

[Mandrake]

I'm more of a Spyro fanboy, but I did have Crash Bandicoot: Warped when I was a child, even though I couldn't defeat any of the bosses on my own and never got past World 3. Fifteen years later, I reloaded my save file and finished my 105% run. Frustrating, but a great challenge that I'm still proud of completing. The worst levels to complete were undoubtedly the motorbike races, to the point where I start getting anxious whenever I hear that one music track that plays during every race.

I also had Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (the fourth game for the PS2), but never finished it for completely different reasons - mainly that it wasn't fun to play, didn't offer anything that Warped did better, and the loading times were enough to drain any motivation. It's no surprise that it's since been directly retconned by It's About Time.

I never owned Crash Team Racing myself, but I must have played the demo version hundreds of times, to the point where I could probably drive around Papu's Pyramid hundreds of times.

It's very frustrating that having being successfully revived, we're unlikely to have another Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon thanks to Activision Blizzard (and other publishers) betting the house on live-service games and then laying off most of their staff, but as Yardley says, I'm glad that they at least both had their comebacks before the AAA industry started to crash. At least Toys for Bob managed to escape from having to work on Call of Duty.

As for my favourite character, it's this badass:

[Raven]

Oh gosh I had forgotten about Wrath of Cortex. I never finished that one, although I remember you could name yourself "Wombat" on the GameCube version to unlock all levels. I could never beat the 4th boss, after a certain point it felt like my attacks just stopped working. The underwater levels were awful too. Ultimately a disappointing game, no wonder they went in a somewhat different direction with Twinsanity. I still need to play that one.

[Mandrake]

Oh gosh I had forgotten about Wrath of Cortex. I never finished that one, although I remember you could name yourself "Wombat" on the GameCube version to unlock all levels. I could never beat the 4th boss, after a certain point it felt like my attacks just stopped working. The underwater levels were awful too. Ultimately a disappointing game, no wonder they went in a somewhat different direction with Twinsanity. I still need to play that one.

Crash Spyro
Disappointing fourth game released on the
PS2, developed by a different developer
with long loading times, heavy glitches,
poor controls, and a lack of innovation

[JamChimera]

Anyone got a little bit of love for the bandicoot bunch? ^^

me!!!! : D

crash 2 was one of the very first games we owned as a kid, and i got most of the games between that and twinsanity plus the remakes and 4, except for nitro kart, wrath of cortex, and some of the GBA games
CTR is one of my all time faves!! i'm still playing it and the remake every once in a while.

did love the artstyle and story of crash 4, but tbh making almost every level have exactly one awfully hidden crate that required moving the camera or something kinda turned me off from it lmao

also count me on the hate train for how actiblizz has treated the series qq wish they let beenox continue updating Nitro Fueled at least

As for my favourite character, it's this badass:

dingodile.png

hell yeah i love dingodile too!!!!

[JarylGaren]

I didn't grow up with Crash Bandicoot, but I did play the snot out of the N. Sane Trilogy when that one dropped on the Switch. I think I even 100%ed Crash 2 on there, lmao, so I'd say that one was my favorite out of the three!

I haven't managed to beat Crash 4 yet, though, because man, they went a bit too overboard with the difficulty of that game, imo. like, the original three games are already tough as nails, but 4 feels actively spiteful with its level design at times. it also didn't help that the Switch version felt off to me.

I did get the games on Steam later on, and there is a mod for Crash 4 to make it a bit more reasonable, but I haven't really gone back to it a lot, since even with the mod, the game still feels a touch too difficult for me sometimes.

that being said, I do love the character designs of Crash 4!

[Yardley]

I also had Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (the fourth game for the PS2), but never finished it for completely different reasons - mainly that it wasn't fun to play, didn't offer anything that Warped did better, and the loading times were enough to drain any motivation. It's no surprise that it's since been directly retconned by It's About Time.

I really liked Wrath of Cortex when it came out but I think it was just because it was new. Looking back in comparison it is quite poor but does have a kickass soundtrack.

CTR is one of my all time faves!! i'm still playing it and the remake every once in a while.

did love the artstyle and story of crash 4, but tbh making almost every level have exactly one awfully hidden crate that required moving the camera or something kinda turned me off from it lmao

Lots of love for CTR, the remake really elevated it, just a shame it had a short shelf life on multiplayer, but on a lazy weekend I still enjoy blasting through the story mode again ^^

I haven't managed to beat Crash 4 yet, though, because man, they went a bit too overboard with the difficulty of that game, imo. like, the original three games are already tough as nails, but 4 feels actively spiteful with its level design at times.

It's a LOT isn't it xD I had to resort to some google doc I found on Reddit which basically told you how many boxes you should have when you get to each checkpoint, and where some of the hidden boxes and hidden gems are. Useful but a bit of a pain to put up with! I guess they really really wanted replays. x3

[DustStar]

Lots of love for CTR, the remake really elevated it, just a shame it had a short shelf life on multiplayer, but on a lazy weekend I still enjoy blasting through the story mode again ^^

I still manage to consistently find multiplayer matches in CTR online though maybe with a bit of a wait sometimes. At least with the Switch version. I'm assuming the PS4/5 version also has a healthy and active community for the game.

[Yardley]

Lots of love for CTR, the remake really elevated it, just a shame it had a short shelf life on multiplayer, but on a lazy weekend I still enjoy blasting through the story mode again ^^

I still manage to consistently find multiplayer matches in CTR online though maybe with a bit of a wait sometimes. At least with the Switch version. I'm assuming the PS4/5 version also has a healthy and active community for the game.

Honestly I've struggled the last few times I've gone on. I guess it is six years old now but maybe I'll fire up online again and see how long I wait, but last time was at least 5 minutes.

I never win online anyway xD Not to toot my own horn but I'm pretty damn good at the game but the people online were wild, far beyond my capabilities x3

[DustStar]

I think between Mario Kart World's release, it's controversies, the fake rumors about a remaster of Nitro Fueled, and the recent news about Nitro Fueled's sales breaking 10 million have renewed interest in the game. Plus some people who are trying to see how much better it runs on Switch 2.