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[RK128]

Nice thread OP!
I want to replay Crash Bandicoot 2 since years! My favorite by far, so thanks to your post i'll buy it for the weekend

Go for it ! Have fun with the original Naughty Dog buddy .

Get the original trilogy + CTR if you don't own them on PSN already; great times and you will have a great weekend blasting through the games!

My Crash 2, 3 and CTR Retrospectives should be up by the end of Sunday, so after playing through them, give them a read if you like .

 

[Via Purifico]

I loved the stage where you had to ride a baby polar bear and hit the boxes while doing them in 2.

 

[Scotia]

That poster gave a more respectful comment then the one I got in the Mega Man X4 Retrospective and explained his points; fine with people sharing their dislike of a game I cover if done so in a kind, proper and respectful fashion.

His later posts were, yeah, but his first post was the opposite of kind, proper and respectful.

 

[RK128]

His later posts were, yeah, but his first post was the opposite of kind, proper and respectful.

Just happy no one told me my writing was shit or needs work (like that post in the MMX4 thread implied). People make mistakes and willing to give them a second shot at explaining themselves .

 

[Scotia]

Just happy no one told me my writing was shit or needs work (like that post in the MMX4 thread implied). People make mistakes and willing to give them a second shot at explaining themselves .

Fair enough. I didn't say so earlier, but damn good job on the OP.

 

[Mr-Joker]

Crash 1 is my least favorite game in the series as it just felt like a mediocre Donkey Kong Country clone and the series wouldn't hit its stride till Crash 2 which I feel is the best in the series as Naughty Dog completely overhaul the graphic, the game play design, adding new layer to Crash personalty with the death animation but still maintaining the theme that Crash 1 laid.

Still though without Crash 1 existing and selling well we wouldn't have Crash 2 existing. ;p

After picking them up and working with them on the tile, Andy and Jason thought it would be a good idea making a 3D Action platformer. Mark gave them the greenlight they needed and development started and what was originally called 'Sonic's Ass Game'.

Why this? Well, you would only see Crash's back for the entire time, so this code named worked on that level. It also works because Naughty Dog was inspired by Sonic because he was the most popular mascot platforming icon of the 90's.

Funny how they were inspried by Sonic when the first Crash game was very similar to the first Donkey Kong Country game.

Crash's personality is shown with his animations; wide eyes, funny death animations and lots of animation on his face. This allows him to have a lot of personality despite having no dialog.

The funny death animation wouldn't be a thing till the second game, the one in Crash 1 is very stale.

They aimed for an organic, overgrown look to the game and worked to completely avoid straight lines and 90-degree corners.

Sorry if I am jumping ahead but this was sorely missing in Crash 3 as the level theme just didn't fit with Crash.

Honestly the only issues I have with Crash 1 is the slippery controls at points and the bad gem collecting. Otherwise, a fun game that still holds up well today .

There's also the awful save system. *shudder*

I never understood why Sony threw Crash under the bus. The character had become quite recognizable and the sales were great. With the original trilogy plus CTR the franchise had great footing. But the IP is tarnished now. Not sure why it was mismanaged the way that it did afterwards.

Because Sony never owned the Crash IP, probably one of their biggest mistake.

 

[captmcblack]

Crash Bandicoot (and Ape Escape later on) was the best of the mascot-style platformer games in the PS1 era.

The first game was merely a good game, a great way to get some decent platforming fun on a non-Nintendo or Sega console. Crash Bandicoot 2, however...that was when Crash became GREAT, and not just good. Excellent level design, great graphics and music on PS1 (improved from the original), and just the right amount of new gameplay features and gimmicks without going overboard. Crash 3 kind of went overboard though it was still very good, but 2 was the greatest to me.

Even as a guy that loved the classic Nintendo and Sega IPs, Crash was around when I was a kid, and I'll always keep an eye out for his adventures. The later PS2/Xbox/GCN releases were all mediocre, but I hope he'll come back and get the same kind of first-party polish if there's a Sony release on PS4 again someday.

 

[RK128]

Crash 1 is my least favorite game in the series as it just felt like a mediocre Donkey Kong Country clone and the series wouldn't hit its stride till Crash 2 which I feel is the best in the series as Naughty Dog completely overhaul the graphic, the game play design, adding new layer to Crash personalty with the death animation but still maintaining the theme that Crash 1 laid.

Still though without Crash 1 existing and selling well we wouldn't have Crash 2 existing. ;p

Funny how they were inspried by Sonic when the first Crash game was very similar to the first Donkey Kong Country game.

The funny death animation wouldn't be a thing till the second game, the one in Crash 1 is very stale.

Sorry if I am jumping ahead but this was sorely missing in Crash 3 as the level theme just didn't fit with Crash.

There's also the awful save system. *shudder*

Because Sony never owned the Crash IP, probably one of their biggest mistake.

Funny how origins of a character can come from the most unexpected places . I got a DKC feel from Crash too when I first played it, but the Sonic influence can be felt at points.

Guess I jumped ahead with the death animation bit XD! But it was still somewhat funny (him spinning out or going on fire was amusing). The save system has issues but it wasn't THAT bad......though Crash 2 and 3's way of saving was a much welcomed change to how it worked.

Crash 3's level themes were all over the place and that was great for verity means but it losses the 'consistent' world the first two games had, but will touch on that when we get to it.

Sony not owning Crash was just part of the deal they made with Naughty Dog and Universal; if they wanted to buy it, they could of but chose not to.

 

[jackissocool]

Original mascot? Polygon Man am cry

I guess that's why he tried to kill everyone in All-Stars? Hell hath no fury like a Polygon Man scorned.

 

[Ducktail]

Crash Bandicoot (and Ape Escape later on) was the best of the mascot-style platformer games in the PS1 era.

The first game was merely a good game, a great way to get some decent platforming fun on a non-Nintendo or Sega console. Crash Bandicoot 2, however...that was when Crash became GREAT, and not just good. Excellent level design, great graphics and music on PS1 (improved from the original), and just the right amount of new gameplay features and gimmicks without going overboard. Crash 3 kind of went overboard though it was still very good, but 2 was the greatest to me.

Even as a guy that loved the classic Nintendo and Sega IPs, Crash was around when I was a kid, and I'll always keep an eye out for his adventures. The later PS2/Xbox/GCN releases were all mediocre, but I hope he'll come back and get the same kind of first-party polish if there's a Sony release on PS4 again someday.

Pretty much how I think, except Crash was one of my very first games on Psone, and I didn't have a Nintendo Console back then, so I thought it was genuinely good. Crash 2 is a beast, though. Perfect game!

 

[Pancakes R Us]

Thank you for the kind words ! Just a heads up for anyone following Retrospectives; once I make them, a link to the thread or post of the Retrospective will be on the home pages for the Retrospectives. Here is the home page for all the ones I did here .

Sonic the Hedgehog (Completed): http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1191020
Ratchet & Clank (On-Going): http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1200902
Mega Man (On-Going): http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1206450
Spyro the Dragon (On-Going): http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1209654
Crash Bandicoot (On-Going): http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1213783

The homepage? Do you run a website with these?

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

I don't think it was trying to be a parody, it seems more like a legit thing. This would have probably been produced around 1995-ish (my guess) and by looking at the animation it may have been storyboarded by a group of animators that worked on Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz-Mania, Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. It really had that feel, so I could imagine that this animaton came out of that tallent pool. This clearly was produced by Universal but I have a feeling that Sony may have vetoed it because they wanted to focus more on 3D to showcase the technical abilties of the PS1. But that is all my guess.

If the sony veto because of 3d was true they were fucking stupid. The op and ending here are absolutely great.

 

[Raptomex]

My NA Vita with all Crash and Spyro games is my prized possession.

Same here. Thank god I was on gaf when I heard of that glitch; have them backed up on my laptop to be safe .

Yup. It's a shame they haven't been released since.

 

[silva1991]

Speaking of Crash's death animations, I used to laugh so hard at them in Warped

especially the frog kiss hahaha.

 

[MrBadger]

Just saw this for the first time. Its amazibgly great! Why was it never used? Its a great parody of the wb 90 cartoon's intros.

It was an era where 2D was shunned and 3D was considered the future so I'd say that had a part in why we got an inferior 3D intro cutscene instead.

 

[Silvawuff]

Another fantastic thread, RK! I love your retrospectives. Thank you for this one especially, since Crash seems to be experiencing a bit of a player renaissance..

 

[Salty Hippo]

Taking the 2D Action Platformer and literally bringing that into 3D was unheard of before this game came out

Mario 64 was out in Japan 2 months before Crash's original release.

 

[Voost Kain]

You forgot to mention Twana would dump Crash and become Pinstripes Girlfriend off screen.

Another thing, the real 100% ending is not the "real ending" outside one factoid about Ripper Room and books. It's kind of irritating because 100%ing the game can be brutal and you basically get well, nothing at all.

They fix that with the next 3 though.

BTW you forgot to mention the bosses.

Oh and one more thing, don't forget to mention that the Gems are bullshit. You have to hit all the Boxes without losing a single life. Then there are color gems that open up a path, so if you can't get all the boxes in one level you have to backtrack to another level each time until you can find the color gem that opens the path.

Oh and the fact that you had to wait at the title screen for about a minute before the actual plot cutscene is played.

Also don't forget the save points? You have to collect 3 Twana tokens, and if you lose there you can't save unless you choose a different level or reload the current one.

Then you have the Brio Stages and Cortex Stages.

Mario 64 was out in Japan 2 months before Crash's original release.

In japan. Also 2 months isn't real time. But again majority got Crash first.

 

[Laputa_94]

Crash 2 is one of my first video games and the one that got me into gaming on the original PlayStation. Warped is my favorite, I actually haven't didn't play Crash 1 until a couple years ago and unfortunately found it a bit underwhelming. Heres hoping for a new installment.

 

[RK128]

The homepage? Do you run a website with these?

I meant a 'main' megathread on Gaf for each Retrospective.

Sorry if there is any confusion .

You forgot to mention Twana would dump Crash and become Pinstripes Girlfriend off screen.

Another thing, the real 100% ending is not the "real ending" outside one factoid about Ripper Room and books. It's kind of irritating because 100%ing the game can be brutal and you basically get well, nothing at all.

They fix that with the next 3 though.

BTW you forgot to mention the bosses.

Oh and one more thing, don't forget to mention that the Gems are bullshit. You have to hit all the Boxes without losing a single life. Then there are color gems that open up a path, so if you can't get all the boxes in one level you have to backtrack to another level each time until you can find the color gem that opens the path.

Oh and the fact that you had to wait at the title screen for about a minute before the actual plot cutscene is played.

Also don't forget the save points? You have to collect 3 Twana tokens, and if you lose there you can't save unless you choose a different level or reload the current one.

Then you have the Brio Stages and Cortex Stages.

In japan. Also 2 months isn't real time. But again majority got Crash first.

You bring up great points about the story and save system, so will edit those in the the OP later on. Bosses I feel don't get 'great' until Crash 3 and the Brio/Cortex stages don't offer anything for completing them. I covered the gems but didn't mention in detail how the collecting system works.....but didn't feel the need to, considering how pointless it is to 100% Crash 1 anyway.

 

[Voost Kain]

I meant a 'main' megathread on Gaf for each Retrospective.

Sorry if there is any confusion .



You bring up great points about the story and save system, so will edit those in the the OP later on. Bosses I feel don't get 'great' until Crash 3 and the Brio/Cortex stages don't offer anything for completing them. I covered the gems but didn't mention in detail how the collecting system works.....but didn't feel the need to, considering how pointless it is to 100% Crash 1 anyway.

You need to beat Cortex's 2 levels to get the two keys to unlock the two secret levels that are required to 100% the game. SO I'd include that. Since they don't tell you at all what they do. ANd you lose one life you have to rest.

But I still do think that you should mention that you have to collect all the boxes without getting hit once. I think that's important because it a real problem with the game and no other games has this issue.

 

[Ahasverus]

The Crash nostalgia is hitting in full force these days

 

[RK128]

You need to beat Cortex's 2 levels to get the two keys to unlock the two secret levels that are required to 100% the game. SO I'd include that. Since they don't tell you at all what they do. ANd you lose one life you have to rest.

But I still do think that you should mention that you have to collect all the boxes without getting hit once. I think that's important because it a real problem with the game and no other games has this issue.

Good points, will edit the OP later tonight to fix that. Thank you for the heads up .

 

[RK128]

Made some corrections/additions I glossed over in the OP thanks to Edson Farley kindly pointing out the information I was lacking .

Hope that the OP is stronger now and that we enjoy the Crash Hype !

 

[Lovely Salsa]

There's crash bandicoot 4?? On OG Playstation? How did I not know this?

Something is fishy here

 

[RK128]

There's crash bandicoot 4?? On OG Playstation? How did I not know this?

Something is fishy here

Um.....where did I mention a fourth Crash game in the OP :l.

I mean Naughty Dog DID make four games (Crash 1-3 & CTR) but if you mean something else, I don't understand you.

 

[silva1991]

There's crash bandicoot 4?? On OG Playstation? How did I not know this?

Something is fishy here

3 platformers

1 racer

and that Crash bash game whatever it's genre is lol.

 

[funkystudent]

Great games.

I think the lane based limited 3D ness really helped them age well. Full 3D platformers on PS1 like Spyro aged like milk as a result of pushing the system too far and coming before people figured out how 3D controls should work.

And CTR is a legit great kart racer and arguably the best there ever was.


That said since it keeps being mentions. I do not know what series of events would have to happen for Activision to give / sell / trade Sony the IP. Healthy companies dont sell IP unless they REALLY know they will never use it again. Crash seems like something Activision would want to keep in the back pocket just in case.

 

[Lovely Salsa]

Um.....where did I mention a fourth Crash game in the OP :l.

I mean Naughty Dog DID make four games (Crash 1-3 & CTR) but if you mean something else, I don't understand you.

Not you. It was this comment:

"Crash bandicoot is my favourite series

I have crash 1 - 4 on my vita which i play every so often"

So I youtubed crash bandicoot 4 and it looks like its a real game?

 

[RK128]

Not you. It was this comment:

"Crash bandicoot is my favourite series

I have crash 1 - 4 on my vita which i play every so often"

So I youtubed crash bandicoot 4 and it looks like its a real game?

Oh, okay. Crash 4 is a real game though; called Wrath of Cortex. Originally released only on PS2 and later ported to the Xbox and GC with some fixes (loading times shorter, fur textures on Xbox, ect).

It was Crash 3.5 more or less and will go into that in great detail when I get to it .

 

[Salty Hippo]

In japan. Also 2 months isn't real time. But again majority got Crash first.

Please. OP said that bringing mascot 2D platforms to 3D was "unheard of" before Crash's release. Not only it wasn't unheard of, but there was also already a game released on the market. A game that was actually genre-defining and that a ton of people in the west were anticipating.

I love Crash, even the first one (first PSX game I owned), but no one really cared about it before release. It was an unproven IP by an unproven studio. The original trilogy is great, but there's no need to give this franchise credit it doesn't deserve by implying it broke any sort of new ground. It didn't. Mario 64 made Crash's concept look dated from day one. I know people today, in hindsight, are able to appreciate both styles equally, but that was not the case back in 1996.

And lol @ 2 months not being "real time".

 

[Blues1990]

I still think it's weird that Sony hasn't made these games compatible with the PSVita, aside from the loophole users had exploited back a coupe of years ago. I would be so down with playing Crash Team Racing on the go, as that game seems to be a perfect fit for some portable shenanigans!

 

[Hektor]

Not you. It was this comment:

"Crash bandicoot is my favourite series

I have crash 1 - 4 on my vita which i play every so often"

So I youtubed crash bandicoot 4 and it looks like its a real game?

Well, the wrath of cortex is a real game. But that wasn't made by Naughty Dog anymore, and was released for PS2 and Gamecube. The last real proper Crash game.

Twinsanity was cool as well, but that did things veeeeery differently.





And what is that with that tag of yours lol

 

[RK128]

Please. OP said that bringing mascot 2D platforms to 3D was "unheard of" before Crash's release. Not only it wasn't unheard of, but there was also already a game released on the market. A game that was actually genre-defining and that a ton of people in the west were anticipating.

I love Crash, even the first one (first PSX game I owned), but no one really cared about it before release. It was an unproven IP by an unproven studio. The original trilogy is great, but there's no need to give this franchise credit it doesn't deserve by implying it broke any sort of new ground. It didn't. Mario 64 made Crash's concept look dated from day one. I know people today, in hindsight, are able to appreciate both styles equally, but that was not the case back in 1996.

And lol @ 2 months not being "real time".

Don't worry, I edited the OP introduction section to fix that, so sorry for my ignorance on the matter.

 

[Lovely Salsa]

Oh, okay. Crash 4 is a real game though; called Wrath of Cortex. Originally released only on PS2 and later ported to the Xbox and GC with some fixes (loading times shorter, fur textures on Xbox, ect).

It was Crash 3.5 more or less and will go into that in great detail when I get to it .

Oh you definitely should. I had no idea it was released....and on ps2. It looks like a PS1 game from the short gameplay clip I watched

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

The cheque bounced? Are you sure? Well these past few years have kind of been slow. Wrath of Cortex didn't do as well as we hoped...

That is the only good thing that ever came from Wrath of Cortex.

 

[funkystudent]

Didnt Mark Cerny + some team start work on a hypothetical Crash 4 post Naughty Dog but stuff fell apart?

Did that become Wrath of Cortex or was that started after that failed?

I am sure thats on a wiki somewhere

 

[Son Of D]

I guess that's why he tried to kill everyone in All-Stars? Hell hath no fury like a Polygon Man scorned.

I believe that was the intention but they did nothing to tell people who he was. So people just see him as "Master Head" or something.

why are u talking in puzzles if anyone knows you are talking about nintendo.
nintendo fanboys are always insecure when there is a awesome platformer in the market they feel like nintendo will become irrelevant lol
nintendo will be fine dont worry

I love this comment. "He doesn't like Crash and prefers other platformers so he must be some rabid Nintendo fanboy!". Fucking laughable.

 

[ChaoticBlue]

thank you for this thread. i want to go back and play crash.

 

[MrBadger]

The cheque bounced? Are you sure? Well these past few years have kind of been slow. Wrath of Cortex didn't do as well as we hoped...

That is the only good thing that ever came from Wrath of Cortex.

I was mixed on the actual gameplay, but Twinsanity's writing is goddamn hilarious

 

[TheDinoman]

When you're done with all these other series RK128, will you do a retrospective on the Donkey Kong Country games? I'd like to see that.

 

[adamantypants]

Great thread, HUGE gripe that I didn't see addressed, though maybe you intentionally skipped it since this OP is for just the first game. The commercials! I think a huge reason why Crash became the de-facto mascot was the commercials. Outside Nintendo with a megaphone was the ultimate move for a mascot in the 90s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLdQczq3NMM

 

[Mr-Joker]

Speaking of Crash's death animations, I used to laugh so hard at them in Warped

especially the frog kiss hahaha.

I like the one when a big giant with two head would wack Crash on to the screen.

Didnt Mark Cerny + some team start work on a hypothetical Crash 4 post Naughty Dog but stuff fell apart?

Did that become Wrath of Cortex or was that started after that failed?

I am sure thats on a wiki somewhere

From wiki.

On September 21, 2000, Universal Interactive Studios and Konami announced that they had entered an agreement that would enable Konami to publish a Crash Bandicoot game for next-generation game systems, with Universal Interactive handling the production of the games. The agreement served to break the Crash Bandicoot franchise's exclusivity to Sony-produced consoles and effectively made Crash Bandicoot a mascot character for Universal rather than Sony.[26] After Universal fell out with Cerny and Sony, Traveller's Tales was forced to alter the game from a free-roaming title to a standard Crash title. Traveller's Tales had to begin development of the game from scratch and were given only twelve months to complete the game.[22]

So it seems like that Cerny was working on a different Crash game but when Sony and Universal fell out, the project was scrapped and Wrath of Cortex was born from that.

I was mixed on the actual gameplay, but Twinsanity's writing is goddamn hilarious

Yeah I didn't like Twinsanity's gameplay, especially when I saw just how much was cut from the game, but the humour and writing was pretty good.

 

[RK128]

When you're done with all these other series RK128, will you do a retrospective on the Donkey Kong Country games? I'd like to see that.

I want to cover Nintendo titles in the future.......so that and Kirby will replace two of the running ones right now (Ratchet and Spyro) sometime this summer hopefully .

 

[RK128]

Great thread, HUGE gripe that I didn't see addressed, though maybe you intentionally skipped it since this OP is for just the first game. The commercials! I think a huge reason why Crash became the de-facto mascot was the commercials. Outside Nintendo with a megaphone was the ultimate move for a mascot in the 90s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLdQczq3NMM

Oh don't worry, I will touch on those when I get to Crash 2 and 3 . Wanted to introduce the IP first, then the later ones can have a lot of fun little notes and outside stuff .

 

[theecakee]

Soundtrack in the series is great. Fun fact, the composer John Mancell's first cousin is Kid Rock.

 

[Osukaa]

Original mascot? Polygon Man am cry

.....I wonder if he just evolved into Knack

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

I was mixed on the actual gameplay, but Twinsanity's writing is goddamn hilarious

Fix the glitches and make the controls a smoother and I firmly believe Twinsanity would be the best game in the series. No exaggeration. The writing was FANTASTIC. The funniest game in the series and that alone made it a joy to play through. And the actual gameplay? Really fun too but obviously a number of annoying bugs and some slippery controls hurt the game overall. It was flawed but the gameplay even as it is is pretty good and I think the level design is great. The game has lots of great ideas. I believe Twinsanity is an underappreciated game.

Twinsanity is the retrospective I'm most looking forward to actually.

 

[RK128]

Fix the glitches and make the controls a smoother and I firmly believe Twinsanity would be the best game in the series. No exaggeration. The writing was FANTASTIC. The funniest game in the series and that alone made it a joy to play through. And the actual gameplay? Really fun too but obviously a number of annoying bugs and some slippery controls hurt the game overall. It was flawed but the gameplay even as it is is pretty good and I think the level design is great. The game has lots of great ideas. I believe Twinsanity is an underappreciated game.

Twinsanity is the retrospective I'm most looking forward to actually.

Honestly, its the one I am the most excited to work on myself . LOVE Twinsanity a lot and it really is a showcase game on how to make a rushed title but still have it be a damn good time.

Will be going over things in great depth and it might be my longest Retrospective, with multiple long posts for each section (could make a Retrospective on its history alone XD!).

Can't wait to cover this but I wrote two pieces covering the game listed in the OP of the main Crash Retrospective megathread (LTTP thread on Gaf and a First Look Piece on my Wordpress) .

 

[Mr. Sam]

This thread might just prompt me to get the Crash games to play on my Vita.I played some of the original on PS3 recently but in the inability to use the analogue sticks - or stick - marred it somewhat.

I think Jak & Daxter is Naughty Dog's masterpiece and would probably be the pinnacle of 3D platformers if it weren't for Super Mario Galaxy, and 3D World. Ratchet and Clank, A Crack in Time in particular, is an excellent series, it's just not... puuure.