CRASH BANDICOOT // An Icon Decline - General

Warped was by far one of my favorite games. Seeing some of those levels through the video hit me with so many waves of nostalgia. Especially since Spyro and Crash were a big part of my childhood, it sucks to see how much those franchises had fallen.

[QUOTE=Dr. Kyuros;50481222]Nothing about the gameplay is "Crash" in the slightest besides CoTT and MoM both being platformers. They feel more like heavily watered down versions of games like God Hand, Prototype, or the Werehog stages from Sonic Unleashed. Where's the sense of exploration and actual progression?[/QUOTE] They became the average 'for kids and teens whose parents buy them games without caring' platformer action games that are entirely mundane and soulless usually.

[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;50479156]spyro[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/2/25329/1999637-activision_announces_skylanders_spyros_adventure.jpg[/IMG] I die every time I see this face. Just because of what they did to spyro in every recent game I am glad they didn't touch crash. Just let at least one of my childhood icons rest easy.

Ehhh... kinda insightfull but this is activision we're talking about here. "I'LL DESTORY A THOUSAND VIDEO GAME FRANCHISES BEFORE I LET THIS COMPANY DIE!"

If they were to make a new Crash game, I'd want at least some of the original people who worked on it to be on the project, which is very unlikely. For example, Andy Gavin is focused on writing, and Jason Rubin works at Oculus now. Other devs don't really seem to 'get' Crash. A great example of this is how Radical turned Tiny Tiger into an actual tiger (with Mike Tyson's voice for some reason?), when he's supposed to be a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine]Tasmanian Tiger[/url].

[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;50479156]spyro[/QUOTE] IIRC The Skylander devs wanted to do a proper Spyro game but weren't keen on the idea of a T-rated Spyro Game. They have said however they still plan on doing it sometime down the line and Spyro alongside getting his own tv show.

Crash Bandicoot is overrated as hell imo 3 pretty solid platformers that weren't really anything special gameplay wise, one very solid mario kart clone and that was basically it

[QUOTE=Flyingman356;50482357]Crash Bandicoot is overrated as hell imo 3 pretty solid platformers that weren't really anything special gameplay wise, one very solid mario kart clone and that was basically it[/QUOTE] Fight me

[QUOTE=Flyingman356;50482357]Crash Bandicoot is overrated as hell imo 3 pretty solid platformers that weren't really anything special gameplay wise, one very solid mario kart clone and that was basically it[/QUOTE] You don't make any sense, how is a series with 4 solid games overrated?

I'm just gonna say this. I loved the original crash and spyro titles so much that I beat and 100%ed all of them (with the exception of crash 1) and I'm STILL coming back and playing them decades later. It's not just my childhood nostalgia, but they were REALLY solid games in their heyday and I believe they still hold up even today. There weren't many names that could hold a candle to the unstoppable juggernaut that was Mario but Crash and Spyro sure as fuck did. At least in the 90s. When Sony did a flash sale and had the entire crash/spyro PS1 franchise titles on sale for $1 each I fucking cried. It's guys like this and PGunni who make me realize how much I miss these franchises when they were at their peak. I'd LOVE for both of them to come back into the spotlight but I doubt any developer that could give these badasses the love and respect they deserve. If there is a team who believes they can, I fucking DARE them to try.

[QUOTE=Drury;50478996]Ratchet and Clank fared much better though, the new game is apparently good.[/QUOTE] I actually meant that Spyro and Crash got destroyed into nothingness.

[QUOTE=kingstead;50481453][IMG]http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/2/25329/1999637-activision_announces_skylanders_spyros_adventure.jpg[/IMG] I die every time I see this face. Just because of what they did to spyro in every recent game I am glad they didn't touch crash. Just let at least one of my childhood icons rest easy.[/QUOTE] [url=http://skylanders-inquirer.com/2016/06/09/huge-pinch-salt-rumor-crash-bandicoot-skylanders-imaginators-starter-pack-listing/]Sorry, can't let that happen.[/url] [quote]A retailer based in Singapore named Qisahn has a listing up featuring a Playstation 4 exclusive “Crash” Skylanders Imaginators Starter Pack. Saying the “Crash edition content to be announced later. this is a Playstation 4 exclusive”. Now, Crash has been long speculated to come to Skylanders, but recently has picked up more steam. Especially after it came out that Activision still owns the rights to Crash Bandicoot. Game Informer even put in their article (but then quickly deleted) that there was another Guest Start to come to Skylanders Imaginators (like how Donkey Kong and Bowser came to Superchargers).[/quote]

[QUOTE=kingstead;50481453][IMG]http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/2/25329/1999637-activision_announces_skylanders_spyros_adventure.jpg[/IMG] I die every time I see this face. Just because of what they did to spyro in every recent game I am glad they didn't touch crash. Just let at least one of my childhood icons rest easy.[/QUOTE] Christ every time I look at that thing I'm reminded of that lizard. [img]http://i.imgur.com/meftV0q.gif?noredirect[/img]

I remember not having any memory card for my PS1 when I played Crash 3, so I just left the machine on 24/7 until I finished it. God damn that game was so good.

[QUOTE=GrizzlyBear;50487503]I remember not having any memory card for my PS1 when I played Crash 3, so I just left the machine on 24/7 until I finished it. God damn that game was so good.[/QUOTE] And then your sister turned off the PS1 FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

[QUOTE=Billy2600;50488488]And then your sister turned off the PS1 FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF[/QUOTE] One of my miniature dachschunds learned to step on the power button as a puppy when my parents were too busy playing CTR instead of playing with her. She's 15 years old now.

[QUOTE=Billy2600;50481911]If they were to make a new Crash game, I'd want at least some of the original people who worked on it to be on the project, which is very unlikely. For example, Andy Gavin is focused on writing, and Jason Rubin works at Oculus now. Other devs don't really seem to 'get' Crash. A great example of this is how Radical turned Tiny Tiger into an actual tiger (with Mike Tyson's voice for some reason?), when he's supposed to be a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine]Tasmanian Tiger[/url].[/QUOTE] This reminds me just how glad I am that Krome still owns Ty the Tasmanian Tiger. Ty, Spyro and Crash were just about the only three series I cared about as a kid. I had all of them and loved them. Hell, I even really liked enter the dragonfly and a hero's tail the first two "next gen" crash games. But the mutant games even when I was young I didn't really think were crash games. And Spyro went hollywood with an action focus and big name voice actors like Elijah wood. Weirdly enough the first two games in the "Legend of Spyro" trilogy were made by Krome, who made Ty. Originally they were working on a Crash game but Sierra made it into what it became. With how much I love Ty, Krome could have absolutely captured the essence of Crash. That's why The guy's essay really did capture what I felt as a kid not only playing the original games but the offshoots from the non original creators. They altered the essence too far from what made Crash, Crash.

i feel like this video really glossed briefly over why the latter games weren't as good. he went semi-in depth about why the first 3 were good but i didn't even know the ps2 games existed and i didn't get much info as to why they're bad from this video other than 'they're not naughty dog and didn't adopt their design principals'. but he barely gave any examples.

[QUOTE=Rusty100;50490281]i feel like this video really glossed briefly over why the latter games weren't as good. he went semi-in depth about why the first 3 were good but i didn't even know the ps2 games existed and i didn't get much info as to why they're bad from this video other than 'they're not naughty dog and didn't adopt their design principals'. but he barely gave any examples.[/QUOTE] Movement in Wrath of Cortex and Nitro Kart felt extremely slippery and other times very sluggish compared to Warped and Crash Team Racing respectively. Neither of those titles really innovated for the series rather they tried to mimic the success of their predecessor titles to mediocre results. From the core series you saw a clear progression in features introduced to keep the game innovative from a player's perspective (technological advances are a different thing, though). Crash as a whole. Introduction of the crouch-linked movement such as sliding, body slams, high jumps, etc, use of memory cards, warp room structure, unique death animations. Powerup rewards for bosses, time trials and relics. These progressions in features allowed the stage designers to get more creative with what they could do with a linear platformer space and introduce new challenges to keep players on their toes. You could argue that Crash's level design was too "flat" for the advances in console hardware as the games started branching into more open-world approaches with Twinsanity and Crash Tag Team Racing while still retaining some level of linearity. Crash of the Titans and Mind over Mutant felt like the biggest formulaic change in the series where the gameplay itself hardly even feels like it's Crash anymore, losing its core roots. Then Super Mario 3D Land and World came out. Both games took an excerpt of Crash's linear stage design while still maintaining the 3D maneuverability that has become a staple of the series since Super Mario 64. The issue stemmed from wanting to go with the next [i]big thing[/i] (ie open-world) without taking into account that open-world had little to do with crash in the first place (outside of a few select stages in Crash Warped that were still very much enclosed). There's more to touch upon but that's all I have for now.