Author Topic: Crash Bandicoot franchise turns 25 years old.  (Read 796 times)

mrkonasoni

Crash Bandicoot franchise turns 25 years old.
« on: September 09, 2021, 08:57:45 am »
- KonamiCode + Start 》》》-

The Crash Bandicoot franchise turns 25 years old.



While I think is arguable, I always thought Crash deserved some merit for being one of the few platforming franchises that actually had a chance to take a piece of cake in-popularity against Mario and Sonic.

What can I say? Crash is just a franchise that's easy to like.
If you have some hours for spare, I recommend search one of the multiple documentals about the creation for the franchise and how a couple dudes just started a journey for create a character that would finally be the second most worthy rival for Nintendo's invincible plumber.

Anyway, while it seem the franchise will may start another hiatus, I just want to say that at the very least Crash games are some of the most enjoyable platforming games I ever played.

Also.
While most of the I wouldn't talk about what I think about all games in a franchise I will do it this time since it's just like 20 games.

- Crash Bandicoot

The original, it feels really out-dated and needed some stuff to iron out before printing but... it's still an enjoyable game and it's fun just replay it again and play a couple worlds.

- Crash Bandicoot 2 Cortex Strikes Back.

A way better game that fixed most stuff that the first one done bad but adding new bad stuff to the game, still it's a pretty solid game and while 100%-it, it's sometimes just a burden, it make you feel it worth it, it is also Crash's little sister debut, "Coco Bandicoot" that just as her brother is pretty popular.

- Crash 3 Warped.

While it's quite a popular opinion 2 is just a way better game, I think 3 is actually the best one, the game is easier to get 100% and is just not as annoying and cryptic as Crash 2, also I like the bike levels that are just way more interesting than a bunch of Crash 2 levels.

- CTR Crash Team Racing

Maybe the first real Mario Kart clone that was just as good or actually better than Nintendo Karting franchise, it's just a fun game with stuff that's also really great like a hub and boss fights.

- Crash Bash

Mario Party but with Crash, eh....
It's fun and entertaining but just not amazing, it just feels way too clear than they didn't understand what made Mario Party such a fun and popular game.

- Crash Bandicoot The Wrath of Cortex.

The original idea with this one was to create a game like Mario 64 but with Crash but since stuff got heavy, it was scrapped and instead Crash WoC was made.

Sincerely? I don't think WoC is as hated and bad some people want it to be, taking some time reading opinions about the game looks clearly most people that played it, actually enjoyed it and have fond memories with it.

Anyway, I think is a good game, maybe flawed but there nothing in WoC that I would consider a bad game, it's truly enjoyable.

- Crash Nitro Kart

A sequel for CTR and sincerely just as good, but now with a more funny story.

- Crash The Huge Adventure.

It's a good just 2D Crash game, what I think is also amazing for the game is the fact that the graphics are pretty similar to the ones from the PSX games, it's not pretty amazing but is a good fun.

- Crash Bandicoot 2 N-Tranced.

A sequel for the GBA game, it's just a way better game and that's a good thing, more levels, more variety and more everything.

It's also cool for being the real first game when the player would get to play with Crunch Bandicoot in the main franchise.

- Crash Purple.

Crash Purple is maybe the second black sheep in the franchise and while the other games have quite a lot of fans it seem that opinions are really mixed for this one, but.... why?

Well, the game is the long waited crossovee between Crash and Spyro and it's also just available for GBA.

What it seem people truly hated about this one is the lot of minigames the game includes for allow the player keep progressing.

It's really that bad? Sincerely I don't think so, while that Purple is not amazing I would lie if I don't say it's pretty enjoyable and fun while it last, and besides the "minigames", the game is also a sort of 2D open world platforming game and if I am sincerely I truly loved it.

Meh, Purple is not amazing but I think it's enjoyable like most games for the character.

- Crash Twinsanity

Up to this day Twinsanity is one of the most loved and praised Crash games, the reason?

Twinsanity is just... a terrific adventure.
The gameplay is a sort of standard 3D platforming but with Crash stuff and it truly worked perfectly.

Also the clever dialogues for the game are still some of the most memorables ones I ever seen in a game ever and they still make smile.

While it's known that the game was rushed and had quite a lot of cut content, the game itself is still terrific and I can perfectly understand why the game is so loved and I perfectly recommend playing it.

- Crash Tag Team Racing

Sincerely while Tag Team indeed feels a bit flawed... I also think the game is actually really fun and mostly good, the game is a racing - platforming game and frankly, I think both parts done a good job for making the game feel somehow better than average, it's also worth-mention the game has an interesting mechanics for fuse your car with the opponent and cooperate together for win the race.

- Crash Boom Bang

Boom Bang is another party game and widely regarded as a terrible game, I can agree?
This time I can, while the game itself can be entertaining, the content of the game is just really poor and the few it has sometimes fails to work properly, also the game has a really weird mechanic with the story mode that doesn't care if you don't actually win the rounds, the game still keeps progressing and eventually get a closure, so even if you lose all the time, you can still see the ending with no problems.

- Crash of the Titans

I always loved Crash of the Titans, and while there some mixed opinions like always, it looks clearly that most people that played it actually loved it.

There something worth-mention about it?
Well the game is like a soft-reboot and all characters looks different for appeal to the stuff that was popular at the time and I love it.

The gameplay itself is good, it's still a platforming game but with a beat em up gameplay that works really well, while that another mechanic for the game is jack  monsters that you can utilise for beat enemies and resolve puzzles.

I can't lie, I truly loved Crash of the Titans back then in 2008 and I still love it nowadays.

- Crash Mind Over Mutant

Just like the last game but this time is an open world platforming game and I would lie if I don't think it's really good, it also have some extra stuff I love like funny dialogues and for reason al most all cutscenes in the game look like animation styles that were popular at the time.

Certainly I can see why Mind Over Mutant almost won a prize for platforming game of the year.

The game is just something else.

- Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time.

One of my biggest fears was ended disliking Crash 4 more than I could actually like it and... it kinda happened even if I like the game.

There something wrong for it?
While that Crash 4 itself is a good game there a lot of stuff needed more thought instead of just shipped the game and call it a day.

But that's a story for another day, and if you are interesed on it, I want to believe, it mostly worth it even if you end feeling the story and other stuff in-game was just a big waste of time.

- Thank you for playing -

Congratulations again to Crash for the 25th.
Perhaps one of the few franchises that really managed to rival Mario and Sonic.
I always have problems learning English, but I still love to talk a lot, I need no reason to be kind, after everything I have gone through I found a little peace.


Re: Crash Bandicoot franchise turns 25 years old.
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2021, 02:38:19 pm »
I never stuck with the series past the PS1 era, but I loved the first game back in the day.  There was a card/sports shop in my town that I would hang at all the time as a kid in the 90's/early 00's, and they had a Playstation 1 for kids to play and that's how I played a number of PS1 games like Crash Bandicoot, Tekken 3, and Twisted Metal 2.  Crash was never a huge favorite of mine, though I'd probably say between the big 3 of the day, Crash would be above Sonic game wise.  As years have gone on, I really don't like Sonic's gameplay, but the Crash games are still fun and I loved the remake trilogy.

Speaking of, I need to get around to finishing Crash 4.  I got through some levels and end up taking a break and never going back, but then they added the PS5 update, so it should play even better than it did before, so probably will start over from the beginning.

Re: Crash Bandicoot franchise turns 25 years old.
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2021, 06:30:33 pm »
He doesn't deserve to be more popular than Spyro.

Re: Crash Bandicoot franchise turns 25 years old.
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2021, 08:01:26 pm »
Happy Birthday Crash. Its a Shame Activision-Blizzard is one of the biggest s*hitshows right now after everything they've done has recently come to light but no matter what happens I will never stop loving Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon two of the best characters to come out of the PS1.

covfefe2020

Re: Crash Bandicoot franchise turns 25 years old.
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2021, 02:49:14 pm »
I remember my first experience with Crash being at a friend's grandparents. I played Warped for a few nights and had a ton of fun, only problem was that they didnt have a memory card. Having to either replay all the levels or leave the console on for hours to progress really did help me relate to the older generations of gamers that talk about that constantly. I own Wrath of Cortex for gamecube now and really dont get all the hate, it feels just like Warped and has great music and animations, obviously the gameplay is frustrating and Im stuck on a boss fight because of some dumb mechanics but I kinda figured thats just the Crash Bandicoot Experience. Might pick up N sane trilogy for switch down the line.
The Benevolent and Powerful covfefe2020

Re: Crash Bandicoot franchise turns 25 years old.
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2021, 04:27:13 pm »
I've always had a great respect for the series, the original trilogy offers some of the finest platforming of the generation. I always felt graphically they looked far beyond most other PS1 games. I've beat all 3 multiple times and have had a great time with them all.I still find the Remakes take on the gameplay a little off. I'm very picky on the design of platformer mascots yet Crash always seemed to be fine and along with all the enemies there is a lot of charisma on show. All that said my favourite of the series is actually a post Naughty Dog title with Twinsanity!

TwinSanity for me is the perfect platformer, it's taken a different approach from the previous games Warp Rooms and level structure to have a more open world approach! Not in the nauseating modern context of vast land mass with nothing interesting, the game has a series of linear sections which lead into one another and it works great! But what I also love about the game is the humour! The writing is vastly superior to the rest having genuinely funny moments. Not only that, it also has the most intriguing lore of the series, with Cortex's family history at the boarding school. Then there is the catchy acapella music offering one of the most unique OST's I've ever heard within a game. The only slight down side is the villains are rather lacking, but getting to spend as much time with Cortex more than makes up for it. It's a great game and highly recommend it if you haven't played it.

I did play Crash Bandicoot 4... and hated EVERY second of it. The games difficulty is just exhausting to the point where it was just unpleasant to play. Many moments the game demanded you to break the actual physics of the game and there were a lot of moments to where i felt cheated - many instant death scenarios even when I had a mask. I don't know how well the game did financially as I remember it was very expensive at launch for a PS4 game at the end of the generation but if the same team is behind development, I want nothing to do with it. I even sold the game soon after beating it, which is something I rarely do especially a game which is a part of a legendary franchise I collect for but I hated the game so much I just wanted it out of my sight.