Crash Bandicoot (Series)

[Moonface]

In preparation for the launch of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC on June 29th, a brand new level has been announced for the game called Future Frenzy. It will be bundled free with the versions launching on June 29th, and will be downloadable for free on the same day for PlayStation 4 users.

The level can be accessed via a floating platform in the warp room of Crash Bandicoot Warped from the beginning of that game, however you will be unable to fully complete it without having access to powerups obtained throughout Warped.

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Nice to see some new content coming to N. Sane Trilogy, especially that it's original content and not another cut level.

And since this is a series thread, anyone else a fan of Crash Bandicoot and what game is your favourite?

[Mr EliteL]

A new level sounds good, so PS4 users don't get anything on June 29th. Nice. Like that it is for Warped. I need to hurry up and actually start a file on my N. Sane Trilogy, since it's my favourite of the three original games.

For the series, Crash Bash was my main game when I was into Crash during PS1. Also Wrath of Cortex, but that game now is...yeah. Nothing compared to the originals. Got both the GBA games, XS/Huge Adventure and N.Tranced, which were both enjoyable. Closest to the original trilogy for gameplay, in my opinion. Crash Team Racing I didn't own, only played on demo or borrowed when we had a shop that lent out video games. Was a great racing game.

[Moonface]

My favourite Crash game from the original trilogy is Cortex Strikes Back, but for the remakes I preferred Crash 1 because I think that game has the best level theming due to you travelling across the islands. Post Naughty Dog, Crash Twinsanity was the best Crash game for me and took the series in a different direction that worked. Everything after that game is when the series truly hit rock bottom.

Speaking of level themes, what's everyone's favourite level or level theme? XD

[Mr EliteL]

Since I need to look up to remember themes from the original trilogy/other games, all I can provide right now are what I know by memory. Which are all from Crash Bash.

Crash Ball - Goes well with the fast pace action, and gets the tension going when people are low and trying to not lose their remaining lives.
Metal Fox - Just really good, like the build up and beat for when the song gets into it
Dot Dash - For taking me back to Tiny's theme, and fitting well with the mini-game

I think I like some of the futuristic and underground/pipe level themes. Might be remembering wrong though.

[Moonface]

Agree with you on Crash Ball. That's one of the minigames I played with my dad all the time and for me is the best Ballistix map, followed by N. Ballism.
Space Bash is my other favourite from Crash Bash, as it's the most unique and fun take out of all the Crate Crush minigames.
Surprised you like Dot Dash, since I thought all the Dash minigames were terrible. XD

For other games, my favourite levels/themes are as follows:

• Crash Bandicoot - Jungle Rollers (Level) - Whenever I think of a Crash Bandicoot level, this is always the one that represents the series for me. I find its song to be the most memorable one from the entire original trilogy.
  
• Crash Bandicoot - Dark Hallway (Theme) - If you don't remember, the levels for this are the corridor ones taking place in complete darkness. I liked them in the original and the remake perfected the atmosphere of these levels.
  
• Crash Bandicoot 2 - Sewer, Stream, Mountain, Jet Pack (Themes) - It was hard to pick out themes from Crash 2 without picking almost the whole game, as for me there's so many good ones.
  
• Crash Bandicoot 3 - Ancient Egypt, Future (Themes) - Easy one for me, as these themes have some of my favourite levels from the whole trilogy. I can't even decide what Egypt level is my favourite one. XD
  

[Mr EliteL]

Agree with you on Crash Ball. That's one of the minigames I played with my dad all the time and for me is the best Ballistix map, followed by N. Ballism.
Space Bash is my other favourite from Crash Bash, as it's the most unique and fun take out of all the Crate Crush minigames.
Surprised you like Dot Dash, since I thought all the Dash minigames were terrible. XD

Oh whoops. I thought you meant the soundtrack of levels.

Although Crash Ball is also my favourite Ballistix map, so the music and that level is awesome together. Space Bash is also the best stage from the Crate Crush maps. That added threat of falling down a hole, plus the fact you can destroy almost the entire floor (well you need one space for the winner...or can there be a draw with no floor space?) were the best factors out of the four.

I don't actually like Dash games that much, just the music from Dot Dash. Maybe once in a while it's fun, but not one I'd pick over and over again like Bash, Polar Push, Tank Wars and Ballistix. Those were the main best mini games. If only you could make a customised tournament, I'd have one or two from each. Dash tournaments would get annoying.  

Since I played Crash 3 the most, I can agree with the Ancient Egypt and Future themes. All were good. Might even say Egypt slightly beats out Future for me. I need to play them again to know.  Next best would probably be the Dinosaur levels or playing as Coco with Pura. For me anyway.

[Moonface]

Anyone else played the Future Tense DLC or get N Sane on a non-PS4 platform today?

I just finished the Future Tense DLC and it's very challenging and probably the best Crash level in existence. It really gives me good faith that Vicarious Visions will do great level design if/when they make a new Crash game.

[Karo]

Welp it time for me to officially bump this thread! So I recently purchased the N Sane Trilogy for my PC and boy I am loving it and feel like a great remaster that improves on the look of the game, but definitely seem to keep how it controls and all the little details with it. (I personally will probably actually be playing with Coco instead of Crash because I always liked Coco, but sadly you couldn't play the normal levels with her, so I am really happy with her being included in all of them! )

This is actually the first time I've been trying to get all the boxes and stuff and it honestly a huge challenge because you have to get the colored gems to be able to even think about getting them all....and apparently you can't die when trying to earn a colored gem and I'm playing on a keyboard! D:

This is definitely going to give me lot of fun and I'll be enjoying the challenge.

[Moonface]

You can only die on a level in Crash 1 with a coloured gem if you die before the first checkpoint. Dying after that means you need to restart the level. Slippery Climb and The Lost City are the two worst ones to go for. Crash 2 and Crash 3 don't have that requirement; only Crash 1 has it because the original game required you to never die if you wanted to obtain any gem on any level.

[Moonface]

So it hasn't been officially announced yet, but it looks like there's going to be a Crash Bandicoot mobile game:

I'm very skeptical about this because it's King and Activision, which is not a great combination. I expect the game to be loaded with microtransaction bullshit that becomes almost unavoidable. The whole base building shit also seems completely unnecessary and doesn't even really make sense; it's clearly there to just be something you have to grind to work on. Only thing it has going for it at this point for me is the art style.

[Mr EliteL]

Crash had to go to mobile didn't it?  Once I saw King I immediately thought 'nope'. I already don't use my phone for gaming but also don't have any hope the game will be good with King being involved. For the same reasons of microtransactions. Did wonder what the fourth image was about, so it's base building? Strange gameplay to be added to Crash.

[Moonface]

It doesn't surprise me it happened given how big mobile gaming is, and Activision own King who are a notable company for that stuff. Unless I hear awful things about this from the outset I might download it just to see how it is. Don't expect it to be done well enough to stick with it though.

[Moonface]

So some footage came out of that new mobile Crash game, and while it doesn't look terrible it also just feels like any other mobile runner game:



I might try it out, but I won't be surprised to find it gets repetitive, boring, or turns into a lot of waiting for timers to count down. The art style is nice, but good god some characters like Dingodile got fucking butchered.

[Mr EliteL]

Forgot about this. Eh looks OK I guess for a small mobile game, nowhere near the chances of grabbing my interest, which was already at a 0% rating. Our poor boy Dingodile though, they done him nasty. I'm terrified for any other characters that might show up.

[Moonface]

I've seen Brio and Cortex as the only other two returning villains, and neither of them looked altered in any drastic way. It seems only Dingodile got to suffer.

Interestingly there's enemies from Twinsanity present and also one of the boss fights is against an enemy from the Titan games. It would be neat if this is a way for Activision to test who to bring forward as a proper villain who works with Cortex so that we aren't just fighting the same bosses that were in the OG trilogy, and it lets later games get integrated in a way that works with the reboot.