PixlBit

There are three things I noticed I tend to like a lot more than the average gamer: Bioware, Pokemon, and Crash Bandicoot. And while the first two get their critical praise, remain relevant and receive high sales, Crash has been mostly irrelevant for a little over the past ten years. But you know what? I still fucking love this guy.

While many of you on here had Mario or Sonic be the mascot that defined your early gaming years, mine was Crash. I did not have my own gaming system other than a Gameboy until I got an Xbox in 2004, so my gaming was mostly what I played when at someone else's house. Often passing the controller every time we died, just having a blast. And before school every day, I'd go with my sister to her friend's house where for a half an hour each day, we'd play Crash Bandicoot.

Crash was my first foray into 3D games and it blew my mind. It reminded me a lot about Donkey Kong Country, but a lot more impressive. I never liked how plastic everything in DKC looked and how despite that things looked 3D like Toy Story, you were still just moving left to right. Ever since I first saw my cousin play A Link to the Past, I'd always wanted something like that, but you see behind the character instead of above them. 

Crash gave me everything I hoped from it. Enemies were always in plain view, yet still had their own movement and attack patterns which I loved. The game was having you not just dodge what was in front of you, but make different obstacles on the right and left side. Then there were levels like boar riding levels and ones where a boulder would chase you that just felt like something new and unseen. Even Crash and the bosses looked a lot more animated and fun than anything I saw from the SNES or Genesis. 

One thing I do remember though was how I played Mario 64 soon after and it really blew my mind. I wasn't just moving in a straight path, I could go wherever I want. True freedom. I wanted to play Mario 64 more than Crash at first as a kid even though I was stuck with Crash more often.

Nowadays though, I appreciate all three of the PS1 Crash games a lot more. Mario 64 shows its age a lot more, I spend a large part of that game fighting the controls, the platforming is very basic, and I can never hope to find land on a ledge that isn't at least four times the width of Mario. With Crash, however, I can land on super thin platforms and the game offers some really tough platforming. Beating this game feels like an accomplishment. Hell, the game even holds up graphically a lot better than Mario. Crash and all the villains look great while there's just something off to Mario, Bowser, and Goombas in Mario 64.

The game isn't perfect however. The controls, while better than Mario 64, do still feel a little too imprecise, especially when I'm so used to the way 2 and Warped feel. There's also a lot less variety than the other games as well. Until the last world, everything has an either island or an ancient Latin American theme to it, with the exception of the bridge levels. The lab levels by this time are less a welcome change of pace and more a godsend.

The level design is not as creative as the later games either. I can forgive it because this game was just laying the groundwork, but it does make the game less fun to go back to. It's more about creating new ideas without letting them realize their full potential. But the bridge, boar, and boulder levels are creative enough ideas to make up for these and add some much needed variety to the level design. 

So while Crash Bandicoot is still one of my favorite games, I do realize that most of it is based on nostalgia. The game is mostly good, but not great even if it holds up a lot better than your average 3D game from the 90's. It's worth a try if platformers are one of your favorite genres, but if not, then I'd recommend skipping it for the sequels.