Crash Bandicoot (Series)

[Lex]

How do we not have a Crash thread?

Anyway I gift you all the following link. Josh Mancell (composer of all original Crash music) recently started uploading all of his compositions prior to their downsampling for in-game use.

Link to GAF post listing all current links.

To clarify, this is the music as it was originally composed, before it was made to use PS instruments. There are even some themes that you only hear parts of in the final game (like Coco's Theme from Crash 2).

 

[RedFFWolf]

^I remember hearing the original version of Ripper Roo from Crash 2 on his soundcloud before; it's bloody brilliant! Really great seeing he has more up now. Cheers for the link

I'm in a nostalgic mood lately. After I complete Spyro 2 & 3, I'm moving onto the first CB game (definitely the harder of the first 3 to get all the gems).

EDIT: Oh, and I reckon CTR will forever be my favourite kart racing game. MK8 has tried hard, but CTR is still the best in my eyes

 

[Flintlock]

Crash 2 and Crash Team Racing are two of my favourite games (I'm always linking to that thread, I'm glad I made it!) ever. 1 and 3 are also fantastic in their own ways, but don't get me started on what happened to the series after that.

Thanks for the music links, I'll check 'em out.

 

[Lulcielid]

Imo, Wrath of Cortex is the best game in the series, period.

 

[Ghost X]

Never got into the platforming Crash games, I recall rage quitting upon borrowing one of them, but did like CTR quite a lot. Fully finished it, etc.

 

[RedFFWolf]

I'm in a nostalgic mood lately. After I complete Spyro 2 & 3, I'm moving onto the first CB game (definitely the harder of the first 3 to get all the gems).

After attaining 101% on Spyro 2 (love the way games like those do that, heh), decided to save Spyro 3 for another day and move onto the first Crash Bandicoot game tonight.

Progress: The Lost City
Gems: 4

Highs: Getting a gem on the first level. Bouncing on those boxes above the pitfall is not easy when only getting back into CB physics.

Beating the N. Brio Bonus Round in Rolling Stones the first time. Shame I needed a coloured gem to get all the boxes.

Low: Falling in a regular bonus round...


I've often beaten Papu Papu very quickly that I've never heard the music get in far enough until earlier this year when I downloaded the OST for it. Changes quite a bit around the 0:33 mark. Kinda surprised me.

 

[Flintlock]

Re: N. Sanity Beach gem – skip to 1:17 in the video below.

 

[RedFFWolf]

^And I always thought I'd just die trying that...
(Guess I never factored in the delay in box smashing in that state).

Oh, well, those skills will come in handy in a later harder level [Cortex Power, I think] where you do a similar feat. Or not, 'cause it's not exactly something I'm suddenly good at now

As an amendment to the previous post, I posted it with the intention of finishing up there and then, but I decided I'd play one more level (Temple of Darkness), completed it and got the gem for it. This calls for a:


EDIT: Continued playing 'cause getting up for work in less than four hours just didn't seem to matter...
Koala Kong, you'll be next, bud - you and your fairly-catchy-though-not-quite-as-catchy-as-Pinstripe's music.
Gotta say goodbye to those 99 lives when I load up the game up next time (but the green gem at Castle Machinery is always good for a quick boost whenever necessary).

 

[Strangelove]

i was playing sypro a few months back but stopped at the last level because i couldn't make the jumps anymore (it was free off the japanese psn and apparently the japanese version's camera is different to the english version's, which you can unlock if you finish the game. which i found hard with the camera as it is. so yeah)

afterwards i started crash 1 so we will see how i go with that (not played that in a while though)

 

[RedFFWolf]

I've just gotten my last gems there today. Sunset Vista was tricky 'cause of how long the level is. I'd get careless after dying the first time and then move too fast - while being cautious in this playthrough for most levels made getting the gems this time around a lot easier than others. Slippery Climb was the most intense; besides being an intense level with its music, visuals and setup, every little move you make to get to another part feels like such a daring leap of faith - but I actually got it the first time around.

Now just to face Cortex, and then complete the Great Hall with all those gems.

On work nights, I'll be taking on CB2: Cortex Strikes Back.

 

[Lex]

People say Crash 2 is the most difficult, but I've always found it the easiest. I figured out recently that it's because the level design in 2 is the most unforgiving, but you can save at any time and he controls far better than in 1.

I like to 100% (or 105/ 102 percent, whichever it is in 2 and 3 I always forget) and I think if you're a completionist then Crash 2 is the easiest. It's definitely easier to 100% Crash 2 than it is to 100% Warped (because gold/ platinum relics on some of those levels) and getting all gems in Crash 1 is a true achievement. So kudos Red

 

[RedFFWolf]

^I agree about 2 being the easiest. The only difference between 2 and 3 about getting gems, if I recall right, is that 3 will let you know how many boxes you need throughout the level [but the conditions are the same and lenient], where the difference between those two and the first game is that you cannot die (even if you get all the boxes from the start) - which is suddenly huge, as even checkpoints would protect you in 2 & 3 if you got everything up to that point. [Quick Edit: Actually, you needed to get the boxes in all the bonus rounds in CB2 too, unlike the first one]

I think I've only ever played 3 through fully once - whatever way I ended up with the relics I cannot remember. Platinum relics I can get in CTR, but for Crash 3 I think there were some levels I didn't enjoy, which happened to be the ones I struggled to get platinum in afterwards! (I think they were mostly the non-standard levels like riding the jetski). I wanna check old files now

And thank you - I didn't suffer as much this time around, but certainly back in the day it was always quite a challenge


(Speaking of CTR, what I wouldn't do for us all here to be able to play it online)

 

[Lex]

^You only need the gold relics in Warped for a "full completion" save, but I understand wanting the platinum relics for your own peace of completionist mind XD.

I think I've only ever 100%'d Crash 1 on emulator using save states if I'm totally honest. The annoying save system and not being allowed to die at all makes it super difficult.

 

[Strangelove]

i 100%'d tomba a while back and after that was like, you know what, i don't need this in my life ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

unless it's not a silly difficulty or 'collect and devour 10,000 crystal babies!' or there is a good reward for it

then i might have a go

i'm mainly playing dark souls 2 right now and there's no way i'm going to be trying any of that 'no death/no bonfire' nonsense in my limited time on this earth for some ring that makes your weapon invisible

 

[Lex]

The release date of the N-Sane trilogy is being announced tomorrow.

buzzing

 

[Lulcielid]

The release date is June 30th: http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/02/16/crash-bandicoot-n-sane-trilogy-release-date-announced

 

[Flintlock]

I guess I would say I'm cautiously pessimistic about this. I honestly don't trust anyone except Naughty Dog to make good Crash games, and ND obviously have bigger fish to fry at the moment. The trailers look too polished. I'm expecting the games to look right but feel wrong. We'll see.

 

[Channy]

I'm stoked about it, I loved these games and all the ragequit inducing moments

 

[Flintlock]

New N. Sane gameplay of Crash 2:

The level looks good, I'll give them that. Only the boxes really need improving, particularly the Nitros, which used to bounce around but now look lifeless. I'm still very sceptical about how it will play, though. It seems a bit sluggish compared to the original, which had just the right speed of movement.

 

[Channy]

I kinda thought that about the announcement trailer too - seemed oddly slow for a Crash game. =/

 

[Lex]

New N. Sane gameplay of Crash 2:

The level looks good, I'll give them that. Only the boxes really need improving, particularly the Nitros, which used to bounce around but now look lifeless. I'm still very sceptical about how it will play, though. It seems a bit sluggish compared to the original, which had just the right speed of movement.

I've watched a few comparison videos now, and I think the reason it feels slower is because you can see more of the "rest" of the level (to the north of Crash) - other than that I see movement at the same speed. This video shows what I mean:

One of my main concerns was that the "slide-jump" wouldn't survive since I used it constantly but there weren't any areas in Crash 2 where it was actually necessary - a lot of the places it's good to use are where you're meant to use bodyslam to reach a higher area, but slide-jumping is so much easier.

I do have some related concerns though - the jump doesn't feel like it takes him far enough, and in every video I've seen there's a weird delay between him being near an object and picking it up (fruit, masks, lives). You see him clipping through this stuff sometimes and not getting it, which seems like a bug. It's still a while til June though, doesn't seem like a difficult thing to "fix".

 

[Flintlock]

Slide-jump is pretty much the best thing ever. It is necessary to reach one of the secret levels though.

Thanks for posting that comparison video. What you have shown me, that is reality. What I remember, that is the illusion. Still, the perception of speed is often just as important (or more important) than actual speed.

 

[Channy]

Thanks for posting that comparison video. What you have shown me, that is reality. What I remember, that is the illusion.

 

[Lex]

A few levels from Crash 3!

 

[Flintlock]

I'm really not trying to be deliberately contrarian but there's still something I find very odd about all the gameplay footage I've seen. I think it's just an accumulation of little things – animations, sound effects, fonts, timings – not quite matching what I remember from the originals. It all adds up to a kind of "uncanny valley" effect where my brain thinks it knows what to expect but doesn't quite get it. If you want an example, check out the way the water reflects the light at 2:21. It stands out too much and doesn't seem to fit the otherwise cartoony setting.