Crash Bandicoot: The Thread

[Jango]

Oh man, I'm loving this. Imagine. E3. Sony's conference starts. Lights go down. Crash 3's theme starts playing. People die of excitement. Sony reveals "WE GOT CRASH BACK". Reveals Crash HD Collection toped with CTR and everything for the PS4 and Vita. As if it wasn't enough, new game's trailer plays. People resurrect. E3 is over. Everybody go home and wait for the game's release. It's awesome and a success. Cancer is cured. The world rejoice. The end.

[CrashRatchetFan]

If you ask me, they should put Shawn in the Crash suit so he could come on stage to announce Crash's return: 

[Crash]

The thought of a new Crash game is an extremely exciting prospect to me (if that wasn't obvious). I do genuinely believe that Crash's comeback will be announced this year. I know a similar rumour comes up every year but this year there is so much more evidence compared to prior years and that excites me. I don't want to get my hopes up too high but I really do think that Crash will make a return this year.

[CrashRatchetFan]

It's gonna be a long three months till E3.

It's an obvious tease for a Crash game that they're not ready to announce yet because there's nothing substantial to show. Sony has their finger on the pulse on fan demand of certain series' and they go above and beyond to secure those games and strengthen their platform (Shenmue 3, Yakuza, FFVII Remake, The Last Guardian) which is something they're doing because they're in the lead and trying to capitalise on their success. They obviously sat in a meeting room at some point and said "What game can we get on our platform that gamers would be excited about?" and the answer to that was Crash. I wouldn't be surprised if this has been going on for years now in terms of getting the character back to Sony and finding a decent developer to create the game. It appears they have the developer locked down and a new game is coming. The more important question is who?

Shawn's pulling a Hashimoto and then wammo, E3 announcement. 

[Crash]

I remember a YouTuber by the name of Square Eyed Jak said that if Crash comes back, Insomniac should do it. I honestly think Insomniac could pull it off seeing as they have kept Ratchet and Clank going for so long despite there being a few bad games along the way. If Insomniac did a Crash game in the style of the original trilogy, I think it would be really good. Personally, I would have much more confidence in a revival of Crash if a developer like Insomniac was behind it.

[TheOcelot]

Makes me wonder what they could do with a PlayStation 4 game. How they could push the boundaries of 8th-gen hardware assuming they stick to a formula similar to the PS1 games or Twinsanity. Fans might want a new game but they won't necessarily want a carbon copy of the first games. So what could they do to improve the formula?

On a different note..........if Sony has bought the IP from Activision then I hope they've bought Spyro as well. I want a new Spyro game!

[CrashRatchetFan]

22 minutes ago, BenderBR said:

Makes me wonder what they could do with a PlayStation 4 game. How they could push the boundaries of 8th-gen hardware assuming they stick to a formula similar to the PS1 games or Twinsanity. Fans might want a new game but they won't necessarily want a carbon copy of the first gamess. So what could they do to improve the formula?

On a different note..........if Sony has bought the IP from Activision then I hope they've bought Spyro as well. I want a new Spyro game!

It could go two ways in my perspective: a fully-fledged free-roaming experience ala Jak or a another corridor-style game again if done right (and NOT something sterile and bland like WOC). I could see the latter work if it took some notes from the Spyro games (huge hubworld to explore with levels spread throughout) but remained close to the gameplay of Crash 2 (in which everything clicked perfectly IMO).

But I'd suggest you read this to get a better example of a Crash revival:

http://www.crashmania.net/blog/linear-vs-open-world/

In terms of Spyro coming back, that is never happening ever as long as Skylanders still exists. Skylanders was built on the back of Spyro.

[Crash]

29 minutes ago, CrashRatchetFan said:

In terms of Spyro coming back, that is never happening ever as long as Skylanders still exists. Skylanders was built on the back of Spyro.

Thing is, now Activision used Spyro's name to kickstart Skylanders, they haven't really used him since as far as I'm aware. Seeing as Spyro isn't used to market Skylanders anymore, I doubt Activision would mind giving up Spyro if Sony were prepared to pay good money for the IP.

[Enesephus]

26 minutes ago, Crash said:

Thing is, now Activision used Spyro's name to kickstart Skylanders, they haven't really used him since as far as I'm aware. Seeing as Spyro isn't used to market Skylanders anymore, I doubt Activision would mind giving up Spyro if Sony were prepared to pay good money for the IP.

Don't they use Spyro in Skylanders' spinoff materials, though? I'm sure they still don't actually need him anymore, but I wouldn't underestimate the dickishness of Activision.

[Your Vest Friend]

He's seen as a leader figure in the comic stories, so he's still a key character in the franchise. 

[Dejimon11]

26 minutes ago, Detective Reptiles said:

He's seen as a leader figure in the comic stories, so he's still a key character in the franchise. 

And he's going to be the main character in the upcoming skylanders cartoon.

[Jango]

I'm not sure which gameplay they're going for, but I'll be happy with either linear or open-world like Twinsanity. A Crash game on the PS4 would be like the new Ratchet and Clank. Colorful and smooth graphics, delicious 60FPS gameplay, full-HD resolution, beautiful animations... Imagine those beaches and luxurious jungles on a PS4. Hmmm.

[Milo]

1 hour ago, CrashRatchetFan said:

In terms of Spyro coming back, that is never happening ever as long as Skylanders still exists. Skylanders was built on the back of Spyro.

Really? Skylanders to me always seemed more as a new IP that Spyro and some other familiar elements was added in later during development for Activision to test the waters with / gauge interest from the existing Spyro fanbase (to their inevitable chagrin, considering the Skylander series has relatively little to do with the original line of Spyro games or the Legend of Spyro reboot outside of some token characters). Sure, Spyro got top billing in the first game, but afterwards he seemed to become just another bit player in a series that (due to being merchandise driven) has loads and loads of characters.

That said, he's a key character for both the comics and the upcoming show as @Detective Reptiles and @Dejimon11 have said, so I guess Activision's trying to remedy that now / make sure Spyro stays in their control (especially in light of the whole hullabaloo that's going on with Crash right now).

[Enesephus]

1 minute ago, Supt. Gabe said:

Really? Skylanders to me always seemed more as a new IP that Spyro and some other familiar elements was added in to test the waters / gauge interest from fans of the older Spyro series (to their inevitable chagrin, considering the Skylander series has relatively little to do with the original line of Spyro games or the Legend of Spyro reboot outside of some token characters). Sure, Spyro got top billing in the first game, but afterwards he seemed to become just another bit player in a series that (due to being merchandise driven) has loads and loads of characters.

That said, he's a key character for both the comics and the upcoming show, so I guess Activision's trying to remedy that now / make sure Spyro stays in their control (especially since the whole hullabaloo that's going on with Crash right now).

To me, it really just comes off as them trying to justify using Spyro to kickstart their new IP. "See, Spyro is essential! We didn't just add him to get sales out of Spyro fans."

[KHCast]

This is Activision. I'm not sold on them using Spyro for more than just to make larger sales(which is funny, since this probably would still be a profitable franchise without him.)

[CrashRatchetFan]

4 hours ago, Supt. Gabe said:

Really? Skylanders to me always seemed more as a new IP that Spyro and some other familiar elements was added in later during development for Activision to test the waters with / gauge interest from the existing Spyro fanbase (to their inevitable chagrin, considering the Skylander series has relatively little to do with the original line of Spyro games or the Legend of Spyro reboot outside of some token characters). Sure, Spyro got top billing in the first game, but afterwards he seemed to become just another bit player in a series that (due to being merchandise driven) has loads and loads of characters.

That said, he's a key character for both the comics and the upcoming show as @Detective Reptiles and @Dejimon11 have said, so I guess Activision's trying to remedy that now / make sure Spyro stays in their control (especially in light of the whole hullabaloo that's going on with Crash right now).

I think Skylanders has its ties with the original Spyro games more so than LOS (despite some references and cameos like Cynder and Malefor). Toys for Bob took the first Skylanders game with Spyro and a bunch of Spyro-esque worlds and turned it into a force in the toy world. Could they have just simply shoehorned him in the game last minute for brand recognition? Probably, but you gotta admit that Skylanders is a lot more successful than the originals ever had been. 

Spyro is one of the best selling Skylanders, I believe (been a long time since I've heard that though) and has far more value to Activision than Crash does, especially given the circumstances I referred to in my earlier posts. If anything was being sold or collaborated on, it wouldn't be Spyro, as much as I'd love for a classic Spyro game to come out. As a standalone franchise, Spyro bit the bullet. 

[Jango]

So.... Sony didn't said anything about the "leak"?

[Ryannumber1gamer]

17 minutes ago, Jango said:

So.... Sony didn't said anything about the "leak"?

They likely don't want to say anything until the official announce. It's a smart move on their part. They either flat out say, Yes it's coming, and lose some of the potential hype factor from a big E3 reveal, or they say flat out "No", which will cause people to not believe them due to the amount of "leaks" that occur, only for them to be denied, and then confirmed a few months later. 

[CrashRatchetFan]

@Ryannumber1gamer: Pretty much.

They probably want to defuse it to a certain degree if they aren't actually revealing anything until E3. They don't want months of nonstop Crash questions.

[Enesephus]

How are you people gonna feel if it turns out there is no Crash game on the way? It seems like some of you are getting a little too hyped up, or are a little too sure that we're going to get something. 

[CrashRatchetFan]

1 hour ago, Hyper Enesephus said:

How are you people gonna feel if it turns out there is no Crash game on the way? It seems like some of you are getting a little too hyped up, or are a little too sure that we're going to get something. 

There's a crapload of smoke at this point. Likely the only reason we can't see the fire is because there's so much smoke it blacks it out.

The coy Crash teasing has been going on for a while now and it's a bit... intriguing... that they let Layden wear that shirt. Especially after the kerfuffle with that Naughty Dog fan-art contest and Activision's bullshit a while back. I'd say odds of them having something in the works are far higher today than they were a few years back.

If there isn't nothing in the works, then I have no idea why Sony thought all this teasing was a good idea. But I have hope something is happening, if games like Shenmue 3 and FF7 Remake can become realities, I'm sure Crash has a chance to get the same treatment. 

[Agie]

As the old saying goes, though, don't get your hopes up too high.

[CrashRatchetFan]

1 hour ago, SurrealBrain said:

As the old saying goes, though, don't get your hopes up too high.

The problem is that there's been too many hints, this time around, and the Playstation Keynote t-shirt was the epicentre of that. It's hard to stay frosty at the first genuine promise in a long time. I'm normally on the negative train with this sort of thing, but I'm too damn excited, this time around.

[Enesephus]

20 minutes ago, CrashRatchetFan said:

The problem is that there's been too many hints, this time around, and the Playstation Keynote t-shirt was the epicentre of that. It's hard to stay frosty at the first genuine promise in a long time. I'm normally on the negative train with this sort of thing, but I'm too damn excited, this time around.

Just saying, there's a point where you ought to know to reign it in, lest you find yourself extremely disappointed if things don't go as you're expecting.

[Agie]

Yeah. I know you're excited, but I've had my share of disappointments due to things not going as expected.

Off topic, but I never did get into the series. I'm thinking I'll start with the Naughty Dog games and figure it out from there, but what do you think?