Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy (2017)

[Jango]

Count me the fuck in! I would still buy even if they just clean up the textures and stretch the screen. But I don't really think a PS1 game would look good like this... it can be done with emulators, tho, I did it myself. Oh God I hope so much they do like the screenshot above *-* I can't stop thinking: "How Snow Go will look like this? How Sunset Vista will feel like this? The JETPACK LEVEL!". I really want this to happen. But they have to nail the controls, for the love of God VV, don't pull a Sonic 4...

[Person]

I too am anxious to know what these remakes will look like. I'm a firm believer that the ps1 graphics still hold up today as aesthetically pleasing, but I really do hope they're going all-out and completely reimagining the visuals for modern consoles.

For right now though, can we just appreciate how goddamn great Crash's animations are in Skylanders?:

This is Crash Bandicoot as I remember him. If the remakes' animation is half as good as this, I think the series is in good hands.

[TheOcelot]

Just in case you missed it; Andy Gavin updated the article about the Crash stage in Uncharted 4 stating;

Quote

[ update 6/6/16: Neil Druckmann tells me that one guy recoded the whole sequence (using the original art/sound assets). No wonder it’s just a touch different, but amazingly impressive getting it so close. ]

Well, the person who recoded the stage did a great job even though the controls feel slightly different to the original.

 

I'd like to see the Crash games remastered with brand new graphics to bring up to PS4 standard, but - like I said - I also want Sony to bring the original PS1 games to PS4 (like they are currently doing with some PS2 games). To have remastered versions from VV with new graphics and the originals playable on PS4 via emulation would be awesome! You can never have enough Crash!

 

[Jango]

You guys know I was Skylander's biggest hater ever in this forum... I simply couldn't accept the idea of adding the beloved bandicoot to this game. AT ALL.

Well, mostly because I was worried that this could be the ONLY revival. Thank God it wasn't. But heck. This:

 

This is fucking Crash fucking Bandicoot done right. This is the best translation of Crash into 3D since Naughty Dog. In fact, I actually think it's a little better than ND's. Now, don't get me wrong, the original Crash model on the PS1 was great, and I love it. But I feel like the Vicarious Visions model is a 1:1 to Zembillas' concepts, which I adore because of the more over exagerated goofyness. The proportion is spot on, so is the personality. Okay, maaaaybe the personality is a little too creepy in some animations. Still, awesome. I just want the remake to look like this.

 

No, I won't buy Skylanders for Crash, hahaha. But I'll leave it open :x Sorry for the hate earlier, guys.

 

And hell, WHY THEY DIDN'T MADE SPYRO LIKE THIS? Forever ruined...

 

BONUS: Crash Bandicoot Remastered was the 7th most talked about game of this E3! The demand is real!

 

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

9 hours ago, Person said:

I too am anxious to know what these remakes will look like. I'm a firm believer that the ps1 graphics still hold up today as aesthetically pleasing, but I really do hope they're going all-out and completely reimagining the visuals for modern consoles.

For right now though, can we just appreciate how goddamn great Crash's animations are in Skylanders?:

This is Crash Bandicoot as I remember him. If the remakes' animation is half as good as this, I think the series is in good hands.

love how they forgot to add Wii-u even though it's coming to it

[Jango]

 

This guy is PlayStation's director of portfolio strategy. He also says we, leading us to think Sony might be more involved on this than simply publishing.

 

Now, some of you said "these are not real remakes like Ratchet & Clank because time!".

But let's look at this with some facts.

Sony teased Crash for the first time in 2013. MANY. OTHER. TEASES. CAME. AFTERWARDS. It's clear that Sony cares for their bandicoot.

Leads to think: they been trying to get Activision to colaborate with this remastered collection for at least a year. Insider teased specifically the trilogy's return in January 2015. Possible date the deal was finally made: late 2015. Why? Robomodo couldn't get Crash into THPS5. In June, Naughty Dog said they wanted to add Crash to UC4, but still couldn't. In December, during the PS Experience, Shawn "officialized" the deal, still behind the scenes.

If Vicarious Visions started working on the remakes right after the deal was set, they've already worked around 7-8 months... Doubtful, I admit, unless they've split into teams: team Skylanders and team Crash Bandicoot.

We still don't know when in 2017 the game will be released. It could (and probably) be during the holyday season. That gives VV a lot of time to work on this.

Honestly, you guys are forgetting one important detail. We can't compare Crash, a linear jump and run platformer from the PS1, to Ratchet & Clank from the PS2, which had huge levels, very deep gameplay mechanics, lots of cutscenes and shit going on. R&C is definitely bigger than the 3 Crash games combined.

 

Is it possible that VV is really Ratchet & Clank-ing Crash? Maybe. But I do believe they are actually going the New 'n' Tasty route, which is DEFINITELY WAY MORE LIKELY:

 

The core game is maintained intact, with bug fixes obviously. Gameplay, layout, everything is there was it was in 1997. But they couldn't just stretch the screen and call it a day. The graphics, lightning and shadow effects were re-worked from the ground up. Everything from Abe's model to the scenario is new 'n' tasty.

I doubt Sony will allow VV to just go there, clean up some textures, stretch the screen and call it a day. They are not crazy, and if the Collection is indeed exclusive to the PS4, their quality control would never allow a shitty port. Also, the backlash would be catastrophic. Not to mention, Crash 1 has a lot of flaws that need to be adressed, like the infamous save system.

 

So yeah, this is likely more Crash Bandicoot New 'n' Tasty than Ratched & Crash, which is much more plausible given the development time.

 

[Dejimon11]

I don't think I've asked this but what do you guys want to see if we do get a new crash bandicoot game? Do you want the gameplay style to be similar to the first 3 games as in a linear hallway level design? Do you want to be opened world like Twinsanity? Or do you want them to refine the crash of the titans style?  

[MegasonicZX]

7 minutes ago, Dejimon11 said:

I don't think I've asked this but what do you guys want to see if we do get a new crash bandicoot game? Do you want the gameplay style to be similar to the first 3 games as in a linear hallway level design? Do you want to be opened world like Twinsanity? Or do you want them to refine the crash of the titans style?  

A little bit of a mixture of all three to be honest. Having the open world levels while also providing some linear ones every now and again and bring back the titan mechanic from crash of the titans only with natural animals on crashes island instead and give them all some unique purpose that adds to the platforming (think animal buddies in donkey kong country).

[Milo]

7 hours ago, Dejimon11 said:

I don't think I've asked this but what do you guys want to see if we do get a new crash bandicoot game? Do you want the gameplay style to be similar to the first 3 games as in a linear hallway level design? Do you want to be opened world like Twinsanity? Or do you want them to refine the crash of the titans style?  

Updated and polished refinement of the first option. I mean, that's why people like the ND games best, and that's what they're clamoring for a return to. Go back to the roots first, and if it's a success that ensures the future of the series, maybe then you could experiment with adapting the series with an open-world approach with a sequel. I've read people consider Crash Bandicoot: Warped as having the best gameplay / traditional levels of the series, but they consider Crash 2: Cortex Strikes Back as the best overall game in the series, due to Warped adding too much focus on other gameplay styles that are part of the main campaign and detract from the experience. In my book, a new Crash that follows on those titles could stand to address this. Gameplay / levels similar to Warped that make up the majority of the levels, with other gameplay styles kept to a minimum and/or rendered optional.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the Super Mario 3D titles in particular were excellent obstacle-driven, linear 3D platformers. I think developers working a new Crash should look towards titles for inspiration, in regards to updating the formula of the ND games to contemporary times.

[Jango]

I'm one of those that prefer even the regular levels of Crash 2 over Crash 3 ? I've played Crash 2 last actually. Althought I like the other gameplay styles in Crash 3 (especially because they are never too long), I dunno... Crash 2 always had me.

The new game, aka Crash 4 (?), should try something between TwinSanity and Super Mario Galaxy IMO.

[Ratcicle King]

On 14/06/2016 at 10:56 AM, Jango said:

Guys, girls, please chill, Crash is back, everything is fine now, that's all that matters! More love please!

 

Isn't it better to wait for Sony or Activision to reveal what they actually meant with "remastered from the ground up" than having this unhealth discussion? C'mon, taking screenshots of search results, cursing... Geez.

 

BUT OKAY, hear me out. Now that I've stoped crying (tears of joy) I can see clearly, and I've noticed some things here:

 

Aku-Aku spoted on the middle left. Few design changes, still looks neat, much better than the ass monkey face from Crash of the Titans.

Pay great attention to image above: wumpa fruits trail, pretty much like a Crash game, zoom in and you'll also see a platforming segment with some crates.

The most important bit: this is N. Sanity Island. Cortex's castle is in the background. The totem poles, the trees, the beach, this is Crash's world. My question here is simple: does the guest characters Bowser and DK have their own world in Skylands? I've never played these games, so I wouldn't know.

This is either high attention to details, or it's a screenshot from the remastered version that got mixed up with Skylanders...

Alright so, I think we finally got context to this

 

This is from the demo, apparently just adding the Crash toy to the game will give you this message. So from these two pictures, we can guess they made an entire throwback level, unlockable through Crash's toy.

Even better, everyone remember how Lex Lang mentioned voicing a doctor a while back? From the demo we can see both Crash and Aku Aku kept their Titans/Mutants voice actors, meaning Lang is probably going to voice Cortex again, but I think it's safe to say the remasters are too early in development for voice acting already, so when Lang was mentioning voicing the ''doctor'', he probably wasn't talking about the remasters, but THIS GAME. Considering we're getting an entire level based on N.Sanity Beach, I fucking bet we're getting a Cortex boss fight.

 

[CrashRatchetFan]

48 minutes ago, Ratcicle King said:

Even better, everyone remember how Lex Lang mentioned voicing a doctor a while back? From the demo we can see both Crash and Aku Aku kept their Titans/Mutants voice actors, meaning Lang is probably going to voice Cortex again, but I think it's safe to say the remasters are too early in development for voice acting already, so when Lang was mentioning voicing the ''doctor'', he probably wasn't talking about the remasters, but THIS GAME. Considering we're getting an entire level based on N.Sanity Beach, I fucking bet we're getting a Cortex boss fight.

 

I'm pretty sure voicing Cortex can apply to both Skylanders and the remasters/remakes.

I'm going by what GAF Sony insider BruceLeeRoy hinted and by the looks of it, the remakes have been in development since late 2014/early 2015. Vicarious Visions is currently a rather large chunk of Activision's workforce, and is capable of developing several (and I mean several) projects at once based on size alone, disregarding all other variables:

 

 

[Ratcicle King]

VV aren't the ones behind Imaginators, Toys for Bob are developing the game. :U

Well the only problem is that if they were working on the remasters for so long why did they have nothing to show by this E3? Honestly the way they presented it looked like they just got the greenlight for the remasters.

[Person]

13 hours ago, Jango said:

 

I'm one of those that prefer even the regular levels of Crash 2 over Crash 3 ? I've played Crash 2 last actually. Althought I like the other gameplay styles in Crash 3 (especially because they are never too long), I dunno... Crash 2 always had me.

 

The new game, aka Crash 4 (?), should try something between TwinSanity and Super Mario Galaxy IMO.

I'm the same actually, heh heh. Crash 1 and 3 were both a part of my childhood, but I never had Crash 2. I got it much later in life, and it's since become my favorite of the series. Best level tropes, best vehicles, and best gameplay overall.

I liked the jet ski, Pura, and underwater levels of Crash 3, but the plane and the motorcycle can go to hell. The platforming levels seemed to have less variety overall.

Crash 2 had the jet pack and jet board, which were the best vehicles in the series. 

However, the grand "worst vehicles ever" award goes to Wrath of Cortex. Not a single goddamn one was fun to use. The jeep, snowboard, and submarine were so awkward to control. And then the copter pack and glider are the same things as the jet pack and plane, but much worse. The only cool one was the robot suit, but even that's not saying much.

.....

But yeah, the next Crash should find a good balance between linear/open world areas. It'd be cool if there were multiple paths or something for each level.

[CrashRatchetFan]

1 hour ago, Ratcicle King said:

VV aren't the ones behind Imaginators, Toys for Bob are developing the game. :U

Well the only problem is that if they were working on the remasters for so long why did they have nothing to show by this E3? Honestly the way they presented it looked like they just got the greenlight for the remasters.

Probably the same reason as to why nothing substantial was shown of Ratchet PS4 until E3 2015 (despite being announced the year prior).

BTW, I know that TFB are developing Imaginators but VV is probably already planning the next Skylanders game. Unless TFB are developing the next one after Imaginators now with VV handling Crash. 

[E-122-Psi]

7 hours ago, Ratcicle King said:

Even better, everyone remember how Lex Lang mentioned voicing a doctor a while back? From the demo we can see both Crash and Aku Aku kept their Titans/Mutants voice actors, meaning Lang is probably going to voice Cortex again, but I think it's safe to say the remasters are too early in development for voice acting already, so when Lang was mentioning voicing the ''doctor'', he probably wasn't talking about the remasters, but THIS GAME. Considering we're getting an entire level based on N.Sanity Beach, I fucking bet we're getting a Cortex boss fight.

 

Are you sure that's Jess Harnel as Crash. There seems significantly less infant babbling.

Concerning the remasters, unless they're making a heap load of new cutscenes and dialogue, I wouldn't place bets against them just using the original footage.

For level design for a new Crash game. I agree on the whole hybrid idea. Probably something like Sonic's early 3D games, where there's a mostly linear pathway, but more dynamic than just a corridor setup and at least a few hidden routes and short cuts to find. For all of WOC's faults it did improve on Crash's on foot levels in this manner, even if a couple extra pathways here and there could have made it fresher. Come to think about it, anyone wondered how a free camera mode may work in a retro Crash game?

Out of the retro titles, I think Crash 3 had the most longevity for me. I didn't mind the vehicles either, most of them were enjoyable and made the game fresh. Crash 1 and 2's designs felt a bit too repetitive after a while, even if I might admit the actual backdrops and gimmicks for the on-foot levels were maybe better, especially in 2. I feel all three games could have traded a handful of the same levels (ones that had three or four each) for a whole new level backdrop. Imagine if Warped had placed in a couple Western or Rome themed levels instead of just more repeats of the motorcycle and Egyptian themes. This was another thing I liked about WOC, a lot more variety in design, even if some were hindered by enforced vehicle areas (which were hit and miss in that instance).

[Ratcicle King]

3 hours ago, E-122-Psi said:

Are you sure that's Jess Harnel as Crash. There seems significantly less infant babbling.

Concerning the remasters, unless they're making a heap load of new cutscenes and dialogue, I wouldn't place bets against them just using the original footage.

For level design for a new Crash game. I agree on the whole hybrid idea. Probably something like Sonic's early 3D games, where there's a mostly linear pathway, but more dynamic than just a corridor setup and at least a few hidden routes and short cuts to find. For all of WOC's faults it did improve on Crash's on foot levels in this manner, even if a couple extra pathways here and there could have made it fresher. Come to think about it, anyone wondered how a free camera mode may work in a retro Crash game?

Out of the retro titles, I think Crash 3 had the most longevity for me. I didn't mind the vehicles either, most of them were enjoyable and made the game fresh. Crash 1 and 2's designs felt a bit too repetitive after a while, even if I might admit the actual backdrops and gimmicks for the on-foot levels were maybe better, especially in 2. I feel all three games could have traded a handful of the same levels (ones that had three or four each) for a whole new level backdrop. Imagine if Warped had placed in a couple Western or Rome themed levels instead of just more repeats of the motorcycle and Egyptian themes. This was another thing I liked about WOC, a lot more variety in design, even if some were hindered by enforced vehicle areas (which were hit and miss in that instance).

That's because Aku Aku speaks for Crash in this game, but Crash himself still grunts and screams when attacking, jumping or being attacked, and from those you can hear his voice from Titans/Mutants

[CrashRatchetFan]

7 hours ago, E-122-Psi said:

Are you sure that's Jess Harnel as Crash. There seems significantly less infant babbling.

Concerning the remasters, unless they're making a heap load of new cutscenes and dialogue, I wouldn't place bets against them just using the original footage.

For level design for a new Crash game. I agree on the whole hybrid idea. Probably something like Sonic's early 3D games, where there's a mostly linear pathway, but more dynamic than just a corridor setup and at least a few hidden routes and short cuts to find. For all of WOC's faults it did improve on Crash's on foot levels in this manner, even if a couple extra pathways here and there could have made it fresher. Come to think about it, anyone wondered how a free camera mode may work in a retro Crash game?

Out of the retro titles, I think Crash 3 had the most longevity for me. I didn't mind the vehicles either, most of them were enjoyable and made the game fresh. Crash 1 and 2's designs felt a bit too repetitive after a while, even if I might admit the actual backdrops and gimmicks for the on-foot levels were maybe better, especially in 2. I feel all three games could have traded a handful of the same levels (ones that had three or four each) for a whole new level backdrop. Imagine if Warped had placed in a couple Western or Rome themed levels instead of just more repeats of the motorcycle and Egyptian themes. This was another thing I liked about WOC, a lot more variety in design, even if some were hindered by enforced vehicle areas (which were hit and miss in that instance).

Activision PR states that Jess Harnell is reprising the role so yes. 

[Jango]

Yes, they did, it's him ^^^^

Anyways, Lex in the remastered collection? People already asked him on Twitter, he said he would definitely LIKE TO DO IT. Obviously we can't take everything from granted, eventhought the game's already been revealed. Cortex in Skylanders? More likely. We shall find in October. Can't wait to see N. Sanity Island in HD glory.

What I want most is Josh Mancell for the soundtrack. Dem uncompressed pre-console music is sooo goooood ~~

[CrashRatchetFan]

Some more Skylanders gameplay featuring Crash. Greg Eagles reprises his role as Aku Aku from the Radical Entertainment games.

I'm gonna open a can of worms and calling them remakes. 

That said, I think remastering the games in the true sense of the word is out of the question. You only really have two options when you go down this route: you can port the games to the PlayStation 4, or you can emulate them with a higher screen resolution, among another minor perk or two.

Remastering a work usually means giving it a few touches to improve the overall look and/or sound, while preserving everything that people remember about it. A typical game remaster could be a simple resolution bump to make the graphics sharper. This is why the second part of Shawn's description makes things confusing. You either remaster something or you build it again from the ground up. These two things just don't mix.

The first option would be extremely hard - all three games were coded in GOOL, a very specific tool created by Andy Gavin and Dave Baggett that no other developers really know how to work with (and there's a lot of other technical difficulties that, for the sake of keeping it simple, I won't go into). If Vicarious Visions are going to put that much effort into it, they might as well remake the whole thing and make it look like an actual PlayStation 4 game, don't you think? Conversely, the second option would just be lazy. Slapping the games onto an emulator would just be insulting, especially considering this would make it impossible to give the games modern standards like widescreen, which is the bare minimum in this day and age. This would hardly be worthy of the name "Remastered", and I seriously doubt it's ever crossed the developers' minds.

That said, Vicarious Visions is also responsible for Crash's appearance in Skylanders Imaginators and they put a lot of effort into redesigning the character in a way that could appeal to as many fans as possible, especially the older ones. They even went as far as digging up concept art and design documents from 20 years ago. I don't think this whole process was done just for a guest appearance in a game that isn't even Crash-related. Thus, if they're going to have this new design in the remasters, the games will logically have to be remade from scratch.

[E-122-Psi]

While I'd love to see the trilogy reimagined in high poly, I have to admit even just a standard port level effort could attract my attention if it had neat enough bells and whistles. After all Taxman and Stealth's Sonic remasters were still built off the original games in terms of graphics and gameplay and many consider them gold in all the extra details they added to improve them.

Hell imagine if they just did something like Sonic Jam, the original games with a few extras all compiled together in some sort of commemorative little museum. Seriously, imagine a gallery of all of Charles Zembillas' original artwork and loads of retro commercials.

[Jango]

They could remake it, but please God don't with with the controls. Make it like New 'n' Tasty, where the core gameplay and movement is exactly the same. Don't fix what isn't broken.

[Tani Coyote]

So are they going to just copy/paste the levels with modern graphics and better controls?

I guess it's better than nothing... maybe it will revive enough interest in the brand for new games?

...maybe we can also ignore the original reboot and continue where Twinsanity left off?

[Jango]

1 hour ago, Raccoonatic Ogilvie said:

So are they going to just copy/paste the levels with modern graphics and better controls?

I guess it's better than nothing... maybe it will revive enough interest in the brand for new games?

...maybe we can also ignore the original reboot and continue where Twinsanity left off?

https://youtu.be/aIWrFNDKQ6o?t=64

 

Well, even if they pull this:

 

I'll buy. I never get tired of playing these games, so it's no big deal for me to spend money in a port of Crash Bandicoot. They're fun games. I also want to give my support, we've asked for this for years, and since we have Sony involved, I won't feel so guilty in giving my money to Activision just to end up being betrayed. Right, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD and 5?... *sigh*

[Tani Coyote]

Now I just ponder if that rumored Crash Bandicoot film wasn't a rumor after all.

But, then again, after Ratchet's crash and burn, I wouldn't be surprised if they wait to see how these remakes do first before hopping on that project.