Missing You, Crash Bandicoot

 

 As a New Year's Eve special, I wanted to delve into everything Crash Bandicoot. Back when I was younger, the three major games I played religiously were Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Being dedicated to the classics, it is really hard for me to accept the games are morphing, and not for the better. I watched Spyro get a complete makeover into something I would never associate with Spyro the Dragon and turned into a little kids' toy collection. I recently played Sonic: Generations and thought I liked it at first, until I raged so hard after failing to beat the final boss that I swore against any other new Sonic games. 

Now Crash Bandicoot has also come under some unfortunate changes, changes that most diehard Bandicoot fans are aware of, and unhappy with. I played Crash Bandicoot up until Crash Bash and after that I didn't go any further. I can't really tell you why. Crash Bash came out in 2000. Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex came out after that and I dunno why but I never picked it up. At that time my family was moving around a lot and I can imagine we didn't get to unpack all of our crap every single time we moved. I think this was a time I fell out of video games for a bit, too. From what I understand, after the Wrath of Cortex, the games started to really go downhill. Recently, I tried a demo for Mind Over Mutant and absolutely hated it. The gameplay is all wrong and totally destroys the classic feel of a Crash Bandicoot game. Needless to say, I was pissed.

The design of Crash himself sort of fell below a cheesy level. It is really hard to describe in words, it is really something you  have to look at side by side. 

Old Crash

New Crash

Obviously, you can see the difference. Old Crash doesn't look as pretty or well-dressed. He has broad shoulders and means business. On the other hand, the new Crash has rolled up pants and is a lot skinnier than Old Crash. In other words, New Crash looks like a total pussy. If you think that can whoop Cortex, uh, you're wrong. I just do not like the new Crash, okay. He looks too nice, like I could trip him in a crowd and he would apologize for bumping into me. That is not what Crash is about.

The design of the game and characters got lazy and it is like they lost interest in the game. They were supposed to release a new Crash Team Racing in 2010 on PS3, but it got cancelled. I can't imagine how they could have messed that up. Crash Team Racing will always forever be one of my favorite racing games. All those Nintendo fans out there can play their MarioKart while all us Sony fans stick to Twisted Metal and Crash Team Racing.

I found this game online; it is actually an online Crash Bandicoot game handmade and is loyal to the original, early games. You can check it out here. It's not amazing, but it is something to help reminisce when emulators aren't available. Or when you are bored in class.

I cannot say I will ever want to pick up the latest Crash Bandicoot game because of the way the games have turned out along with the characters. I am loyal to such games as Crash, Crash 2, Crash Bash, and Crash Warped. I leave you with a video from Game Informer's website depicting Crash in Real Life.