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 CW: Cartoonish, stereotyped portrayals of indigenous Australians and Australian wildlife. Those of you who follow my Let's Plays know that I like to play weird, interesting, deeply-flawed titles with a lot of heart...but not today. This Let's Play is about a big video game franchise that is very near and dear to me - Crash Bandicoot. In this thread, we'll be playing Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy. Developed by Vicarious Visions in 2017, it's a quasi-remake of the first three Crash games. As someone who's followed the franchise almost since the beginning, I absolutely adore this collection - perhaps even more than the originals. I will be joined by my good friend pdPreciousRoy, who is seeing these games for the first time. This LP is geared towards those unfamiliar with Crash Bandicoot. That being said, whether you've never played a Crash game in your life, or you're a hardcore fan, or maybe you haven't touched the series in years, everyone is welcome!  Crash Bandicoot is a series of platforming games, originally created by Naughty Dog for the Sony PlayStation between 1996-2000. The first game is an interesting and fun, if often frustrating, experience; its sequels are powerhouses of graphical prowess and game design, re-imagining the tropes and mechanics of classic balls-hard 2D platforming in three-dimensional space. After making the spinoff Crash Team Racing in 2000, the rights to Crash Bandicoot reverted back to its publisher, Universal Interactive Studios. The next several years were fraught with peaks and valleys as the IP jumped from studio to studio. Sadly, even the best post-Naughty Dog Crash games couldn't recapture the magic of the originals. After the critical and commercial failure of 2008's Crash: Mind Over Mutant, the franchise was shelved by its current publishers, Activision and Vivendi. The character of Crash was briefly brought back as a guest character for Activision's toys-to-life Skylanders games, but the future of the franchise proper seemed doomed. Fast-forward to 2017. The first three games were re-released as Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, developed by Vicarious Visions for the PlayStation 4. This love-letter to the past polishes the old games with a new coat of paint, tightened the controls, and introduces several quality-of-life changes from later titles. The N. Sane Trilogy sold like hotcakes and introduced a new generation of gamers to the orange marsupial. The collection was later ported to Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Toys for Bob, the studio responsible for the Switch port, would later develop an official instalment of their own, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, in 2020.  First of all, this is not a megathread. While I will LP all three games in the collection, they'll be separated into individual threads, and I will complete one or two unrelated Let's Plays in between each game. For those who remember my Castlevania: Lords of Shadow megathread, I ended up burning out hard on that series by the end, and I don't want it to happen again, especially with a franchise that's so important to my childhood. Playing the PC version of N. Sane Trilogy, I will collect every gem in all three games, posting updates every Saturday. While the majority of this LP will focus on the N. Sane Trilogy, I will sometimes use footage from the originals as a basis for comparison. We'll also discuss the development histories of both the originals and the N. Sane Trilogy, as well as talking about the post-Naughty Dog Crash games, and what they got wrong (and right!) about the classic feel. I will also be getting Platinum relics on the Time Trials in Crash Bandicoot: Warped. I'm not ruling out the possibility of completing the Time Trials for Crash 1 and 2, but currently it's not in the cards, as I think it would slow down the pace a bit too much. As to whether I'm going to play some of the later games and/or Toys for Bob's Crash 4...maybe? Don't rule it out, but as mentioned, I'm a bit weary about increasing the scope too much, so for now we'll focus just on the N. Sane Trilogy. Thanks for joining me on this crazy, hog-wild ride. Let's get started! theenglishman fucked around with this message at 04:19 on Jun 20, 2021 |
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Jun 6, 2021 17:52
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 FULL PLAYLIST                                   
theenglishman fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Oct 29, 2022 |
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Jun 6, 2021 17:53
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Considering the limitations of the PS1 controller prior to the Dualshock, I don't suppose it's much of a surprise that the game is basically just several variants on a chase camera. There were some platformers in the era that did try to give the player control of the camera, and results could vary quite a bit, not generally well. Honestly though, knowing how obsessive I was as a kid, getting to the end of a level and being bombarded with the "You missed X number of boxes" screen would have driven me crazy. I would have been going back and forth across the level forever and not realizing that I didn't have the necessary tool to 100% it. Maybe that's why I just played Final Fantasy games on the PS1 instead.
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Jun 6, 2021 19:45
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Oh man, I remember my sisters and I getting this game with the original PlayStation back in the day...  Anyway, I think I remember an interview waaaay back when the game was released that the inspiration behind the game was that they wanted to make a Sonic game but in a different perspective. 3D was a budding technology at the time, and the devs wanted to have the camera fixed from the back, which was unheard of at the time. The game was then proceeded to be nicknamed "Sonic's rear end Game" during production until they had an actual name for the game.  (confirmed in this 2016 interview with Rolling Stone)As for more Crash Bandicoot history, the fuzzball was Sony's answer to Nintendo's Mario and Sega's Sonic. The PlayStation was very new and had no flagship mascot, and Crash was hip albeit a bit zany, which was very much on trend in the late 90s, so he was advertised. Heavily. Even for Pizza Hut. Unfortunately, as mentioned in the OP, Crash fell out of favor as newer generations of consoles were released, and some forgot about him altogether. To me personally, he was a product of the 90s and felt kinda stuck there, and I'd only remember the first 2 games as very difficult games I never completed. I'm also really, really bad at video games, but that's not the point. I'm looking forward to the LP since I've heard great things about the remake trilogy, and I'm looking forward to seeing if there are any other changes this trilogy did in comparison to the first
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Jun 7, 2021 05:17
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Miz Kriss posted:Anyway, I think I remember an interview waaaay back when the game was released that the inspiration behind the game was that they wanted to make a Sonic game but in a different perspective. 3D was a budding technology at the time, and the devs wanted to have the camera fixed from the back, which was unheard of at the time. The game was then proceeded to be nicknamed "Sonic's rear end Game" during production until they had an actual name for the game. Interesting - I've seen the Ars Technica War Stories video with Andy Gavin, but didn't know there was a Rolling Stone article too. I'll have to read that when I get a chance.
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Jun 7, 2021 19:42
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Today we finish the first of three islands. Seriously. The first Crash is pretty short.
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Jun 13, 2021 04:53
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I do not remember that save system at all in Crash 1. Though it probably explains why I can't remember beating it without cheat codes when I first played it, much less getting 100%. The death animations probably went a long way in how much I enjoyed the first Crash and got me to play to sequels
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Jun 13, 2021 07:16
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Around what year did frequent, automatic saves become the norm for pretty much every video game?
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Jun 13, 2021 08:45
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Lustful Man Hugs posted:Around what year did frequent, automatic saves become the norm for pretty much every video game? When it became possible with consoles having harddrives.
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Jun 13, 2021 13:24
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It was something of a slow rollout. A few PlayStation 2 games, and even some very late PlayStation games, had a form of autosave, though it didn’t become a standard until the 7th generation.
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Jun 13, 2021 13:32
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Notably Startropics on the NES had autosave, and many PC games of the time had it too. The problem is a lot games wanted a (relatively for the time) large amount of data to save, and storage was slow (and easily removable as in the ps1/2). So it was restricted to games like startropics that only needed a small amount of save data. PC having fast IO and ample storage is why its games had things like quicksaves because they could feasibly just dump the current game state into a file without much trouble. I think i remember a few games into the 7th that had purely manual saves. Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Jun 13, 2021 13:57
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I remember constantly being surprised by how many memory blocks on a standard memory card a game did or didn't want on the PS1. Some of the more complicated games only wanted a few whereas what I considered a simple one needed a third or half. For Crash I guess Naughty Dog might have been working with the Mario/Sonic model of "saving" for a long time before the memory card became a thing.
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Jun 13, 2021 18:38
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Kibayasu posted:I remember constantly being surprised by how many memory blocks on a standard memory card a game did or didn't want on the PS1. Some of the more complicated games only wanted a few whereas what I considered a simple one needed a third or half. For Crash I guess Naughty Dog might have been working with the Mario/Sonic model of "saving" for a long time before the memory card became a thing. I remember that Naughty Dog implemented an optional autosave system for Jak and Daxter, which would save automatically every time you got a power cell. I also have reason to believe that the restrictive save system in Crash was implemented to nerf passwords. Since you needed to get a gem or complete a bonus round to save, it means that if you put in the password for a 100% file, you couldn't save it to a Memory Card. I get the intent behind that choice, but it's still pretty dumb.
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Jun 13, 2021 20:27
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Just a thought regarding the pacing of this LP - my current plan is to introduce the concept of the time trials in the Crash 1 section, but not actually do any time trials until Crash 3, just to break up the pace. I might also show off the time trials in the original Crash 3, to make it less monotonous. Is that okay with you guys?
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Jun 14, 2021 17:48
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Honestly I forgot time trials were even a thing. They are pretty much just the levels again though so its not necessary at all to show every single one.
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Jun 14, 2021 22:43
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Getting an idea of them in Crash 1 but waiting until Crash 3 to actually bother completing them is a good idea yes. Pretty sure you don't get anything worthwhile for completing them until 3 anyway, and it's not until 3 that a few mechanics get introduced to make them playable/fun as I recall.
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Jun 15, 2021 13:39
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Ignatius M. Meen posted:Getting an idea of them in Crash 1 but waiting until Crash 3 to actually bother completing them is a good idea yes. Pretty sure you don't get anything worthwhile for completing them until 3 anyway, and it's not until 3 that a few mechanics get introduced to make them playable/fun as I recall. You're half-right about that last part. In the N. Sane Trilogy version of Crash 2, you get the Crash Dash from 3 (renamed the Speed Shoes) as a reward for beating Cortex.
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Jun 15, 2021 13:59
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I was very excited to play this and recently picked it up on a sale for Switch but the changes to the controls and motion made it a very frustrating experience for me. Managed to finish warped but had to throw in the towel after that. Excited to follow this though
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Jun 15, 2021 14:07
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Just gonna barf out some general Crash thoughts here. Unsure if OP wants spoiler tags used or not so erring on the side of caution here. As a kid I definitely would have said 3 was the best one and I do think the upgrade powers add a lot to the fun of the experience but I think 2 might be the best one now. Much more focused, the sprawl of 3 is cool but for every weird new mechanic that works and adds something fun (time trials, jetski levels) there’s way more that were just too shallow or janky (motorcycle levels, scuba levels, the yoshi ripoff that shows up once in the main game, planes). Kind of amazing they got all those systems functioning with how short the development time was though. Crash 1 is really weird next to the other two, having to make it through levels without dying to get gems is a nightmare. The slightly more cohesive level themes are cool and the sunset vista temple levels are awesome. It was a shame the sequels backed away from the longer levels like those ones, I feel like the quality of life gameplay improvements would have made them quite fun. Really wish CTR was in this collection, that game absolutely rules. The digging/lumberjack levels in 2 rule. Maybe a weird pick for favorite level theme but I always found them fun fun fun.
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Jun 15, 2021 15:04
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thrilla in vanilla posted:I was very excited to play this and recently picked it up on a sale for Switch but the changes to the controls and motion made it a very frustrating experience for me. Managed to finish warped but had to throw in the towel after that. Excited to follow this though The N. Sane Trilogy definitely has some genuine issues, but I think that a lot of the frustration from classic Crash fans is, as you said, a problem of muscle memory. When your goal is to modernize a classic series like this, there has to be some, well, modernization. With fans playing these games for as long as they have, you're bound to have some complaints about it not being the exact same experience with a fresh coat of paint. Honestly, Vicarious Visions' main mistake wasn't changing the controls, but not tweaking the level design in some areas to accommodate for those new controls. The High Road and Slippery Climb come to mind - they're already two of the hardest levels in the original, and they're made artificially harder by using level design built around forward momentum that Crash no longer has. That being said I greatly prefer the controls in the NST to those of the originals; my issue is how it affects certain levels.
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Jun 15, 2021 15:59
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Oof, yeah the latter of those two was my breaking point for the crash 1 remake and I loved that one when I was a kid.
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Jun 16, 2021 00:10
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thrilla in vanilla posted:Oof, yeah the latter of those two was my breaking point for the crash 1 remake and I loved that one when I was a kid. I'd really be interested to see the exact difference in opinions of the NST between those who grew up with the original games, and those playing them for the first time. My gut feeling still tells me that a lot of the problems older fans have with the new compilation are related to muscle memory. Those old instincts kick in when playing the compilation, and you temporarily forget which version you're playing. It's like listening to an old song, but some of the notes you remember are moved, or changed around, or played in a different way. I sympathize with those fans, but I also think it's important to distinguish between the N. Sane Trilogy's actual flaws vs. things that are just different. In other news, I have finished recording my footage for Crash 1, and almost finished editing. As a reminder, there will be an unrelated LP in between each game in the trilogy - a sort of intermission, if you will; these intermissions will have their own dedicated threads. I have decided to keep this as the "main" thread, technically making it a megathread, but I don't want to burn out, especially not on these games. For those interested, the "intermission LP" between Crash 1 and 2 will be the Nintendo Wii game Rabbids Go Home.
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Jun 19, 2021 21:20
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Having played the original PS1 trilogy as a kid, I was certainly caught offguard by some changes when I got NST on Steam. Such as the jump physics and the "pillbox" hitbox. The latter screwed with bridge levels, making the rope walk cheese much more difficult. I could also just run over 1 plank gaps on PS1, where as in NST that was no longer possible and I had to readjust to stick the landings with the new pill shaped Crash. And then do that while on the run during time trials.... On more opinion based nitpick: I HATE the NST version of the sewer level song in Crash 2. It sounds too clean (matches with the equally clean new look, which is also a bad thing in my eyes) and too "music-y" with the bell sounds, where as PS1 song sounded wonderfully dirty and grungy with an angry plumber banging on hollow pipes with a rusty wrench.
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Jun 19, 2021 23:24
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If I'm being honest, bosses in the Crash series are more of a spectacle than a challenge.
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Jun 20, 2021 04:15
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theenglishman posted:I'd really be interested to see the exact difference in opinions of the NST between those who grew up with the original games, and those playing them for the first time. My gut feeling still tells me that a lot of the problems older fans have with the new compilation are related to muscle memory. Those old instincts kick in when playing the compilation, and you temporarily forget which version you're playing. It's like listening to an old song, but some of the notes you remember are moved, or changed around, or played in a different way. I sympathize with those fans, but I also think it's important to distinguish between the N. Sane Trilogy's actual flaws vs. things that are just different. This was 100% my problem. I certainly would not say these remakes are bad games.
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Jun 20, 2021 15:59
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I remember having a lot of trouble with what I think is the next boss but that might just be the save system coming back to haunt my past self again. Backtracking into the camera was honestly one of the meaner things Crash did. When its not a boulder level the camera is just right there.
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Jun 22, 2021 03:00
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I'm sure it's been pointed out, but having to go through the whole game then having to return to earlier levels on the first island is really petty of the first game.
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Jun 23, 2021 09:19
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It's a game originally from 1996, they probably weren't thinking too hard about backtracking issues loving with the players until after reviews came in. The series does get better about poo poo like that in later games.
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Jun 23, 2021 13:12
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Ignatius M. Meen posted:It's a game originally from 1996, they probably weren't thinking too hard about backtracking issues loving with the players until after reviews came in. The series does get better about poo poo like that in later games. It certainly improved in later games. Crash Bandicoot 2 has almost as much backtracking as the original, but it's better paced, and the game gives you more chances earlier on to retread levels.
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Jun 23, 2021 21:19
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And just like that, we're done with Wumpa Island. Onto Cortex Island!
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Jun 26, 2021 14:23
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The post-level box count implies that someone's following Crash, picking up the unbroken boxes specifically to smash them over his head 
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Jun 26, 2021 18:35
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What was the PS1 "shimmer trick where you read junk data off the frame buffer"? It sounds interesting but I wasn't able to find anything about it online.
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Jun 27, 2021 02:23
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I think I remember trying to get an entire line of bats just from spinning the first one. For no reason other than I think you get a single fruit for hitting one enemy with another.
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Jun 27, 2021 07:21
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I distinctly remember in the original first game that if you took out both stationary bats any others flying through would also be killed and more wouldn't spawn. Not sure why they changed that in this version.
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Jun 27, 2021 14:58
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So I started with the second game shortly before the third's release and it's actually the only one of the three original games I one hundred percent-ed.
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Jun 28, 2021 05:12
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Chimera-gui posted:So I started with the second game shortly before the third's release and it's actually the only one of the three original games I one hundred percent-ed. As a kid I got 105% on Crash 3 and came very close to 100%ing 2. I ended up beating the first game, once, but I just didn't have the skills to 100% it so  .
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Jun 28, 2021 14:17
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I’m really sorry guys, but I’m going to have to push back the next update by one week. My estimate for how much time I’d need between the backlog and the current update time. Hopefully by next week I’ll be back on track. Thank you for your patience.
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Jun 29, 2021 00:56
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Ignatius M. Meen posted:I distinctly remember in the original first game that if you took out both stationary bats any others flying through would also be killed and more wouldn't spawn. Not sure why they changed that in this version. I have the Switch version and that still seems to work, at least in The Lost City. Of course, that’s also where I’ve been stuck on the NST Crash 1 for 3 years.  I played the PS1 versions so much that muscle memory and the reduced forward momentum definitely fucks with me, and Crash 1 is the hardest of the 3 anyway. I never beat the original without GameShark codes.Crash 2 has always been my favorite of the three, maybe because it’s the one I played first. I thought Warped was very good though.
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Jul 3, 2021 04:58
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theenglishman posted:I’m really sorry guys, but I’m going to have to push back the next update by one week. My estimate for how much time I’d need between the backlog and the current update time. Hopefully by next week I’ll be back on track. Take your time, dude.
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Jul 3, 2021 10:36
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As an apology for the delay, I'm releasing this video a day early. The next video will release on the 17th as scheduled.
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Jul 9, 2021 14:24
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