This was both the first video game I ever played and the first video game I ever owned, at the age of 6, so I can't really approach it without nostalgia goggles. I think it aged reasonably well although the rough edges on this game are jagged.

I think the game looked good back then and still looks alright considering the year it was made, with the exception of some texture issues sometimes. Crash animates really well and it was a smart choice of Naughty Dog to use vertex animations to emphasize the squash and stretch. Music is fine and in quite a few cases works better than the remake (Generator Room being a big example.)

Gameplay and level design is fine for an early 3D platformer although this is where most of the rough edges are. Crash's moveset is pretty basic and the level design accounts for that but I can understand why new players would have issues with the difficulty, especially considering a 100% playthrough requires a perfect playthrough on every non-boss level. It's pretty much muscle memory to me at this point but having limited opportunities to save your game is punishing. This version doesn't have the same hitbox issues the remake does, though, so a lot of the grief people had with certain levels in that version isn't here in this.

I still had a good time, although I would recommend new players play the remake rather than the original. I have a LOT more to say about the sequel though.