A more challenging game than I expected. I assumed they'd take out some of the difficulty from the PS1 version but it seems like they leaned it into, and barely changed anything apart from some QoL features, but since the saving was changed it was a lot more bearable to beat the game this time, as if I still had to save by completing bonus levels I'd had never gotten past the first island again. However because they didn't change much it does have problems with wonky hitboxes, and on some later levels the depth perception made platforming near impossible as you can barely see where Crash will land, and would've made sense to have a more flexible camera in order to avoid a lot of unfair deaths.

Overall Crash Bandicoot remake is a better way to experience the original game and looks great, but I'd happily never play it again because a few levels were a massive pain to complete to the point where I'm surprised I didn't stop playing, but once I did complete them it was very satisfying.

Easily and without question the definitive way to play the original Crash Bandicoot, N-sane's version offers a lot to the original core game to make it up to stuff with the later titles. The control has taken a huge improvement and more importantly you can now die in most stages and STILL get the box gem. In the original you had to basically playthrough everything in one go and even still some levels had colored gems so lets say you thought you got every box in one level without dying, well too bad because that level required a colored gem and now you just wasted your time and effort. It was punishing to the point of not being fun, I played through the original recently and its wild how much of a difference this does for the game. Crash 1 on N-sane Trilogy is the only version of Crash 1 you should ever play. It's fun, very challenging, and tests you on your platforming skills.
Solid recommendation from me.