Crash Bandicoot is a platformer with an emphasis on skill, with just two moves to make use of, keeping things pretty straightforward. I played through the game normally and it wasn't really anything special, levels which use the same templates, questionable design choices like crates which are off screen, giving you no indication where they are, buffered inputs for jumps could also be annoying sometimes too.

None of that really matters though, because the best part of this game is the relics, which require you to beat every stage under a certain time without dying. You learn to navigate through some long, complex stages, especially the DLC, and when you finally get that perfect run it's pretty satisfying. That's where this game shines, when it demands real skill from the player.

If there was a little more variety in the stages and some of the gems didn't have bullshit crates off screen, I'd probably rate it higher.

The original Crash Bandicoot is impressive, but a relic of its time. Its level design is pretty good overall, but the stupid D-pad controls make it needlessly difficult to the point that I gave up on the third-to-last level and bought this instead. Don’t get me wrong, though; Naught Dog has my absolute respect for managing to make a linear 3D platformer so early in the history of video games, and I’m happy that Crash 1 led to both a successful franchise and an acclaimed career for Naughty Dog themselves.

Still, the N. Sane version of Crash Bandicoot is better than the original in practically every day. The analog stick means that Crash now has a much wider range of movement that makes him hella fun to control. The graphics and art style are nice and vibrant, looking surprisingly good even on my dying Switch. The voice acting and cutscenes have been completely redone for the modern day. You no longer lose all your boxes upon dying. You can save anytime you want. Oh, and did I mention that the controls are better? I did? Well, I had to say it again, because they’re such a staunch improvement over the PS1 game. There is simply NO REASON to go back and play the original when I have this instead.

That being said, I do think some aspects just aren’t fun. I don’t like some of the backtracking required to get gems and some levels are too hard for their own good (skill issue, I know, but don’t pretend that The High Road is actually a fun level).

There are some standout levels that I really enjoyed, so here we go:

— Jungle Rollers and Rolling Stones: I don’t know why, but I find the rolling rocks to be a super fun gimmick that makes for some great timing-based platforming.
— Boulders and Boulder Dash: Like the mine cart levels in Donkey Kong Country, these are fast-paced, reaction-based trials that are as stressful as they are rewarding.
— Upstream and Up the Creek: Some relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable breathers after two VERY difficult levels.
— Road to Nowhere: A super challenging, yet highly engaging gauntlet that requires precision and quick thinking to get through. Way better than The High Road.
— Heavy Machinery: A badass sidescroller as Crash breaks into Cortex’s facilities and methodically lays waste to his operations.
— The Lab: My favorite level, The Lab is an absolutely amazing, difficult, and impressive final challenge that acts as a perfect culmination of everything that led up to it.

Yeah, Crash 1 N. Sane is awesome, if imperfect. Good thing it came bundled with two even better sequels.

My first "real" platforming experience with a Crash Bandicoot game was a smooth one and while I don't find it the pinnacle of the genre, it has its own unique take compared to the bland platformers out there. It gives me surprises, boxes I scratched my head where they were at, sweaty palms, heart racing to get at least gold medals on time trials, acquiring those shiny gems and Stormy Ascent, even that made me almost snap my head with sheer frustration and give me a never give up attitude. It's Crash Bandicoot, PlayStation's favorite mascot, or maybe Activision? Activision Blizzard? Microsoft?!

We have a simple plot here and there is no need to be harsh about it: save the girlfriend from the evil Neo Cortex's lab, we're here for some sweet platforming after all.

In the game Crash can run, spin and jump (hit enemies on their head, Super Mario style), usual stuff it makes for cool platforming except when your perspective of space is off due to the camera and die inevitably, don't think the game is hard as I thought, it's just the die enough times and you'll get used to it, I might add that it gives that satisfying feeling when you finally do that time trial or a shiny gem and it's a feeling I don't often feel as much as before.

Played it via Steam Deck with graphics on Ultra everything was super pretty, despite some small frame drops to the low 30's in the Jungle areas that I dropped to High and it worked perfectly. The scenarios are rich of detail and the developers did an amusing job at remaking the game, no complaints.
The levels I would like to give some appraisal would be the hog ones, it was so fun and love the song, it made dying each time enjoyable, the bridge ones made me rage since I was trying to do them without dying and successfully got them. The banned level Stormy Ascent is hard, but for me it was just having lots of lives stacked, rinse and repeat, needing perfect platforming to not die, I don't hate the level but understand why it isn't present in the main game (didn't even try to do that one without dying, screw that), Aku Aku saved me on the last section, and as other collectatons (Jak and Daxter, Rachet & Clank, Spyro & Sparx), he is a good companion and I appreciate his "take one more hit" chance.

I didn't do true ending, because it felt like a chore to be honest (after discovering you had to do them all, and not just the shiny ones), also gave up on the time trials halfway through it, felt really anxious and decided it wasn't worth it to not ruin the pleasure of the game.

To conclude: Crash Bandicoot is a marvelous remake, while I didn't get the opportunity to play the original when I was younger, it gave me a taste that the Crash games are really solid platformers (started playing when I was younger the Crash Tag Team Racing game, and I expect the future iterations I play to be very good like this one, being the next one Crash Bandicoot 2)

Crash Bandicoot is a series I've always wanted to play but never really got the chance to, previously I've only played 3 of the racing games. So when this new trilogy bundle came out I was excited to experience the actual platforming of Crash. I'm incredibly disappointed, for reasons that probably are only caused by this remake.

The biggest thing about the remake is the graphic upgrades done, and yeah they certainly look nice. But also they make the game play like shit at some points. The majority of my deaths come from simply jumping into death pits in jumps that would be incredibly simple if the platforms weren't annoying difficult to discern cause of their visuals. In the ruin stages what seems like the edge of the block actually isn't cause some of the crumbled bits can still be stood on, and annoyingly there's so many jumps you actually need to be on edges for.

The camera is also absolutely absurd sometimes. A lot of times you just can't see what the fuck you're doing, like where you're being chased by boulders you can barely see what's coming up in the path because of how zoomed in it is. The field of view is often so obnoxious for this, and especially becomes a problem when you're trying to play fast for the time trials. They're so many camera angle changes that it feels awkward to play at times, or backtracking level becomes nearly impossible cause the camera doesn't show what's behind you (try walking backwards in the level Toxic Waste for example).

And all this is a shame because the game has so much potential and is pretty fun outside of those issues. Unfortunately, those issues make going for anything but any% unfun as hell. Some additional complaints would be that the time trials feel absurdly difficult at points, and some like Generator Room have so many cycles that it becomes necessary feeling to wait at the start for a lucky cycle. I also completely despise how unobvious it can be at times that a colored gem is required to unlock boxes in stages, for a while I would try to get All Boxes while playing through only to find out I completely wasted my time because it's impossible. (There is a hint tool tip on loading screens for when you do need a gem, they go away pretty fast and also doesn't seem obviously level specific at first, so you don't think much about it for a while).

Overall, I just can't say this first game in the set feels worth the purchase. It seems like emulating the original Crash Bandicoot would probably be more enjoyable.

The N-Sane remake of the original Crash Bandicoot. We play as the titular Crash, a genetically engineered bandicoot who takes on an adventure to defeat local mad scientist Neo Cortex from entirely industrialising his island paradise home. A somewhat unique take on 3D platforming, Crash has you run into or out of the screen as opposed to free movement or sidescrolling, although the latter also makes an appearance here. Despite the remake making some much-needed quality of life improvements, such as including an autosave rather than the original release's unforgivable save function, it still controls horribly and showcases plenty of examples of awful difficulty. Not worth your time, even in this form.

The toughest of the trilogy, and Slippery Climb caused me to nearly pull my hair out and led to a low-life count that manifested a few game over screens.

As a remake, it doesn't simplify anything. Its the same game as the original, just smoother and prettier to look at. It's a little more robust in some areas like Hog Wild, but other than that. The preference of the game is going to come down to how modern you want it to look!

Its almost more impressive playing the original, due to how well it still plays

(Completed on both Playstation 4 and 100% on Steam)

Out of the trilogy, this one definitely needed the remake the most and it pays off. So many kinks and quirks are cleaned up and the game looks and plays great too. You could play the original one, however if you're going for 100% please play this version.

Stormy Ascent is also my favourite sadistic pleasure

Oola baga? Uwa baka? What in the lord's good name are you saying funny words man?

Need a lesson in humility? Meet Crash! He can jump and spin and fall into every trap laid by man HOLY SHIT. I never improved at all and felt in fact demotivated further and further which led to my jumps to grow imprecise. Another thing that disappointed me was the lack of sauce. How tf does Crash not have sauce? The fucked up depth perception is this game's only identity. N. Brio is a funny name though my child will inherit the moniker. He had the only good boss fight in the game and you could tell him and I did not know what we were doing an equal amount.

Irrefutably antiquated but how on earth is that supposed to be a pejorative? Games aren't this unencumbered anymore. Visions aren't this uncompromised. When was the last time you played a platformer with this kind of rhythm, this much palpable momentum? I'm obsessed with the way things move. I've found myself drawn to platformers my entire life. They are one of the few arts that explore the beauty of motion. Playing this game is like looking into the inside of a watch, seeing all of the minuscule gears twist and turn in perfect rhythmic synchronicity. And there you are, a being of glorious human error trying desperately to survive. If gameplay is commentary then Crash Bandicoot has more to say about the sordid merciless momentum of life than anything I've ever seen try to communicate it through dialogue.

I've had a pretty strange relationship with difficulty in games. For the longest time, my brain simply rejected games of a certain ilk. If I'm not progressing often then I'm not having fun, and the higher the difficulty the more likely I am to be doing the same stuff time and again. That's boring. It's that simple. But eventually, I realised it was all about mindset. Difficulty can be incredibly fun if it makes room for mastery. It shifts the progress from the external to the internal. This was the shift required for me to get into FromSoft's games last year. I will game over and repeat large sections of levels, but I relish that when I redo earlier parts I'll blow through them to a degree I'd have previously thought impossible. The finish line is all the more satisfying when you know you've earned it. Few games make this experience so rewarding.

The level design is blatantly experimental. As embryotic as all 3D platformers of this decade are, this one feels far more alien. For every idea your Mario 64s of the world ingrained into the lexicon of the genre forever more, there is a level of Crash Bandicoot no one would ever again have the balls to try for. You'd have to be crazy to think you could pull off a 'The High Road' in a 2024 platformer. But here it is. Unreal! In many ways, it still feels futuristic. I can't name another platformer where your depth perception is a skill the game finds worth testing (not to be confused with games that test your depth perception because they fuck up the camera placement), and this game builds many levels around it. Initially, this game can feel like one big reaction time test, but the longer you play the more you learn it's about ingratiating yourself into its flow. If Sekiro is secretly a rhythm game then this is Space Channel 5. Part 2. It isn't offering you ways to play it. It's a sergeant barking an endlessly wonderful song of orders.

There are many things to say about this as remake, most of which I'll save for after I've played all three games. But the biggest feather in this version's cap has to be Stormy Ascent. For a bonus, cutting room floor, "too hard and too long," DLC level, it is the perfect ending to the game. A necessary payoff to every lesson you've learned and skill you've acquired. The experience would be incomplete without it.

I find the idea of 100%-ing this game at once cumbersome and totally insane but it's so good I may do it anyway. Either way, Any% (+ Stormy Ascent) is such a phenomenal experience that I am more than comfortable counting anything else as a bonus.

If you call this "imprecise" in your review, see me after class.

Making the Gamer Pilgrimage of hitting Platinum in this game has made me well-acquainted with things such as "hitboxes", "level geometry", and "gold relics" and I'm sorry I ever doubted the angry nerds on Reddit. They were right. The hitboxes are wonky and pill-shaped compared to the original. I am slipping off the edges of platforms. I have been taught the error of my ways.

Crash Bandicoot (2017) ironically fills the same niche as Crash Bandicoot (1996). Much like how the original Crash Bandicoot is a ground-breaking game, one of the first 3D platformers, that was immediately outclassed by the more enjoyable PS1/N64 games that came after it, the Crash N. Sane Trilogy version of Crash 1, the game that sparked a renaissance of "let's reboot that 90's video game but faithfully this time", is now outclassed by all the more enjoyable 90's game remakes released after it. There's a real sense of "eh, good enough" permeating this game's code (that I'm solely blaming the Activision higher-ups for, the dev time for this couldn't have been pretty) that makes every jump in this hard precision-based platformer feels like it's going to succeed only about 85% of the time.

Which is completely fine if you're just going for level completion and boxes - and, despite this game's reputation, the lives are pretty generous - but those sick bastards also put in time trials in a game that was never designed for speed and you will be hitting that other 15% real quick. I got the Platinum relic in The High Road after over an hour of trying and trying until my right thumb developed a blister so I can say this with confidence - these time trials suck and they will drain any remaining enjoyment for this game from you. They messed with the physics on the turtle jumps and steel bounce boxes and you are going to notice.

As someone who grew up with Crash 1, this is less a full improvement that I would fully recommend over the original and more of a more modern, more accessible version of Crash 1 that fixed the save system that everyone hated but added a few tiny little downgrades along the way that won't be totally noticeable until you dig real deep and even then, you're just playing a version of Crash 1 and Crash 1 isn't very amazing either. Crash 1 is an important game in video game history, sure, but that doesn't mean it's good. Just impressive.

Also, yes, I gotta be That Guy - The color choices and character models looked better in the original game. We live in a post-Crash 4 world and therefore it's kinda hard to go back to these models trying to attempt a semi-realistic approach with their grody fur textures and their beady little eyes. I hate jumping on the vultures in Slippery Climb/Stormy Ascent and seeing their weird mashed potato faces inflate their eyeballs in a way that reads "graphical glitch" over "cartoony facial expression". I hate Koala Kong's tiny little mouth and how I can see his every fur particle from across the cavern. Anyone who says that Crash 4 "ruined the art style" and they should've stuck with this look is lying.

The first Crash, this is the remake.

What can I say? Good pure platforming goodness. No much of gimmicks in this one, go straight break all the boxes and you are golden.

To be honest, it is somewhat hard but no were near people say it is. Completion it's hard though, breaking all the boxes in Sunset Vista without dying is something to be proud of, not to mention the Relics in that same level.

Really good for what it is.

games in the 90s had very different principles compared to the games of today. a lot of ideals from the arcade and NES era were still prominent; most notably, punishing, high-difficulty games remained commonplace.

i have no problems with difficulty. hell, celeste is my favorite game ever and that game kicked my ass more times than i could count. what i do have problems with is unfair difficulty. crash isn't painfully bad because it's hard, it's painfully bad because it's hard for all the wrong reasons.

much of crash 1's difficulty comes with precise platforming. through the whole game, from beginning to end, almost all the jumps are pretty tight. normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. the problem lies with the camera angle; during 3D segments, the camera is both placed behind crash in a very awkward angle, and it's unadjustable. for precise platforming, this is a nightmare. the depth perception is consistently off, making many of my deaths feel less like my lack of skill and more like poor game design. combined with an already difficult base game, this makes many levels hell to complete.

it doesn't help that the game also takes a lot of time to laugh at you when you fail. after every level, you have to painfully watch as crash gets hit by all the boxes you missed. during the game over, a tiki head laughs after they say their line. enemies will stand in place after killing you, which, intentional or not, feels like a real punch in the stomach. this doubling up of deaths feeling unfair & the frequent feeling of being made fun of sets up for a truly awful game experience.

the checkpoint system is also atrocious. there are maybe 3 or 4 per level, and failing right before a checkpoint means wading through 2-3 minutes of obstacles you just passed. this waiting is exemplified by the majority of crash 1's obstacles running on cycles, which means you're already doing a lot of waiting your first time through.

speaking of obstacles, crash 1's level design is awful. if i have to play another bridge level, i might end it all. enemy placement is generally poor, some levels drag while others feel inconsequential. every boss is just a waiting game for 4 or 5 minutes while you wait to take advantage of their incredibly obvious or stupidly cryptic openings. there is no in between.

all this, and i didn't even mention the poor hitbox work, the awfully loose controls, the one-tile pits place exactly where you'd expect to jump...

this game is awful. sure, it looks great, sounds fine, there's a good amount of personality here; but at the end of the day, it miserably fails at what it tries to be - a challenging yet fun 3D platformer.

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.

I loved Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Twinsanity a ton as a kid, and the N-Sane trilogy has been on my radar since launch. Not that I finally have a PS5, I feel like it was time to give this trilogy a shot.

I had a ton of fun with this first entry! Difficult at times, but very rewarding once you make it through. Any time I felt frustrated, I stopped playing for the day and tried again tomorrow, and I usually made it within a few tries at that point. Fantastic platformer with a lot of character and charm. Reminds of both Pac-Man World 1 and 2, and that’s always a great thing.

Mega brutal.

Much better than the OG thanks to the new controls imported from Crash 2. Much less floaty.

Don't do time relics unless you hate yourself.

The original Crash Bandicoot is still a great experience. The remastered version also includes some great new additions as well as tweaks and some things to make the game easier for newcomers. Repeated level themes and basic story are problems for sure but that doesn't mean that Crash isn't a great game.

The Full Review(No Spoilers):

A Legend Begins
Going back to the original Crash Bandicoot game might be hard for some people, but not for me. As probably one of the biggest fans of the series, I was delighted to play the original game with it's fully remastered beauty. And while it's not perfect, it still holds up and it's still a great game.

Our story in this game is pretty basic. There is a crazy scientist called Dr. Neo Cortex. One day while he experiments on animals, a bandicoot named Crash manages to escape the scientist's castle and awakens in the N. Sanity Beach. With the help of a magical mask named Aku Aku, he tries to go back to the castle in order to save the other, female bandicoot called Tawna that has been captive just like him.

That's basically the whole story and we don't get much else from it. The story is unfortunately the weakest part of this original game. We get 0 introduction to the magical mask Aku Aku as well for example and the game only has like 2 cutscenes. One in the beginning, one in the ending. Those are also the only time we hear people talking. Crash doesn't talk which is fine but no one else talks either during the entire game.

But are story and characters important in a platforming game? Not much. They are definitely a negative for this game in my opinion but the gameplay is good enough to save it. And definitely, the gameplay is the most important part in a 3D platformer. Crash is one of the first ever 3D platformers in the world. Along with Super Mario 64.

In the game, there are 32 levels including 6 boss battles. The normal levels are usually blending 3D and 2D play styles together but there are also some 3D and 2D only stages as well.

Many of the stage themes has 2 levels attached to them. For example, one of the classic Crash levels is the boulder chase. Everyone thinks of that level when they think of Crash. But there actually isn't one boulder chase level, there are 2.

Some are unique and only used once though. Like a level where we ride on a wild hog and one where we are playing a 3D Donkey Kong game basically. The levels are varied and most of them has at least 1 bonus stage as well. Bonus stages are 2D only and while the normal bonus levels are pretty easy, there are hard bonus levels as well which are unique platforming challenges. But they also have puzzle elements too.

Boss battles are pretty easy most of the time but there are some hard ones as well. Ripper Roo was difficult for me as well as the final two bosses. But they are not too too difficult.

Some of the later levels however are really not easy. 2 collapsed bridge levels and the one castle climbing levels are definitely the hardest ones in the game. And this game is definitely the hardest game out of the original trilogy. However, the remastered version does include some new features and tweaks to make it easier.

For example, you can save after every level. In the original PS1 release, you could have only saved if you finished the bonus level. And you also had only 1 chance of doing the bonus level. If you died in a bonus level, you weren't able to play it again so you weren't able to save your progress.

In the remastered, you can also play bonus levels infinite times. Even the hard bonus levels. I am not sure how I feel about that. I am sort of okay with the save thing because it could have killed many new players' interest in the game right with the first game but maybe they should have at least made the bonus levels playable only once.

With the remastered there is also a secondary character. Crash's sister who was originally introduced in the second game, Coco Bandicoot. Coco is playable in most of the levels. Except the boss battles and some special levels like the riding the hog level.

There are no differences between the two characters in the gameplay side. Both of them has the same abilities so it's just a cosmetic change. I mostly played with Crash but switched to Coco here and there just to see if there was any difference. And as I said, there are no differences.

Technically, the remaster is perfect. No frame rate issues, it looks amazing and both the score and the sound design is incredible. Crash's beautiful environments came to life with crystal clear visuals and an incredible soundscape.

The original Crash Bandicoot is still a great experience. The remastered version also includes some great new additions as well as tweaks and some things to make the game easier for newcomers. Repeated level themes and basic story are problems for sure but that doesn't mean that Crash isn't a great game.