Back in 1996, I would have given this a 9, since it was the first 3D platformer I ever played (IT'S TECHNICALLY 3D ALRIGHT? FUCK OFF WITH YOUR PEDANTRY!) and it was such a technical leap forward from all the 2D platformers I was accustomed to that there was no way it wouldn't leave a huge impression on me. Playing it nowadays though, the very first Crash Bandicoot has two glaring flaws - it's diabolically hard and the save system is bullshit. Yes, it's no secret that Crash Bandicoot is a difficult game. There are memes that it's the Dark Souls of platformers. That's not true though because CB is way harder than any Souls game I've ever played. Platformers in general were unforgiving back in that era so kid me just kinda accepted it, but now? There's no defending how crushing and downright unfair some of those later-game levels are. And of course this is all exacerbated by an archaic save system that only lets you save your progress once every four levels. Not a problem now if you're playing it via an emulator with save states, but play it as originally intended and it's a maddeningly unnecessary handicap forced upon the player that can't be overlooked.

But still, the fundamentals are solid. More than solid. It's a great platformer at its core, but it just happens to be undone somewhat by some arbitrarily punishing game design.