Ever smashed a game console with a sledgehammer? I promise that, if you have, it’s a terrific crunch that will never slip from your ears.
In the case of my 12-year-old self, a combination of youthful exuberance, inability to ignore the siren song of focused marketing, and a complete lack of smarts led to the destruction of my own Sega Genesis.
You see: The PlayStation 1 was to come into my possession, and according to the commercials it was a gaming experience like none ever before experienced by mere mortals. In my tiny, tween mind, the only thing to do was to ritualistically demolish my stalwart friend, as I would never tarnish my hands with such an outdated, rubbish game console ever again.
Check out the latest Peach Weekender stories
Did I mention how dumb I was as a kid?
The PlayStation itself wasn’t all that sold me on this whirlwind of emotions and heavy, metal implements. I was enamored with a Super Mario-esque platformer by Naughty Dog studios titled Crash Bandicoot. The game combined 3-D movement, a need for precision jumping, and a sense of whimsy that can only come from a too-cool-for-school marsupial wearing jorts.
While my wanton destruction of gaming hardware is in the past, my love of the main entries in the Crash series hasn’t wavered. I was excited upon hearing that the original trilogy was receiving a facelift this year with all three games on one disc.
But nostalgia is tricky, and one thing is certain in the world of video games: You can never really go home again. The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy deserves commendation for a ravishing graphical overhaul, but no amount of plastic surgery will fix a game filled with punishing muscle-memory platforming and archaic controls.
The one area where Crash still shines is the interesting use of perspective in regard to how the player makes Crash traverse each of the myriad stages. Whether Crash is running toward the screen and away from a giant bear or being swept away to a side-scrolling perspective, there’s a lot to appreciate from a game made in the mid ’90s.
While Mario 64 was about exploration and vertical mobility, Crash focused on precise jumps and the player’s understanding when a perilous leap felt right. Given that the forced, locked perspective was sometimes your worst enemy, sometimes all you could do was die over and over again at a specific spot and learn just how much or how little force was needed.
This sounds like the game’s attempt at punishing players, but if anything I appreciated the game’s dedication to a combination of muscle memory, strong reflexes, and a sharp eye.
Read previous Game On articles here
In 2017, these unchanged mechanics tend to feel dated and punishing, leaving many frustrated players to think that Crash Bandicoot was far more difficult than they remember. The more apt explanation is that modern games have evolved far past the humble mechanics of 1997, especially when the PlayStation was just beginning to experiment with 3-D movement.
The other explanation for why N. Sane Trilogy feels particularly punishing is because of the graphical update. The new textures and art design are fantastic, representing the original games while looking as sharp and colorful as a PS4-era title should. Speedrunners — players who professionally try to complete games as fast as possible — have noted that this update in art fundamentally changed the “feel” of Crash’s jumps.
The best explanation is that developer Vicarious Visions redrew the shapes and lines that make up our bandicoot friend, and in the process slightly changed the timing and rhythm of his jumps. It’s similar to how your entire morning feels off if you mistakenly put on your underwear inside-out.
You know that something is wrong, and that is the exact problem with N. Sane Trilogy: Crash’s underwear is inside out, for lack of a better term.
The bones of the game are still strong, and I still enjoy the classic box-jumping, crevasse-leaping gameplay as much today as I did way back then. That said, anyone approaching the series for the first time might feel as if he has opened a time capsule from 1997, wondering how anyone ever tolerated such twitchy, demanding games.
I don’t regret the time warp that is Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, as it’s a beautiful update to one of my favorite game trilogies of all time. But games have progressed quite a bit since then, and N. Sane Trilogy serves as a strong reminder of the experiment that was Crash Bandicoot.
On the plus side, I didn’t have to smash any consoles this time. Good thing; I quite miss that Sega Genesis.
Contact William Harrison at DoubleUHarrison@gmail.com or on Twitter @DoubleUHarrison.
First Published July 20, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
