So, Where To Next for Crash Bandicoot?
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Ask any long-time fan of the Crash Bandicoot series and they’ll probably agree that we Crash fans are unbelievably lucky. After the launch of Crash: Mind over Mutant in 2008, we assumed that the fuzzy marsupial would be back on our consoles in a year or so. But as weeks became months, it looked like we may’ve been a bit wrong. And as months became (nearly ten) years, it was clear that we were very wrong. The notion of Crash featuring in a brand-new game became far-fetched.
Of course, that’s ancient history now. Two years ago, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy warped Crash from the point of no return to a comfy position atop mainstream gaming culture. People (yep, even grown adults) are talking about and playing Crash games again - in fact, the N. Sane Trilogy has sold more than 10 million copies to date. Walk into any entertainment store and what do you find? Games, yes, but also a smorgasbord of Crash toys, apparel and other merchandise. Crash hasn’t been quite this popular since his heyday on the PlayStation!
Activision were quick to capitalise on this success, and released Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (a remake of Crash Team Racing, released in 1999) only a few weeks ago. Bar a few technical bugs and issues with its in-game currency (no doubt a subject for another article), Nitro-Fueled seems to be just as much of a success as the N. Sane Trilogy was. As a long-time Crash fan, the N. Sane Trilogy hogged my free time like few games can. And it’s the same story with Nitro-Fueled. They’re fun and faithful remakes and it’s gratifying to see them succeed.
But the Crash series has reached a crossroads, and Activision is faced with the question - where to next for Crash Bandicoot?
Should they continue to remake existing games, or find someone to develop an entirely new Crash game? Most fans have an opinion as to what the answer should be, though the consensus online seems to firmly (even aggressively) support the latter. Crash Team Racing was the last Crash game to be developed by series’ creators, Naughty Dog. Some fans (myself included) argue that few Crash games released after that point were as memorable or well made as previous titles and therefore now is the right time for Activision to call it a day on remaking games. What’s more, we’re concerned for the survivability of the revived Crash series without some new and original content to define it.
But, other fans believe that there are still several games in the series that deserve the same treatment as Crash Team Racing - namely, the next entry in the series chronologically, Crash Bash (2000).
The ‘right’ direction in which Activision should take the Crash series is, of course, a matter of opinion. And at the end of the day, Activision will act in the best interests of themselves and their shareholders. But Crash fans have loud voices and the debate online is often heated. With respect to my fellow Crash fanatics (in both camps), the next step for the brainless orange marsupial isn’t as obvious they might think.
There are three possibilities for Activision to move the Crash series forward that are commonly debated by fans. As we shall see, each has a certain attraction, but carries with it a level of risk to the survivability of the series. Ultimately, there are no ‘obvious’ or ‘clear’ answers.
1. Activision publishes a remake of Crash Bash.
Assuming that Activision are committed to remaking Crash games, there are fans that would argue that Crash Bash ought to be next. Crash Bash was the first game in the series to be developed by a studio other than Naughty Dog, and the first of the then-popular ‘party’ genre. Though not as successful as its predecessors, Crash Bash is the oldest in the series after Crash Team Racing and even today maintains a cult following.
And I must confess to being a part of that following - I love Crash Bash! I spent the better part of my childhood trying to complete the game to 201%. Yes, it was only a party game and yes, it could be tedious (and frustrating) at times. But the multiplayer campaign mode was hours (or in my case, years) of fun! I don’t play Crash Bash nearly as often now, and a remake is far from my first choice for the next Crash game. But I wouldn’t object to it if one were in the works! With added characters, maps and an online mode, it could turn out to be an awesome remake - just as Nitro-Fueled has. And, a popular party game might allow Sony and Microsoft to compete with Nintendo as the Mario Party series recovers from a creative drought (again, a subject for another article!).
Of course, saying any of that online will earn you frowns and wagging fingers from the Crash community. Crash Bash just isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. In fact, it isn’t even most people’s cup of tea - like I said, it maintains a cult following. It’s basic. It’s repetitive. And it can be N. Sanely gruelling. Though a remake could easily play on nostalgia to is advantage (yes, you know you’d buy it), realistically, does Crash Bash have a wide enough appeal to succeed like the N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled have?
Possibly. Then again, possibly not.
Crash Bash is rarely discussed on an equal footing to Crash Team Racing or the original Crash games; it just isn’t as loved. And while the Mario Party series has had numerous entires in which to virtually write the book on party games, there have been no other attempts at the party genre in the Crash series…except for Crash Boom Bang (and the less said about that game, the better).
It should be noted though that Crash Bash came surprisingly close to matching both Crash Team Racing and Mario Party 3 in terms of total sales (1,900,000 copies as compared to 2,200,000 and 1,910,000 copies, respectively), so perhaps a remake would be popular…maybe.
2. Activision forgoes Crash Bash and publishes a remake of some later game.
Alternatively, Activision might choose not to remake Crash Bash, but some later Crash game instead. Though Activision previously limited themselves to remaking those worlds and characters created by Naughty Dog, Beenox have set the precedent for drawing upon the wider Crash universe by including content from Crash Nitro Kart (2003) and Crash Tag Team Racing (2005) in Nitro-Fueled.
There are certainly plenty of games to choose from, and some may be a more natural choice for a remake than Crash Bash. For example, it is often said that Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is similar (perhaps too similar) to Crash Bandicoot Warped (1998). To my mind, that makes it a more feasible candidate for a remake (since we now have the N. Sane Trilogy to serve as a reference point).
Most Crash fans would probably single out Crash Twinsanity (2004) as the ideal candidate for another remake. It’s well-known that a great deal of content had to be cut from that game prior to its release – and the developers themselves have said that a remake would be the perfect opportunity for fans to experience Crash Twinsanity as it was originally intended.
Of course, whether Activision chooses Wrath of Cortex, Crash Twinsanity or some other game, it’ll ultimately face the same question as if it chooses Crash Bash. And that is, does this game evoke the nostalgia and have the mass appeal necessary to succeed commercially as remakes in the gaming landscape of today? We can quickly eliminate some Crash games based on those criteria. The previously-mentioned Crash Boom Bang, for example. But as for the rest – well, who can say? All that we know is that few post-Naughty Dog Crash games are included in the pantheon of gaming’s all-time greatest hits.
3. Activision publishes an entirely new Crash game.
This is, resoundingly, the course of action preferred by most Crash fans (myself included). And the position boils down to a basic (yet significant) concern - for how long will Activision be able to continue to remake existing Crash games? There are only so many Crash games that remain to be remade. And, as has been said, few were as memorable or well made as those developed by Naughty Dog.
Therefore, even if Activision decided to remake every single Crash game, there’d surely come a point where that strategy would cease to be profitable. And then where would our meddling mammal be? Up The Creek, most likely.
There’s also something to be said for creativity in all of this – not to say that the N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro Fueled aren’t creative (in fact, one of my favourite things to do in those games is to take note of all of the added details in each level). They are two fantastic remakes. But now that we’ve relived the (again, in my opinion) best of the Crash series, I’d be more interested to see someone experiment on the great gameplay of those games without completely reinventing it.
We know that there are people out there skilled enough to do that – Vicarious Visions proved that to us with their all-new ‘Future Tense’ level in the N. Sane Trilogy, and Beenox with their all-new ‘Twilight Tour’ track in Nitro Fueled.
But of course, fans shouldn’t ignore the fact that this option poses the greatest risk to the survivability of the Crash series. The N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled have set a new bar for quality in Crash games. Not only are they both great games in their own right, they are based on great, era-defining games that have more than 20 years’ worth of nostalgia to their names, propelling them ever higher.
Any new Crash game will (inevitably) be measured against those remakes and, if it falls short of such inconceivably high standards, it may kill off the Crash series with a single strike. You’d have to be very confident in your product not to balk at the task of creating a game that lives up to all of that.
4. Or, Activision does absolutely nothing.
Yes, I did say that there were only three possible courses of action open to Activision. But as with all decisions, quandaries and conundrums, there’s always that fourth option, ‘none of the above’. It’s entirely open to Activision to do absolutely nothing with the Crash series.
But I wouldn’t worry too much about that happening. The N. Sane Trilogy was a monumental success for Activision, as was the Spyro Reignited Trilogy – so much so that they now consider those two series as their ‘flagship’ series alongside the likes of Call of Duty and Overwatch.
Even Activision wouldn’t be so stupid as to let such a popular name stagnate after such a high…or would they?
I certainly don’t envy the position of the folks at Activision.
After reviving the Crash Bandicoot series with two outstanding remakes, they’re faced with the question of where to take it next, with no obvious or preferable answers. Despite what more vocal Crash fans might think, this is anything but a black-and-white question. Each possibility carries with it commercial and creative risks and wherever Activision have decided (or decide) to take Crash, they’ll be gambling everything that they’ve recently accomplished for the series.
But whether there’s another remake or an entirely original game on the horizon, I’m confident that Activision won’t disappoint us Crash fans. After all, the N. Sane Trilogy must’ve seemed like an enormous gamble at the time it was pitched – and yet it paid off so much more than anyone could’ve imagined.
That being said…that Crash Twinsanity remake might be nice. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?