Back in mid-2017, I was so excited for the arrival of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. The potential of reliving these three iconic PS1 games on modern hardware was an enticing one, but at the same time I wondered whether Activision and developer Vicarious Visions would somehow drop the ball. That definitely didn't end up happening.
Today, it's been announced that the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is coming to Xbox Game Pass on Thursday, August 8th, and I implore that you try it if you enjoy platforming games! This is a masterful remaster that really should be called a remake, as Vicarious Visions essentially rebuilt the first three Crash Bandicoot games from scratch, including all characters, levels, cutscenes, hub worlds and more. You can truly feel how much love and care went into each individual aspect of the game, and the result is the best Crash Bandicoot experience ever in my opinion.
In fact, can I quote myself? Here's what I had to say in GamesMaster Magazine a few years ago!
"The end result will conjure nostalgic memories for anyone who experienced Crash the first time around, with everything from box-breaking to jet ski riding feeling near identical to the original designs. There's rarely a wholly different, immersion-breaking sequence in which you're left muttering "it wasn't like this in the original game".
"Each of the warp rooms, cutscenes, sound effects, and character animations possess their original, unique traits, as well as minor additions that better equip them for today's audiences. By going the extra mile to replicate each individual title rather than lump all three into a single formula, the N. Sane Trilogy ends up feeling larger than the sum of its parts."
We've seen a lot of remasters since the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy made its debut, and while some have been great, others have felt like cheap cash grabs. In my opinion, the N. Sane Trilogy is the furthest away from a cheap cash grab that you can get, in a situation where would have been so easy to cut corners by ditching the individual hubs and cutscenes for each game, or just recycling the music rather than re-recording it entirely.
Of course, Crash Bandicoot doesn't hit the mark with everyone, and if you didn't enjoy Crash 1, 2 or 3 on the PlayStation 1, you probably won't like the N.Sane Trilogy either. But looking back at what Vicarious Visions created here, it surely has to be celebrated (alongside Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2) as the best product the studio ever made before merging into Blizzard Entertainment, and I can't wait for new and returning fans to experience it for the first time on Xbox Game Pass.
What do you think of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy? Tell me down in the comments below!
Comments 19
Played them to death on the PSOne, played them again on the PSVita, then did the remaster on the Switch! Timeless fun. Probably won't play them on the Xbox as well as there is a limit but remains a great addition to Gamepass regardless.
Never played them…..great article. Sold.
I will give them a go 🙏🏻
Just a shame it is locked at 30fps and already confirmed to not be getting a 60fps patch.
Especially when 1 modder made a nearly perfect 60fps mod for the PS4 version.
What I will say is this article turned me on to GameMaster. So that's actually pretty freaking cool.
@InterceptorAlpha GamesMaster was awesome. Sadly shut down a few years ago.
What remasters? They’re remakes! You can call a pig a horse, you can tell everyone the pig is a horse, it’ll still be a pig regardless.
Which, these are amazing remakes, but they are remakes.
@darkswabber It is a bit in between both concepts, the entire technical section is new, but the gameplay has been kept practically unchanged.
@FraserG Aww. The magazine yea, but even the thing about new episodes in November isn't a thing either? That's ad. 😭 What bit I got to see before work looked fun
For paper magazines though, feeling like Edge is our last bastion.
This remake is pretty good, but they messed with Crash's hitbox/collision so it's unnecessarily harder than it should be at certain points. Still a very good game despite that.
@Pabpictu it’s not inbetween. It’s a literal remake. They made the game with a new source code in a new engine.
If it was a remaster it would’ve maintained the original source code and engine.
A remake is when a game is remade, regardless of how much is done.
Another example is Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 on ps3. They lost all assets and source codes so they had to completely remake both games. They’re 1:1 remakes with almost no differences between the ps3 and ps2 versions but they where in fact completely remade due to the loss of all assets and source codes.
Just waiting on spyro remaster and CTR hopefully they are next!
I will give these a try at least. I was 17 when PS1 launched and never really cared for Crash outside of mascot/commercial duties.
@darkswabber I understand what you're saying, and technically it's true. But it's still in a gray area, the gameplay and other significant elements of the original game have been kept intact (even if the code is new) to define it as a remake in the same way as games like Resident Evil 4 Remake.
Why are people still using remake and remaster interchangeably? They're two completely different things.
i dont think ive ever seen a game that was a true remaster. they always change something. this is a dope remake trilogy, the only personal issue i had was that they made everything brighter instead of keeping the dark areas like the originals.
I fully completed and loved the remakes. Fortunately, I didn't abhor the more difficult and slippery collision hit boxes because I haven't played the originals much. The frame rate didn't bother me, but it does in Spyro Reignited Trilogy. That really needs 60fps.
I played a little bit of Crash 1 when I rented it as a kid, but I'm looking forward to seeing how well it's held up.
I'm hoping they release the other PS1 platformer trilogy re-master, Spyro, onto Game Pass one day too.
This one is going to be a mega game pass hit! Nothing beats classic crash
Great games! Play them fully on Switch already but may give them a go at some point for some gamerscore baby!!
Those games are harder than Elden Ring... played a little of each one, but couldn't finish. Even Crash 4 is hard as heck if you try to 100% every level.
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