Crash Bandicoot: The Downfall of a Hero

I originally posted this as a comment to another blog, a review of Crash Bandicoot Warped by Serperoth (here: http://www.screwattack.com/node/23317) but got so carried away that it was no longer just a comment and I decided to make it it's own blog post.

If you're not familiar with Crash Bandicoot, it was (unfortunately, still is, as you'll read later) a series of platform games. The main character was the titular Crash, an anthropomorphic Bandicoot who platformed his way through his jungle island home to thwart the evil mad scientist, Dr. Neo Cortex. The first four games were developed by Naughty Dog for the original Playstation. Though it was never official, Crash was widely considered to be the Playstation's mascot and the answer to Nintendo's Mario. After the fourth game in the series, however, Naughty Dog made a vital mistake and gave the license away, ultimately leading to Crash's downfall.

Early Crash games were awesome. Playstation's unofficial mascot. The first three games were phenomenal platformers. Absolutely incredible.

One thing I like about Naughty Dog is that they're not afraid to let a franchise die. They let their games run the course and then retire them in a blaze glory. It's the complete opposite of most companies, who will milk their money makers for all they're worth until there's nothing left but a formulaic skeleton of it's former self.

That being said, I have mixed feelings about the fate of Crash. Like I said, he was Sony's unofficial mascot and I would have loved to see him stay that way. Not quite flaunted in the way that Nintendo over-indulges in their characters, but to be the Playstation's posterboy was Crash's best accomplishment.

However, I would still much rather have seen Crash retired than see Naughty Dog give away the license. That was what started him doing downhill. Crash Bash was the first non-ND. Personally, I didn't like it that much. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't my cup of tea. Then, when the next generation of consoles hit, everything changed. The first Crash on the PS2 was The Wrath of Cortex, developed by Traveller's Tales. I thought it was a good game. There were a few blemishes, but it stuck with the formula, didn't try to fix what wasn't broken, and added a little bit more to spice it up and keep it from being just a rip-off of the next game.

Crash started plummeting when Wrath of Cortex was ported to the X-Box. At that point, Crash went from being Sony's unofficial mascot to being just another platformer. The port also paved the way for more Crash games on different consoles. With the license simply being tossed around and the unwritten rule of Sony-only being broken, Crash's fate was pretty much sealed. Crash had nowhere to go but down. He became just another platformer, just another character to ring the cash out of like a wet rag. Each game got worse, departing more and more from what made Crash great.

Recent Crash games have been mediocre at best. The poor Bandicoot has befallen the same fate that has befallen a certain other anthropomorphic platforming animal. A sad, sad twist of fate for the hero that once was Crash Bandicoot.

On a side note, Crash Team Racing was the greatest cart racing game ever. It was basically a Mario Kart clone, but it perfected cart racing in a way that Mario (or any other cart racer, for that matter) never did before and has not done since. Crash couldn't even top himself. Of course, the other Crash carts were just more of the games I was talking about above. A sad shame.

I love you, Crash Bandicoot. Please come back to us, not as what you are now, but as the video game king that you once were.