Crash Bandicoot is on the cusp of his big comeback moment, courtesy of the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy Remastered set for the PlayStation 4. The game – which was announced at E3 2016 and will feature souped-up versions of all three original PSone titles – will be developed by Vicarious Visions, one of Activision's oldest studios.
The team's perhaps famous for its handheld games, with the Game Boy Advance versions of Crash Bandicoot all in its portfolio. More recently it's worked on the Skylanders games as both a support studio and the lead on last year's Skylanders: Superchargers. Its track-record is more than good enough to get the job done with the right budget, then.
We're more curious how it's actually going to go about remastering PSone games. Most remastered games are ported from a prior generation, like PS2 to PS3 or PS3 to PS4. But there are a full two generations (and up to 20 years) between the PSone and the PS4, so this represents an interesting challenge. Is the dev just going to clean things up and keep the controls the same, or try to modernise the experience?
We're not sure, but we reckon that this one will probably be demoed at PlayStation Experience later in the year, as this game is essentially fan-service anyway – it's only getting made because we, as PlayStation fans, have been banging on about the 'Coot for three or four years now. We're definitely excited for this, and we hope that it kickstarts a wider series revival.
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I wasn't so sure on hearing Activision would be the ones making it, would be happier if it was Sony in charge. But you do sound pretty confident so perhaps they might do a good job.
Given Vicarious Visions' history with Crash, this seems like a good choice. At least we know these guys wanna do the 'Coot justice.
I really hope that the remaster is a major success that will prompt Activision to take advantage of developing a reboot for older audiences in the future. It can be done alongside capitalizing on his appeal for younger audiences with Skylanders. So why not?
It'd be kind of like, oh, I don't know, developing a Spyro trilogy remaster and doing a reboot of the series for old fans while keeping him as a separate thing in Skylanders.
The demand is there, so you can have the best of both worlds, Activision. Do it for me.
Man you've mentioned PSX already. The pushsquare team cant get enough!
@themcnoisy It never ends at Push Square Towers.
I thought the game was being rebuilt from the ground up. To me that means its effectively and virtually a completely new game - not a port or remaster but starting from scratch. Obviously the 3 games provide a template to follow of course but I would assume its all new but following the exact same template that the originals had
If it's a new game but with the same thing going on, that's fine. I just hope it's more like a new crash bandicoot game and not like the previous installments, that would be a real bummer.
@DrJoeystein The cynic in me thinks Activision are doing it so they don't lose the licence as much as cashing in on the Crash hype after U4...
Since they are remaking turn based PS1 game FF7 into an action game maybe they can remake Crash into a turn based strategy game?
@BAMozzy They're specifically calling it "Crash Bandicoot Trilogy Remastered", so that suggests remaster to me. But to the extent they're actually going to "remaster" it is unclear.
Would be a cool project to work on I reckon. I bet the team at Vicarious Visions are buzzing about it.
These remasters were not the comeback we were waiting for, but it will be interesting to see how they will turn out. And also if they will lead to an actual comeback... or maybe even a new CTR?
I'm hoping for a similar approach that Oddworld Inhabitants took with Abe's Odyssey; essentially the same game, but with all new assets, music, animations etc. It might not turn out like this, but it would certainly get a good reaction from fans. PSX seems like a fair shout to find out more.
And like that,all of my excitement has died for this.
I hate the look of crash in that Skylanders T2L game .
And that's the model they will most likely use. I'm done.
Would've preferred Bluepoint.
@DrJoeystein I just noticed your avatar!
I really hope it'll go down the route that the recent Ratchet and Clank did.
I think this game hasn't even begun development and Sony just met with Activision to talk about a remaster to please fans who were expecting to see it. Regardless, I'm very excited to see this is a real thing!
Please Do NOT change the controls or gameplay!! Those games are missed for a reason! Just Throw a fresh coat of paint on it and get it out the door! Day 1 for me!!
Perfect, exactly what I wanted at this point as I love the first 3 games. I hope this doesn't turn into another FF7 remake where everyone begs for a remake and then starts crying because it's different to the original. So what the character model will be updated....lets just wait to see what they show when they're ready!!
I actually think that the modest success of Ratchet and Clank probably had a part in this as well - the gameplay mechanics of Crash were good, just polish that and good to go.
I would like remakes in the same vein as this years Ratchet remake please! lol
Not sure I would of much preferred ND to be doing it for obvious reasons however I doubt that will ever happen
If you think for one second that Naughty dog will be developing a Crash Bandicoot game, you probably expect a new Rareware Donkey Kong Country game for the Xbox one.
I've been harping on about wanting a new crash game for years, but whenever questioned on what I would want from it I'm stumped, apart of me wants it to be like the originals and another part of me wanted it to be modern, thinking on it, redoing the originals with a modern twist like odd world received I think will be the perfect mix, old and almost original in everyway except graphically it's pleasing, controls are more fluid and (hopefully though not necessary) a few new parts added to boot is perfect for me, however, I'm cynical what with Activision in charge of it, granted I've good reason to be when it comes to them (not just them but EA UBISOFT as well) but here's hoping it'll be a "remaster from the ground up" that's been promised.
Well .....gameplay will speak louder than words
Wasn't it Activision who ruined it in the first place? All interest for this has gone out the window as far as I'm concerned.
Eew.
Well at least Naughty Dog won't be wasting their time with this crap, so there's a silver lining.
I think they are doing this as a Test to see how much it sells. If they get good enough numbers, expect a new Crash Bandicoot game.
Just give us the 4 Crash PS1 games to play on the Vita for once. I'd be happier with that news to be honest.
One thing that worries me with Activision doing this,is it may be a bit of a rush job.Would have been much happier if one of Sonys teams were working on it.
HELL YESSSSSSS!!!!!
THIS IS CONFIRMED!!!!
now why oh why didn`t Shawn Layden say so himself!?
Crash Bandicoot XS - Crash Fusion were the final great Crash Bandicoot games!
unitil next year!!!!
The 25th anniversary of Crash Bandicoot commences in August.
Vacarious Visions I trust you 100% and thank you!
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