Crash Bandicoot

aka: Crash 1
Moby ID: 4721
PlayStation Specs
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Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. Nitrus Brio, two evil doctors determined to take over the world, create two devices to turn innocent creatures into genius destroyers of the world. One particular animal, a Bandicoot, is chosen to be the leader of the pack, but when the devices fail in their attempts, the animals are turned into crazy monsters. Only Crash Bandicoot survives with brain intact, now knowing that Neo Cortex is the real bad guy. Cortex notices the threat that Crash may cause, and banishes Crash to another island. So it is up to Crash to find his way through the islands monster population and stop Cortex from destroying the world, as well as saving his girlfriend who is next on the devices list.

In Crash' first appearance on the Playstation, you must run, jump and spin your way through this part 3D platform/part Side Scroller/part Mario 64 style adventure.

Spellings

  • クラッシュ・バンディクー - Japanese spelling

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Credits (PlayStation version)

84 People (75 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 79% (based on 32 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 104 ratings with 4 reviews)

Conventional Platformer in 3D

The Good
The graphics are very lush and beautiful, they use very bright colors. Outside the platforming area there is extra terrain that blocks your view. The terrain outside the area gives the level great ambiance.

The sound is great as well, in fact its composed by the same company that did the Rugrat's music. Normally I hate the music in video games, RPG music can be a real drag but this music is really entertaining.

The game is quite difficult, it gives a good challenge that is enjoyable. It gets annoying if a game is too easy, it just isn't as fun. With this game that's not the case.

The Bad
Sometimes the game became frustrating because at key jumping points the controls don't work so well due to a depth control problem.

Sometimes the levels aren't as epic feeling. The rail gameplay could limit replay value for some people.

I found it annoying that you could fall off the sides of the tiny blocks during the bonus level. That was corrected during the later games.

The Bottom Line
I've seen people compare this game to Mario 64, and I realize that's inevitable. however, The fact of the matter is, Crash Bandicoot is incomparable to Mario 64.

To understand Crash Bandicoot and Mario 64 you need to think about the time these games were made. At that time, there were very few games being made in full 3D. People were wondering how they were going to make a platform game in 3D. Many games failed at this transition. Such as Bubsy 3D.

Instead of making the game a free roaming world, Naughty Dog decided to constrain the game and make it "on rails" so the traditional platform gameplay would be preserved without reinventing the wheel like Mario did.

The game is a lot more like a standard platformer. You jump on boxes, you jump over pits and you jump on enemies. The game is difficult but lives come to you easily.You might get a new life after two replays of the same continue point.

You don't explore to the degree that Mario 64 does. But the game is fast paced and really fun. The game is much quicker paced than mario and is more of a twitch play game than an adventure platformer like mario.

Overall its for people that like standard challenging platformers and don't need to explore a level to have fun.

PlayStation · by Evan Agresti (6) · 2009

The Original & The Best!

The Good
Graphics: Very nice (for a 1996 game), the levels are original and very stylish, Crash Bandicoot himself is a very well-drawn character.

Gameplay: The controls are slightly hard to get used to, but after about 30 minutes, the controls will seem very simple and smooth.

Levels: The levels are excellently designed (like I said in the Graphics section of my review), and the levels are in fact moderately challenging, which is a new thing in the era of games that are either too tough or too easy.

Sound: Simple small sounds, but those small sounds are done in such a way that they are not annoying like the sounds in early DOS games.

Overall Enjoyment: Endless hours of fun (that's in my case, but the guaranteed hours are 2).

The Bad
While most levels are moderately challenging, one difficult level will pop up between two moderately challenging levels, which is strange, usually the tough levels will be kept to the end of the game.

The Bottom Line
Overall Score: 4.5/5 A good game that is fun and enjoyable.

PlayStation · by Jim Fun (207) · 2002

Sony's answer to Mario... until the PS2 was released anyway

The Good
Crash Bandicoot is one of the very first games that I played on PSX, and I think that it is an excellent platform game. Two evil dudes, Dr. Neo Cortex, and his assistant, Dr. Nitrus Brio, create two devices that turn wild animals into evil geniuses capable of taking over the world. When the devices malfunction, however, the animals are turned into crazy monsters. A bandicoot named Crash, chosen to be the leader and having survived the experiment, is banished to another of Cortex's three islands, as he is no longer worthy. Now Crash vows to navigate the islands and stop Cortex's plan from going ahead.

The map that you use to navigate between these islands looks excellent. I like the way that you can rotate this map, giving you a good look at all three islands idea so that you know what to expect later. The levels are represented only as huge red dots, and are scattered throughout each island. Unfortunately, you can't just go anywhere unless you complete the previous levels first. There are a couple of levels which you can't access until you can access two rather dark secret levels in the game.

The gameplay involves Crash making his way through the different levels of each island while destroying various wildlife along the way. There are two methods of destroying them, and of these, I prefer Crash's spin attack because not only do you not risk missing them when you try jumping on their head, but by doing this you can actually make them spin into other enemies that are behind each other. Breaking each box in the level to receive a gem helps open alternate routes and new levels depending on what color it is. Once you complete a section, you can go back and replay it if you happen to miss one or two boxes (the game tells you at the end how many you missed).

If the creatures prove too much for you, you can get an Aku-Aku mask hidden in the occasional crate. I like this bit. While listening to a nice drum beat, you can walk quite a distance and nothing stops you unless you fall down a bottomless pit. Furthermore, you can break every crate without jumping or spinning at it.

Crash uses a variety of viewpoints/perspectives throughout the game. When I first started playing games like these, I had to get used to the new perspective where you are running away from the screen. This is the case with most of the levels in the game. Once I finally got used to this perspective, I liked it. A few of the levels just involve you running across the screen, starting from either direction, like most of platform games from the '80s to the mid-'90s.

The highlight of this game has to be seeing the number of ways that Crash dies. For example, crashing into a box full of TNT cause him to be blown to smithereens and his eyes to go up into the sky. Every level that I am completing I had to die a number of times just to see Crash's death animations.

As I mentioned earlier, there are three islands to navigate, and each island has its own setting. Of these, I like the first island, which has Crash exploring jungles and villages. It is this island that he also gets to ride a hog and run from a rolling boulder Indiana Jones-style. I found these types of sections challenging because you are given a certain amount of time, and have less time to carefully avoid pits and incoming creatures. I enjoyed navigating creeks and broken bridges way up in the mountains, which can be found on the second island.

The Bad
It is so easy to fall down into a pit or get eaten by a creature when you are jumping or using a spin attack. You have a shadow to help you but I already got used to focusing on what is coming up toward Crash and not on the ground.

You also get to meet Crash's girlfriend, a sexy bandicoot named Tawna. There was nothing wrong with introducing a girlfriend into the picture, but if said girlfriend wears a skimpy outfit, along with a T-shirt which is so thin her breasts show through it, then that sends the wrong message to children, that bandicoots are nothing but sex symbols. I am glad that Sony removed her and she doesn't feature in future Crash games.



The Bottom Line
Crash is a 3-D platform game, involving the player selecting a level on one of the three islands (which have their own theme) and making their way in 3rd-person view toward the exit, which look like a spinning SCE logo, while avoiding the many creatures that they encounter along the way.

To get 100% on the game, the player is encouraged to break every box in the levels and not lose a life. Gems are introduced which they will get by doing this. Some gems are required to open alternate routes throughout the level, but the player can't get these until they complete some of the later levels. So in conclusion, there is a huge amount of replayability involved.

The graphics are excellent, with beautiful environments to explore. The creatures that Crash encounters on his journey are animated nicely, and the bosses are a challenge to defeat, as they use a variety of methods to kill him. The individual levels can be selected on the map, and it is nice that the map itself can be rotated, to get a good look at the three islands and see what lies ahead. When it comes to the sound, the music is excellent. The sound effects are cartoon-like and really give Crash some atmosphere.

Crash is definitely Sony's answer to Mario. That until Naughty Dog decided not to release future Crash games for Sony's next console, the PS2. If SCE was established a long time ago (before 1995) and Crash Bandicoot was released around at that time, then we would have seen a platform game along the lines of Super Mario World since the concept of 3-D was not introduced back then. Anyone who wants to play any of the games in the Crash Bandicoot series really should get their hands on this game.

PlayStation · by Katakis | カタキス (43092) · 2008

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Very underrated platformer CaveGraveDave Sep 20, 2009

Trivia

Advertisement

In the Japanese PlayStation TV ads, Crash shared a house with Parappa the Rapper.

Cut level

During the production of this game, Naughty Dog has been eliminated a level called Stormy Ascent (a sequel of Slippery Climb) because the level was too hard.

Music

One of Crash Bandicoot's composers, Mark Mothersbaugh, was the lead singer of the 80's pop band Devo.

Regional differences

In the Japanese version, the password saving system has been removed as well as Tawna in bonus rounds, the TNT crates has a bomb instead the TNT letters and Papu Papu must be beaten by 5 hits instead of 3.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • October 1996 (Issue 87) - Game of the Month

Information also contributed by //dbz: and Zaibatsu

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

PSP, PlayStation 3 added by Corn Popper. PS Vita added by GTramp. Android added by CrankyStorming.

Additional contributors: J. Michael Bottorff, Alaka, Robbb, DreinIX, Zaibatsu, Patrick Bregger.

Game added August 7, 2001. Last modified March 19, 2024.