so i've noticed there's a fair bit of affection on the forums for these late-nineties abominations of character design and good taste. i thought i must be missing something. i've always thought they looked horrendous and weren't even slightly cute or endearing. and to add to that, i never found that the gameplay either in crash or in spyro was all that compelling. they seemed to me to be fairly simplistic early 3d platform games ripping off the rare donkey kong country games' equally horrendous character design.

there *were* some excellent 2d/3d platformers on psx, but no-one talks about them. jumping flash (and later jumping flash 2) pioneered the 3d platformer almost a year before mario 64 came out, and the original rayman was a tough as nails sidescroller with some limited charm. klonoa: door to phantomile was terrific as well, and sort of was the beginning of the 2.5d style you see nowadays in the retro donkey kong country games.

i guess my question is... what's attractive about crash and spryo? how do you redeem these relics of the 90s? is it just... you know... nostalgia speaking? because they do not stand up either as memorable characters or as especially good games to me today.

ugh.

I grew up with Crash, not so much Spyro. Crash Bandicoot actually has a really endearing set of characters and its games are pretty amazing. Mostly 2, 3 and CTR, but I do consider Crash Twinsanity on the PS2 to be my favorite. They're not perfect games by any means, but they are fantastic in their own right.

I'd say that they are memorable, considering everyone remembers them.

Skullwaker said: I grew up with Crash, not so much Spyro. Crash Bandicoot actually has a really endearing set of characters and its games are pretty amazing. Mostly 2, 3 and CTR, but I do consider Crash Twinsanity on the PS2 to be my favorite. They're not perfect games by any means, but they are fantastic in their own right. I'd say that they are memorable, considering everyone remembers them.

yes but the internet helps. and memorable =/= good. everyone remembers the goatse guy, i'm sure.

I dunno. People still defend Sonic Adventure 1+2, so I've lost faith in the quality standards of the masses.

let's not even get into that. of course, there are people who defend sanic 06 as well...

jetforcejiminy said: Skullwaker said: I grew up with Crash, not so much Spyro. Crash Bandicoot actually has a really endearing set of characters and its games are pretty amazing. Mostly 2, 3 and CTR, but I do consider Crash Twinsanity on the PS2 to be my favorite. They're not perfect games by any means, but they are fantastic in their own right. I'd say that they are memorable, considering everyone remembers them. yes but the internet helps. and memorable =/= good. everyone remembers the goatse guy, i'm sure.

I don't, apparently. 

Have you played Crash or Spyro before? I don't think many games from the late 90s in general hold up well today, considering that was when 3D first became a thing and developers didn't know how to implement it into their games. However, both series are still enjoyable today and are quite polished. They both had really great dev teams.

What`s wrong with Sonic Adventure 1 and 2? I thought they were great games.

just played crash bandicoot (the 1996 original) for about an hour out of morbid curiosity. never again. it's amazing how much better jak and daxter is than the crash games. (and i don't even like jak and daxter.)

but that gets at my question: is it nostalgia? mechanically crash is unplayable today.

well i never played any of the games you mentioned so... cant compare them, i only know that i played crash as a kid and really enjoyed it, not just because of crash but all the supporting characters as well, and i really enjoyed the gameplay, but as i said i didnt played the games you mention so i cant compare them.

also crash just has this "charisma" that makes me wanna see a sequel to the game.

I remember the Crash ads on TV really added to the character as a kid. I still sometimes catch myself saying "Booyah Grandma" when playing a game because it stuck with me.

Also I simply have an affinity for platfomers.