Best not to pick a character from the PS2 era when you're talking about PS1 games.

So anyway, I don't think it's just nostalgia that makes these games good.  Obviously, that plays a big factor in why Spyro 3 is my favourite game ever, but when I replay it recently it held up just as well as ever.

I think the anecdotal evidence I have to back that up, though, is from a friend of mine.  He grew up on N64; I grew up on PS1.  We agreed a "gameswap" where I played two of his favourite N64 games ever and he played two of my favourite PS1 games ever.

He chose Ocarina of Time and Mario 64; I chose Final Fantasy VII and Spyro 3.  I didn't enjoy Ocarina; he didn't enjoy Final Fantasy.  I really enjoyed Mario 64; he really enjoyed Spyro 3 (and went back to play the other two afterwards).  That was only about 2 years ago.

By the way, I absolutely love Jumping Flash! (it's one of my favourite games ever) and I get really sad that no other games ever attempted that style, but it's aged horribly.  It's short (like, you can finish it in about 2 hours short) and very limited.  I still recommend it to people, but they have a very difficult time with it (most recently, I remember Sal.Paradise struggling to enjoy it).

CTR is a better game than DKR. See I can state my opinion as fact too!

Also those characters you said were "rip-offs" are kind of a stretch.

I'll give you Tawna but she was only in the first game very fleetingly anyway.

Cortex is nothing like Doctor Eggman in appearance or personality, there only connection is that they are both doctors and they are both the main villain.

Crunch is from the ps2 era anyway, but again other than him being a physically strong character and having a kind of serious personality there's very little similarity yet again.

I also don't see how this is a "carbon copy" of DKC in the slightest, there are a lot of levels in the original crash that are viewed from behind the character, not just levels on a 2d plane.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "Psudeo 3d" either.

People use that term because they can't free roam everywhere on the level, like you could say in Mario 64 but that still had edges. What they don't understand that this made the Crash Bandicoot series better because less free roaming meant it kept a lot of what makes platforming games great, mainly you couldn't just run around the enemy, sometimes to had to jump on them :P.

A good example of 2.5D of PS1 era is Wild 9, Klonoa or Pandemonium, all great games in their own right.

Crash isn't just a character.

1. Woompa fruits

2. CTR

3. Crazy characters like Neo Cortex and Ripper Roo

4. The crazy dance

5. The "woahw!" when he dies.

6. That whole australian feel

7. The enemies and aku aku etc etc

You can't just say other peoples tastes are irrelevant. Crash games were and are brilliant.

In regards to the comparison to Mario Galaxy and 3D Sonic games, Ninten has worked with Mario since 64 to make the controls and platforming to be as perfect as possible, which made for such tight controls for the next Mario games to follow. With Sonic games,  SEGA went wild, trying out all sorts of crazy things, from fairy tale stories to Unleashed to Sonic Heroes, and so on, sacrificing them the chance to make a more refined, excellent system for Sonic. I think despite its flaws, at least SA1 was a right step in getting Sonic into 3D. That first stage on the beach to me felt like a good way to adjust moving Sonic in 3D and get a feel of the controls. That's how I feel at least.

I didn't mean that games like SA1 shouldn't be judged by today's standards. By all means, they should be! It's good to tear games apart to see what really worked and what just doesn't. I do feel that some games may have been good "at the time", but that may be due to nostalgia or people played them at a young age, like I did with them. I do need to revisit those games now, haha. That's a good way of defining a 'good' game. Most of those games you listed are ones I played and agree those games still hold up today.

And my mistake on that last part.

I couldn't be bothered to read the entire thread and maybe you've answered it, but that's it? You just played the first Crash?

Then it's no wonder you think like that, the first game is rather rough around the edges and hasn't aged that well.

Crash 2 and Crash 3 however are still great games. Crash 3 is actually my favorite platformer ever (no nostalgia attached)

And the fact you dislike Crash and Spyro but likes Klonoa, an incredibly average platformer, so much completely baffles me, but oh well.

You missed 2 of the biggest franchises ever dude. ;)

I think it was the worst step. The thing with Galaxy is that they got it right on the their first attempt with 64. They were already damn near perfect in 64. SA1+2 were absolute messes in every catagory that I listed. It wasn't the right step, it was just the first step. Sonic kept needing to experiment because they got it so horribly wrong in their first go. I think so many people were just wowed by the simple fact that Sonic was finally in 3D and worked. Those games were an absolutely terrible foundation to build future games on. 64 just wasn't. It was a perfect game to lay the groundwork for future 3D Marios.

Sonic can be absolutely amazing in 3D, but if it finally happens, it'll only be the first time. It'll be Sonic's Mario 64. I think that the 3D, non-tunnel sections of Lost World is the absolute best foundation 3D Sonic has had so far. If they can keep what's good, remove what's bad, and improve what needs improving, they could finally have it. But they need to fix the homing issue and perfect air control. They need to take Sonic and work for weeks just on making it feel good to run and jump as him, without a homing attack.