In honor of Crash’s 15th Anniversary I wanted to make a post whose primary purpose is to serve as a repository for comments from you — the fans — about your first and favorite Crash Bandicoot impressions. Please make them in the comments. This is the place to tell that story of how you got your Playstation and Crash Bandicoot for Christmas when you were five, etc. etc. So to that effect, I’ll start it off with a brief tale that begins the night Crash Bandicoot launched.
In September 1996 all of Naughty Dog flew to New York for the combined Crash Bandicoot / Playstation 1 year anniversary party. It was on a big rooftop deck in the meat packing (hehe Beavis, you said meat packing) district. All of us got pretty drunk. There was a loud band. Very loud. Simultaneously, Ken Kutaragi (father of the Playstation!) decided to engage me in a highly technical discussion — against the 120 decibel background — using his rather broken English and my exactly zero command of Japanese. But in any case I didn’t sleep — we saw dawn in some New York greasy spoon.
About four hours later, Jason and I were on a plane to London. I didn’t sleep — why waste good reading time.
We arrived in London for ECTS and various Crash launch promotional meetings. We were immediately conducted to small hot smoky cubicles and interviewed by a variety of game journalists in numerous European languages for about eight hours — also against about 100 decibels of trade show. We then went to the bar (scotch). Then to dinner (wine). Then to a night club (more booze). Then a cigar bar (more scotch). Then to our hotel room (with about 15 or so European marketing and sales folk). There we consumed every single item in our minibar. We called down to the desk (4 in the morning) and had them bring us a NEW minibar. Yes, a complete refill of all items at 4 in the morning. We consumed that. Except for two miscellaneous tiny liquor bottles I can’t remember. The cost of just one minibar was 800 pounds sterling. We ate/drank two.
We didn’t sleep.
But we did spend another eight hours giving interviews. Then we went out again. That night I think we got 2-3 hours of sleep. But interviews again starting at 8am.
Somewhere in there I visited Westminster Abbey.
By day three we discovered that a number of our new friends (English) had never left the Island of Great Britain. So we all boarded the Chunnel and went to Paris (from Waterloo to Napoleon stations specifically, which is amusing). In Paris we started drinking at 10am. We kept drinking (many bars). We ate dinner (more wine). We went to someone’s apartment (more drinks). There was no sleep involved. After staying out all night (drinking) after the day of (drinking) we boarded the Chunnel back to London. I might have dozed. We went straight from there to the airport and got on a flight back to LAX.
Ah, first class. There were scones with clotted cream. And perhaps an hour or three of sleep. But we landed in LA at 7am. I was on the beach jogging by 8:30am. In the office at 10am. Back to work on the Japanese version of Crash. I went home early that day. Midnight.
Making video games builds stamina.
Don’t forget to put your own Crash memories in the comments section!
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All Things Andy Gavin 
At my seventh birthday party at the local indoor adventure playground, I was gifted my first PlayStation 1 and a copy of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. I took it home, got my father to help me hook it up to the television, and started playing. I was instantly hooked. It was by far the best video game I’d played to date. Shortly after that, my mother and I popped around to the local multimedia store, to see if we could find the first two titles. We did, and I’d finished them within days. Wanting more, I went back to the multimedia store to ask if there were any more Crash games. To my delight, CTR had recently been released around that time, as had Crash Bash. I quite liked CTR, but I didn’t go much on Crash Bash. A few years later, by which time I had a PS2, I heard about the release of Wrath of Cortex, so I went and bought that. I was still quite into it, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the original Naughty Dog titles. But I couldn’t help myself buying Twinsanity a year or two after that, but I didn’t enjoy it at all. Now I’m 17, and attending College. A few days ago, I completed by Summer assignment and was rather bored. Digging through a few boxes, I stumbled upon my old Crash games, the original titles from Naughty Dog. I quickly set up an emulator on my PC and soon found myself just as addicted as I was when I was a kid. In fact, as we speak, I’ve paused Cortex Strikes Back in the middle of Bee-having.
My memory of crash was when I went to my relatives house as he had just bought a Playstation and was playing crash warped, I specifically remember coco’s level where she was on a water motorcycle and they were skulls everywhere. I miss the good old days I myself was a late bloomer to the Crash series as I bought my first game (number 1) in 2000 along with the original Playstation.
Crash was mighty back in the day, it’s a shame to see him no more, Activision hasn’t done anything with him and i don’t think they will, if they do decide to do something I hope its nothing like what they have done with spyro as I would have rather have him dead, then ruined.
i actually never got to play the first crash until recently purchasing it at the psn store, however i did own cortex strikes back during my youth. at the time my mind was blown with the fun experience playing through it. i’ve heard that graphics don’t necessarily make a game, but comparing the first and second game, they were a huge improvement even after being made the year after. crash: warped to me has endless replay value since it’s the most memorable, and even if it didn’t have the open environments that spyro had, i found it much more fun of the two. crash team racing was by far the most fun that i’d had out of a racing genre starring a mascot. what we got as opposed to mario kart was an adventure mode and a better executed turbo slide technique. that and you could actually turn while in the air. the naughty dog crash bandicoot games will always hold a great amount of nostalgia for me, and will stay part of my memories of owning the original playstation console
ANDY
will jason be joining in anytime as we havnt heard from him in a while?
He was in Africa for a big chunk of the summer and just got engaged — so he’s been busy 🙂
Crash was the first platform game that I cared about. Mario, Sonic, and all the rest just didn’t appeal to me. When I discovered Crash for PS1, I fell in love immediately and replayed it many times. Just thinking about my time spent with the series makes me smile. Good times! Thank you!
My birthday 1998 at 7 years old i got my first console it was the Playstation and i got a few games, Crash Bandicoot was one of them, i enjoyed it the most as it was a game that was vibrant fun and took a long to finish, it was that good that i ended up getting the second game and the third, i never got CTR unfortunately, i need to find a good copy since the downloaded version i got some years ago was NTSC and did not work on my PSone even though it’s modchipped.
My original disc is missing for the first game, but it will turn up somewhere, and when it does, i am going to play it.
I also intend to get a software copy from the Playstation game network sometime,
Crash was one of the few games that was great for the imagination, aside from Abe’s Oddysee i hope there might be a time when Naughty Dog buys back the IP from Universal Interactiv (i forget what they call themselves now) it’s been a while since we have had a truly good game in the Crash series.
When i was 12 and working on my own game project, i played Crash 2 on an old PS1 emulator (the most perfect emulator i had ever used just pop the game in and away it goes)
i played it well into the early hours of the morning during the Xmas holidays 2003 and was studying the layout of the 3D models and objects and background to learn how a level of a game environment is layed out.
Good memories.
That faithful christmas morning I got a Playstation with Crash.Bandicoot 1. I instantly loved the character and to this day. I have stood beside Crash all the way. no matter what developer he stays with. no matter what console. no matter what gameplay change. I love the Orange Bandicoot. Sorry Mario and Sonic. Crash just beats them both no matter what.
I own a HUGE Crash bandicoot collection fully of toys, comics and all the games so far.
I hope to god that Crash bandicoot will continue on spinning in the future
Love the Bandicoot! always have..always will! 🙂
Crash Bandicoot comics??
Man that sounds legit.
I remember you said 3 out of the 7 people who made the orignal crash series are still at naughty dog, where are the rest? (you and jason excluded)
and are you all in touch with each other?
I see all but one a couple times a year.
Crash Bandicoot was what got me into video games. I recently was interviewed for a game design course. When asked who I look up to, I replied “Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin”. I owe the series an awful lot in terms of meeting some of my best friends and also a Crash forum was how I met my girlfriend.
Back in 1996, I was only 6 years old. I didn’t have a Playstation, but I would often go over one of my friend’s houses with my twin sister and we’d play (the then new) the first Crash Bandicoot game. We were terrible at it, but it was always immense fun to play. The jungle levels and the machinery levels on the third island are the ones I have memories of most, mostly because they were often the ones we’d spend most time on.
It’s Crash Bandicoot 2 I have most fond memories of, though. When that was released, my sister and I would go over our friend’s house and we’d play it from the morning through the the evening during the Christmas break from school. At that point, my sister would be the one who’d die all the time, our friend would be the one to find a lot of the secret areas and I was the one who’d gain all the lives back. I’d also be adamant that they’d call the fruit “wumpa” and not “apples”. This led to a whole phase of us trying to invent wumpa juice in reality, thinking about what it would taste like. In the end, a mixture of cranberry juice, blueberry and peach seemed to work well to get the colour and taste we thought worked.
Truth be told, I didn’t get a Playstation until Crash Bash, in 2000. I was never allowed one and so my sister and I would always go over our friend’s and we’d all have fun, level by level. Crash Bash, however, caused frustration to my friends and I, to which caused a lot of arguments – something CTR would often remedy. The next year I get a PS2 and The Wrath of Cortex for Christmas. I’ll be honest, I enjoyed Twinsanity in 2004 just as much as the old games. I always thought that was the next logical step for Crash, even if the game was glitchy. I still play the games a fair bit and remain a huge fan, despite where the series went. There is no other game series I’m as large a fan of than Crash Bandicoot.
[…] His memories are a bit foggy, which is understandable once you read them. Spoiler: He drank. A lot. Even if you didn't celebrate the occasion in the exact same way, he wants to hear what you have to say about the series. Visit his blog, and post in the comments. Then take your multivitamin and go to bed early. […]
I remember Crash being in Pizza Hut commercials. I’m pretty sure it was Pizza Hut. Cut to maybe a year or so later, being invited to a party at Scott’s boss’ house in the hills…. Party banter and overhearing that I was in a room with creators of Crash Bandicoot. Then nudging Scott and we looked at each and said, “Yes, this is why we moved to LA.” Cut to, a few months after that walking into the NDI offices to work. My first week there, Jak was trying to figure what hair color to go with. Answering fan mail those first few months, I know first hand how much love there is for Crash:)
🙂
Crash was and still is my favourite game series of all time. Something about it made me pick it in the store when I was about 8 over all of the other titles and thankfully it was one of the best choices I made. The goofy cartoony character and level designs and great blend of difficult and easy level designs made it really fun to play. It still easily stands the test of time now too.
It’s truely a shame it’s lost track as much as it has. A back to basics would be the best thing for the game and please millions around the world. A HD remake or new linear adventure has been on the top of my most wanted list for a very long time.
Man Crash Bandicoot was my top favorite of all time than DK. I really really really really really REALLY wish they can make a comeback!!!
Crash Bandicoot was my ‘Super Mario 64’ growing up. (For the record, I never got into Super Mario 64 it just… wasn’t as good). I would say having CTR tournaments with my friends is probably my favorite memory of playing Crash games. (CTR owns every Mario Kart that came before it and since, btw) I remember I had one friend who really sucked at it but he never bothered getting better because he enjoyed pissing us off with Orbs and time clocks that he would get because he was in last place all the time. (I just had kind of a Vietnam flashback remembering the suspense of the orbs getting closer and closer and that sound it made *shivers*). Crash Bandicoot had such an impact on my childhood that I got a bunch of classmates to get up in front of class and act out the opening bit of ‘Crash Bandicoot: Warped’ for show-and-tell. ‘Uka Uka is free! No… it cannot be!’ Sadly, once Naughty Dog left the series, the magic kind of died. Even as a kid, I recognized it. I recently bought ‘Crash of the Titans’ because of some nostalgic rush to play a Crash game and wow… it’s… I need a hypnotist to erase it from memory. I would love to see (although this is wishful thinking) Naughty Dog and Insomniac both make a new Crash Bandicoot and Spyro game (My Mario and Link). It would be a great tribute to the characters that put both studios on the map and bring some respect back to both series. Now I need to borrow my friend’s PS3 and play some old school Crash! Happy 15th!
Oh and Crash Bandicoot: Warped is the first game I ever played all the way through in one sitting. Man, I need a Crash fix now…
My first Crash encounter was on my cousin’s PlayStation. I remember in first grade I asked Santa for “A PlayStation with Crash Team Racing or a Nintendo with Mario Kart” for Christmas. Thank the lord it was the former. I, unlike some others, like all the games in the series (Crash boom Bang the obvious exception) but the original (Crash bandicoot 1) remains my favorite. Crash Team Racing is still the best kart racing game I’ve played. And if I could become the head of a game dev team, and make any game I wanted, it would be a new Crash platforming game. After the cancellation of the “Crash 2010” game…I don’t know if Crash will live on, anywhere but our memories.
CotT wasn’t that bad!!
You mean Crash of the Titans right, yeah you`re right it wasn’t that bad, IT WAS BLODDY HORRIFIC. Every thing that Radical Entertainment made regarding crash bandicoot, ruined it for me. I for one am glad Crash 2010 got cancelled as it looked horrible and nothing like crash, hence why Activision fired the team in charge of the crash series at radical, however they are no better as they haven’t done anything to the series.
Oh yes after playing Sonic on Nintendo Dreamcast which then wasn’t working we decided to get a new console of a psx. Which was based here in UK poole dorset and we then choose a few games that were similar to sonic which was Crash Bandicoot, Disney’s Hercules and Cool Borders my brother got me into Crash and as a funny joke at points he said who is the man and I said you are. That’s if you survived the levels and this was in 1997 when we started them then went on to crash 2 and then after that my brother was uncertain of them so I kept playing them until I got the hang of them and I still enjoyed them. Plus I use to keep playing crash 1, 2, 3 and CTR as I became excited on how the games were made and what it gave me. Cut-Scenes became a part I also loved in a crash game and onwards I have supported the crash series if any new games were not as good as Naughtydogs. But Traveller’s Tales have done a good job trying to match there stories but now it’s down to Activision.
My main memory was playing the demo of Crash at my friends house over and over again and loving it. And then asking my parents (I was about 6 or 7 years old when it came out) for Santa to get me my own PS1 and Crash Bandicoot… well actually I guess I wrote a letter to Santa then, but whatever… and on Christmas morning that year running into my parents room and getting them up to go down and open the gifts. And the big gift for me and my 2 younger brothers (4 and 2 years old) was a PS1 and a copy of Crash Bandicoot. Me and my dad mainly played it since my two brothers were really young still, but it was the game I learned how to play video games on. I loved it even more as I could play the whole game; I think we beat it in like 2-3 days. I was hooked on Crash, I got a drawing book to help teach me how to draw him… poorly but still. Got all the other memorabilia with it too. And every time a new Crash came out we bought it ASAP. Still love the games now, they hold a lot of sentimental value to me, still play them on my PS3. So I say thank you for introducing me to my love of the PlayStation system and Crash and Video Games… I don’t know if I didn’t get Crash if I’d be as much of a gamer as I am now. So thanks for all the hard work on it!
[…] His memories are a bit foggy, which is understandable once you read them. Spoiler: He drank. A lot. Even if you didn’t celebrate the occasion in the exact same way, he wants to hear what you have to say about the series. Visit his blog, and post in the comments. Then take your multivitamin and go to bed early. […]
I remember Crash Bandicoot 2 was my first game on the PlayStation. My father worked late every day monday to monday, and he would get home at around 8 PM. Since I went to bed 10 PM because I had to wake up early the next day to go to school, we spent roughly 2 hours a day together. And we used to spend these 2 hours playing Crash; mainly Crash Team Racing. I can honestly say that Crash was the strongest connection between me and my father when I was a child. It’s been twelve years since Crash Team Racing was released, and up to this day I still play it with him every saturday we have a chance. It is definately the game I played the most in my life; I’m not kidding when I say I must have spent at least 1000 hours of my life in it. That not counting all other Crash games, which I also completed at least two or three times. With all these “back to origins” games coming out, I can’t help but hope that one day we will se Crash Bandicoot sporting his best form once again, collecting crystals and going after Neo Cortex and his gang.
My first game on the playstation was Crash Bandicoot 3. I loved it, it’ s the best game ever for me. The first time I wasn’ t able to defeat Cortex but in the end I did it. Now, after ten years, I’ m 18 years old and I reached the 103% and I discovered that Easter Egg of Fake Crash XD! Then I played CTR with a friend. At that time I didn’ t know about Mario Kart 64 so it was my first cartoon racing game. I love it. Sometimes My friends say me that they would like a remake of that games, they Didn’ t know of the PS2 Crash series.For some reason I never researched PS2 Crash games until some year ago when I discovered the rest of the game after Crash Bash. I played Crash Twinsanity at a friend house, and it didn’ t gave me the same feelings of the original trilogy.
Yes, I don’ t like Crash Twinsanity, the so called “Best game of the series” XD.
For me The best game of the series is Crash Bandicoot 3 / Crash Team Racing.
Sometimes I came up with a Crash game idea in my mind and I think:” Why new developers can’ t have my same ideas?” It’ s so sad that Crash seems to be forgotten, even Sonic has a game for his 20th anniversary. Well at least I still have my PSX and my Crash Bandicoot collection :D.
Crash Bandicoot has played a special part in my life as a videogamer. I remember a friend of mine lending me his CTR, when I was eleven, because I was becoming a “Sheep, Dog’n’Wolf” addict (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep,_Dog_'n'_Wolf). No greater mistake he could make :D… simply, I had become a Crash Bandicoot addict! I liked CTR style and I loved the Adventure Mode, with all its collectible stuff. I wasn’t a great player, honestly, but it was such a fresh and attractive game, that I couldn’t stop playing and enjoying it. In September and October of the same year (2003), I bought CTR and borrowed – then bought – Crash 3, and, for my birthday, in December, I had the pleasure of adding Crash Bandicoot 1 and Crash Bandicoot 2 to my games collection.
I spent an entire year playing with these games, at the point that, for a long period, I wanted to be game designer. The awareness that the following productions, since “The Wrath of Cortex”, were not capable to reach the peak represented by ND chapters was such a sad thing that every time I played a new Crash, it was generally a delusion (except for “XS” and “Tag Team Racing”). A partial one, in the case of “Titans” and “Twinsanity”; a big one, in the case of “Mind over Mutant”.
I hope other software houses will do something for Crash, because this is a special character and a part of my later childhood.
All I can say now is “Happy Birthday, Crash!”.
So many awesome stories!
My first encounter with Crash was on Demo Disc of PSM UK Vol.2 Issue christmas 1997 i think.
On the demo CD was a evel with that small white bear, as i was a little kid i knew i must have it ! even my mum loved that level! the bear was just (and still is) so cute.:)
Than i’ve played Crash 2 over and over again many times (but never got 100% or over, im shy of it)
Crash permeated my dreams. And not just any dreams, my RECURRING, weird-as-all-hell dreams, involving a dinosaur crushing the kitchen chair, my tv football—spectating Dad not caring about the frightening reptile in the other room, and an uncanny Crash sequence—in which Crash ran off a road in a jungle level, straight into a bottomless pit. Why would he ever do that?! No one would die on purpose! Oh, Crash, why?!
Also: Crash Bandicoot 2 was my first PlayStation game, on a console that was my very own. It’s only the best.
Short and simple: I loved the first three Crash Bandicoot games, they had everything.
Here you go Andy! Sorry for my lateness, I was busy helping my brother move out. First he doesn’t let me play Crash first, and now he makes me miss Crash’s birthday!
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I had no idea what the date was. I had no idea what the time was. I can’t remember where exactly in London I was. But the memory is still fresh in my mind, like it happened yesterday. We were walking down some kind of street mall. It was night, but it was very bright. The bubbly orange lights filled the air, the happy chatter filling you up with a happy sense of contentment. But the true feeling of happiness, the true excitement, comes not from this wonderfully romanticized idea of what I remember, but it came from what we had just bought. For of course, we had just bought ourselves a PlayStation, and a handful of games. My dad was carrying the PlayStation that we bought in a sale of some kind and my brother and I squabbled over who could hold the games. Of course, my brother won, because he was older and probably made some false promise about letting me do something but always reneged on said promise. But it did not matter, as the most exciting thing of all was that we now owned our very own gaming console. But more importantly, we now owned Crash Bandicoot.
This was the first time we owned our very own console. We had of course played video games before; we had cousins that lived not very far away with their own Sega Saturn, and I vaguely remember playing on a NES at my cousins’ house when I visited them in Perth. But the games that I played on them, I honestly have no idea what they were. But Crash was something that just completely and entirely blew us away.
We ran to the TV and begged our dad to hurry and set up the PlayStation and the TV. We entered the house, running around like maniacs. But within minutes, we came to a sudden stop and carefully opened the box. You could’ve probably mistaken us from someone in the bomb squad; we were so careful in opening the PlayStation box we didn’t want to break anything. I grew impatient, and started flipping through our game catalogue. There was Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2, The Need For Speed (Yes, the very first one EA made), Olympic Soccer, Alien Trilogy, Tunnel B1 and of course, Crash Bandicoot. I looked at them all. I was all so fascinated by them. I couldn’t tell what was going to be better, was it the racing one with really realistic graphics? Would it be the scary alien monster looking game? Would it be the helicopter game, letting me fly around and do anything I wanted? Didn’t matter, time was up. The PlayStation was set up, and for the first time, the PlayStation booted up .
Such a wonderful sound that I’ll never forget. The console worked! It played sound, it was showing us some funky menu and we were30cm away from the TV, we were just that excited. So my brother, the aspiring pilot (and he actually is one now) wanted to right away play Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2. I didn’t have a choice in the matter, to be honest, I didn’t care, I just wanted to see it play games! So in it went. And we were amazed . How could a simple gray box produce such realistic graphics? We were in our own helicopter, blowing things up, shooting anything and everything. I also distinctly remember not being able to play it, so I’d sit along and pretend to play with the other controller that we got with it. As the time flew by for my brother, I was going increasingly impatient, frustrated by my lack of playing and wanting to play. But we decided we should put in another game, instead of letting me play this, so we can see what all the games are like. It was my turn to choose.
I looked at the games. The cover on Alien Trilogy looked stupid, so I didn’t feel like playing that (in fact, to this day, I think it’s safe to say that Alien Trilogy is still on my pile of shame). There were five games left to choose from, and I didn’t know which to go with. So I did what any 5 year old would do: choose the biggest, because it must be the best. If you remember back, PS1 games were sometimes in multi disc cases, to include a demo disc. Both Crash and Firestorm were in this, and thus, they were bigger than the other games. So Crash it was. Again, being the younger brother meant that I wasn’t playing first. I’m sure I protested and cried and whined, but I don’t remember that. But what I do remember is being completely and utterly transfixed.
The game loaded up. I saw the Sony logo. I saw the universal logo. I saw the Naughty Dog logo. I couldn’t tell what they meant or why so many damned logos kept popping up. Because 5 year olds don’t care about that, they just want to get on with it and just play. And lo and behold, there it was. Crash Bandicoot was running up to us and yelling. The menu was there, and yet Crash was moving, already, this had blown me away. Then the game began. We chose N.Sanity Beach. And so began a journey that’s made me what I am today. I started playing. We were running around admiring everything we possibly could. The water, the trees, the sand, the boxes, everything was just so mind blowingly good looking. I was in love. I loved the opening scene, I loved the quirky upbeat music, I loved how the characters looked: this game, in my eyes, set the bar so ridiculously high for all other games. And then we started playing, me using a disconnected controller to pretend play. It looked like fun; but I couldn’t tell, as I was only watching (and admiring the visuals). So then when my brother gave up and it was my turn, I was excited. Finally, playing this game. I loved the wumpa fruit and the sounds they made. I loved just jumping around anywhere, any time. I laughed so hard when I acquire Aku Aku and it made that “BOOGACHA” sound. I died over and over, I died by jumping into pits, into enemies, getting squashed by boulders, but I didn’t care. This game was so fun, I was scolded by my parents to tell me to stop playing and they told me to go to bed. So I scribbled down the last password, seeing as it didn’t use a save game, and I put that notepad next to the PlayStation (I distinctly remember crying when my mum thought it was rubbish and threw all the passcodes away).
And so, that’s how I was introduced to gaming. Crash was the first game I owned, loved and finished. It was the game that opened up my imagination to entire new worlds, to a new way of passing time. Of course, there were other distinct PS1 memories. I remember being scared and awed by the T-Rex demo, playing the Tombi! demo far too many times. I remember playing CTR and Crash Bash, and whoever was losing between myself, my brother and my cousins would end up unplugging the multi tap in a fit of rage.
I just really felt like writing this because both Crash and Naughty Dog are very important to me. It may be the year to celebrate Zelda and Metroids 25th anniversary, but Crash has had the most profound impact on my life, and Naughty Dog have always inspired me. From the ridiculously fun Crash Bandicoot games, to the awe inspiring open world Jak games, to the wonderful constructed experience that is Uncharted 2, I tip my hat to you, Jason Rubin, Andy Gavin and to the rest of the Naughty Dogs working hard on Uncharted 3.
There is no lateness! 🙂
[…] His memories are a bit foggy, which is understandable once you read them. Spoiler: He drank. A lot. Even if you didn’t celebrate the occasion in the exact same way, he wants to hear what you have to say about the series. Visit his blog, and post in the comments. Then take your multivitamin and go to bed early. […]
I remember my 10th birthday, which is December 24th, I wanted to get either the PS1 or N64 and didn’t know what to get.
I remembered that night when my parents sat me at the table and put all my birthday presents in front of me. My brothers gave me their present first and it was CRASH. I instantly thought, okay well now I have to get a PS1.. Little did I know my dad already bought it for me and saved it till the end of the night.
I stayed up all night playing Crash and when everyone woke up to open their christmas presents, my dad asked me to turn the PS1 off and join the family. I went to save the game but didn’t know I needed a memory card! I was so mad that christmas… the day after I went out and bought a memory card and replayed Crash and beat it. Ever since then I was hooked on Crash games all the way up to Crash Bash.
Crash 3 and CTR were my first PS1 games. I left my system on for a whole week so I could beat Crash 3 because I didn’t have a memory card lol. Those games were a defining part of my younger years.
In 1996, I was a young PC game developer / early PlayStation adopter who was somewhat bummed because coworkers attempting their first PlayStation title were constantly complaining about its limitations. Then I came across a giant wall of monitors at Sony’s booth during E3. On display were lush organic and colorfully lit environments, seamless skinned characters beautifully animated, all running at steady 30 frames per second, but in a sharper resolution and with far more detail than I thought possible on any platform…including PC. I picked up the controller and smiled at all of the little touches. In the short time I had with it on the show floor, I sensed this would be Sony’s killer app.
Across the floor, I checked out Mario 64, but couldn’t quite understand the appeal. The environments seemed empty, the textures blurry, the pace far too relaxed for my taste. Sure it was fun to move him around…at first…but I just didn’t see his adventure holding my attention.
I bought my PlayStation at launch in 1995…trading my SNES and several cartridges to get one for $299. I was never really a Mario fan. I far preferred Sonic (I still have my SEGA Genesis). I had played Battle Arena Toshinden, Extreme Games, Need for Speed, and other launch titles to death, so I was using E3 to make notes of games I wanted to purchase. Crash jumped to the top of my list.
I picked it up on its release date. I had gotten married only a few weeks earlier, but my wife didn’t complain. She enjoyed watching me play. I remember playing late into the night eager to see what graphic wonders the next level would have to offer…and then get stuck playing because I couldn’t just save my game whenever I wanted. I remember being awake at 2am ready to throw my controller at the screen because I had failed to complete the Tawna stages to earn a save point…but I would persist. I didn’t want to leave my PlayStation on all night long for fear of it overheating (which became a problem when I later played Resident Evil).
I finished Crash far shy of 100% completion, but was eager to share my enthusiasm for the experience. I posted a review on my website.
A few days later, I get a call from Jason Rubin asking me why I gave Crash a 9. I did not hesitate to go into detail…even though he was actually calling to offer me a job opportunity with Naughty Dog! I think he appreciated my honesty. I was shocked to learn how few people worked on the game and how everyone had an SGI on their desk. I was even more shocked that we shared an enthusiasm for Take-1 (an application for the Apple 2 that I used to make animated movies, but he and Andy had used to make their first games). I think our phone conversation went on for a couple of hours. It ended with him inviting me to meet the team.
When I arrived at the 488 building on the Universal Studios backlot I had no idea what to expect, but it was not long before I got the sense I already had the job. We talked a lot about what was good and not so great about the game…and think I earned the team’s respect when the levels I complained loudest about turned out to be Jason’s. The Dogs showed me how they managed to squeeze so many polygons out of the PlayStation (I was shocked the first time they moved the virtual camera off of its gameplay track). They showed me their initial progress on the first level of the sequel. Jason pulled me into my office and officially made me an offer. I quickly accepted. Job interviews don’t go better than this.
Before I left, Jason gave me homework…to play Crash through to 100% completion and then write a more thorough review. Cool! Now I had an excuse to continue playing late into the night! And to get all of the gems, that’s exactly what it took.
Well what can I say?
Crash shaped me to be who I am today
I was one and a half and it was 1995 (No fooling)
My parents had recently congratulated me a very merry christmas with a playstation one with a wonderful game by the name of Oddworld (Which frightened me quite alot) and another game that will change my life forever and that game was Crash Bandicoot.
Oh man the stories I had when I had crash Bandicoot
I would write down the passwords all the time
I would play the game and hum to the music and walked liked crash
I danced like crash whenever he got the gems
That was literally the only game I played for 3 years straight
and I never passed it EVER!
I went on to purchase Bandicoot 2 and Bandicoot 3 and actually passed those long before I passed crash bandicoot one
Actually it took me a matter of 12 years for me to pass my very first game. And let me tell you this game in itself not only impacted me. My parents loved this game and still play it today. Ive converted friends who never even played crash 10 years after its release date to play this and get hooked on PSN. My favorite memory for me is that no matter how hard I tried. I remember it so well. I was 5 years old and I was sick on a school night. My mom told me “Hijo….go play playstation until you get sleepy” So me of course I blasted through Crash Bandicoot and played nonstop for 7 hours straight Until I found the most haunting level of my life!
Slippery climb…..That level in itself….Brought fear into my heart….I knew it all to well….its perfect jumps….its beautiful music…the beautiful lightning effects….I just cannot believe how complicated this level was! It was actually unappeasable for me until I was thirteen and in my friends house believe you me!
Yet I really cannot tell you how much Crash shaped me to who I am today….You guys made me a gamer….You guys made me who I am…You guys made a game that defined me for the ages…I would go the world and over to thank you for how much you inspired me and gaven me so many memories with friends, family, and overall everything.
Crash for me kicked Mario’s ass in the PS years and always did.
I just hope and pray someday I will get to see my good ol Coot by naughty dog again
And make a beautiful platforming game again
So the next time I go to Universal Studios.
I do not have to do the gem dance in Vain.
Crash will always live on for me as my favorite game in my vast thousand collection
Of Atari, PC, Xbox 360, Nintendo, MSX, and Gameboy games
I proudly say I love this game and I respect it everyday
I will never doubt in my mind that you guys really made something great.
Thanks for shaping the life of a good ol Overachieving Latino kid. Who knows what you will do next!
How could you remember all this stuff by simply having all these drinks? LOL.
My Crash memory is a bit unusual. In 1996 it was simply *impossible* to get any original games here in Brazil. Game market was really down and 98% of everything-game-related most likely would be pirated material. Things changed a lot on the past few years.
Around `97 my dad went to the US and brought me a Playstation and one game which was Crash Bandicoot. I owned a lot of games later, all of them, pirated copies* and Crash was the only original one in my whole collection. Strangly, the back of the CD was matte-black and I found it really amusing.
I don’t need to say how many hours I spend on this game… I think I bet it like 20 times, or more. Definitively, was the game I beat more times my whole life.
*No, I don’t buy pirate games for like 3-4 years, since the economy boom and we being able to buy games, specially recent releases on any kind of store. I own a lot of games and none of them is a burned copy, downloaded ISO or bought for R$ 10 on the “electronic fair”… Around the 90s and most 00s, only PC games you could get original copies, or you’d have to import from the US and add 80% taxes.
I grew up on sonic back in the old genesis days, and once I moved from Indianapolis to Cincinnati in 1998, I phased out of video gaming for a while. One night, one of my father’s nurses (my dad’s a doctor) brought her playstation over for me and my siblings while she was babysitting us. She popped in a game called crash bandicoot, and I was simply amazed! we played crash bash too.
Man, how many hours did I spend in my basement for the next several years? Too many to count. I would not stop until I had gotten 100% completion on every game. the music was enticing as well. I had my mom buy a tape recorder so I could record the ripper roo boss music in crash bandicoot 2. the storylines that wove through each game kept me going too. every time I died, I couldn’t help but laugh when crash was horribly mutilated with nothing but a “whoa”! Those were the days…
I enjoyed spyro and jak too, but it was never quite the same. Eventually I moved on to other games, but I will never forget crash. crash bandicoot is the sole reason why I was inspired to take up video gaming again, and has helped me evolve into the raging gamer I am today.
Andy, I wish you the best of luck in your future success, and thank you for the great memories I shared with friends and family. It’s been a wild ride with crash, and hopefully someday he can go back to his roots… Maybe he could be an Easter egg in an upcoming naughty dog game…
best,
BG
[…] Here’s the multi-part version of the story, as posted by Andy Gavin: 1. The ideas 2. Characters 3. The technology 4. Crash gameplay 5. Crates and other items 6. Attending the E3, premiere of the game 7. As a startup 8. An outsider’s perspective 9. The programming 10. Tools for the game 11. Teaching an old dog, new bits 12. A practical example 13. Russian fan interview 14. Old 20 questions 15. Memories […]
I want to cry, I cant believe what has become of our beloved Crash Bandicoot. Happy 15th Birthday mate.
The original Crash Bandicoot was one of the first games I played (before I had a console, and yes I know PC gaming exists) at the now sadly closed Yeovil branch of Brewster’s (a family restauraunt). When I got a PS2 for my sixth birthday in 2002, Warped was the first game I had on it. And I loved it. Since, then I’ve bought other Crash games, including post-ND ones which I thought were good, unlike some people who just whine without having even played the game. Even the Radical games, contrary to what people say are actually not bad, even if the redesigns were a little, well, radical (fittingly). Anyway, happy somewhat belated birthday Crash Bandicoot.
I’m a pretty avid gamer at the moment, and Crash Bandicoot was probably the game that started it all.
I often tell my parents that my childhood was scarred, because I never owned a nintento 64. My first console was a playstation 1 and with it “Crash Bandicoot”. I have no idea how old I was when I started playing it (maybe 5 or 6?), but I loved it. Both me and my sister were just obsessed with it. The levels were great, we always laughed at the sound the mask made whenever you got it (I think we reffered to it as something like “OOGA BOOGA”) – the whole game was just great. My fondest memory of the game was the first time I did a boss battle. I just remember trying over and over to get it, and loving every second of it. And my excitment whenever I got three masks was just insane. I don’t actually remember which Crash games I played, but I’m pretty sure it was the first two. I was too busy playing it too look at the covers – I doubt I ever actually took it out of the playstation.
Anyway, happy birthday to crash. And congratulations to all you people who made it. It seriously changed my life, and I now feel like I should grab my old playstation and play it again.
Crash Team Racing
BEST.GAME.EVER
Amen to that! Just bought it from the Playstation Store and I’m just as hooked now as I was 12 years ago! It’s amazing how well this game holds up! Even to this day, Mario Kart ain’t got nuthin’ on CTR!
I didn’t have a chance to get my own PS1 when I was little, because I lived in Poland and it was too expensive. I only had a NES. The first time I played Crash was on my friend’s party last year, I was drunk so the game seemed really cool to me. After a few days I borrowed the PS1 and a Crash Bandicoot 1 . It’s weird but I really liked this game, despite it was old I liked the graphics, the music, the levels. I keep on my mp3 player many tracks from this game and I listen to it sometimes. I once had a dream of me being in the ‘Up the Creek’ level It was my best dream EVER ! : D I’m 19 years old and I played hundreds of games, but Crash Bandicoot is on my TOP 10. THANK YOU ! ! !
This game is the most Epic Game Ever !
i love it !
You should Think about new Episode or sth ! 😀
I remember when I kept looking at issues of Gamesmaster for previews, reviews of Crash 2, and Crash 3, then Crash Team Racing, I always used to and when I can, play and complete each one. Ive moved back to my parents for now while I start to leave for University in a month, and I plugged in my original PSX and played Crash 3!
A trilogy of total classics, and there has to be some kind of new ‘fourth’ entry or at least a ‘Sonic Generations’ style game where Crash goes back to the best levels by way of time travel again 🙂
Having it on iPhone or iPad would be even better!
Bring it back to it’s glory!
Saturday, November 13, 1999.
I was three year and a half years old. It was my older brothers birthday. He was turning 6 years old. My house was packed. Family members everywhere. We were all in the basement running around and playing tag. Then we heard the call..
TIME FOR CAKE!!!!
My brother, all that kids that were there and I bolted up the stairs, and quickly sat down. The cake was put on the table. Once the singing was completed and the serving of the cake, my brother started to open his gifts.
There it was…. ” A PLAYSTATION?1? Whats that!?”
My cousin told me and my brother that we can play games on this. This was my first time ever seeing a video game system. There was also another gift inside the bag. Crash Bandicoot: Warped.
In a few minutes the Playstation was hooked up to the t.v. We watched the intro which is still engraved in my head as part of the best memories I have ever had in my life.
A GAME CREATED AND DEVELOPED BY…. NAUGHTYDOG!!!
We watched the intro and got to see all the characters that were going to be in the game. Then it was time to play. We walked into the first thing we could find.
Level 3…. I actually have footage of us playing this for the first time. We were running and jumping like crazy with Pura and Coco. We instantly fell in love.
A month later, for Christmas, my parents gave me Crash 2, and Crash 1. Great as well.
I didnt even know about CTR for a while until I saw it at my friends house. I later got that too.
Each year I would buy the new Crash Games, and because I was little I didn’t know that Naughty Dog stopped making the games. Around 2004 I realized this. I still bought the games and played them but I didnt have as much fun as I used to with the old games.
Happy birthday Crash. I still play the old games today, and hold every memory I can of the great times when I was a little kid.
Thank you sooo much Naughty Dog! 🙂
I remember dinners of cajun chicken salad on a pizza crust and big-ass rootbeers from Jerry’s Deli 3-4 times a week. I think my favorite times were the late night Doom/Quake LAN parties on our Silicon Graphics workstations when we were all in one room together on the Universal Studios backlot. There were our inter-office Looney Tunes B-Ball Jam sessions on the SNES as well as Rock ‘n Roll racing matches. The most memorable moment was the night we were all taken to the Foundation Room at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip by the bigwigs at Universal Interactive. I ate the Risotto for dinner, followed by bourbon and a cigar in the foundation room. In the limo on the way back to the office, I crawled over one of the execs to vomit out the rear window on the 101 freeway. Risotto!
-Taylor
Taylor, I had quite a few of those salads on a pizza crust during Crash 2’s production after you left…and Andy continued to order those big-ass root beers. BTW, I’m still bummed I didn’t join in time the team in time for the big New York trip.
That House of Blues night was a 2 barf evening. I think Gomi also lost it! Good times.
I remember being like 8 years old when my dad got me my first PS1 game and that was crash 2 i cant tell you how many countless hours i spent playing the ever loving hell out of that game ….its quite a shame what crash is now but you guys made him the shit back then.
My first menory of Crash was with the UK Playstation mag’s cover cd. Then back in the autumn of ’97 I bought and played the first game. And what a revelation it was. The offbeat humor, the character design & level design. The way it switched easily from pseudo-3D , running-into-the-screen type levels, to 2D, side-on levels and then running-into-the-screen chase sequences. All of the rendered beautifully and without hitch. Cartoony marsupial with a funny attitude was exactly what the Playstation needed back then and I still consider the first three games to be the finest trilogy of platformers to grace the consoles. When Naughty Dog stopped that series it shoyld have been retired. No one can do it but the original team. Nice work and congrats on those 15 years!
My fondest memory of Crash Bandicoot was when I was about 6 I think, and my dad and I were playing through Crash Bandicoot 2, (We played them all backwards because we got Crash 3 first.) and he got so ticked at some parts on some levels, the very next day he went to the book store and got a tips and tricks guide just for the little section it had on Crash 2. I still have that guide today, ol’ Codemaster X and his sunglasses and all that. That night we played through “Night Fight” over and over again to get the extra gem in the death route, and me and my dad weren’t happier to do it.
Mr. Gavin, if you somehow persuade somebody to make an HD collection of the three Crash Bandicoots, I’d think that would be the greatest thing in the world. Is it possible to make it a reality?
Crash Bandicoot was the first game I had owned (maybe even played, was five so you never know). I had first played it around my cousin’s house and almost instantly fell in love with it. I begged my mum for a Playstation and Crash Bandicoot for Christmas and sure enough I got it. I remember setting it up with my dad and we’d play through it together (he secretly loved it, never admitted it). I remember finding bits of scrap paper to write down the passwords (didn’t own a memory card at the time) and slowly but surely getting through the levels. Each subsequent Christmas after I got Crash 2, 3 + CTR which my mum would wrap up as a gift from our dogs, so I knew straight away what it was, making the last few days til Christmas very painful!
Since then I’ve owned almost every Crash game (besides a few of the handheld ones and Crash of the Titans/Mind Over Mutant). They don’t have the same high quality Naughty Dog puts out but some were still enjoyable. I also regularly go back and 100% Crash 1 + 2 (not 3 as much, not a fan of the time trials, but each to their own!). Like every Crash fan, I hope for a day Naughty Dog create a sequel/remake, despite the very low possibility.
Lastly I just want to say thank you for being part of a game which I hold as my personal favourite and one which has been a big chunk of my life.
Andrew
PS. Also a thanks for Jak & Daxter and Uncharted! Can’t wait for Uncharted 3!
crash bandicoot had great impact in my childhood, i have so many memories of those games i don’t even know how to resume it all in one comment and i only played the naughty dog era though.
CTR was one of the first games i got for PSone, and at the time i didn’t have a memory card yet, so i would like beat adventure mode, unlock all bosses, do all time trials, get all gems, i would collect everything just to turn off the video game and lose everything! then the next day i would like turn on the game, and do it all over again! i guess thats what you call addiction, heh?
naturally i got an memory card and spent entire days playing with my friends and sisters collecting everything possible. we always would make some crazy theories on how to unlock N.Oxide or N.Tropy.
i remember me and my friends doing crash’s stupid victory dance after we got each silver gem from the stages on cortex strikes back.
but the one i think is the dearest memory to me(and the funniest), is that i had this friend, and i would always sleep at his house, and at night he would put some games like resident evil 3 or silent hill, and those games always scared the living sh*t outta me. i begged and cried for him to play some crash , and the answer, always the same: “no, crash’s for little kids!”. some years later, when we were around 14 he confessed to me that he was scared sh*tless by RE3 and SH too, but he wanted to do like “badass kid pose” to our friend’s group!xDDD
PS: a big salute from brazil and thank you for all these great memories!^^
My memories of crash bandicoot has been one of the greatest moments of my childhood also the classic trillogy plus crash team racing on the playstation are my first games that I’ve 100% making it the first franchise that convinced me to 100% an entire game since, Super Metroid on the SNES.
Only the best of the best games make me go for 100% and crash is definately one of them.
My first impressions with, Crash bandicoot. I used to stay over my friends house to play Playstation/Megadrive/SNES/NES/Sega Saturn games also play football/soccer and mess around with toys (general kiddy stuff).
I laid my eyes on my first gameplay of Crash B 1 played by my friends parents who used to be game addicts to back in the day we all took turns in playing the game, when I finaly laid my hands on the old school non analog ps1 controler I loved the way crash, the characters, audio and backgrounds were design, the graphics are very colourful and interesting unlike todays games are generic tedious shooters. playing as crash was something out of this world we have never seen before this was during the early 3D days when Mario, Crash, Spyro are all the no.1 3D platformers out there and for good reasons to. Playing Crash B was alot more simpler as it didn’t require alot of exploration but the game was very difficult to complete even one stage on the later stages, let alone 100% the whole epic game and it felt soooooo good, the other two games expanded the wickedness of the first game with huger worlds to explore and more challenges especialy those “evil” time trials.
I was envious of my mates for having a ps1, so when I finaly got my first PSX with spyro the dragon, crash 2, resident evil and more I was so happy (same goes for when I got my N64 and DC).
I enjoyed all crash games up to the recent ones Crash of the titans and mind over mutant, even though its nothing like the previous crash games, I had alot of fun playing it taking time of other games for once also this was the first game I got my sibling brother to play coop with me and beaten them both 100% on coop it was alot of stupid fun and enjoyed every moment of it, after that me n my little brother started becoming both fans of coop games on hardcore, arcade hardcore and casual for all systems.
my family loved playing the crash ps1 games and watching me play them (my family isn’t that good with games) but what I’m trying to say is, crash not only defined a great part of my childhood and today keeps me entertained through my young adult years but also its one of the well made game series that made multiplayer fun, I enjoyed playing CTR, Twinsanity (taking turns) and mind over mutant multiplayer.
I would love to see a new crash bandicoot game but I do miss, Naughty Dog’s work on Crash and Jak n Dax franchises.
[…] Crash Bandicoot co-creator Andy Gavin shares some of his favourite memories in the run up to the launch of the first Crash game. He seemed to quite enjoy that period of time. (All Things Andy Gavin) […]
all of them
I remember having a pirated version of Crash 3 that didn’t work well. Then on my birthday I got a DVD case version and I may of played it while eating McDonalds breakfast hash brown and pancakes.
It all started in 1999-2000, when I was 5 or 6: one day, I went to my friend’s house and he was playing the first Crash Bandicoot on his PS1. Note that in Tuscany, where I live in Italy, the Nintendo 64, the Sega Saturn, the Gamecube and the Xbox weren’t as popular as the PS1 or the PS2, so, every time I went to my friends’s houses, there was only the PS1/PS2 to play and yes, major platform games like Super Mario 64 were very unknown (XD). So, when i went to my friend’s house, not only I saw for the first time the PS1, but also a Crash game too! I remember that he was playing The Great Gate level and then the Papu Papu’s boss and I still remember him saying this when he has got the Aku Aku’s mask: “Look out from that evil mask! If you get it, touch an enemy, so it will disappear!”. Yes, he didn’t the manual from the first game.
Then, in 2002, I went to my other friend’s house and guess what? He was playing with a Crash game too and this time the third one. So yes, every time I went to see my friends, there was only Crash Bandicoot!
Then, in 2003, when I was reading one of the 2900 Mickey Mouse’s official comics (Mickey was and still is VERY famous here in Italy), I saw a Crash Twinsanity’s poster…..so yes, after I saw that I said: “Fine, I’ll buy a PS2 with Crash Bandicoot!”. And so, in Christmast 2003, I’ve got a PS2 with Crash Bandicoot 2, my first videogame ever! And I REALLY had a lot of fun with it: the graphic was fantastic (I also thought it was the same of the PS2 games graphic), and the gameplay was incredible. Also, when I read the Nitro crate description on the manual, I thought: “Uhm…so, if I touch a Nitro crate, I’ll get an advice?”. Then I discovered it wasn’t true XD
After I played a lot with Crash 2, in 2004 I bought Crash 1 and Crash 3 and even with them I had a lot of fun. At the same time, I bought Crash Bash and, to finish the Crash games for PS1 with a fantastic title, I bought CTR! Crash Bash was a very good party game, but for some reasons I knew that Naughty Dog hasn’t made this game, but just like I said, it was a very good game, except it was very hard (probably the hardest Crash game of the series). CTR, instead, was a masterpiece: at firts, I thought that i wouldn’t have enjoyed it, but then I discovered I was wrong: it became in fact, my favourite kart racing game of all time (and yes, even better than Mario Kart Wii)! When I saw the credits, I thought that it was the last Crash game to be made, but when I went to a shop on Viareggio, I found a very good looking Crash game for PS2: Crash Twinsanity! So, I bought it and I’ve had a lot of fun with that game too, maybe even more fun that I had with the other games: in fact, I still consider Crash Twinsanity as the best Crash game off all time, but after that, there are Crash 3, CTR, Crash 1 and Crash 2.
Then i didn’t have the same fun that I had with the other Crash games mentioned before: I bought The Wrath of Cortex and I’ve some fun with this game, even if it was a sort of copy and past of Crash 3. Later, i bought Crash Tag Team Racing and I didn’t really like that game: it looked like a sort of Simpsons game, but with the Crash characters and the gameplay was a bit repetitive. With Crash of the Titans, instead, I’ve had some great memories: I didn’t listen to all of those fan on the web who hated the game just because the characters are different and so i tried it, LOVED it and had great moments, especially in multiplayer. However, with Crash Mind over Mutant and then Crash Nitro Kart, well, I’ve had the same feelings of CTTR: MoM was a terrible copy and past of both Twinsanity and CotT and even if the graphic, the characters were well done, the gameplay was boring, repetitive and VERY disappointing. CNK, instead, it was like CTR, but unlike TWoC, they didn’t change much and so, I found this game disappointing too.
In these years, I became an huge Crash fan: I still own the Japanese versions of Crash 1 and 2, all the PAL Crash games for PS1 and PS2 and’m still looking forward for a new Crash game and maybe, for a continuation of Crash Bandicoot 2010, which looks FANTASTIC. It’s a shame that Activision fired 98% of the Crash team at Radical Entertainment: they were going to the right direction to make an amazing Crash game T_T
When I play to Crash 1 for the first time…I’m very exciting! And…I fell into a ditch. 😀
But, 1st Crash Bandicot series was FANTASTIC!
Andy, you and Jason can buy Crash Bandicoot trademark? (I’m joking! :D)
I was 23 and had moved to the USA that spring to make pinball machines, one of the great times of my life. I’d seen PSX and Saturn the previous year in London – side by side running Ridge Racer and Daytona Racing – and been impressed with the fluidity and coherence of the PSX’s graphics.
So in the autumn of 1996 I treated myself to a PSX and began buying games. A coworker lent me the original Crash when we was away for Thanksgiving and I was hugely impressed with it. He was such an expressive character, with nimble movement and I enjoyed the game’s quirky humour. There were tantalising hints such as wireframe outline gems where obviously something would happen if only I knew what to do or what I needed to collect and it was made very apparent when I got to the hall of gems and saw that other path leading off to the right. The very last diamond I got was in the tower, where you ride the gem upwards and find yourself in the dark, spiraling around, then being able to dash off to see the 100% ending! I only ever played that first game through once but now I’m feeling the urge again and just bought a copy online!
I remember writing down codes to “save” the game at first, before I bought a memory card. I bet I have that old notebook somewhere with all the symbols…
I was 8 years old and I’d just gotten a brand new Playstation for Christmas PLUS Spyro and Crash Bandicoot 1. Hot dawg for 8 year old me! I’ve finished all of the original Crash series and I was sorry to see that Naughty Dog moved on. The world needs another CTR dammit! I’ll never forget the finnicky controls of Crash 1, 2 and 3, especially those occasions when I had to jump out onto a single invisible box in the middle of nothingness. Analog sticks are a luxury I tell you!
[…] Via: All Things Andy Gavin […]
The first time I got to experience the original Crash Bandicoot was at a birthday party for a friend’s younger brother back in 1997, being 10 years old at the time. Normally I’d hang with him upstairs playing on random SNES games since I didn’t have my own, but then the birthday boy came upstairs and started saying: “I got a PlayStation downstairs too! Try that bandicoot game I got, it’s fun!” and I was all confused when he brought it up.
But anyway, at one point I did go downstairs to see his PlayStation, and running inside was a copy of Crash 1. I thought when I saw the cover, “that was the game advertised by that strange mock news report about a tiki-mask-wearing bandit”, remembering the game’s heavily-marketed TV ad campaign. So I gave it a go; the 3D perspective felt really weird to me since I’m so used to a standard 2D plane, but I managed to give it a good go for the little time that I had.
And then came Christmas Day that year, where right in the middle of the room with the presents was this giant square box wrapped up. I had no idea what was in it other than randomly guessing a train set, so my then-7-year-old brother opened it up together, and right where we saw the logo, we both screamed “PLAYSTATION!!” at the top of our voices. We then ripped off the rest of the wrapping paper apart, and screamed when we saw it, both hugging each other as it happened (a rare time that we ever got happy at each other, bless). Then we thought “where are the games?” and then started scrambling through the wrapping paper to try and find it; I found Porsche Challenge near me though, while my brother found Crash 1 at the other end of the scraps. We both felt so happy we got our own PS1, and made sure to play the heck out of it!
Over the years since, my brother then collected the Crash sequels since he felt it was his solemn duty to keep up with the series, however by the time Crash Team Racing was about a month away from release, he felt it wasn’t going to be as good as the other games so he let me get it, and I’ve been obtaining the following games from the franchise either as gifts or with my own cash ever since. I do acknowledge that the Naughty Dog team really didn’t like the direction taken with a fair amount of the later instalments, but the fact remained that I still managed to enjoy them (even the recent Titans based titles from Radical Entertainment got my youngest cousin interested in the series too!) and I will continue to offer my support however I can.
And of course, it continues on with my passion as a hobby musician. Since 2004 I’ve been getting involved with remixing videogame music including a handful of tunes from the Crash franchise, and I have also done a lot to give the series some awareness around the remixing community over the years. As of now, I have done the series a huge service lately thanks to one of my Crash remixes, “Hogging Molly” (covering Hog Wild), successfully passing the judges’ panel over at OverClocked Remix and should be posted onto the site a few months from now. Even then I shall continue to provide some honor to the Crash series in some shape or form, so even if the series takes a long hiatus, there’s always going to be some avid fans keeping the name alive.
So I thank you and the rest of the Naughty Dog team for leaving a huge mark on my adolescence, and being a major inspiration in a huge number of ways =)
Also I’ve just realised I typed my web address wrong; this comment has the actual one, sorry!
Most of my young childhood (I’m only 12 now) was spent indoors playing Crash Bandicoot on my PS1. At least 2 or 3 hours most days was used playing Crash (at still kind of is!). I remember the first time I played Crash Bandicoot, It was at my uncle’s house at some party. Us kids (me and my cousins) had nothing to do, so my uncle brought out his playstation 1 and Crash 1. My older cousin, who was 9 I think, started playing. Now, I was only 3 (yep, 3), so didn’t really understand what it was exactly, but still had a go at it. I remember finding the noise that it made when Crash fell into a hole extremely hilarious. That began my love for video games, technology, and my fav video game and character, Crash Bandicoot!
What’s cool is, now my uncle has a son who is 7 and me and him both love Crash and play the games together! The games are still known to the younger generation!
My favourite game of all time is Crash 3: Warped, I’ve finished it 105%, and Crash 2, CTR, Bash and Crash 1 all follow as my top 5 games!
I couldn’t thank you more Andy and Naughty Dog for creating the best damn video games and character of all time – Thankyou, Thankyou, THANKYOU!!!! =D
you are very welcome!
This makes perfect sense to me…
Ahhhhhh Crash Bandicoot was my childhood~ And is my current obsession at the moment, as I’ve been getting a rush to dive back into my childhood. So I went on Amazon and bought every single Crash game made by naughty dog, and then some. I’ve been playing non-stop…
Ever since I was 7 when I got a playstation, Crash was truly the first game I loved and, the first CHARACTER I ever loved in my entire life, and that’s something I’ll never forget.
It kind of saddens me a bit when I think about how cool a re-make of the first would be, and the likelihood of that happening being pretty much 0%. But that’s okay, because as long as I have all of the previous games, I can re-play to my heart’s content.
Crash Bandicoot never gets old.
Even after 15 years, Crash is still alive to me. 🙂