Crash Bandicoot Reborn: Vicarious Visions Discusses Recreating A Legend

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy has been out for a couple of weeks now, and, despite some people slightly concerned with the difficulty of the games, it’s turned out to be a real hit for Activision.

To help celebrate the hero’s legacy, the publisher recently posted a new blog that talks about how much work the team put into recreating the games for a new generation to enjoy, ahead of its San Diego Comic-Con panel that’s happening later this week (where we’re likely to get some sort of announcement pertaining to downloadable content). We’ve broken it down into sections, so you can see just how much Vicarious Visions put into the game.

Crash’s Handling

First up, the team talked jumping, as some fans complained that the timing of Crash’s jumps were a little different from previous games. “Many fans have picked up on the fact that Crash’s jump isn’t quite the same as it was, particularly in the first game, Crash Bandicoot,” the team explained. “We carefully considered the choice to unify the design of these games, for example, how save and bonus rounds work, so that players could have a cohesive experience across all three games in the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.

“The reason for that is because we want the best experience for all players, and Crash’s handling falls into this category.  We spent a lot of time studying the three titles and chose the handling from Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped as our Trilogy’s starting point; it represented the most improved and modern approach as it gives players the most control.

“We went through rounds of internal testing, user testing, and iterations to get each game’s handling to just the right place. In the end, we ended up tuning jump differently for each game, so that the jump metrics are the same as the originals. However, there are a few subtle differences in Crash Bandicoot, chief among these being the fact that you fall more quickly upon release of the X button than you did in the original first game.”

Getting The Collision Right

From there, the team talked about collision and physics, and how hard it was to get the rhythm of that just right. “We’ve heard some questions about how Crash’s model interacts with platforms and enemies. Our game engine features a different collision system than the original game, and combined with the addition of physics, certain jumps require more precision than the originals. Much like the handling, we iterated on collision and physics throughout development to make it fair to all players and as faithful to the original games as possible,” they explained. From the feel of it, the game is about right on in this department.

The Right Level of Difficulty

And finally, the team addressed the difficulty of the game – which they feel they made just right. “The modernization of the save and checkpoint systems make the first game a heck of a lot more forgiving than the original. On top of that, we added DDA (the dynamic difficulty adjustment that was originally only present in the second and third games) to our Crash Bandicoot, which gives Crash Aku Aku masks and checkpoints after a certain number of failures in a level. This certainly helps when players need it the most!

“An increased precision is now required in the first game, which makes the gameplay experience different,” the team continued. “Particularly if you are a new player, you may want to start with the second and third games first, and then come back to try Crash Bandicoot after you’ve had more practice. For those of you who played the originals and acquired a fair amount of muscle memory, re-learning the handling in our game may present an additional challenge you weren’t expecting. But we’re sure you up to the task.

“We’ve heard from many, many fans who are getting through Crash Bandicoot and having a great time with it, and killing those top scores in the process. We’ve been very impressed with how skilled people have become so quickly! We’ve been following along with you every step of the way, and we’ve seen some seriously awesome runs online.”

We’ll learn more from the team later this week during its SDCC panel!

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is available now for PlayStation 4.