Crash Bandicoot/YMMV: Difference between revisions
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* [[Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back/YMMV|Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back]]
* [[Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped/YMMV|Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped]]
* [[Crash Team Racing/YMMV|Crash Team Racing]]
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* [[Badass Decay]]:
** Crunch started out as a gruff, musclebound bandicoot with a cybernetic arm who sports army pants and boots. He went from being Crash's defiant [[Evil Counterpart]] (despite being {{spoiler|mind controlled by Cortex}} the ''entire'' game) who can change into powerful [[Rule of Cool|elemental forms]] in his debut in ''The Wrath of Cortex''... to being an annoying, [[Dumb Muscle]] Mr. T knockoff (
** Arguably Coco as well, while her intelligence made her arguably more [[The Hero]] than [[Idiot Hero|Crash]] in
** Let's not forget Tiny Tiger. Tiny started out as an angry, roaring monster who talked in [[Hulk Speak]]. As time went on, they started showing off his [[Dumb Muscle|stupidity]] more for comical moments, such as in ''Crash Nitro Kart''. And then in ''Crash of the Titans'', he somehow transformed into a Bengal Tiger from a Tasmanian Tiger, got his intelligence upped, and began acting like a campy Mike Tyson knock-off who idolizes Crash, and only attacks him because he's hired to do so.
* [[Broken Base]]: The fandom. Oh, dear God, the fandom. There are the fans who refuse to acknowledge any of the games ''not'' made by Naughty Dog and ''hate'' the later games, the fans who embrace the series as a whole, and those who only like the newer games and constantly hate on the Naughty Dog games.
* [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch]]: The series receives this treatment a lot. Ever since Naughty Dog quit developing the games, people all over the internet have been saying "[[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|LOL CRASH SUX NAO!]]", but most of those people haven't actually played any post-[[PS 1]] era ''Crash'' games and are just complaining because the new games look different from the originals.
** Although it doesn't seem to suffer nearly as much from this as [[Spyro the Dragon|certain]] [[Banjo-Kazooie|other]] [[Tomb Raider|3D platformer]] [[Sonic the Hedgehog|franchises]]... especially among people who considered the original games average in the first place, and thus have lower expectations.
* [[Contested Sequel]]: As noted in [[Broken Base]] above, pretty much every post-[[Naughty Dog]] ''Crash'' game is this ''at best''. Now possibly averted with the ''N. Sane Trilogy'' being a faithful remake and the two DLC levels "Stormy Ascent" (where the Bonus Round was created entirely by Activision/Vicarious Visions) and "Future Tense" being seen as a good show of later possibilities.
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* [[Crowning Music of Awesome]]: ''Crash Twinsanity'' deserves special mention, as the entire soundtrack was done ''a capella''.
** [[But Wait! There's More!]]... Josh Mancell has outdone himself more than once, but what may be his greatest [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] is when he composed "more-videogame-like" (as they had to be) tracks for the Japanese version of the first game ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTi5nBxjgQ these]) ''within'' '''''ONE''''' ''effin' day!''
** I personally believe no Crash song can top [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsvHQCTgHvg this
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ig-Hd8tczU&feature=related This can
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thr1xb9bv8g The ''Crash 2'' Tiny boss music would certainly apply]. Maybe we shouldn't provide examples for this trope and just say "yes".
* [[Demonic Spiders]]: Bats showed up in later levels of the original ''Crash Bandicoot'' game in one of those really tricky, walls coming-in-and-out and floor-disappearing at random moments, side scrolling levels. Fortunately, these enemies were pretty much limited to the game's [[Scrappy Level]]s.
** Sludges in ''Crash of the Titans''. They are fast, do tons of damage, and do a near-impossible to avoid counterattack nearly every time you hit them, and they usually come in groups.
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* [[Die for Our Ship]]: The moment Pasadena made a cutesy comment at Crash in ''Crash Tag Team Racing'', all hellfire was unleashed in the fandom. [[Brother Chuck|Tawna]] finally reappearing the following game after (officially stated to have a fondness for Pinstripe) didn't help.
* [[Discredited Meme]]: In ''Crash: Mind Over Mutant'', Cortex chastizes his minions for forcing "i can haz cheezburger", calling it a stupid meme. Guess he's not fond of [[LOLcats]].
* [[Ear Worm]]:
**
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxsu3ytYark The Warp Room theme] from ''Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped''.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw6K3pl5J_k The theme that plays in the Bandicoots' backyard] from ''Crash: Mind
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDHFxoibRv0 The main theme] from ''Crash Twinsanity''. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-dooooo...
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rto_8QKslJ0 The Happily Ever Faster theme] from ''Crash Tag Team Racing''. Na na, nanana na naaaah...
* [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]:
** Dingodile is considerably popular thanks to his intro, design, accent and being one of the few of Cortex's mooks who's not (as much of) an idiot.
** Crunch Bandicoot is very popular, despite having no major role in the games since ''The Wrath of Cortex''. The only reason he's even in ''Crash Twinsanity'' is because the fans begged for him to be put in.
** Cortex is also very popular, and was also due to get his own game, ''Cortex Chaos'', also featuring other villains from the series, but it currently seems to have been [[Development Hell|put on hold]] or even canceled altogether. Shame...
** Most of the other villains are also incredibly popular, especially Brio, N. Gin and Tropy.
* [[Even Better Sequel]]: Pretty much everyone agrees that ''[[Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back]]'' and ''[[Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped]]'' are much better designed and more enjoyable games than the original game. Some might go so far as to say that ''[[Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped]]'' is better than ''[[Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back]]''. Certainly, the critics thought so.
* [[Fandom Berserk Button]]: Calling the wumpa fruits "apples" or "peaches" is the bane of any Crash fan's existence. Except Japanese ones, as in Japan, they are officially called "apples".
* [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|Japan Loves Crash Bandicoot]] (And ''how''.)▼
* [[Friendly Fandoms]]: With ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'' understandably. There's a friendly rivalry at worst.
* [[
* [[Iron Woobie]]: Crash is a cheerful little nut considering all he puts up with throughout the series. Where do we begin? Mutated torturously by Cortex and then branded a failure and kicked out, went through hell to rescue Tawna in the first game (who abiding by official bios, coldly dumped him for Pinstripe, ironically one of Cortex's loyal minions shortly after). Led on a wild goose chase by Cortex in the second game, victim to endless revenge schemes afterwards, often with his beloved baby sister as a pawn, and often put in the middle of any conquests by other evil doers in-between. All with a ton of cruel and unusual cartoon slapstick abuse throughout.
* [[Jumping the Shark]]: Everything after ''CTR''.▼
* [[Jerkass Woobie]]: Nina Cortex. Especially in ''Crash: Mind Over Mutant''.
* [[Mis Blamed]]: It is often thought that the mediocre reception of ''Crash: Mind Over Mutant'' caused Radical to kill the franchise. However, Radical was already working on not one, but ''two'' ''Crash'' games up to 2010. Not long after Radical was bought out by Activision, Activision laid off the entire team behind the upcoming games, cancelling their production.
* [[Moral Event Horizon]]: In the fourth game, Cortex decides that instead of just killing Crash, he'll wipe him out of existence entirely. It's pretty small potatoes as to what the two N. Tropys had in mind though.
* [[Narm]]: Most of ''The Wrath Of Cortex'''s cutscenes, especially the ending. Crunch tries his best to be dark and brooding, but it just doesn't work out in a ''Crash'' game. Later titles got the point and made him [[Denser and Wackier]].
* [[Not So Crazy Anymore]]: In ''Cortex Strikes Back'', when Crash confronts Ripper Roo, he's calmly reading a book, and seems to attack Crash only out of annoyance for disturbing his reading. He starts acting insane and laughing maniacally again once he gets hit by an explosion.
* [[Only the Creator Does It Right]]: The Naughty Dog games are considered the best entries in the series, while the post-Naughty Dog games tend to be loved or hated to various degrees. The two exceptions would be ''Crash Bash'' and ''Crash Twinsanity'', though even those have reasons for being so beloved: ''Crash Bash'' was the first game not made by Naughty Dog, and is designed to be played by up to four people; ''Crash Twinsanity'' was made by a developer who imitated Naughty Dog's games in spirit if not in formula.
* [[The Scrappy]] (Rilla Roo in ''Crash Bash'')▼
* [[Rescued from the Scrappy Heap]]: Though Coco wasn't void of fans early on, she tended to get slammed by critics and fans of the games for her playable appearances, due to her weaker gameplay mechanics and the fact she was probably the least cartoony and expressive of the entire cast, making her considerably less fun to play as than Crash. Starting with ''Crash: Mind Over Mutant'', Coco was made a full alternate skin selectable from Crash and more effort was put into her animations and personality. It says something that not only did Vicarious Visions push hard to make Coco fully playable for ''N. Sane Trilogy'', but the fan base went ecstatic over the announcement.
** [[Non Sequitur Scene|... who was never mentioned again, at that.]]▼
* [[The Scrappy]]: Tiny in the Radical games is probably the best example the series has. Instead of being a hilarious [[Dumb Muscle]] with a loyalty to Cortex with a memorable tasmanian tiger design, Tiny was subjected to the heaviest redesign of any character, being a bengal tiger instead and losing practically all of his old character traits in favor of being a Mike Tyson patische. He was widely derided for not only not even being the same character but being very unmemorable in general relative to his old self. Not even the biggest Radical fans will ever defend him, and many tend to use him as one of the first examples of that era's characterization problems.
*** Perhaps more a [[Base Breaker]], as some consider him a [[One-Scene Wonder]].▼
* [[Scrappy Mechanic]]: While Coco herself is a fairly popular character with fans, her playable appearances (which mostly play as a weaker variant of Crash) tend to be rather underwelming. Fixed somewhat in ''Mind Over Mutant'' even if you have to activate (and/or deactivate) the game's co-op mode to play as her, and playing the story makes a lot less sense.▼
▲*** [[Non Sequitur Scene|... who was never mentioned again, at that.]]
** A fair few of ''Wrath Of Cortex's'' vehicles gain similar critism, particularly the mech. Clunky, hard to manuever and easy to get hit as, it likely would have been easier and more fun to play the majority of the game as Crash himself.▼
▲**** Perhaps more a [[Base Breaker]], as some consider him a [[One-Scene Wonder]].
* [[Shipping]] (Crash*Pasadena. [[Ensemble Darkhorse|It does seem to make a large part of the character's fanbase]]).▼
▲* [[Scrappy Mechanic]]: While Coco herself is a fairly popular character with fans, her playable appearances (which mostly play as a weaker variant of Crash) tend to be rather underwelming. Fixed somewhat in ''Crash: Mind Over Mutant'' even if you have to activate (and/or deactivate) the game's co-op mode to play as her, and playing the story makes a lot less sense.
* [[That One Boss]] (Wa-Wa the Water Elemental in ''Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex'', Doctor Nefarious Tropy in ''Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced'', Doctor Neo Cortex in ''Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped'', Madame Amberly in ''Crash Twinsanity'', Uka Uka in ''Crash of the Titans''.)▼
▲** A fair few of ''The Wrath Of Cortex'
▲* [[Shipping]]:
▲* [[That One Boss]]:
** No, not Madame Amberly. That One Boss for ''Crash Twinsanity'' would be Dingodile. God knows I've seen enough complaints about it...
** All the bosses from the [[Nintendo Hard|first game]] may count, but [[Best Boss Ever|when you understand when it works...]] Ripper Roo may be the only exception. [[Sequel Difficulty Spike|gets better in the sequel though]].
* [[That One Level]]:
*
** Tomb levels in ''Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped''.
*** Both
* [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]] (The general opinion of the Crash games after ''Crash Team Racing'', although the newer games are gradually getting better reviews.)▼
*** Also, to get the crate gem in "Tomb Time", you had to backtrack. We all know how fun that is. The same goes for "Diggin' It" (and possibly "Piston it Away") from ''Crash Bandicoot 2''. In fact, most levels that feature backtracking can be [[That One Level]].
** Each of the racing games have theirs:
** Ironic for ''The Wrath Of Cortex'', which [[What Could Have Been|was originally to be a more innovative free roaming platformer]] before remaking it in fear of the changes not recieving well.▼
*** ''Crash Team Racing'' has Papu's Pyramid, N. Gin Labs and Hot Air Skyway (although that is made easier with the shortcut).
*** ''Crash Nitro Kart'' has Clockwork Wumpa and Hyper Spaceway, with an honorable mention to Thunder Struck.
*** ''Crash Tag Team Racing'' has Rings of Uranus, Uranus Mines... in fact, all of Astro Land is irritating. Particularly Rings of Uranus, where the time trial crystal almost requires tool-assist.
▲* [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]]:
* [[They Copied It, So It Sucks]]:
** ''Crash Bash'' and ''Crash Boom Bang!'' are considered to be bad ''Mario Party'' clones by many.
▲** ''Crash Nitro Kart'' and ''Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex'' are often seen as watered-down [[PlayStation]] 2 versions of ''Crash Team Racing'' and ''Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped'' respectively. Ironic for ''The Wrath
* [[They Just Didn't Care]]: The plot of ''Crash Tag Team Racing'' is very much this. Aside from making little sense by itself, the plotline has practically nothing to do with ''Crash'' aside from having several returning characters in it . The plot also ignores some things previously established in the series by having several [[Talking Animal]] characters running around for no reason whereas all the animal characters in the series are supposed to have been experimented upon and mutated by Cortex and other scientists. Oddly, the game seems to inspire less [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]] complaints than Radical's later games, ''Crash of the Titans'' and ''Crash: Mind over Mutant'', which are in every way much more faithful to the series.
** This is arguably owed to the Radical games following a [[Rule of Funny]] depiction much more than the earlier titles. ''Crash of the Titans'' is slightly more story-centric though ''Crash: Mind Over Mutant'' takes the random comedy [[Up to Eleven]]. All three games have met critism for such changes however, especially concerning the redesigns of the cast.
* [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character]]:
** Crunch Bandicoot seemed all set to be a cool powerhouse for the bandicoots following ''The Wrath of Cortex''. However, his appearances in most games after were minor, playable only in racing and party games (and the Atlasphere stages in ''N. Tranced'') which play identically for every character. In the ''Titans'' games, he exists as little more than a gag character and is pretty easy to forget he even appeared.
** The series was notorious for utilising several popular characters that never got used outside one or two usually minor appearances. Even within the first game, Tawna, Pinstripe and Koala Kong practically disappeared afterwards, never getting real development.
* [[Villain Decay]] - It seems to get worse each new game...
** Dr. Neo Cortex in today's games is nowhere near as malicious and sinister as his Naughty Dog depictions were. He and most of the other Doctors (notably N.Gin) are also a ''lot'' less intelligent and a lot more comical for a bunch of [[Mad Scientist|mad scientists]] now.
*** Played with in ''Mind Over Mutant''. He's just as campy and deranged as ever, if not ''more so'', but in terms of role, he takes revenge on his trecherous niece, overthrows and humilates his abusive boss and pulls an effective [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]] moment one on one fight with Crash, not to mention, lack of pants aside, makes a clean escape, avoiding his usual end of game [[Humiliation Conga]].
** Uka-Uka went from being a [[Manipulative Bastard]] to being a [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] between ''Warped'' and ''Wrath of Cortex''.
* [[Visual Effects of Awesome]]: The original trilogy had impressive animation considering the relatively low tech.
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