By our reckoning, the three year Crash Bandicoot conversation is about to come to a conclusion, and this saga can end one of two ways: the iconic PSone protagonist has been broken out of his Activision penitentiary – or, well, he hasn't. Whichever side of the 90s baditude camp you currently reside, there's no question that the classic character has been given more attention than ever over the past few years. But is he really about to make a comeback on PlayStation 4? Here are 10 reasons to suggest that he may be on the brink of a re-reveal.
The secret signpost
Sony was playing the nostalgia card hard around the launch of the PS4, and this European television commercial emphasised that. The clip included dozens of references to old PlayStation brands, including PaRappa the Rapper and many more. But one secret that many overlooked was a signpost, which showed Crash's silhouette and an arrow pointing up towards the famous Sony Interactive Entertainment diamond. The first hint of many.
Spinning out of sight
A few weeks later, in late 2013 still, Crash Bandicoot was spin-kicked off Activision's website. It led to a swell of speculation suggesting that the rights to the 'Coot had changed hands, but Sony stood strong and said no. The character's still nowhere to be found on the publisher's website to this very day.
Keeping the door ajar
In mid-2014, following a no-show at E3 2014 earlier in the year, Andrew House assured fans that the company hasn't given up on Crash Bandicoot. He said: "We've started to say that maybe there isn't anything wrong with going back and looking at characters that people still talk about, that were a big part of either their childhood or their youth. I definitely wouldn't close the door on that."
The NeoGAF insider
Alright, alright – no one really believes NeoGAF insiders. But member BruceLeeRoy, who's successfully commented on plenty of PlayStation rumours in the past, thinks that Crash Bandicoot will be back at E3 2016. Take it as you will.
Have your cake and eat it
As part of the 20th Anniversary PlayStation celebrations in September 2015, PlayStation Europe marked the occasion with a specially commissioned cake. The lip-smacking slab of Victoria sponge was designed to resemble a stack of all of Sony's home consoles. Sitting on top with a cheeky grin? None other than Crash Bandicoot.
That f**king t-shirt
'Nuff said.
A toy maker thinks it's happening
At the New York Toy Fair earlier this year, NECA Toys' Randy Falk seemed to innocently confirm that Crash Bandicoot is making a comeback. He later backed away from the comments, with a company spokesperson making up some nonsense about a "faked fan image". Hmm. NECA Toys works with PlayStation on tons of licensed action figures, including franchises like God of War and LittleBigPlanet. Could the platform holder have contacted the toymaker about the possibility of a Crash Bandicoot toy line?
Most wanted
In February of this year, PlayStation Middle East published a wanted posted on social media. The caption: "Most wanted person… Where are you Crash?" PlayStation Latin America posted a similar thing, using touched up artwork of the character. A desperate attempt at getting retweets? Maybe. Or maybe not?
Cortex craziness
Lex Lang, the voice of Dr. Neo Cortex, posted on Facebook a few weeks ago that he's been asked to "resurrect" a "doctor" from a game gone by. He was later contacted by a Crash Bandicoot fan site, who sent him a wink. He simply liked the post. Lang's certainly played a lot of characters in his time – but not a whole lot of video game doctors.
Uncharted territory
Back in 2015, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End game director Bruce Straley said that it was impossible for the company to put Crash Bandicoot in Nathan Drake's final ever adventure. A year later… Those who've played the game will know that's not quite the case. Even more amazingly, there's no reference to Activision in the title's credits – despite Naughty Dog being forced to mention the company in its anniversary art book. What's changed?
These are the facts, but the question remains: is Crash Bandicoot about to make a comeback? Sony insists that it doesn't own the character, but surely there's too much smoke here? It's last chance saloon at E3 2016 next week. We'll be sipping Wumpa juice in anticipation.
Do you think Crash Bandicoot will make a comeback? (94 votes)
- Yes, it’s happening
- Meh, not sure
- Absolutely no chance
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Comments 41
Who knows? True what you said, but Sony confirmed on Twitter that Activision still has its rights. If so, it would be developed by any studio for any platform, but I'd love Naughty Dog to make a reboot (in that case it would be a PS exclusive). I played the original game when I was a kid at my cousin's place.
I think it's gonna happen, Crash will make an appearance at E3. So many hints, he just has to, right?
Would love this to be true but only if it's a Crash game back to its roots and not like the later crappy sequels..
But if there is no mention of crash making a comeback this E3 there are going to be alot of unhappy people.
It has to happen. The teasing has only become more blatant over time. Besides, if Sony wants to somehow top what they did last year at E3, showing a reveal trailer for a new Crash Bandicoot is an absolute must. If not at E3, then hopefully at PSX.
I believe there is a very strong possibility it's going to happen but not 100% sure. I was never a fan (Super Mario 64, ftw), so doesn't matter much to me either way, but I hope for fans it actually does happen. If it doesn't, it just makes the trolling scummy, quite frankly.
Can't wait for it to actually happen, then everyone who's been bleeting on about it suddenly realises that it's a trash character and trash franchise.
I'd rather Sony put their efforts into new IP instead of resurrecting something that wasn't actally that good the first time.
/Steps on rose tinted specs.
@Cron_13 The engagement that we get on anything Crash Bandicoot on this site suggests it's not a trash franchise.
Thing is, this has stopped both myself and now someone i know from working on spiritual successors, because hell, aint competing there, but this leads to another huge problem.
If Naughty Dog isn't doing it, because they believe they should focus on mature after doing too much kiddy stuff (Despite doing more mature than anything else at this point), then it goes to another developer. And we know how that worked.
@get2sammyb Please remember sony never owned Crash initially as well, it was Universal, who were then....well that happened. XD And it later moved to Acitivision because Activision buys everything and if it ant buy it, it shoves it's $ sign loaded wing wang down the throat of the opposition. :/
@BLPs Yep, you're quite right. Sony just licensed the original trilogy. The series is still massively associated with PlayStation, though, of course.
@get2sammyb Of course it's associated with PS. Thing is though, Sony pulled a Nintendo (Not investing more in Rare) by not buying the rights from Universal when they had the chance. Maybe the franchise and Spyro would have had better lives up to this point? It's hard to say, but Sony seems to hit home runs and seriously goof up, and that's probably their biggest goof, not buying what made them when they had a shot.
Still, if Sony does buy the rights, my breath aint held. Naughty Dog wont touch it with a mile pole because its not mature enough to give them hair on their chest and make them toast as their nuts drop to Pavarroti levels of bass, so who will? And then it means we might be in for more wild years, because most third parties cocked it up.
@BLPs
Plenty of studios out there who can make a good platformer, and like @Cron_13 commented, the originals weren't that great anyway. This could be a chance for an entirely fresh start.
@Gamer83 It could be a chance for a fresh start, as I agree, the originals had problems (The first one especially so I hate that crap), but the last time the series had a fresh start....lets not talk about that one.
Plus if a good studio picks it up, I'll be happy. I just want ND to remove their heads from their arses and look back at what made them a name, rather than saying "Colour? Lol"
Trash it certainly ain't, Crash 1 is one of my favourite platformers. Yeah, I'd be glad to have some new Crash.
@BLPs
I actually ND's newer games better than the stuff it released years ago so I'll have to disagree there. I say stick to what you do well, and the current team at ND could not do cutesy platformers well, it would also be a massive waste of story telling talent. As far as dev teams that have worked with Sony who should take over Crash there's two that come to mind the first being Sucker Punch, assuming Spider-Man is not an IP its working on, or Insomniac. There would b some great irony in the latter picking up the Crash franchise but it would be a great choice.
@Gamer83 Really? I'm just a bit annoyed with the current ND attitude. Strikes me as a bit ungrateful for what got em high up in the first place
And Insomniac doing it wouldn't be ironic, it's fitting since they worked in the same office under the same company and shared techniques.
The only difference is insomniac didn't drop their PS2 franchise like a hot rock and did more mature stuff alongside it.
@get2sammyb that good old bandwagon...
Waste of resources IMO, but each to their own, let's hope it's good if they do it.
@Cron_13
No more a waste than Vita or VR. At least this game has a chance in the right hands.
@Gamer83 as opposed to....?
@BLPs If you've played Uncharted 4 then you would know that ND are still very respectful of it's roots. But the team that worked on Crash is a lot different to now and it's what the Kinda Funny guys were debating the other week about whether if ND going back to Jak or Crash would be a complete waste of their resources now.
It may be happening because Uncharted 4 showed Naughty has literally ran out of anything new they can do with the Uncharted franchise.
If they can't come up wth something new beyond that, why not jump on the redux/remaster band wagon and spit shine a retro classic???
@Gamer83 PSVR will be an utter flop and away from shop shelves within 12 months.
The ONLY VR that will have any legs are the oculus goggles sat next to the 20-60 year old guys PC who has an active sub to sites like NaughtyAmericaVR.
VR has no mainstream, mass market viability in gaming. FPS & FPSMMORPG yes, but that is way smaller than even a niche market in the gaming industry. It is not worth the £350+ additional investment to your £400 console AND the ridiculous setup you have to do to get it to work. Your nice sleek tidy PS4 is going to look like its hooked up on life support as soon as you plus in your PSVR.
Dead duck comes to mind.
To me it isn't a matter of it returning, but who is developing it.
I don't think you'll see Crash anytime soon unless both Sony & Activision have got together to make it happen, which is very unlikely.
Gosh I hope so.
I was playing in Uncharted 4 and kept wanting to reload my save to play again 😆
@Grawlog I agree. I remember when I was a kid I was such a Nintendo fanboy telling everybody to buy Nintendo consoles and support Mario games (like some people in their thirties still do), but then I realised that Rare games were actually better. I can't deny Nintendo was leading the way with Super Mario 64, but then Rare made something artistically much better and with a funny script: Banjo-Kazooie. It's a masterpiece and plays great on Xbox One.
This is very convincing. I know I'm going to mad at you for hyping me up if it isn't happening, @get2sammyb!
I want it to happen just to see if you can get over that shirt.
I always wondered why Spyro was in Skylanders but not Crash.
Anyway I dont see ND going back to it or a dev that can make it justice except Imsoniac or even Playtonic.
Were Crash to make a comeback, I'm not sure I'd want ND working on it. The team who made the Crash games have long since moved on, bar maybe one or two people, and given the track record of some of them (Jason Rubin, for example, worked on the abysmal Sonic Boom game for Wii U); I'd argue that it was a "right people, right place, right time" situation Sony couldn't possibly repeat.
I mean, I'm sure a modern Crash Bandicoot reboot could be a good game - Sanzaru have proven themselves capable of doing another company's franchise justice with Sly 4; and I'm sure people with more knowledge about this sort of thing could name other developers they'd trust to make a decent platformer. Probably Traveler's Tales if they weren't stuck in the salt mines making LEGO games for the rest of eternity... they worked on Twinsanity, which was probably the last good crash game, arguably the only good post-ND one, too.
Im crossing my fingers !!
Ted Price would never allow Insomniac to work on someone else's IP. If it's happening, Sanzaru would be my first pick.
i reckon some of the Naughty Dog staff should team up together with a lot amazing gaming development staff. Because it should be handled with the best staff. but thats my 2 cents
i reckon some of the Naughty Dog staff should team up together with a lot amazing gaming development staff. Because it should be handled with the best staff. but thats my 2 cents
I wan to play it, and I want ND to make it. Re-Make the first 3 games the way R&C was re-made
EDIT: Or maybe even better, if Treasure made it!!
I'm going to make a bold move and say Crash Bandicoot will make an appearance at Sony's E3. There have been far too many hints pointing at it over the past few years and the fans obviously want it.
Now, a lot of people are saying that because Activision still owns the rights to the franchise, it makes it very unlikely. However, I'd say it's the opposite. Activision has been very close with Sony ever since the release of the PS4. Call of Duty is pretty much at home with Sony's console now instead of the XBOX One.
Going off of that, I'd say Activision could be rebooting the franchise for the exclusively for the PS4. Or, perhaps, Naughty Dog will reveal that their next game will be another true Crash Bandicoot like the originals and they will buy the rights around then or shortly after. Or they it could be a dual effort between the two developers... so many possibilities.
All this speculation on my part and we're not even sure this game exists!
I wonder what kind of game it's going to be if Crash Bandicoot is revived?
I cannot justify a full release in original gameplay format in today's industry...
But if it's a downloadable small title, I doubt it worth all the hype....
Yeah, I reckon it's pretty inevitable, expecting as one of the big reveals at this year's E3. The challenge is staying relevant, so if it does happen it'll be interesting to see how it compares with Yooka Laylee and Ratchet & Clank.
@whywai88 It can be just like Ratchet & Clank, a full release at a slightly cheaper price.
If I was handed the franchise I'd probably develop a Crash-maker game where people could make their own old-school Crash courses (running either into or out of the screen) with just the pick of the original trilogy's best levels included as a campaign.
After Uncharted 4 it has to happen.
I'd like to see a new Crash Bandicoot platform adventure game, and I'd also like to see a new Spyro (not the horrid Legend Of Spyro series or Skylanders) and also a new Jak and Daxter, Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg, Super Monkey Ball and possibly a remake or sequel to Vexx! It would be nice to see more platform adventure titles make a comeback...Ty, Tak, Kao, James Pond, Spyro, Crash, Vexx, Billy Hatcher, Aero The Acrobat, Chuck Rock, Whiplash, Jak And Daxter, Sly Cooper and so many more. I think with more child-friendly platform titles on the PS4...it could cream the console generations all together (possibly hurt nintendo some more...which I really don't want), but definitely give Nintendo and Microsoft a run for their money...granted, before the hate starts coming to me, I love nintendo and will buy their next console, but I wish some of the other companies would bring more love to the genre. Sega made a ton of great ones!
@Morrowbie I don't see it with Crash, but with the popularity of Super Mario Maker, I can definitely see other companies try to make a game like it for their consoles...give it time, Sony tried with others...hint...Playstation All Stars Battle Royale (Smash Bros)...Sports Champions (Wii Sports)...MOVE (Nintendo Wii)...just give it some time!!!! I'm still awaiting Amiibo-type figures from the Sony Universe to arrive!!!!
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