It’s been quite a few years since Andrew Gavin, Co-Founder of Naughty Dog, left Naughty Dog after helping to create franchises like Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. Even with all that time passing since his departure, he’s still got some thoughts on the characters he helped create, including Crash Bandicoot.
Speaking to OPM, Andrew was asked if he thought the Crash games could be revitalized:
Crash needs a total reboot. There’s an opportunity to reset the history, and go back to his creation story and the original conflict with Cortex. In that context, you could reprise classic Crash 1 and 2’s settings and villains. It would make sense to use a more modern, free-roaming style. I would concentrate on Looney Tunes-esque animation and really addictive action. That’s what we did with the original Crash, and there’s no reason it couldn’t be done today. Given the current Crash games, people forget that he was once cool. Our Crash had a certain whimsical edge to him. Sure, it was goofy – but it wasn’t dumb.
Taking that notion even further, Gavin went on to voice his opinion about Crash today, giving a great quote in the process:
I don’t pay much attention to recent Crash games. For me, he’s like the hot high-school girlfriend who put on 50 pounds. I just can’t look. His post-Naughty Dog games fall down not only in being too goofy, but in gameplay and balance. We tried very hard to make every level evenly paced, addictive and engaging. Crash was about being frantic, but at the same time relatively free of frustration – although some of the levels in the original were too hard.
Even though this is a little creepy if taken out of context, Sebastian wanted to include it, so we’ll tell you that he did go on to state, “I’m also really excited for The Last of Us, as apocalypses and teen girls who fight are two of my favorite things (in fiction).”
Do you think the Crash Bandicoot franchise can be revived? Can you name the last Crash Bandicoot game on a PlayStation system? Let us know in the comments below.
