Crash & Spyro

[Johnny Boy]

As we all know, Sly Cooper is making a grand return to the Ps3, many years after his last adventure on the ps2. But that leaves me with one question, will Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon make comebacks as well?

Crash entertained millions of kids with his games on the Ps1, but the quality of his games decreased after naughty dog stopped developing the games. His last game was the crappy mind over mutant and he hasn't been heard from since.

Spyro got his start on the ps1 as well and boy did kids across the world have fun defeating foes with all of Spyro's different kinds of Breath. But like Crash, Spyro would also suffer a decrease in game quality. After Isomniac stopped developing the games, Spyro would come out with some lackluster games such as Enter the Dragonfly, Hero's TaIl, and Shadow Legacy. It was after this that Universal would decide to reboot the franchise with the legend of Spyro series. After three games, Spyro hasn't been heard from in a couple of years.

So since Sly is coming back do you think The bandicoot and The Dragon will return? Discuss.

[Chooch]

I'm gonna be honest here and say the decrease in quality that Crash suffered isn't even comparable to the one that Spyro suffered.

Crash Twinsanity was honestly great in my eyes and so was Crash Nitro Kart. The mutant Crash games aren't that bad either. I just wish they'd go back to a more traditional gameplay style and maybe make the cast less hideous.

The Spyro games.. Hahaha, do I really even have to say?

Edited June 16, 2011 by Chooch

[Johnny Boy]

Yeah I liked Twinsanity and Wrath of Cortex. And the racing games never lost their charm IMO. As for spyro the only game out of the Legend trilogy I can honestly say I liked was Dawn of The Dragon

[Candescence]

Spyro was actually RECOVERING before Activision fucked everything up. The Legend of Spyro games were getting better with each installment, and I certainly found them enjoyable in their own right. Problem is, rather than utilizing the universe that had already been created to make more stories, Activision decided to reboot the series AGAIN with what could effectively be called a Dolled Up Installment. Really, do NOT get me started on that cash-in abomination that is Skylands.

Edited June 16, 2011 by Masaru Daimon

[T-Min]

Spyro is actually getting a new game later this year called Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, but it's not going to be a straight up action-platformer like the other games in the series from what I've heard. Can't be too sure about Crash, though. A bit unfortunate, really. I have a lot of fondness and nostalgia for both PS1 mascots, but I swore off Crash Bandicoot after the horrendous Crash of the Titans, and even as a kid I didn't care too much for Enter the Dragonfly. I think that if they intend for both mascots to make a return to form, it would be Universal's best bet to have a well-respected developer make a game or two. (But granted, judging from memory Wrath of Cortex and Twinsanity weren't half-bad, and I haven't played any Spyro games beyond Enter the Dragonfly, so I can't really make an assessment of that franchise. Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing Twinsanity's more open style reappear in a Crash game.)

EDIT:

Just saw a screen shot for skylands. My god spyro looks ugly...

Iknorite? If I were still a fan, I'd be TICKED. I can almost see why the retro Sonic fans are so angry over Sonic's current design. Almost.

Edited June 16, 2011 by T-Man

[Johnny Boy]

Just saw a screen shot for skylands. My god spyro looks ugly...

[Blue Wisp]

Teehee. I love that meme.

Anyway. Spyro NEEDS his way back to glory and Crash needs a new game. Fuck Skylanders.

[sonfan1984]

Iknorite? If I were still a fan, I'd be TICKED. I can almost see why the retro Sonic fans are so angry over Sonic's current design. Almost.

Edited June 16, 2011 by sonfan1984

[Flint]

There's generally a horrible lack of mascot platformers in the current generation consoles. Here's hoping Sly will kickstart the trend again but if the brilliant Ratchet & Clank games haven't been able to do it, I doubt anything can.

[Patticus]

Spyro was, by and large, only really great in his early games because of the team(s?) Insomniac Games had working on the games. But even with Insomniac at the helm, the series started to deteriorate after the second game. It was quite noticeable. Frankly, Spyro should not have made it out of the PS1 alive. Since Universal revoked Insomniac's rights to make the games, the series has turned from being in a gradual but noticeable decline to falling into an abyss of shit.

Perhaps, if Sly 4 is good, the devs working on that should be given a shot at reviving the poor dragon. This assumes that Skylanders isn't a good game; for all we know it could be a shockingly good experience. Anyone got any previews from E3 '11 to indicate whether or not this may be the case?

[Scott]

My girlfriends a fan of the spyro games, and even she's ticked off at Spyro's new design, when I showed her

I'll call him Oryps, Spyro's ugly....evil twin!

Those visuals and that design are both piss poor....

Edited June 16, 2011 by Scott

[Candescence]

Spyro was, by and large, only really great in his early games because of the team(s?) Insomniac Games had working on the games. But even with Insomniac at the helm, the series started to deteriorate after the second game.

It got worse? Granted, I'm not actually surprised, since I thought the very first game was a boring, uninspired (with terrible humour, I might add) 3D platformer that was one of the failed attempts at making a good Mario 64 clone, but still...

For the record, I TRIED to like the first game, but then came the bratty, unlikable Spyro, cringe-worthy attempts at humour, uninspired and unbelievably generic art direction, and then there was the boring and pathetically easy collect-a-thon gameplay.

Since Universal revoked Insomniac's rights to make the games

Actually, Insomniac deliberately stopped making Spyro games on their own... And it speaks volumes when their excuse was "we can't do anything more with him because he doesn't have arms" when Jet Force Gemini (which came out before Spyro 3) already solved the problem with ease in the case of a dog.

the series has turned from being in a gradual but noticeable decline to falling into an abyss of shit.

Your mileage may vary. Sure, the Legend of Spyro games weren't amazing, but they were a whole lot more enjoyable than the very first Spyro game, IMO.

This assumes that Skylanders isn't a good game; for all we know it could be a shockingly good experience.

Star Fox Adventures was a good game, but it's still the black sheep of the franchise for a reason. The only thing Spyro-related that Skylanders has is Spyro himself. Not even Sparx, who has been with 'em since the very first game without fail, hasn't turned up - if the devs actually gave a shit about Spyro, they would've included him, no question. Skylanders is just a new IP with Spyro thrown in for brand recognition, nothing more.

Edited June 16, 2011 by Masaru Daimon

[Tatsumaki]

Iknorite? If I were still a fan, I'd be TICKED. I can almost see why the retro Sonic fans are so angry over Sonic's current design. Almost.

Edited June 16, 2011 by Tatsumaki

[Flint]

Well dude, PS2 had three platformers that were epic at the time:

1)Sly Cooper.

2)Ratchet & Clank.

3)Jak and Daxter.

That's a lot of competition.

Edited June 16, 2011 by Flint

[Chooch]

I don't understand everyone's issue with Bentley and Murray being playable in the later games. It's like I'm the only person on this forum who liked them. I fucking loved playing as both of them and it added to the games considerably. They were even better in Sly 3 because they were more fleshed out.

Jak and Daxter I honestly feel like is the least impressive of three main PS2 platform series. The first one was enjoyable, but it was piss easy and way too short. Then Jak II comes along, brings on Dark Jak and all these particularly boring design choices made in order for the series to be more 'edgy and cool' and I just couldn't really be bothered with it. Ratchet and Clank weapons also kick the shit out of Jak weapons, so that was kind of a lost cause adding weapons from the get go.

My favorite game in the Jak series is actually Daxter for PSP which wasn't even made by Naughty Dog. Go figure.

[Kuzu]

While I felt no particular attachment to Spyro(Only playing the Demo off CTR), Crash was one of the best games when I was younger, I never played the first one, but I started on the second and was hooked, I was a Crash fan long before I became a fan of Sonic. I don't know something about Crash just seemed awesome to me, though I'll say that compated to most of Spyro's modern outings, Crash's haven't been so bad, I enjoyed Wrath of Cortex(Even if it was a carbon copy of Warped), and I've heard and seen good things about Twinsanity, hell Crash of the Titans, and Mind over Mutant don't look that bad.

I always thought Crash would thrive long after jumping to the 6th Generation, but damn did the series take a nose dive, I mean people say Sonic sucks, at least he still makes games, and is still mostly a well known character.

[Covskin]

Jak 2 was probably my favourite PS2 game, even if was desperately cashing in on GTA's success. But outside the city, I thought the actual levels/missions were brilliant with a great difficulty curve. Jak 3 tried to do a bit too much, but was still decent.

Anywho, I think part of the problem with Spyro and Crash is that their respective formats had run their course. Naughty Dog realised they couldn't do anything else with the core gameplay, so moved on to something else. Insomniac realised they'd gone as far as they could with Spyro as well (to the extent of 4 extra characters in Year of the Dragon - though I still love that game). When the original developers feel they've squeezed all of the original ideas out of a concept, what hope does a new (and normally untested, it seemed) company have with making a game?

Granted, I never played the Legend of Spyro trilogy, and to be fair it sounds like they had a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to do, but I hear they weren't as good as the PS1 trilogy.

...also, I have to say, I find Ratchet & Clank somewhat over-rated. Dunno, I've got 2, 3 and Quest For Booty so I've given them a fair go, but they just don't click with me. Good-to-average, but not great for me.

[Flint]

...also, I have to say, I find Ratchet & Clank somewhat over-rated. Dunno, I've got 2, 3 and Quest For Booty so I've given them a fair go, but they just don't click with me. Good-to-average, but not great for me.

Edited June 16, 2011 by Flint

[ChikaBoing]

I don't understand everyone's issue with Bentley and Murray being playable in the later games. It's like I'm the only person on this forum who liked them. I fucking loved playing as both of them and it added to the games considerably. They were even better in Sly 3 because they were more fleshed out.

Jak and Daxter I honestly feel like is the least impressive of three main PS2 platform series. The first one was enjoyable, but it was piss easy and way too short. Then Jak II comes along, brings on Dark Jak and all these particularly boring design choices made in order for the series to be more 'edgy and cool' and I just couldn't really be bothered with it. Ratchet and Clank weapons also kick the shit out of Jak weapons, so that was kind of a lost cause adding weapons from the get go.

My favorite game in the Jak series is actually Daxter for PSP which wasn't even made by Naughty Dog. Go figure.

Edited June 16, 2011 by ChikaBoing

[Tatsumaki]

While I felt no particular attachment to Spyro(Only playing the Demo off CTR), Crash was one of the best games when I was younger, I never played the first one, but I started on the second and was hooked, I was a Crash fan long before I became a fan of Sonic. I don't know something about Crash just seemed awesome to me, though I'll say that compated to most of Spyro's modern outings, Crash's haven't been so bad, I enjoyed Wrath of Cortex(Even if it was a carbon copy of Warped), and I've heard and seen good things about Twinsanity, hell Crash of the Titans, and Mind over Mutant don't look that bad.

I always thought Crash would thrive long after jumping to the 6th Generation, but damn did the series take a nose dive, I mean people say Sonic sucks, at least he still makes games, and is still mostly a well known character.

Edited June 16, 2011 by Tatsumaki

[Kuzu]

I like the first Jak cause it offered something that still no other plattformer accomplished with having a complete World without Loading and just natural transitions. But then backlash for that was having pretty basic unevolving gameplay,like Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie.

I thought the Ratchet games got a bit stale as a whole. Maybe I really just need to play the PS3 ones.

[Tatsumaki]

The thing with the first Jak is that it was a lot alike to Crash Bandicoot, being from the same developer and all.

[Flint]

I get what you mean. There aren't much platformers on Current Gen consoles, (though I disagree: this game, Ratchet & Clank games, Sly 4,(which we all know came back) Rayman Origins, Sonic Generations, and Mario 3DS are all Platformers with plenty of color; but these games probably won't come back with sequels.) but I can't really agree with you saying that Uncharted lacks Platformer spirit. It does have some. Sure, it has other genre elements, but what games don't nowadays

Edited June 16, 2011 by Flint

[Your Vest Friend]

Can the big Crash fan give information to keep people informed on what's happened? By jove, she can!

Basically, despite CotT and MoM selling reasonably well (over a million each, at last estimates), Activision screwed Radical over big time. They were in the middle of developing Crash 2010, a return to Crash's roots, when the big A dissolved the Radical team and canned the game. What have we had since 2008? A boat load of iPhone racing games, with the only notable feature of them being that they've sold remarkably well and that Yaya the Panda is exclusive to them.

I think I've said this before...and I swear I saw an SSMB member username on a Crash 2010 resurrection petition.

[Nepenthe]

Well, that just butters my biscuits. I gave the Titans games credit, but you're telling me we were actually about to have another Crash game in the vein of the originals but Activision decided to cancel the game? Do you know how many hours and how much blood, sweat, and unconditional love I invested into Warped all those years ago? And this is what I get for it?

This world is so unfair. ;;