Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (June 21st, 2019)

[E-122-Psi]

They kept Tawna, and let's face it, sexualised anthros has always been a thing even in kids franchises. At worst they'll likely cartoonify them a little like they did Coco.

[Jango]

We got a new interview (source: CrashyNews )

Although the rumor had particularly swelled in recent days, it’s thanks to the Game Awards that we get our first official look at the remake of Crash Team Racing. Subtitled “Nitro-Fueled” to emphasize the great technical leap over the original game, this title developed by Beenox promises an authentic gaming experience for an audience eager for competitive karting in Crash Bandicoot’s universe. Before the event, we were able to talk with Thomas Wilson, Creative Director and Co-Director of the Studio, to learn more about the genesis of the project.

Despite the many generations of consoles that have arisen since his arrival in 1999, Crash Team Racing is still regularly quoted on our website’s forums. Players often ask for the return of this iconic kart racer, and the revival of Crash Bandicoot through N. Sane Trilogy fanned even more cravings.

I’m happy to bring this game back to life. Crash Team Racing was released 20 years ago, as I started my career in the video game industry. I played it a lot because it was a pretty good kart racer. One of his distinctive strenghts, in addition to taking place in the world of Crash obviously, was the Adventure mode. It was quite unique to have a solo campaign in a kart game that is as creative and original. That’s what comes first in my mind when I think of Crash Team Racing. Other than that, I would say its quality lies in its execution. This is a great kart game on which I spent a lot of time simply because it was well done and really fun. The drift mechanics was also unique as it required skill in using the triggers. When you drive, it wasn’t automated, you had to learn how to drift, and the more you learn, the better you get. That’s what set Crash Team Racing apart of the others.

            – Thomas Wilson, Creative Director and Co-Director of Beenox

It is Beenox, the studio located in Quebec, that has been entrusted with the task of reviving Crash Team Racing. The team, which is owned by Activision, has previously worked on Skylanders SuperChargers Racing. What came out from the latter undoubtedly convinced the American company that Beenox could be the studio able to bring CTR back to life.

I would say that the good news about working on SuperChargers Racing is that it gave us experience on how to make a racing game. Did it help? Probably, but what really helped is that we have all the skills and passion to make a Crash Team Racing remaster, since we are huge fans of the original game.

            – Thomas Wilson, Creative Director and Co-Director of Beenox

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is the original Crash Team Racing from 1999 rebuilt from the ground up, with brand new graphics, fully remodeled characters and updated tracks. All the characters, karts and tracks from the original game remains present in this remaster. The studio has replayed the original game so many times in addition to reading fans’ opinions on various forums, in order to prepare for development.

Obviously, the first thing to do was to play the original game on PSone and complete it at 101%. We had to replay it and complete everything in order to fully understand what made it so fun. Everyone at the studio has replayed the original game. This is important when doing a remastering project like this, and that means, of course, doing some research on the Internet, reading what the community says and what are their expectations. What really matters to us is authenticity. It is important to pay attention to the overall feeling, especially when you bring back a game that is so much appreciated even 20 years later.

            – Thomas Wilson, Creative Director and Co-Director of Beenox

The fact of revealing the game to the public for the first time will inevitably bring some pressure on the developers’ shoulders,who must find the right balance between absolute fidelity and the arrival of new content. Bringing back a game loved by fans can be risky, and adapting it to today’s standards can be difficult.

I would say funny rather than difficult. Of course, there is always a bit of challenge with the technological gap in 20 years. We are improving the graphics with lush environments compared to those from the PSone days, and we are gearing up to inject more personality to the characters, since we have complete rigs for the protagonists now. And obviously, we now have online multiplayer which the original game didn’t have. It was a logical thing to infuse into the game to model the experience. The whole online aspect and the fun of split-screen multiplayer really matters. Online is a real novelty, and we want to inject as much personality as we can. It really is a character-based racing game.

            – Thomas Wilson, Creative Director and Co-Director of Beenox

All the game modes from the original game are also brought back for this new iteration. Faced with the trend of remakes, we asked Thomas Wilson if the studio wouldn’t have preferred to work on a completely new Crash racing game instead.

To be honest, when I think of the original game, I think of a game beloved by fans. When we look at what has been done with other remastered titles like Spyro Reignited Trilogy… I like that game. Personally, I was really happy when I heard of the feedback behind it, and I think Crash Team Racing deserves to be remastered since it was a pretty big title. I’m happy to bring this game into people’s hands, to a generation that haven’t experienced it for the first time. I feel like a child with the idea of bringing it back.

            – Thomas Wilson, Creative Director and Co-Director of Beenox

Activision reminds us that for any pre-order of the “Nitros Oxide Edition”, Nitros Oxide, the fastest alien racer of the galaxy, will be unlocked from the get-go. As the character wasn’t originally playable, we are necessarily wondering about its characteristics and its promised speed compared to the rest of the roster.

I must confess that I’m happy to bring Nitros Oxide as a playable character for the first time in Crash Team Racing. I can’t reveal anymore details about his characteristics, I’m too afraid that he would arrive on Earth to take over. What matters is knowing that he’ll be playable. I think those who are fans of Nitros Oxide will be delighted to know that they can immediately play as him by pre-ordering the digital deluxe edition. Those who don’t will be able to unlock him in the Adventure mode.

            – Thomas Wilson, Creative Director and Co-Director of Beenox

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Sounds great!

[Teoskaven]

I just wanna hope that the trophy/achievement list is not gonna have anything major tied to the Time Trial mode: i really sucked at it, lol.

[Your Vest Friend]

Huh, I played SuperChargers Racing. Solid little game that, if a bit bare bones. That shouldn't as much of an issue with a remake though.

[Jango]

17 hours ago, Jango said:

Online is a real novelty, and we want to inject as much personality as we can. It really is a character-based racing game.

I really liked this detail in particular. That's exactly what I wanted. The characters are really alive.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I don’t think they’ll remove the trophy girls, but rather I see it likely that they’ll redesign them to have a bit more of a appealing and distinct design, similar to what Tawna received in N Sane.

[Guest]

There's a new screenshot that's not on the Activision Press site, officially posted by the Crash Bandicoot account

 

[Teoskaven]

It's the same procedure the N.Sane trilogy and the Reignited trilogy adopted, posting bite-sized updates on Twitter with each passing week.
I like this approach, as usual.

[Guest]

And now its finally time for the first concept art for Crash Cove in NF!

[Jango]

I really like the cartoony clouds and overly saturated sky they do in concept arts, wish it was translated to the game just like that instead of being all realistic like a GTA game... This is a fantasy game after all! One thing the Spyro Reignited Trilogy got it wrong a bunch of times was the sky. The biggest exception is the Dreamweavers homeworld, it even has these cartoony () purple-ish clouds, it's by far the best level in the game because it's the less realistic, it has crazy colors and fluffy clouds.

[Blueknight V2.0]

More proof that Spyro will be in CTR:NF. Hopefully Frozen Alters gets in.

[Teoskaven]

If true this would partially match with the scrapped idea that the original game had where the goalposts were supposed to be different depending on the track (wich was ultimately discarded because of the hardware limitations).

[Jango]

Hey guys:

Not that we should get excited but... We got teases like this before and they ended up being true. He could be wearing the Aku Aku shirt for absolutely no reason at all (who knows, maybe it was his only clean one at the time ) but Josh's being really quiet about CTR, whereas before the game was announced (and during the N.Sane Trilogy development) he would answer fans right way. Usually that means something.

He's either doing remixes / new music for CTR or... An entire new soundtrack for Vicarious Visions' new Crash game... Or nothing he's just a monster playing with our hearts

Please God.

 

[TheOcelot]

1 hour ago, Jango said:

Hey guys:

Not that we should get excited but... We got teases like this before and they ended up being true. He could be wearing the Aku Aku shirt for absolutely no reason at all (who knows, maybe it was his only clean one at the time ) but Josh's being really quiet about CTR, whereas before the game was announced (and during the N.Sane Trilogy development) he would answer fans right way. Usually that means something.

He's either doing remixes / new music for CTR or... An entire new soundtrack for Vicarious Visions' new Crash game... Or nothing he's just a monster playing with our hearts

Please God.

 

Perhaps he will be composing a new piece for the game much like Copeland did for the Reignited trilogy. Maybe Josh is composing a new piece for a brand new Spyro-themed race course in CTR...

The Reignited trilogy definitely got one over the N-Sane trilogy by including the original soundtrack, so it would be nice if Nitro Fueled can include the original music.

 

[TheOcelot]

Definitely gonna replay the original game before Nitro Fueled releases.

[Almar]

I hope the Komodo Bros. race together this time instead of just Joe being there. They might not have had the technology and/or knowledge of how to have a dual-boss but since Nitro Kart came out with its Zam and Zim race the devs would have a model for the Bros. this time.

[StratusAsterion]

6 hours ago, Almar said:

I hope the Komodo Bros. race together this time instead of just Joe being there. They might not have had the technology and/or knowledge of how to have a dual-boss but since Nitro Kart came out with its Zam and Zim race the devs would have a model for the Bros. this time.

Sorry, I don't mean to be the bubble bursting guy, but Joe has actually already been shown in the trailer by himself

 

[Jango]

Perhaps they could re-arrange Komodo Joe's boss battle to have you race against him and Moe at the same time. Joe's battle was the easiest in the original IIRC, so it would at least level up the challenge.

[E-122-Psi]

4 minutes ago, Jango said:

Perhaps they could re-arrange Komodo Joe's boss battle to have you race against him and Moe at the same time. Joe's battle was the easiest in the original IIRC, so it would at least level up the challenge.

Same, the bosses could use a touch variety to them anyway (the only key change is Oxide cheating at the start of his). It would also make a cool nod to the Norm boss in CNK.

[TheOcelot]

I like the idea of both Komodo Joe and Moe being the boss fight in Dragon Mines (or at the very least they randomise which boss you fight against; Joe, then Moe another time). Doing a pre and post-boss cutscene with both Joe & Moe and then racing against them both wouldn't hurt the original story or game progression in any way. At the very least Moe should be a playable/unlockable character.

 

In the original game there were eight competitors in every race (only six in multiplayer). Now, a modern kart-racer like MK8 has 12 racers in each race, so if CTR is going to have quite a few extra characters (hopefully playable from the very start), perhaps they will increase the number of racers to 10 or 12? Maybe also tweak the points award system at the end of each race (which was 9 for 1st, 6 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd and 1 for 4th in the original version).

[Jango]

@TheOcelot  On top of that, they should also randomize the racers in arcade mode, instead of using only the main 8. 

I suspect we'll have 10 characters from the go this time, the extra 2 being Tawna and N. Brio. I don't think they will be added to the Adventure mode tho'...

It would be awesome to have them anyways, plus Koala Kong, Baby T and a motherfocker.obj, I mean, Lab Assistant. 

Also, they should really put on some gameplay ASAP. Pax is usually this time of the year, isn't it? Hopefully CTR will be playable there.

[E-122-Psi]

The appearance of boss racers in some standard race footage would suggest they've considered the randomisation option.

I suspect Beenox having access to VV's model set for the trilogy would make adding new characters easier, though in fairness they only promised Oxide so far.

[Plasme]

I think people are getting a bit too excited about new content. I expect very little to be added, and for Spyro to be the only new racer.

[Jango]

Wasn't someone's tweet liked by a Beenox's employee a few weeks ago tho'? The tweet in question was from someone asking if Beenox would add Brio and Tawna. I think that's at least a tip.

[Meta77]

Well at least it's more content than sonic racers. I'm sure more will be added