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

[Forte-Metallix]

2 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I really hope this is a hint of things to come, I always liked Crunch as a big brother character to Crash and Coco, and thought it sucked that he was reduced to shitty Mr. T parody. 

Honestly, I thought that was a huge improvement over him just being "the strong guy". At least, like most of the cast in the Titans games, Crunch got some genuine laughs out of me with how over-the-top his inflections were.

But either way, I'm glad he's finally back! Now we just need Rilla Roo and Spyro and this roster will be perfect!

[Ryannumber1gamer]

3 minutes ago, Forte-Metallix said:

Honestly, I thought that was a huge improvement over him just being "the strong guy". At least, like most of the cast in the Titans games, Crunch got some genuine laughs out of me with how over-the-top his inflections were.

But either way, I'm glad he's finally back! Now we just need Rilla Roo and Spyro and this roster will be perfect!

I disagree, because Crunch never got time to develop into anything after WoC. Nitro Kart didn't have many cutscenes, Twinsanity has him as a one second cameo, and from Tag Team Racing onwards, he was just a shallow parody. A parody that could get a few laughs every now and then, but still a shallow parody nonetheless. He didn't really get to have the redemption/big brother angle toyed with much because they immediately went for shallow attempts at comedy with Tag Team Racing.

[E-122-Psi]

Vicarious Visions did feel like the guys who most tried to carry on from what WOC set up with Crunch, making him a playable character in N Tranced and CNK. They did kinda set about the 'Franchise Original Sin' by giving him more subtle shades of the Mr T persona in CNK, but he wasn't a one note gag yet and I kinda prefer even that over the flat 'brooding' characterisation he has in WOC that just doesn't fit the wackiness of the Crash series.

Mr T Crunch was at his worst in CTTR, after that it kinda felt like they were making him more like Boom Knuckles. If they'd dialled back his voice so he wasn't just a walking non-sequitur it might have worked.

I kinda thought it was a shame no developer really capitalised on Crunch after WOC. He seemed all set up to be the new powerhouse for the bandicoots, yet he was never really fully playable. It took them ages just to get Coco working competently, Crunch didn't stand a chance.

[Jango]

40 minutes ago, Forte-Metallix said:

Now we just need Tawna, N. Brio and Spyro and this roster will be perfect!

Fixed for you. Please let's keep "gorilla anus face" away from this game? He has nothing to do with Crash, I don't know what Eurocom had in their minds when they came up with Rilla Roo for Crash Bash when they could've just used N. Gin for example... He's just a meme at this point, his design is bland and unappealing. If they wanna add a meme to the game, I would gladly accept something actually funny, like a guy wearing the Crash suit, over bootleg Donkey Kong.

[Your Vest Friend]

The thinking with Rilla Roo was that they really wanted Dingodile playable, but no existing character could match his potential playstyle. 

[E-122-Psi]

Meh, I'm all for more chances, especially with the level of animations and expressions in the new games.

A lot of the Crash cast consisted of 'slot fillers' after all, just more appearances fleshed them out.

[SonicWind]

I am glad to see Crunch back. I didn't mind how Radical characterized him, but maybe in the future, he'll get better treatment.

[DabigRG]

Dang. Clicked on the wrong thread.

Ah well, que pasa?

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Great to see Crunch finally break into the remakes, but Zam and Zem are the bigger surprises. I figured they'd leave those guys at the wayside since they were only ever in one game and not really developed as characters much aside from in-game taunts. (Their one appearance in Nitro Kart's story was mute.) I guess their connection to Oxide made them a good fit for a revival in this game and it DOES make me curious if there are any other surprises waiting in the wings. (Particularly if they look to the GBA version of CNK for inspiration, namely the playable bosses and Spyro.)

I'm also interested to see who's voicing Crunch this time around. It'd be cool if they got Kevin Michael Richardson to reprise since he last played Crunch in Nitro Kart.

[Jango]

I really think this game has the perfect scenario for console exclusive characters. Crazy completionism aside, I think it's a situation that everybody wins if the console exclusive character IS from an exclusive IP (but making something like, say, Crunch a Switch exclusive for example, that would be shit). You're getting the version for the console you own plus a character that's exclusive to that very console. Double the reason to get the game. 

Sincerely, I'm all for Ratchet (and Clanky) Jak (and Daxter), Parappa or heck, even something completely out of place like Nathan Drake (or at the very least, Crash wearing Nate's outfit as seen in that artwork). Would be a nice "wave back" at Naughty Dog.

Mario for the Switch is a given, finally Crash and Mario could race against each other to see who's the best. But knowing Nintendo...

As for Xbox... Banjo? I don't think he's enough relevant right now... He made it to Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, but that was 10 years ago. Maybe... Battletoads? IDK.

[Guest]

There's some new screenshots on Amazon thanks to a find by memccurry


Nintendo Switch Specific:

[Jango]

I don't think I can get more pumped for this game than I already am. They nailed this. Beenox actually did a better job than Vicarious Visions. Oh, imagine these two together making a brand new Crash game...

[TheOcelot]

It seems very impressive what Beenox has done with CTR and adding the reworked content from Nitro Kart. The extra skins aren't necessary, but are a nice edition all the same. As long as the game is as polished as it can be when released (I'm tired of Activision releasing games too early-as they did with the N-Sane & Reignited trilogies) and they nail the physics then I can't see any reason why Nitro Fueled won't sell brilliantly which will surely lead to more remasters or new Crash games.

[blueblur98]

it seems like they did about as good of a job porting this to switch as they did for n. sane trilogy, which is known to be a pretty good switch port. i'd really like to see footage of that version, since that's the one i'm planning on getting. 

[DabigRG]

On 3/30/2019 at 7:40 PM, Fire-N-Space said:

Why is it that most of the playable characters are evil in this game?  

Because this series started with two evil scientists trying to create an army of mutated animals and then prided itself in having more evil forces show up to cause mischief for the bandicoots, which were seemingly the only mutants to turn and stay good.

On 3/30/2019 at 8:42 PM, Your Vest Friend said:

Yeah, the focus was always one(/two) bandicoots against an army of evil, hence why the good cast was so dry they had to resort to the animal vehicles, and why Crash Bash had the asspull about balance that made Tiny and Dingodile "good". 

It didn't really get any more balanced even when it went out of ND's hands. You got Crunch, and...uh, I think that's it outside of one-time racing game characters. 

Didn't Koala Kong technically turn good?

On 3/30/2019 at 9:29 PM, E-122-Psi said:

Hence downplayed. I always thought Tiny was kind of suspicious since he had his own lair in Cortex's space station and then became undyingly loyal to Cortex from Warped onwards.

Good point.

Although he and the Komodo Bros were apparently intended to be in the first game to begin with.

On 3/30/2019 at 9:34 PM, Your Vest Friend said:

 Same for Moe, kinda same for Ripper except with insanity. 

Joe would be evil regardless of what was going on, and even when under control he seems to be doing his own thing. 

How so?

 

On 4/24/2019 at 5:38 PM, Jango said:

Fixed for you. Please let's keep "gorilla anus face" away from this game? He has nothing to do with Crash, I don't know what Eurocom had in their minds when they came up with Rilla Roo for Crash Bash when they could've just used N. Gin for example... He's just a meme at this point, his design is bland and unappealing. If they wanna add a meme to the game, I would gladly accept something actually funny, like a guy wearing the Crash suit, over bootleg Donkey Kong.

 

On 4/24/2019 at 5:54 PM, Your Vest Friend said:

The thinking with Rilla Roo was that they really wanted Dingodile playable, but no existing character could match his potential playstyle. 

Wasn't there mention of a Kanga Rilla in a prior game?

[Your Vest Friend]

...No? Koala Kong has never been good. 

[DabigRG]

2 hours ago, Your Vest Friend said:

...No? Koala Kong has never been good. 

Oh? I seem to recall something about him quitting Cortex and becoming an actor.

[mayday2592]

IIRC, that bit of info was just in  a mostly non-canon epilogue for the first game. I wouldn't take it seriously though, as the same epilogue mentions Brio becoming a barkeep and Papu  owning Cortex Island, two things that are never mentioned later on. Only thing in from that epilogue which happened was Ripper Roo becoming a professor.

[Jango]

Maybe the only epilogue that could be taken seriously was CTR's, since it was Naughty Dog's last Crash. 

In fact, I would love (and I think it will happen somehow) if Beenox references those epilogues in the tracks, like placing around posters for Crash's movie "The Color Orange" and advertising for Tiny's fitness club "Pain 'n Gain" or Pinstripe's used cars shop. Skins could also reference those epilogues, like a Papu Papu's wrestling suit for when he became "Mr. Bad Belly".

Please Beenox. Recolors are okay, but you're doing so well with the actual skins!

[Guest]

The official website for NF received an update recently. Thanks to Cory for the tip.

https://imgur.com/a/xW1ySy5

[mayday2592]

Haven't been to the official site in a very long time. What's new in those images, aside from the updated boxart?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, mayday2592 said:

Haven't been to the official site in a very long time. What's new in those images, aside from the updated boxart?

Not much, aside from the boxart for other regions being added for Nitros Oxide

[Fire-N-Space]

On 3/31/2019 at 6:12 AM, Jango said:

Not this one. CTR ever since the PSOne days was a cut above the rest. It's not "harder", the rules of the game that are different. While in every Mario Kart the rule is luck, in CTR is skill and timing. There's no blue shells in this one, that's why game jornalists suck so badly, they can't count on luck in CTR. Anyone can win in Mario Kart because the game spams OP weapons when you're in last. When they stumble into CTR, which require actually skills, they say it's hard and "not for kids" lol 

Pretty sure 99% here played this as little kids and beat it, didn't?

Mario Kart is more forgiving to people who make mistakes while Crash let its skill players run free with items not being that strong and the tracks are so demanding. Mario Kart not being rule by luck as you suggest the blue shells keeps the race fun for everyone keeping it so people with less opportunity to play can still have some change of winning.

[Guest]

The preload download size for Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is 15.05 GB according to Microsoft Store's listing. Thanks for the tip, djschxzo!

[Guest]

Here's two "new" screenshots from GamesRadar's OPM interview with Thomas Wilson in the April 2019 issue

 

 

Quote

 

It's easy to feel a mixture of joy and trepidation when approaching any remaster. The joy of an old favourite returning clashing with the understanding that it might spoil your memory of the original; that's the effect of nostalgia for you. Still, developer Beenox is helping to alleviate our fears as it continues to lovingly craft Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled.

OPM sat down with Beenox creative director and co-studio head Thomas Wilson to discuss the upcoming kart racer, covering the studio's attempts not only to recreate what was once great but elevate for a new generation of players entirely.