Consumer surveys are a dime a dozen these days. While a survey in itself isn’t necessarily noteworthy, they do tend to hint at what a company may have planned. A recent survey from PlayStation Asia may point towards some future plans for a certain orange, jorts-wearing bandicoot.
The survey was intended to gauge people’s interest in the upcoming The Last of Us Part II. One of the questions, however, asks consumers to select every game from a preselected list that they have played. Most of the options are what you’d expect, ranging from Uncharted to Tomb Raider. One game, however, stands out, because as far as we know, it doesn’t exist.
The presence of Crash Bandicoot Racing is odd because, for starters, no Crash Bandicoot racing game has that title. Perhaps even more perplexingly, there’s no Crash Bandicoot racing game playable on the PlayStation 4 at all, while all the other games on the list are available on the platform.
Despite the curious nature of this listing, this doesn’t confirm any solid plans for the Crash Bandicoot franchise. Following the success of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, many have openly shared their desire for Crash Team Racing to get the same treatment.
Reports of Activision prepping a Crash Bandicoot game for 2019 have surfaced, but there was no word on whether this game would be a brand-new entry, or a remaster. Only Activision knows what kind of plans it has for Crash Bandicoot, so we will just have to wait and see if all of this will add up to anything or not. For all we know, this could be a simple error.
[Source: GearNuke]
Ranking Crash Bandicoot
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Ranking the Crash Bandicoot Series
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11. Crash Twinsanity
Twinsanity is the worst game in the series. It attempted to freshen things up by offering up larger levels to roam (think 3D Mario), but the design of these stages didn't hold up their end of the stick. The one saving grace is the game's funny script, which is really the only good reason to play this.
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10. Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
The first non-Sony published Crash Bandicoot tile was The Wrath of Cortex. Developed by LEGO developer Traveller's Tales, the game just felt like a poor imitation of what worked on PlayStation. Those ideas weren't nearly as fresh in 2001 as they were in the 90s, and the only thing the game really accomplished was getting players to go back and replay the better PS1 games.
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9. Crash Tag Team Racing
Mario Kart: Double Dash is awesome, so it's not surprising that Crash would try to copy its success. Sadly, something was lost in the process and Tag Team Racing is the worst racing game in the series. It didn't provide much of a challenge, or fun.
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8. Crash Bash
Developed for the original PlayStation, Crash Bash was Sony's answer to Mario Party. Just without a lot of the charm and the fun board game mechanic. I wouldn't say that it's a terrible game (as a few of the mini-games are really fun to play), but it certainly didn't outdo the plumber they were trying to beat.
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7. Crash of the Titans
Crash of the Titans was one of the first games in the series to get away from trying to replicate what Naughty Dog did. That's actually a good thing, as previous titles felt like stale imitations. Instead, the platformer became more of a brawler, having Crash mash out combo attacks in order to succeed. It wasn't great, but at least it was something different at the time.
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6. Crash: Mind Over Mutant
The latest Crash Bandicoot game released in 2008. Called Mind Over Mutant, it was actually a pretty solid (if not forgettable) platformer. It was a step up from its predecessor, and it seemed like Crash was back on its way to being a relevant series again. Sadly, it didn't mark better things to come, and it just marked the last game for eight years.
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5. Crash Nitro Kart
The second Crash racing game was pretty fun, even if it felt like a step down from Crash Team Racing. It's not like the PS2 was filled with good kart racers, so it definitely filled its niche. Plus, it was just fun to see Crash and his pals in a fun game again.
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4. Crash Bandicoot
The 1996 original has aged surprisingly well for a 20-year-old game even if it isn't Super Mario 64. The core gameplay is still fun, even if playing a 3D platformer with a d-pad is way more awkward than I remembered back in the 90s. Its lasting impact, and some nostalgia, helps it get the fourth slot on the list.
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3. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Cortex Strikes Back is a perfect example of how a sequel should be done. It's better than the original title in every imaginable way from level design to graphically. It's more of what fans loved, and it smartly refined the core mechanics.
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2. Crash Bandicoot: Warped
Warped was Naughty Dog basically showing off that they had done everything they could with Crash Bandicoot. Since there were only so many ways to make the platforming seem fresh, the studio added in a lot of vehicle stages. This gave Warped a unique amount of variety, and it made for the best Crash platformer.
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1. Crash Team Racing
As weird as it is, the best Crash Bandicoot game isn't a platformer. In fact, it's a kart racer, and one of the very few that managed to outdo Nintendo's own efforts at the time. Crash Team Racing showed that Naughty Dog was able to create a diverse array of titles, not just platformers. It's also still one of the best kart racers, and holds up better than any other title on this list.
