Line #1 YMMV/CrashBandicoot1996


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2	* [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Video Game Bosses]]: The final battle against Cortex set to the background of his burning castle is a really fun fight. You constantly dodge energy blasts that the doctor shoots, redirecting the green ones toward him and avoiding the various patterns of the purple and blue blasts. Admittedly it is a bit on the easy side as you are given two Aku Aku masks that will save you two hits, but it's still a memorable way to end the game.
3	* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Awesome Video Game Levels]]: "Generator Room" is a good contender for the most memorable level in the game. It leans into its NightmareFuel to the point that it genuinely feels terrifying navigating the level, with the platforming itself being very tight and varied. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks There was many a complaint]] about its ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy N. Sane]]'' counterpart toning down the level specifically for how lasting the original level's creepy atmosphere was.
4	* EsotericHappyEnding: Retroactively so. Crash has stopped Cortex and saved Tawna. [[HappyEndingOverride But come the next title]], Cortex is still at it and (according to the sequel's Japanese manual but not other versions of the manual) Tawna had dumped Crash very shortly after the events of the first game.
5	* HilariousInHindsight:
6	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTi5EaocGaY This commercial]] had Crash outside Nintendo of America's headquarters, trying to intimidate them and Mario by boasting about the game with a megaphone. ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheHugeAdventure The Huge Adventure]]'' would appear on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance in early 2002, and this game would end up on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch via the ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy N. Sane Trilogy]]'' 22 years after it launched on [=PS1=]. For added irony, the first announcement that the trilogy was going MultiPlatform occurred during a WebVideo/NintendoDirect.
7	** When the first ''Crash Bandicoot'' game was being conceived, it was jokingly nicknamed "Sonic's Ass Game" during production. More than 2 decades later, the Nintendo Switch version of the ''N. Sane Trilogy'' would be published by Sega in Japan, finally making the joke come full circle.
8	* ItsHardSoItSucks: Though still widely considered a classic, the overly punishing difficulty and problems detailed under ScrappyMechanic combine to create a game that is, at best, the weakest and most frustrating of the classic trilogy. 2 and 3 could still be difficult, but the learning curve is much fairer, the levels are on the whole more fun, and there's been some general quality of life updates. The ''N. Sane Trilogy'' fixes some of the issues, and it's not uncommon to see fans, including those who prefer the original versions of 2 and 3, to say they prefer the ''N. Sane'' remake.
9	* NintendoHard: ''Crash 2'' and ''3'' aren't by any means easy, but this game takes the cake. The fact that you can only save in bonus rounds makes it even worse. Gaining gems is also very different:
10	** There are brutal sidepaths that hold little value besides some crates you need to break to get the gem for the level. Later games would have no crates on these paths (most of the time) and give the player a second gem instead.
11	** You have to finish the whole level from start to finish in one life, including levels like "Sunset Vista" which may be longer and is certainly more difficult than any single level in the second and third games.
12	** In the second game, you will be told how many crates you missed just before the finish, and the third game keeps count for you during the level. In here, there's no sign of whether you have all of the crates at the end of the level, just a message afterwards saying "Great! But you missed X [of the most cheaply hidden] crates [of all time]".
13	* NoDamageRun: The "no-death" variant is one of the two requirements for getting a Gem in each stage, the second being breaking every single crate. Even if you die before hitting a single Checkpoint, you're out of luck because, upon completing the level, the game will immediately go back to the map, completely skipping over the sequence that would normally award you the gem.
14	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Crash's "Da-da-dadadaaaa!", which accompanies receiving Gems from perfect level runs. There's also his "YEEE-HAAAW!" when he defeats a boss, which sadly wasn't included in the ''N. Sane Trilogy'' remake outside of the final cutscene.
15	* ScrappyMechanic: There are two, which were fixed for the ''N. Sane Trilogy'' remake:
16	** [[SaveGameLimits You can only save your game by completing Bonus Rounds and collecting Gems]], forcing you to find the tokens to find a Bonus Round/collect a Gem. But worse yet, you cannot replay a Bonus Round in order to save; if you finished it without saving, or if you die there, you're out of luck and have to redo the level all over again. The password system helps matters, but not by much, and is needlessly long and complicated. Though Tawna's tokens are so easily found in every level that it's almost impossible to miss them, but remember you can still fail them. While you could argue that "No crates/Gems means no progress", that also means you lose progress on '''levels''' you've beaten, especially considering the difficult ones available, and [[MarathonLevel how long they can be]].
17	** To collect the Gems, in addition to breaking all crates, you need to do it in '''[[NoDamageRun one continuous run]]'''. Why? Because the Checkpoints don't remember which crates you broke before reaching them! Did you break every single crate but died just before the goal? Then your efforts will have been in vain. Considering [[MarathonLevel how long later levels can get]], you can really see how annoying this can become. All future games make the Checkpoints remember them, thankfully, though that doesn't help you if you [[LastLousyPoint missed one.]]
18	*** Fortunately, the remake only enforces this for the Colored Gems, so only "The Lost City", "Generator Room", "Toxic Waste", "Slippery Climb", "Lights Out", and "The Lab" are needed to be done without dying. However, a lot of these themselves are absolutely ''[[ThatOneLevel awful]]'', or at least on the harder and [[MarathonLevel longer]] side of the game's stages to begin with, only further exacerbating the issue after, especially since there was no reason at all to ''keep'' them this way after fixing the rest. [[ExaggeratedTrope Oh, and now you need to get all the Bonus Round crates too.]]
19	* ThatOneLevel:
20	** "Road to Nowhere" and its "the same but worse" version "The High Road". Both levels feature tricky platforming over tiny [[TemporaryPlatform Temporary Platforms]], invincible hog enemies and long jumps over bottomless pits. Even worse is that ''both'' levels have crates only accessible by making a leap of faith onto an ''[[GuideDangIt invisible bridge]]'' located either at the end of the level behind the exit or behind the start, respectively, as well as some crates hovering in the air that can only be attempted ''once'' thanks to TNT crates.
21	** "Sunset Vista". Clearing it is fairly challenging. Getting the Gem, much more so. Remember: To get the Gem, one must destroy every crate and not die after reaching a Checkpoint Crate. Also, this is one of only two levels with a Cortex Bonus Round, which are hard and mandatory for 100%.
22	** "Cortex Power". The entire level is a massive labyrinth, and navigating it can be downright hell if the paths aren't memorized. Oftentimes, if the wrong path is taken, it'll lead to one of Pinstripe's goons firing dual handguns on Crash as a teaser for the upcoming battle, and if not one of his goons, the player will most likely die to either falling into the acid from missing a narrow platform, a TNT crate exploding on a bridge of crates, or jumping into either a bended burning pipe or the electricity it fires. What makes matters worse is that it requires the Blue Gem from "Toxic Waste", meaning the player has to backtrack to "Cortex Power" and traverse ''another'' complex path with precarious platforming.
23	** "Toxic Waste". You must avoid barrels that are thrown down the path by the other members of Pinstripe's mafia, and there are very few areas where you can hide from the barrels. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]] later on in the level, in which bouncing barrels are being thrown as well, and it takes lots of practice to memorize their patterns and where you can hide from them without being flattened.
24	** "Slippery Climb" has [[PlatformHell the trickiest platforming in the game]], which also suffers from the worst case of CheckpointStarvation in the series, with ''one'' located shortly before the midpoint. There was another level like it called "Stormy Ascent" in its style that was DummiedOut ''because it was too difficult'' (in addition to the planned Bonus Round being bugged with no time left to fix). Considering the other levels on this list, it somehow makes the level sound '''scarier'''.
25	** "Fumbling in the Dark", the harder version of "Lights Out". Both levels are pitch-black unless you have a mask, which lights up the general vicinity for a limited period of time. This means that you basically need to accomplish jumps quickly, with moving platforms and giant swinging blades, and if you get hurt, you ''lose your light source''. That's bad enough, but "Fumbling in the Dark" in particular adds insult to injury by having some seriously hard jumps in the beginning of the level (behind the level's entrance), CheckpointStarvation, and requiring a ton of timing and good reflexes. If you can beat "Fumbling in the Dark" and get the Gem for it, chances are the rest of the game won't be very hard for you.
26	** "The Lab", if you are aiming for the Gem. It's not that difficult to just finish the stage, but it's one of the few levels with zero Aku Aku masks, forcing you to complete it with no protection, unless you bring a mask from another stage. Not that bad in the original version, but it also has one of the most frustrating trial-and-error Bonus Rounds in the game, with two extremely easy-to-miss hidden crates, and the ''N. Sane Trilogy'' makes all Bonus Round crates mandatory. Losing a Bonus Round erases your masks, and completing this Bonus often takes multiple attempts, forcing you to finish the rest of the level naked even if you went to the trouble of getting a mask somewhere else.

Context YMMV / CrashBandicoot1996