WMG / Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

New Features

In this blog entry, it's mentioned that there are more features which we haven't seen yet. So let's guess what they could be:

• The powers received from beating bosses in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped will be accessible in all three games. This makes even more sense since it's been confirmed Time Trials will be available in all three games, not just Warped.
• A few extra optional levels in all three games, in the form of one or two extra islands (in Crash 1) or warp zones (in Crash 2 and 3). This would also be a great way to include the originally-Dummied Out Stormy Ascent from the original, for those brave enough to try it.
  • Confirmed at minimum with "Stormy Ascent" as being part of a "Lost Treasures" DLC pack. It's also been hinted that the other Dummied Out levels from the original game will also be in the DLC.
  • It's not been confirmed as DLC (It could just be a patch), but otherwise yeah, confirmed.
• A "museum" of sorts to celebrate the series, either as a menu a la DuckTales: Remastered or playable in the style of the Insomniac Museum from Ratchet & Clank, full of trivia, memorabilia, concept art, sound tests, cutscenes and whatnot from the original trilogy and N-Sane, if not the series as a whole.

Some characters' roles will be expanded.

• Uka Uka's role will be foreshadowed.
  • In Warped, Uka Uka was sort of a case of Remember the New Guy?, since Cortex needed the Crystals in the second game for his Cortex Vortex, and he didn't even try looking for the Crystals in the first game. They'll rewrite this in two ways: 1. Cortex didn't want to be ordered around by Uka Uka in the first game, but ended up in his cave at the beginning of the second game, prompting a scolding from the latter. 2. He didn't look for them in the first game because he thought his evolved animals could seek them out for him.
  • Not quite, however Uka Uka appears on the Game Over screen of Crash 1 and 2.
• The first game will feature scenes explaining Coco Bandicoot's origins.
  • Coco was also a case of Remember the New Guy? in the second game, with no explanation provided as to where she came from. Like with Uka Uka, this might be resolved by having a scene with Coco being created in Cortex's lab, with the Cortex Vortex giving her her intelligence.
  • In a way, confirmed, as Coco uses the Time Twister from Warped to help out her brother in the first two games.
• Tawna's appearances won't be limited to the original game.
  • It's been noted as part of Vicarious Visions/Activision calling it a "remaster plus" that new audio and scenes were made for the game. In addition to the above two, it could be possible that Tawna may make expanded appearances in the first game and maybe even have a role in the later ones, albeit still not to main character.
  • Jossed - despite being given more character than in the original game, she still doesn't appear in the other two.
• Pinstripe's character will be expanded.
  • He will be either a Noble Demon or Cortex's Token Good Teammate, which would explain why Tawna would leave Crash for him. Or simply a case of All Girls Want Bad Boys.

A teaser or even demo of a Spyro the Dragon trilogy remake will become available upon beating all three games

It would make sense given the two series have a close relationship, and quite a bit of fan demand for remakes of the Insomniac Spyro games has sprung up since the trailer for N. Sane Trilogy was shown.

• Some people have discovered that pressing "Up Up Down Down" on the D-pad while selecting Crash 3 causes the selection to disappear, however the rest of the code doesn't work.
  • Confirmed! As of April 2018, performing the code in the main menu now plays the announcement trailer for the Spyro Reignited Trilogy.

There will be some sort of Take That! at the Titans games.

Either it's real subtle or not. Like a character makes a pop culture reference before quickly adding "But let's not get too carried away..."

• The titans will audition for a role in the next game, but get totally ignored.

This remake trilogy is intended to pave the way for a Continuity Reboot of sorts.

Word of God has referred to the game as a remaster plus, stressing that the game will have new content added in addition to painstakingly remaking the original trilogy with updated graphics. It has also officially been confirmed that the success of this game will determine whether or not Crash will get a new game.

With all of this made clear, it's a distinct possibility that the next Crash game will take place after the first three games, but with changes made to the continuity to reconcile the remake's differences to the original trilogy and every game after Warped being Canon Discontinuity. Possible considerable changes to the new continuity could include Tawna no longer leaving Crash for Pinstripe.

• I doubt they'll completely discontinue the post-Naughty Dog games if they do go that route, but I can see them take and retool some elements from them to incorporate them into a mix of old and new scenarios; take basic plotlines but change the details.
  • Characters like Crunch and Nina are likely candidates to return in the series, otherwise it would probably be new ones.
  • N. Trance might have a chance, since the game he was introduced in was made by Vicarious Visions, but aside from the aforementioned Crunch and Nina, most of the other PS2 era characters only appeared in one game, and are thus unlikely to return.

Future sequels in after this potential "Reboot" will promote Tawna and possibly Crunch to playable

With Tawna's toned down design and lack of any attachments to the prototype design there's no real reason for Vicarious Visions to drop her after Crash 1's remake. And if Coco's own being upgraded to playable is any indication, reviving Crunch into the new continuity should make him more playable, too.

• Confirmed, albeit it is an alernate version of Tawna for Crash 4.

Potential sequels will make the Dark Souls comparison made by Games Radar an Ascended Meme.

One of the bosses will have a Dark Fantasy theme, and when introduced will make some Fauxlosophic Narration about fire and speak in Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe. Eventually his health bar will appear on the bottom rather than top left with Boss Subtitles, at which point Cortex will tell him to cut it out-except for the difficulty, he likes that.

Coco actually did help out Crash during 2 in the OTL...

... but only after he defeated Cortex first when the two could reunite, helping Crash find the gems. Naturally, any help before this point would only be explainable by time travel, but in this case? She very well may have been able to participate "canonically".

• Alternatively, any crystals collected are due to Crash duped into helping Cortex. Any gems collected after the first Warp Room are due to Coco teaming up with N. Brio.

Fake Crash will be redesigned into a living Take That to the Radical games

Mainly by having elements of Crash's Radical design.

Future games will focus on the Naughty Dog Era's setting, tone, and characters (with maybe some of the more prominent or better received post-Naughty Dog characters getting retooled for the post-reboot games) for a tighter canon

Back in June 2013, Andy Gavin said the following: "Crash needs a total reboot. There's an opportunity to reset the history, and go back to his creation story and the original conflict with Cortex. In that context, you could reprise classic Crash 1 and 2's settings and villains. It would make sense to use a more modern, free-roaming style. I would concentrate on Looney Tunes-esque animation and really addictive action. That's what we did with the original Crash, and there's no reason it couldn't be done today. Given the current Crash games, people forget that he was once cool. Our Crash had a certain whimsical edge to him. Sure, it was goofy – but it wasn't dumb."

Assuming the developers at Vicarious Visions will take this to heart, that they might try to make Crash's world more complex, and that they also considered past criticisms of the post-Naught Dog Era, they'll write off most (if not all) of what the post-Naughty Dog Crash games brought in setting and characterwise. At most, they'll bring back Nina or maybe even Crunch.

By keeping focus on the Naughty Dog era, they can put the spotlight on characters who were important in their first game or had interesting designs and characterizations but did little to none after their first appearances (like Crash's ex-girlfriend Tawna and Cortex's implied Dragon Pinstripe from CB1). They can also avoid the pitfalls later Crash games had from how they introduced seemingly important characters who at most only had bit roles later on (see Crunch). This could even go as far as a Myth Arc for the post-reboot games.

Not only will Tawna ditching Crash for Pinstripe remain in the post-remake canon, but future games will make her a full blown villain (or at least an Anti-Villain).

They could have it that Tawna was never really a good woman even with Cortex holding her captive and ditched Crash for Pinstripe since he ended up being more interesting to her (it could even include a stealth Take That! at Pamela Anderson considering her influence on Tawna). Another scenario that leans more towards the Anti-Villain route (especially if Cortex's core henchmen and the good doctor himself still end up as sympathetic post-reboot as they are in the pre-reboot canon) is that Pinstripe is Cortex's Noble Top Enforcer who is much less of a bastard than his boss and so serves him out of loyalty, with Tawna noticing this then falling for him for it. This not only provides a way to keep Tawna relevant in any future games without keeping her as just a girlfriend character for Crash, but could also let Coco have a rival if Nina doesn't return. Bonus points if their rivalry has a (initially one-sided, maybe) It's Personal element to it on Coco's part, where she hears about Tawna's past with Crash and resolves to kick her butt for breaking her big brother's heart.

The next game will be significantly easier.

The complaints that the N. Sane Trilogy is harder than Dark Souls and/or one of the hardest games ever made are rapidly approaching Never Live It Down territory, and gaming journalists and YouTubers exploiting and exaggerating this infamy for clicks are not helping. To stave off the backlash, Vicarious Visions will make the next game less challenging. They will also be able to design new levels made with the new mechanics and movement engine in mind, which will naturally make it easier. Of course, once they do, people will then complain that they made it too easy.

The next game will not be a platformer, but a remake of Crash Team Racing.

With the success of the N. Sane Trilogy, this suggestion for where the franchise should go next is becoming increasingly common, and for good reason. CTR is widely regarded as one of the best non-Mario Kart kart racers in video game history, and a HD remake/remaster is long since overdue. Additionally, Vicarious Visions, who clearly put their hearts and souls into this game, know their way around racing games as well, seeing as they handled the development of Crash Nitro Kart. With Vicarious Vision having been asked repeatedly if CTR was in the cards, giving it the same treatment as the first three games would be a very logical next step.

A CTR remaster could possibly restore cut content or plans that didn't make it past the conceptual stage like the N. Sane Trilogy did with Stormy Ascent, but it wouldn't be too far-fetched to at least expect that the roster would be expanded to include the remainder of the original trilogy characters who inexplicably were absent the first time around: Tawna, N. Brio, Koala Kong, Komodo Moe... maybe even Baby T from Warped since Polar and Pura are able to drive.

• Confirmed.

One reason Coco travels through time to the first two games may be to train herself.

Consider this, While Coco may be smarter than Crash in many ways, she may have started out lacking the platforming and combat experience of her brother, which may be why she started out as a Non Action Girl in the second game and, in the third game, had fewer playable moment than Crash (some of which she doesn't do much fighting in). Coco, aware of this, may have felt she needs to be as strong as her brother in order to be able to keep up with him in his world-saving adventures and thus be able to help him better and figured the best way to reach that point would be to experience all the adventures Crash went through. It's even possible that Coco may have had Crash teach her how to use his skills and techniques with these intentions in mind.