Crash Bandicoot

Crash Bandicoot is a platformer franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin at Naughty Dog, designed as the PlayStation’s answer to Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog when it launched September 9, 1996. The series follows Crash, a genetically enhanced marsupial from the Wumpa Islands, through adventures opposing the mad scientist Doctor Neo Cortex, with the original trilogy across PlayStation considered among the finest platformers of the 1990s. Vicarious Visions’ N. Sane Trilogy in 2017 revived the franchise, and Toys for Bob delivered the best-reviewed sequel in decades with Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time in 2020. The franchise is currently dormant under Microsoft following the cancellation of a Crash Bandicoot 5 by Activision in 2024.

The Naughty Dog Trilogy (1996 to 1998)

Naughty Dog co-founders Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin developed Crash Bandicoot with character designers Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson, building the game in a custom engine that pushed PlayStation hardware in ways that impressed Sony enough to make the character a centerpiece of their marketing. The original Crash Bandicoot in 1996, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back in 1997, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped in 1998 each improved on the previous entry and collectively sold tens of millions of copies, establishing Crash as one of the most recognizable video game characters of the era. The games were notable for their tight level design, escalating difficulty, and the contrast between Crash’s expressive character animations and the precision the gameplay demanded. Naughty Dog sold the franchise rights as part of their transition to Sony first-party development, moving on to the Jak and Daxter series.

The Multi-Developer Era

After Naughty Dog’s departure, Crash Bandicoot passed through multiple developers across the PlayStation 2 generation and beyond, with results that declined progressively from the original trilogy’s standard. Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex in 2001 from Traveller’s Tales was the most commercially successful post-Naughty Dog entry while receiving mixed reviews. Crash Twinsanity in 2004 experimented with more open-ended level design. Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant in 2007 and 2008 from Radical Entertainment changed the character’s visual design and core gameplay mechanics significantly, completing the franchise’s distance from what had made the original trilogy successful. By the end of the Wii generation the Crash Bandicoot brand had effectively gone dormant.

N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot 4

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision, released June 30, 2017, for PlayStation 4 and subsequently on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The collection rebuilt all three original Naughty Dog games from the ground up with new visuals while preserving the original level design, timing, and challenge. The trilogy sold over ten million copies and demonstrated that the audience’s appetite for the original character had survived two decades of mixed-quality sequels. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, developed by Toys for Bob and released October 2, 2020, built on the Naughty Dog trilogy’s sensibility with new Quantum Mask mechanics, a larger roster of playable characters, and a multiverse storyline that deliberately set aside the post-Naughty Dog continuity. It received the strongest critical reception of any Crash game in over twenty years.

Crash Team Rumble and the Franchise’s Current Status

Crash Team Rumble, a four-versus-four online multiplayer game, released June 20, 2023, as Toys for Bob’s follow-up, shifting the franchise into live-service territory. The game received a moderate reception and did not sustain the audience needed to continue its support. Toys for Bob departed Activision in February 2024 to operate as an independent studio, subsequently partnering with Microsoft to develop Spyro: A Realm Beyond. Following their departure, Activision cancelled a Crash Bandicoot 5 that Toys for Bob had been developing. The Crash Bandicoot intellectual property remains with Activision under Microsoft ownership with no new game currently in development.