The modern gaming landscape is overflowing with remakes and remasters, some faithfully recreating their originals, while others take liberties. It`s a rare occasion when an original creator weighs in on a contemporary reimagining of their work. However, Andrew Gavin, co-founder of Naughty Dog and a co-creator of the beloved Crash Bandicoot, recently shared his insights on the 2017 N. Sane Trilogy, pinpointing a subtle “30 milliseconds” of change that, in his view, significantly altered the gameplay experience for the worse.
As reported by GamesRadar, Gavin posted a detailed critique regarding the recent remasters of Crash Bandicoot 1-3. While he acknowledged that the games “nailed the visuals” and looked “great [and] faithful to the original,” his primary criticism centered on the jumping mechanics. He bluntly stated that the development team “completely botched how jumping works.”
Gavin explained that in the original game, Crash`s jump height was precisely controlled by how long the player held down the jump button – a longer press resulted in a higher jump. This crucial and nuanced mechanic, vital for the precise platforming challenges, was notably absent in the N. Sane Trilogy. Instead, it was replaced with a simplified system where every jump automatically reached its maximum possible height.
“The remake developers either didn`t notice this system or thought it wasn`t important,” Gavin detailed in his post. “They reverted to simple fixed jumps, [and] then realized Crash couldn`t make half the jumps in the game. Their solution was to make all jumps maximum height.”
According to Gavin, this alteration fundamentally impaired the jumping mechanics, to the game`s detriment. “Now every jump on the remake is huge and floaty. Those precise little hops between platforms are awkward,” Gavin lamented. He further emphasized the paradox: “The game`s fundamental jumping mechanic feels worse than the 1996 original despite running on hardware that`s 1000x more powerful.”
For those curious to experience these revised jump mechanics firsthand, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is readily available across various platforms, including Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.