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Who likes wumpa fruit, hates exploding boxes and is generally nuts? Crash Bandicoot, the Aussie marsupial recently gifted with a remastered trilogy. And it seems only fitting that we take the time as we head into Independence Day to look back and see how a speedrun of the first Crash Bandicoot game compares to the N. Sane remake. For those of you wondering, it’s fitting because pancakes. Do not try to make sense of that.
WhitePaaws put a ton of effort into optimizing Crash, and it shows every moment throughout the game. He lost the world record briefly before taking it back with this run. No commentary, no chat feed, just plain platforming, optimized to near-perfection and reclaiming the crown by a nail-biting seven seconds. You can’t help but glance at the timer with each minute that ticks by, knowing the deadline creeps every closer.
The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane remaster is about four minutes slower due to some technical differences between the two. Aside from that, it’s clear that Cameron Vengenz executed a highly optimized run, shaving nearly a full minute off the second place time (without loads). The N. Sane Trilogy has seen several optimizations in its running as players figure out new ways to use or circumvent the mechanics.
Curious how the other two games compare with their remakes? Crash Bandicoot 2 is noticeably faster than the N. Sane version (with and without the game over abuse), and the same holds true to a lesser degree for the third in the series. And that settles it, the originals are flat-out faster until someone finds a way to really break the remakes.
Nine years seems like a long time between games, but there’s a certain angel who looks at that number and rolls his eyes. Kid Icarus: Uprising took twenty years to become a thing, and you can bet it’s also seen “N. Sane” amounts of optimizing.
Matt Eschbach is a PC, Mac and Android indie game developer and fiction writer. His works have won multiple monetary awards from various contests. Graduating college in 2012 with a major in Game Design, Matt spends his time making stuff up and then building it. His favorite hobby… is sleeping.
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