Back when the original PlayStation and Nintendo 64 were battling it out in living rooms everywhere, Sony needed a mascot. Super Mario 64 had blown everyone away with its 3D movement, and gave gamers a reason to invest in Nintendo's new system. Sony, on the other hand, was a rookie fighter in the console wars - while the PlayStation had a few great launch games, the publisher needed a face for its new console.
That's where Crash Bandicoot came in: Naughty Dog's trilogy of platformers weren't just some of the best games on the system, they helped solidify the PlayStation as a major competitor in the gaming industry. Unfortunately, the end of the original PlayStation also meant the end for Crash Bandicoot's popularity.
It's been years since the last decent Crash Bandicoot game...but one fan by the name of Anisotropic seems to be trying to fix that. After all, if Sony isn't going to publish a new Crash Bandicoot game, why not just make one yourself?
Yes, it's a bit clunky: many of the animations and particle effects don't look quite right, and there are more than a few assets missing, but that's to be expected from a work-in-progress. The fact that Anisotropic even got a playable build up and running on his own is impressive - and, while it's far from being finished, Anisotropic's prototype already looks better than any of the other post-Naughty Dog Crash Bandicoot games.
Hopefully, Anisotropic will be able to continue working in peace: there have been more than a few fan-made remakes built for the Unreal Engine 4, but most of them become the subject of cease-and-desist letters. Then again, most of those projects were shut down by other studios like Capcom and Square Enix, not Sony itself - it'll be interesting to see how the publisher handles the fan-made Crash Bandicoot HD remake.
If you want to keep up on Crash Bandicoot in Unreal Engine 4, head on over to Anisotropic's YouTube page.
