Crash Bandicoot Remasters Are Harder To Play, It's Not Just You

The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is unquestionably a big hit with PS4 gamers, but some of them are finding that these remasters offer quite the challenge. The original Crash Bandicoot games on PS1 weren't exactly a breeze to play through, but with the series back in the limelight, it begs the question: were these games really this difficult back in the day, or has the difficulty been bumped in the remastered versions? As it turns out, it's the latter.

In a post to the Activision blog, developer Vicarious Visions talks about the changes it made to the original Crash Bandicoot games. While it doesn't sound like Vicarious Visions set out to specifically make these games more difficult, the changes it made to handling and collision resulted in titles that require more precision than their PSOne counterparts.

This, Vicarious Visions says, is especially noticeable in the first Crash Bandicoot. In the remake, Vicarious Visions decided to tweak the way Crash's jump works – for instance, long time fans of the series will notice that he now falls faster than he used to when the jump button is released. This, of course, can mess up the timing on jumps for series veterans, making the game more difficult as a result.

Ultimately, jumping mechanics were tweaked for each game in the series using Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped as the jumping off point. The same is true for collision and physics – Vicarious Visions says that when combined with the tweaked jump mechanics, the new collision and physics system requires more precision than you needed to get through the original trilogy on PSOne.

However, there were some tweaks to make these games – especially the first one – easier than their originals. In the remade version of the original Crash Bandicoot, for example, you'll find the dynamic difficulty adjustment system that was only originally used in the second and third games. DDA grants players Aku Aku masks and places checkpoints more liberally throughout the level after multiple failures.

In the end, though, the increased focus on precision does indeed make these games a bit more difficult than the original trilogy. If you Crash veterans are having difficult navigating the first game successfully, Vicarious Visions recommends playing through the second and third games first and then returning to the original Crash Bandicoot afterward. What do you think? Are the new Crash Bandicoot remakes too difficult? Head down to the comments section and share your thoughts!