As Crash Bandicoot turns 30, fans share what they enjoy about the series, while GameCentral tries to explain why it’s disappeared from the release schedules.
During the 90s, Crash Bandicoot stood as one of PlayStation’s biggest mascots, managing to rival the likes of Nintendo’s Super Mario and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog.
But whereas Mario and Sonic remain household names, and have continued to headline new games – and even become Hollywood movie stars – Crash has unfortunately languished in video game limbo. He maintains enough relevancy to pop up every once in a while, such as a guest in Fortnite, but he rarely gets to be the star.
At 30 years old, Crash is probably lucky to even be acknowledged in 2026, since if it weren’t for 90s nostalgia, current owner Activision may very well have banished him to obscurity long ago.
To the Crash Bandicoot series’ credit, there certainly remains an active audience. Not only do we have fans among the staff at Metro, but the franchise has seen notable success in recent years.
2017’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which consisted of updated remasters of the original PlayStation games, propelled Crash back into the spotlight and sold at least 20 million copies, which is more than any individual entry in the series.
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You have to assume Crash earned a lot of new fans through those remasters, even with some of their old-school sensibilities and occasionally infuriating difficulty spikes.
It was certainly enough for Activision to greenlight a remake of Mario Kart clone Crash Team Racing and then, eventually, a brand new sequel, in the form of Crash Bandicoot 4 – that was well received and was clearly meant to be a new start for the franchise.
Late night gaming
The first Crash Bandicoot was so memorable for me because it was my first real taste of platform gaming since Sonic… but in 3D! It tested my patience in ways I wasn’t always prepared for but that only made finally overcoming a difficult level feel even more rewarding. I’d sometimes be up at 5am, determined to finish a level that had beaten me the night before, refusing to let it win.
The game also had a real sense of gravitas and adventure; each island felt like another chapter waiting to be explored, and I was always left wondering what the next one had in store for me. Then there were those unforgettable moments of running away from boulders, which immediately reminded me of the moose level in Mickey Mania on the Mega Drive. It wasn’t just a platformer to me – it felt like a genuine adventure, one that tested my patience, curiosity, and determination in equal measure.
Myles Goode – Picture Editor
That was back in 2020 though and the only thing since then has been low profile multiplayer spin-off Crash Team Rumble, which was quickly abandoned by Actvision. Upsettingly, a new Crash platformer was planned, as a Spyro The Dragon crossover, but it was canned due to the low sales of Crash Bandicoot 4.
How bad were the sales? Well, according to one Toys For Bob staff member, it has sold more than five million copies, as of 2024, which is more than any of the PlayStation 1 entries and well above the level that most other games would be considered a hit.
It is a lot less than the N. Sane Trilogy though, which very clearly indicates the influence of nostalgia. It’s unknown what the budget of Crash Bandicoot 4 was but the problem is less likely to be that it wasn’t profitable but that the profit wasn’t worth Activision’s trouble.
This is a common problem across all major Western publishers, where unless a game has the potential to be a massive hit, selling in the tens of millions, they just don’t feel it’s worth bothering with, no matter how good the game might be or how profitable it might be on its smaller scale.
Bandicoot Invaders
I was absolutely transfixed on the screen, as that little orange guy span roguish turtles and jumped over flowers with shark-like teeth. I’d never seen such a detailed video game before; my only experience had been 2D versions of Space Invaders in arcades. When I asked for a PlayStation for Christmas, my console came with two games: Rayman and the original Crash Bandicoot. While jumping on enormous fruit and punching piranhas was a laugh, Crash was my game, and I spent hours playing it.
A few years ago, a friend said he still had the game in the loft, and me and a group of pals spent hours reacclimatising ourselves with Crash. Turns out it’s still as fun now as it was nearly 30 years ago, even if my hand-eye coordination now leaves a bit to be desired!
Joshua Halm – Freelance Reporter
It’s why every publisher is happy to waste hundreds of millions trying to make the next Fortnite, but balks at paying a tenth on that on a game with more modest ambitions.
The problem for Crash Bandicoot fans is that Activision is the absolute worse for this, having long ago given up publishing almost anything other than Call Of Duty.
There is still hope though, kept alive by the fact that Activision will not quickly forget that they sold 20 million copies of a game just by remaking some old PS1 games.
There were rumours and theories of another Crash racing game and a Netflix show late last year, but unfortunately there’s been no confirmation they exist.
Next gen platforming
I’ve always liked my games to be simple and straightforward. Having grown up in the era of Sega vs. Nintendo, I’ve always been at my happiest, gaming-wise, with a nice uncomplicated platform game, usually fronted by a cartoon character you can really root for. So when PlayStation burst onto the scene, bringing Crash Bandicoot with it, I was of course instantly invested.
For me, it took platforming to the next level, whether it was from the in-your-face visuals and graphics to those memorable characters – Crash’s escape from Dr Neo Cortex still lives rent free in my head. It’s one of the very few games I actually managed to finish, largely because I spent a few too many Saturday nights playing it till the small hours, in lieu of having a social life. Yes, it really was that addictive.
Caroline Westbrook – Audience Writer
However, developer Toys For Bob is working on a new entry in sister series Spyro The Dragon, after splitting from Activision. Spyro’s own remaster trilogy sold an impressive 11 million copies, although if the new game Spyro: A Realm Beyond isn’t a mega hit then it seems likely that franchise will also be mothballed.
There’s no point trying to make sense of why Activision seems to think Spyro could fare any better than Crash, but it’s perhaps emblematic of a wider problem with publishers’ reliance on nostalgia and how they expect these old properties to somehow be more popular now than they were 30 years ago.
Perhaps the best chance for Crash, at this point, is if he does get a new movie or TV show deal, which would raise his profile and encourage Activision to try again (although that’s not really helped other franchises like Castlevania and Sonic the Hedgehog).
Crash Bandicoot may never reach the same heights of popularity he had in the 90s, nor be a billion dollar money maker, but he does deserve better treatment by Activision and a new game to please all his many remaining fans.
26 years of Crash Bash
Crash Bandicoot isn’t just the catalyst for several broken PlayStation controllers, it’s also responsible for some of my favourite childhood, teenage and, yes, adult memories. In fact, as recently as last week, my wife and I were having one of our semi-regular bouts on the Polar Push minigame in Crash Bash.
The core three PS1 games are unashamedly difficult, and I have lost count of the amount of times I have fallen down holes from that insane broken bridge, accidentally spun a spiky turtle, and felt my heart sink when an underwater level came about. Half my life has been spent jumping on top of 10 wumpa fruit boxes, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
As friends moved with the times, and explored more modern releases, I most likely missed out on some absolute bangers because Crash and his loyal mask Aku Aku kept drawing me back. My favourite character? Dr Neo Cortex, of course. We all love a hapless villain to consistently humiliate. If the 30th anniversary doesn’t present us with a new entry – or, at the very least, a Crash Bash re-release – then I will not be a happy bandicoot.
Duncan Lindsay – Editorial Manager & Soaps/Drama Editor
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