The Next Crash Bandicoot Game Should Focus on the Mutant Animals

gamerant.com:

Crash Bandicoot was a series that can be described as lucky, even for video game standards. Out of the countless mascot platformer games of the 90s, Crash is one of the few that was not just the product of a fad and lived on as its own successful work. What was even more impressive is Crash Bandicoot being developed by a crew with a lack of notability in its track record, unlike Sega with Sonic the Hedgehog and Rare with Banjo-Kazooie. Decades later, Crash remained one of the lucky few among its brethren and among old gaming series in general. The original trilogy and the racing game it spun off were both beloved enough to get remade, and the series even got its first new mainline game in more than a decade.

The Crash Bandicoot games traditionally pit the titular protagonist against Doctor Neo Cortex, the scientist that mutated Crash into the Looney Tunes-like caricature the player controls and familiarizes themselves with. The series has introduced an impressive ensemble of characters over the years, with most of them consisting of mutated animals and the quirky scientists that partake in similarly unethical experiments. The scientists, such as the aforementioned Cortex, but also doctors N. Gin, N. Brio, and N. Tropy, tend to dominate whatever plotline the games have. The next Crash game should instead focus on the animal antagonists.

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One interesting but often overlooked aspect of the Crash Bandicoot series is how it combines its influences and inspirations. Shorts from the golden age of American animation, especially Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes, were immensely influential on the series’ art style. Crash’s iconic death animations are the epitome of the loony influence.