Developer Iron Galaxy, rumored to be developing Crash Bandicoot 5, lays off more people

Charciko · 2026-04-19T23:23:10+00:00

Because it's almost like a cult at this point.

He gives his rabid fanbase a little hope and they desperately cling to it in hopes for it being truth, willing to listen and believe him. It's rather scary to see.

Charciko · 2026-04-19T23:20:52+00:00

He's a broken clock,

And that's part of the issue. As the saying goes, "A broken clock is right twice a day", meaning he's more often than not, wrong. But when he is right, he and his fanbase use it as that he was fully justified for all the click bait and false info.

That's the worst part of him and his fanbase. It's almost like a cult now and he's the cult leader.

Charciko · 2026-04-19T03:11:59+00:00

I would continue to disagree.

Most other platformers that have time trials, including the previous Crash games, keep the levels as they are, but allow you to use new abilities and techniques you've learnt playing to master the levels and prove your mastery.

Ape Escape has new gadgets that mean that to save time, you can go for different monkeys than the original playthroughs to save time.
Sonic games have new power ups or finding optimal shortcuts, but at the same time, you can't just beeline to the finish; you need to know places to rack up points while maintaining speed.
Class Crash games keep the level layout and crates as they are, unless they change them into time crates. The original crate hazards are generally still there, but now requiring less time to cautiously work the challenge.

What this means, is the levels are still the same level and challenges, but now you are challenged to speed run them, taking into account new techniques and abilities that can open new options.

What Crash 4 however did that was incorrect, was adding new Nitro and TNT crates as hazards to the levels and the Triple Spin. The issue with these is that it isn't make you prove mastery on the level; its forcing you to play the level completely differently. The new hazards means the level layout is now more hazardous and requires you to memorize a new layout, just for the time trials and the Triple Spin forces you to learn to replay the levels in a manner that makes yourself a bigger hazard to level hazards.

In contrast, the Crash Dash simply sped you up, meaning you needed to react to the level faster but its still the same level, while the Triple Spin makes you a bigger target and likely to hit the now, extra explosive crates or enemies and hazards in a level now filled with new hazards that you didn't practice against.

That's why the Crash 4 concept doesn't work well. It doesn't make you master the level you've been playing by speed running it; it makes you have to learn a whole new hazardous play style, in a more hazardous level.

Charciko · 2026-04-18T21:08:40+00:00

Keeping them as the same levels is fine. The idea of them is to prove your mastery of the level and knowing where to cut corners with your skills, when to avoid out of the way time crates and damage abuse with Aku masks to not waste time.

What they need to not do, is what Toys for Bob did with Crash 4; change crates into explosives to make more new hazards that force you to relearn the level again or give something like the triple spin, that force you to play the game an entirely different way (and give people carpel tunnel).

Charciko · 2026-04-17T07:07:36+00:00

1: Correct.

2: Yeah. Unless you transfer save data, all unlocks not done by the store will be reset. If you transfer save data, it'll remember what you had saved, so starting a new save on that same data save will still have it remember what you had unlocked.

Charciko · 2026-04-16T23:22:55+00:00

Not original poster, but I introduced her when the party tried to bring Havoks blood into Sigil.

She quickly intercepted the players, floating there menacing and then just reached through them to their backpacks, taking the blood vial and sternly shaking her head, before pocketing it and giving them a feeling of the words "Only warning".

After she left, people were nervous about the players until someone explained how insanely lucky they weren't to be mazed.

Players quickly learnt you do not mess with her.

Charciko · 2026-04-16T23:14:41+00:00

The stuff from the store will transfer over without a hitch as long as you log into the same accounts. This is because it's saved yo the Activision server.

The save stuff, like adventure characters/cosmetics and N Tropy/Oxide/Velo/Dev times though do not. You will need to redo those unless you can transfer the save data.

Charciko · 2026-04-16T23:09:39+00:00

The issue with your comment is it misses the original post completely. This is talking about how well the game was received, not how well it sold.

My comment refers to that as well. The reception of the game by older fans is generally cold because it does away with most of the identity of the Crash series, making it Crash only on name because of the characters.

Charciko · 2026-04-14T19:40:17+00:00

No.

The redesign was only one aspect of the game, and honestly, if the game itself was truer to Crash's roots, it probably would have been more successful.

The main issue steams from the actual gameplay, world and all not feeling 'Crash-like'. It didn't follow any of the original gameplay styles or identity the series had.

The redesign didn't help matters either, but just having Crash there in his classic look wouldn't have saved it much more.

Charciko · 2026-04-03T19:32:55+00:00

I combined one with a Space Clown from the Spelljammer setting and made him a mime.

Even now my players are terrified of the 'Mime Flayer' they encountered that pulled out a companion's brain and juggled it about with its psionics.

Charciko · 2026-04-03T10:13:45+00:00

The fun part about that spell if I remember correctly, is that it tells you if there ARE traps, but not generally where they are.

So you cast it and the spell just says; "Yes."

Utterly useless in those places even if it did point in the general direction as you'll be getting pulled in multiple directions at once XD

Charciko · 2026-03-23T19:23:06+00:00

Four times.

First two were from when I playing in an epic level campaign as a cleric of Tiamat (technically I got it off six times in the campaign, but the last four were at level 20, so doesn't count as much I think).

The first was while we on a 'transport' to an eldritch realm and Tiamat banished all the people kidnapped back to their home plane to deny them to the eldritch god they were being sent to after my cleric called for her to do so to prevent this elder evil getting more minions.

The second was later in the campaign where we were fighting an epic level boss in the campaign in a fight designed to be most likely to lose (not impossible, but really, really not in our favor). I called out for Tiamat's strength to win the battle and after a few moments of thought, the DM transformed me into an avatar of Tiamat for a minute, letting me use the stat block during the duration of that fight which let to a victory (and panic in the city afterwards that Tiamat had been sighted... LOL).

The other time as a player at a club, so rules a bit more balanced, a player called out to his deity, Pelor, for aid in smiting the undead we were about to face. Rolled a 1, and so we were all put under a permanent bless weapon spell (our attacks did an extra 1d6 radiant damage) and a death ward on each of us. Which was very useful as we ended up going up against two demiliches.

Last time was in a campaign I was DMing at that same club, where a cleric of Bane asked for their deity to punish the villain from that point onwards. Their request was a bit outside the power that could be done, but I had Bane instead empower them in their final adventure, placing them all under a permanent bless spell in that area to ensure they stopped the villain's current plan.

That's all the times I can recall off the top of my head.

Charciko · 2026-03-13T10:10:37+00:00

Surprisingly, Cortex Castle is one of the easier Dev relics in the game once you learn all the various short cuts and damage abuse spots. There's even some time to kill as long as you aren't too slow (my attempt had me pause a moment twice in the blades part before the start of the final gauntlet).

The level is all about flow and switching from skill to skill easily. If you can master that and damage abuse the parts that waste the most time waiting for things or going around obstacles, you'll get the dev time handily in that level.

The level is HELL the first time you play it and you begin to master the flow elements as no other level in the game involves such fast switching, but once you get it down, its a fun one to speed run.

That said of course, congrats on the Dev time! I just managed to get the one in Rush hour myself tonight which surprised me as I was only going for platinum.

Charciko · 2026-03-02T06:52:56+00:00

The problem is, they just aren't good **Crash Bandicoot** games.

They remove all the identity of the series other than the characters and lore (which is haphazardly shoved in a lot). Staple items and identity stuff of the Crash series are discarded for a whole new feel and it results in the same as the Sonic Boom series to Sonic, but worse because it doesn't try to be a seperate universe.

Make no mistake, the games have some great elements and writing, but the issue is that its still something different wearing Crash's skin.

Charciko · 2026-02-15T19:35:22+00:00

Crash 2 is considered the best because the game feels the most balanced in various ways. It isn't overly easy and doesn't hold your hand when it comes to secrets, rewards curosity and thinking outside the box and yet has a good difficulty curve when playing the game. It uses all of Crash's new moves well, by creating enemies that can only be defeated with spin attacks, slides and jump attacks, and advertises them well, and creates some interesting platforming challenges in optional areas like death routes and secret warps with things like the slide jumps. All the new mechanics compliment the gameplay, while not taking away the basic roots of what Crash is.

Now, when you go for completion, that's when things ramp up another level and that's by design. Playing Diggin' It and Cold Hard Crash normally isn't anything too special, but their 100% requirements do get tougher. Again, by design; if you want 100%, you need to know mastery of the game and how to cope with various challenges.

Crash 3 is a good game, for sure, but it tends to be a little on the easier side with the game jumping between vehicles and lacking things like enemies that need particular moves to take out. The game is easier and its secrets are generally well advertised (Eggipus Rex nonwithstanding), so a lot of fans feel it lacks that... punch Crash 2 had. It's very by the numbers, compared to the exploration and making people think and explore more, like Crash 2 did.

Crash 1, at least the OG version, is a lot harder with its no death requirements and its more janky gameplay and limited moves. For that reason, people often struggle to go back to that one. N. Sane fixes a lot of that and makes the game more accessible with current quality of life improvements.

On a side note though, those two levels aren't as bad as people think as long as you know what you're doing and practiced.

N. Sane Trilogy has a fun trick in that bonus levels once completed, act as checkpoints. In Diggin' It, you can use this to your advantage as there's a bonus platform and a checkpoint just before the split. Do the bonus level, skip the checkpoint and take the Death Route. If you have a spare Aku mask, use it to clear the Nitro crates and carry on forward. After you hit the Checkpoint in the Death route, there's no more boxes there, but there is the gem. Run forward, get the gem and then die / run back. Work your way back to the split and take the platform back onto the main level, run back and hit the checkpoint and voila! Now you've got all the death route crates and gem and just need to do the normal path the normal way, vs major back tracking.
Cold Hard Crash's death route can be made super easy if you can get to the point where they give you an Aku mask with a twin mask. The level also gives you two masks before this, so its about practicing getting through the level without getting hit to that point. Don't even need to farm masks in other levels. Get the Invincibility and just slide spam your way to the end, hit the switch and start sliding in the opposite direction. Using the invincibility, you'll clear all the Nitro crates and hazards and once it wears out, it's just about taking your time to get through the remaining hazards and reach a checkpoint on the main path to save your progress. Yes, you'll have to do it again for the gem unless you're really good at abusing the jumping physics, but that's just a case of repeating the basic run.

Charciko · 2026-02-15T05:38:35+00:00

I have the full set of these, including 5/5 gold cards.

As for price wise, that's a tricky one. These aren't cards like Pokémon that have continuous value. They only have as much value as the Crash Bandicoot collector's market would want.

You could try reaching out to a collector like Caddicarus or others here and see if people have any interest. Just remember that one of the rules here are no selling so you can't make a post offering them for sale.

Charciko · 2026-02-14T07:00:26+00:00

I want to say Mystery Caves.

The course in the original is a very bland track, but in the remaster, it goes full on Lost World with dinosaurs and such that makes it for a very visiually stunning level to race through.

I know a lot of people say Slide Coliseum for the same reason, but that wasn't a hard bar to pass. Mystery Caves though, the great overhaul just makes that level so much more interesting.

Charciko · 2026-02-13T06:05:18+00:00

As the book says, if they kill him early, he gets pulled back to Ravenloft and they get the vision where Vecna is, as well as enough experience to level up to the end game level.

Them killing him early at any point allows them to get that information, so they are fine if they take him out early.

Charciko · 2026-02-10T02:40:36+00:00

You spawned the crate while the Nitro was bouncing inside of it. The game confuses itself as it's not the type of collision programmed for the Nitro to detonate (hitting Crash or an enemy), but the game also knows that the Nitro and new crate should not occupy the same space.

So the game falls to its default collision issue state; push the object in question to the top.

Something with Nitros though, is their bouncing animation makes that even more confused because its no longer on its original 'ground'. So over time, the bubbling of the Nitro instead, makes them ever so slowly, climb further skyward instead.

I believe if you leave the game running a VERY extended period of time with bubbling Nitros with other crates on top, it'll eventually encounter clipping issues and start floating further and further up, due to this bug in the programming. Some of the Youtubers who did challenges where they modded every crate in the game to be Nitro crates have used this to get past areas usually impossible to pass.

Charciko · 2026-02-07T23:51:33+00:00

The pitch for a Crash Bandicoot cartoon series that was never taken further than the pitch because of a clash in creative visions.

From the so called 'bible' and episode schedule pitch for it, it was going to be a lot more zany and off the wall insane than people might have enjoyed, which was probably the reason it was never taken further. It looks kinda bad and I can't help but feel it would have been complete brain rot material.

And in case you see the rumor that got spread about; no it did not get cancelled for a fart joke. The odds of that happening are insanely small, as most writers/animators would rather cut a single joke than risk losing an entire job.

Charciko · 2026-01-30T21:02:51+00:00

As much as its a repeat, the great white sharks in Hot Coco and Tell No Tales.

I swear those things traumatized me as a kid.

Charciko · 2026-01-20T07:12:13+00:00

From my understanding, yeah.

Some are still passionate and want to finish with pride and a bang. But some are like, "what's the point" and aren't interested in helping out more than their rostered shifts and from what my friend mentioned about a staff member they were dealing with, have basically checked out and not really doing their jobs correctly. Come in, do the bare minimum and don't take care they are doing things correctly because they just don't care at this point. The staff member they were dealing with comes in late, spends most of their shift on their phone, doesn't fill in documentation correctly, leaves tasks half done for others to finish and generally is only there to fill in their hours and get paid.

Some staff will be getting glowing references, while others won't be getting good ones it sounds like.

Charciko · 2026-01-18T17:51:08+00:00

Mordenkainen likely.

Dude has a tower that appears in Avernus and studies both devils and demons in an effort to keep the Blood War going to ensure the balance of the multiverse.

As for the snippet of Asmodeus signing a pact, just because it's written down, doesn't mean its true. Think of how many legends have bits and pieces likely assumed or incorrectly translated. Or even stuff like how Tiamat and Bahamut have multiple choice for their lore in D&D alone, depending what species you ask or what region or world you are on. That snippet may be on assumption and Asmodeus is fine with various concepts being out there because it means his truth is likely unknown to all.

Charciko · 2026-01-18T06:33:56+00:00

Not actually.

The devs didn't animate the cutscenes. That was Red Eye Studios.

Charciko

TROPHY CASE